The Washington weekly post., 1900-06-05

when 7 made my first visit to New
YORK a couple q years ago." said a
Washington young man who once was
more uus0ph.-teats1 than be is now Il
fully expected 10 End actresses In slim
attire dancing the can-can on upper
Broadway. chorus girls officiating as
aa,a.-uomea on the front rail % Broad
way cars, l9dies OF the stage drinking
champagne while attired In tights. dane
.ag ou the fire escapes OF hotels. crawling
through barrels while on the roof Of some
private house, kicking the silk hat from
.as head o. some Willle-boy. Or doing
s'me,hing else equally as wild, immoral.
aa. surprising. / searched 81 vain for such
merry capers, and even took trip behind
t1c scenes OF a comic opera to ascertain
t anything OF the kind was doing among
The stage ciyiuities, but up 20 date ! have
never been able % get this particular
ftycr OF Ncw York lie
since then / have often wondered how
some Of the Illustrated theatrical papers
published ln New York obtain photographs
~ such scenes as ! have described Il Is
aU old alage that the camera cannot lie
and ] venture 60 assert that the majority
of readers OF sIrh publications living at
some distance from wicked. blessed New
York really believe that chorus girls cut
all sorts of Wild capers IN public on every
street corner of New York CITY. To The
woui--be real ba-a-ad man OF C0hoes or
Chicago these pictures OF New NO.ks
ieyA,ry are very alluring. I would give
something large in the way Of reward 20
SNOW how these pictures are obtained,
ior they certainly appear genuine
H"w the Trick l. Worked. =
Yes said a newspaper man VINO has
served time Ia New York offices, they 10
appear genuine but they are not. ] got an
insight into the business some months ego
when ] was over In the big town, and ;he
Way these composite pictures We're oh
ia.uei surprised M.
Ell is a curious trade. making these pic
tunes The statement that photograph
does not lie Is true buJ the ratOGching
process some OF these pictures endure
ana the artful way iP which two or .hie-
,!cel,Ut photographs are welded together
before going 10 the engraver is amazing
ID one who does not know the full possi-
..lLes OF the photographers art. Some
times when several photographs are weld
- together IL is necessary 10 have an eX-
pert peE-aHd-iuk artist shade certain po--
lions OF the photos 10 cover no the break
iG the paper, but when these c5mpir "a
pictures are sent to the engraver they
are. Of course. photographed anew upon
The sensitive copper or zinc plate Of 'he
maker OF half-tOUe enEravings. \ reiuc-
lion Of 0ue-half or One-third is the usual
scale, and this makes the etched engrdv-
ing much smaller than the original
touched-up photograph Hence the in
perfecriOns are almost completely hidden,
and when the plate is printed upon smooth
paper iH colored ink IL is impossible in
most cases 10 fnd a single crack showing
where certain parts Of photographs have
been pasted together
The hardes, part of making such 4
composite engraving is 20 have the life
figures In each separate photograph ap-
pear the same size. For instance, sup
pose YOU want 10 get a photograph Of a
Broadway soubrette dangling her legs
over the front rail of a crowded Broadway
car. You first send your photographer 10
4 convenient spot on Broadway, wait until
ii crowded car comes along and stops for
an instant in front Of your camera, al
ready focused
Pictured seated on "A Rail.
A quick time photograph or a snaD shot
O. The car is taken, large enough to be
conveniently used dfteIward. in cOnjunc-
'Ion with another photograph. When the
picture IS developed, the genius of the IL
j strated periodical poses one Of his SOU
Il-tt,s-eugaged by the day TO pose N his
StudiO-in an attitude similar 10 an imds- |
iuary pose on the raIl Of the Broadway |
car Perhaps h seats her on a real rail, /
with pIain background. He has 10 guess |
af The focus, but having the developed |
photo Of the car, he can See at a glance |
how large the people on the car appear. |
iie then takes a snap shot of Miss TCttie |
tUughdrOps, develops il, and carefully |
cats out the lone figure Of the SOuDrette. |
This printed figure he pastes very care |
fully on the rail of the real street car, |
and If he has done his work well, il needs |
almost no retOuching whatever. This COM |
I.etrl photograph is then sent to the en-
grayvr's to be photographed through "A |
IIlf-tone screen upon a copper plate I
When completed, the engraving is a per-
1rcJ copy Of d Broadway soubrette in alb
ircy-aled skirts seated on the front rail.
j. The artist wishes 10 add hilaTi;y 10 his |
View he has the girl pose with a cham
rgur bottle raised aloft by one hand,
e. glass OF the beverage being raised to the
lips 10y the other. Iwdgine how such an
engraving must arouse the susceptible
emotions OF a Kansas City youth. who
mas never been nearer 20 New York than
81 Louis.
The same method of making composite
photographs is employed in the Offices CT
all the periodicals using such pictures
Very often IL Is not necessary TO paste
I"o phojos luseJheI- II a picture OF TWO
s'aiLe,ies playing see-saw over bar
lI-l l.
Very simple matter In the studio # he
l.uodicH genius are all the necessary
I"irrues. udG scenery from some rro-
c.euon of days gone by is propued IN
q" s.UW the reverse side of The SCENES |
I.r -.ameWOTk which supports the canvas
several employees dress Up as tyuieaI |
'.t-. hands, 20 lean against the scenery |
-.- -e.r 60 I. the actresses. = barrel - !
Drought i'rwaTd-a barrel which has done
@"...iL service IN many pictures ana can
'."ass De- Identified by certain marks |
-' matter whether il is used IN a sce-ssH
'-. .r as The receptacle Tor d soubrette
"a A'aI- as placed across the barrel. the
...'..rs Ia sCant costumes take their
+.--e2. ~"d The picture is :aken,
FaIIinz On the Barrel.
Hold Cu' cries the periodic,I ,enius.
W ID maAr ID series Of his
Which means thal after the first nic-
'.... which ls 90 Doe labeled Two Broad
'.s '-E..-...~ Having 60 Larh .}rnIUd rhe
there is 10 be- another view. show
. collapse OF the barrel. the SOU
'.....- .lrfw-rs over the floor. ami me
hands running 10 pick up the girls.
81 this he barrel is made n
'is. Tie soubrot,es spread our over
.'.. and the genius carefully ad,usts
dresses so chat exactly he pr5per
..' n' lingerie ana hosiery viii
". Tie stage hands take their places
-ir -ume an astoui~hcd ryDres-
an Tic picture is taken This IS in
! .' -o after the hrst picture. Ia
t.a Then The Barrel Broke
iavor!te series Of views is IN
-'lor.,te standing on a barrel
-a HIHf.uu 10 a beyy of scautiIy