Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-05-15

introduced in the other London play
houses.
The date at which calciums were first
used in the theater is also difficult to ar
rive at. No longer ago than 1881, Percy
Fitzgerald wrote i'll his "World Behind
the Scenes" london, Chatto 4 Win
dus): even now the gas is being
helped by the limelight. not OCCASIONAL
ly, but almost habitually. In a late ar
rival of the Good Natural Man it was a
surprise to learn that a scene IN st.
average way, had been set off by no less
than three l~imelights." Elsewhere in
a note he wrote: "In an evening walk
through the Strand, one is certain to
encounter men carrying on their shout
ders enormously inflated bags, much as
the sandwich mem carry their boards.
These are now found necessary at every
theater, and contain the gases for
supplying the fercely glowing
limellght lanterns. They are placed
GA the ground between hinged
boards, On which weights are laid, thus
causing the high pressure necessary"
Henry Irving seems to have been the
hrsts manager to make lavish use of cal
cium lights in London. Their use in
the Bells has already been referred to;
in his late productions and reviva!s they
ave played an ever increasing part.
For instance in Faust there was an act
in which less than five were employed,
while in one scene he had as many as
eighteen. Irving's calcium light plots
are carefully studied out, as all who
have seen his performances at his Lv-
ceum Theater and elsewhere must adj
nit. The most startling and wierd eff
fects are produced by the use of these
powerful illuminators, and in his latest
revival-Macbeth, now current at the
Lvceum-a number of new devices have
been put in practice, which-not to
make a pun-throw into the shade the
famous Faust effects. Here in America
the calcium light is in use in almost
every theater, however small. for stars
and combinations bring their own APP
| paratus to places where none is kept.
Scarcely any play is regarded as proper
ly staged unless at least two calclums
are available, and in spectacular pieces
they are used most lavishlv. For in
stance, in the production of Jalma, atthe
Boston Theater, fourteen calciums we're
turned on the transformation scene, an
equal number on the march, twelve en-
the rainbow ballet, and eight on the
small ballet. Each of these lights re-
CURED the constant attention of q man,
and it is easy to see how, la one respect,
at least, the expense of a theater are
run up during the performance of a
spectacle. Twenty men We're required
for the gas and calciums used in Faust,
of which Mr.. Irving provided ten. He
always takes a gas engineer and an ex-
pert in calcium lights about with him on
his tours.
Allusion has been made to the e.ects
IN on1nr which oon hQ nrn6ronI hv tho
skillful use of the calciums. The col
ored lights are produced by placing
what is called a medium" in front of u
burner. Sometimes these mediums are
glass, sometimes gelatine. By the use
OF glass only four colors are to be OBJ
talned-red, green, yellow and purple
"a blue glass medium produces a purple
Light. Gelatine is, therefore, preferred
where there is to be any delicate CRAWL
tation or tints, Tor almost any hue can
be produced by a judicious mixing of
transparent colors with the substance
when it is in a fluid state. The ''medi-
ums" are set in square frames and
placed in front of the lights like the
slides in a magic lantern. The use of
cOlored mediums dates far back of the
use of calcium lights or even gas. Gar
rick's scene painter, L~outherburg, it is
narrated. astonisEed and delighted the
audiences which went. to see q pantO-
mimic piece called "a Christmas Tale"
mot merely by the beautiful coloring
and designs of his light effects, far supe-
rlOr to what they had been accustomed
to, but by a sudden transition in a forest
scene, when the foliage varied from
green to blood color" The continuance,
the historian goes OIL to state, Twas en-
tirely new, and the effect was produced
by placing different colored silks in the
files Or side scenes, which turned on a
Illuminated the stage as to give the effect
of enchantment."
The use of gauze in connection with
the limelight is familiar to the ~playgoer,
especially in dream scenes" like that
in 1.-THE Bells" The gauze drop in the
back is painted to correspond with the
rest of the scenery, and appears from
the front to be ordinary canvas; but the
moment a strong light is thrown behind
1t 1t becomes transparent and reveals
what 1t has hitherto hidden from the
view of the audience. The withdrawal
of the light of course leaves everything
behind in total obscurity.
Startling effects are evolved by throw
ing the liulelight on a column Of steam.
A lurid confiagration can be simulated
Dy the "ntorVonCOn or q red medium,
when there is not a spark on the stage:
and some of the most charming of chro-
matte displays are easily produced by
mediums of different lines.
By this time the reader will natural
~ be inquiring, What is a calcium
light 2"
It is nothing new. Years and years
before it was ever employed on the
stage it was known as the oxy-hydrogen
light, and was used in experiments in
chemistry and natural philosophy. It is
the burning together OF hydrogen and
oxygen gases. Each gas is kept sepa-
rate rom the other, and forced, under
a considerable pressure, to a burner,
where both meet ior the first time in a
flame. This flame produces the most in
tense heat-so intense that it would
burn up the blade of a knife held in it
like a flash. The flame itself furnishes
very little light-not SO much, in
fact, as the blaze of a small burner of
ordinary. gas. But it is directed
against a little cylinder of lime thence
the name calcium or lime light, which
is instantly heated to a state OF mean
d~escence, and it is this bit of incandes-
oxk 1s-oo kI.% ,oc 1-x IL "