St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-20

great part of the most wonderful work
of that sort has come since, on April 10.
1888, the Bijou theater in this city was
opened with 'Iolanthe" and electricity
was used in the borders-there were
no foothghts at first-and employed
also on the fairies, as was afterward
done by Augustin DAILY in his produc-
ton of "A Midsummer Nights Dream.
This was the first use in Boston OF
electricity in the theater.
Today the lighting of the theater is
work of art as we'll as OF mechanical
ingenuity, and while the great master
. or that effect has gained much in
America in the way of aids to carry out
his ideas, Henry Irving has been stud
led, but hardly emulated. by Ameri-
can managers, many of whom still Sc
cure brilliant effects without reason
and startling results that scorn nature.
Today electricity is used in almost
all theaters, and footlights are supple
mented with side lights meant to do
away, if possible, with lime lights, and
the border lights which some years ago
were introduced to give to the scene a
natural glow by coming from the right
direction, from above, as in nature,
nave today, from one line across the
top OF the proscenium arch, increased
/
on any part of the scene or shed COM
pletely over it. The modern lighting
Is so complicated that the switchboard
with Its dozen regulators, capable of
doing marvels in the way of lighting
is the most expensive, ella borate and in
teresting feature of the world behind
the scenes. The candle Snuffer of the
sixteenth century has become the cleo
trician of the nineteenth, and the end
is not yet.
Every one remembers the difficulties
and the unsatisfactory results of the
first use of electricity in the theater.
It's glare was too white and too fiaring
for the makeup. The first trouble was
that when electricity was put on the
stage it was not put in the dressing
rooms, and players made up by gas
light to be viewed by electric light
with the result that all the paint and
powder looked disfguring. But that
was soon remedied.
After electricity had been used for
some time, the attempt was made to
secure from it the colored glow usually
produced by slides in calcium lights.
Blue, green, amber and red glass were
used, but the result was by no means
satisfactory. The colored lamps only
dimmed the lights, but did not seem
in most cases to diffuse the color.
Brilliancy was lost but little effect
gained.
Ten years ago, when Sarah Bernhard
was playing at the Madison Square
garden, New York, the lighting of the
theater aroused her ire. The electri-
clan of the house could not suit her.
Kelly was sent for in haste. The strong
electric light cast, she was sure shad-
ows on her face, sharpened all angles
like her elbows, and the green glass
used to soften it she simply would not
have, and the ground glass was no bet
ter. Experiment after experiment was
tried, all to no effect, until Sarah
thought herself of washing over the
white lamps with Magnolia Balm"
from her dressing table. That an
swered the purpose. sponge was TAX
en- and the white lamps wiped over
and a soft light resulted. The French
actress stopped her raging; said tres
bien,' and all was peace again.
But this resulted in experiments to
get a soft-colored light, which brought
about the present mode, which is to COW
er the white lamps with tissue paper
caps, and today, if you go into the
fremont theater. for example, you will
see the electric lamps of the fOotlightS
covered alternately with amber blue
and red paper frockS of generous size,
while the six lines of border lamps
that stretch above the stage sport am
Der and blue frocks, with line of white
. {.
through the caps is soft and just tinted
with color, while the regulator is so
set that half as we'll as full lights can
be had and numberless combinations
worked.
No actor who comes to America takes
more advantage of all such practical
appliances than Henry Irving. AT the
Lyceum he still uses gas with electri-
city.
One of the first things he does on ar
irving at theater is to study the tools
with which he has to work With
rare capacity for appreciating mans
good work, he has the experience that
enables him to see through a humbug
at once, and he has no use for him.
/ Willing to use every facility at hand,
/ he knows exactly what he does not
want He never uses the white light
for anything. He declares. and many
will agree with him, that it is not day
light. He uses the yellow light instead.
He also refuses, save in Faust, the
red light, which he declares does not
exist in nature. He will not use it
even for freight, but uses instead a
soft pink. Nor will he be trammeled
in seeking for effect by the tools at
hand. He supplements those by others
at his command. In addition to the
footlights, borders and side lights,
which American managers as a rule
I cOnSlueT SUFFICIENT, anu sun USE cru
ly, he employs two lime lights on either
side of the proscenium-one on each
side for the scene and the lower one
for himself or Miss Terry, or whoever
is to be lighted. More than that, he
often uses dozen branch lights about
/ the stage, getting the direction of his
light to exactly suit him, even if a
light man has to hold a lamp in air at
the end of a batten rod to do it.
/ In another way Mr.. Irving differs
from American managers. In most of
our theaters lime light is lime light,
always of the same brilliancy Not so
with Mr.. Irving. He has especial burn
ers to increase or diminish the light
according to the requirements of the
scene, and it may astonish many to
now that Henry Irving as a rule uses
/ less rather than more light than most
managers.