The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-08-10


the scenic artists they consider best
adapted to do certain work Most OF
them have specialties. Some are FAMED
for their interiors, while others are dis
tinguished for their landscapes. Others
who stand high in their profession have
devoted themselves to no particular
phase of their work. This class how
lever, grows smaller every day and
specialization is more and more de-
nanded in the business. After man
ager has accepted play, it is usually
put into the hands of some of the stage
managers who like to be called pro
ducers" The man thought best adapt
ed to painting the scenery is engaged.
After consultations between him. the
stage manager and the author, the
scene painter is supposed to under
stand what is required, and after read
ing the parts of the play that would be
of assistance to him in his designs, re
prepares the models of the different
scenes and they are submitted to the
manager, stage manager and author.
All of the designs for hills, platforms,
balconies or any peculiar structure that
may be needed by the eXigencies of the
part are designed by the artist, al
though the execution Of them is hand
ed over to the stage carpenter If the
models are satisfactory the scene
painter sets 20 work.
The method Of painting scenery in
this country is different from that pre-
vailing in France. There the canvas is
stretched on the floor. Here the canvas
is on frames and these are hung in the
| theaters above the stage The painters
sctand on bridges high in the air and
| paint the pictures under the directions
of their head. All of the theaters are
supplied with these bridges. The finest
bridge in New York is said to be that
| built by Charles Fletcher in the Four
! teen street theater. 1t is situated in
| the high building at the rear of the
theatar. The next best paint lofts are
in the Metropolitan theaters and the
Grand opera house Paint lofts in the
aters are very rarely in constant use
and artists are accustomed to rent
them for their own work unless they
are unfortunate enough to have lofts
of their own. AS they are occasionally
at work on several orders simultaneous
| ly, II is not possible to do everything
| in one loft. All the painting Of a
scene is done under the supervision of
the artist who designs it, although the
details are frequently worked out by
Els assistants, who begin by doing the
printing and other elementary features
of the work. Sometimes they become
particularly capable in certain lines.
n n f1r n
trunks of trees especially well, another
draperies and a third stones. so they
apply parts of the whole Scenic ar
lists of reputation receive as much as
81 600 for @ single background, wings
and borders, as the different parts are
called. If elaborate carpenter work
is included in scene, their compensa
ton is much greater.
1t IS easy to get from these figures an
idea of the expense that a manager has
to undertake in producing an elaborate
melodrama with many changes of
scenes, involving mechanical devices
and intricately built structures. The
scene painter comes in for his share of
profit on all of these as they must be
covered with canvas and painted before
the public sees them.
One of the complaints made by the
scene painters here is the short time
managers give them in which to pre-
pare their work, They say that the or
ders are given to them at the last mo-
ment when it takes rush to get the
scenery finished in time. There is a
record of one production announced
several months in advance, although
the scenery for the last act was fin
ished during the first performance of
the play. But delay is caused wholly
by the managers own ignorance of the
time it may be necessary to present a
Magic Flute on the other hand, was
ready at the Metropolitan opera house
six months before the work was sung
One more complaint heard frequently
is against the inability of the several
painters to see their work at a rehears-
al under the lights that are to be used
Scene painters say that they frequent
ly have no opportunity to judge of the
effect of their work at a performance
until play is produced and that they
are for that reason unable to judge of
what il will look like. Allowance is
made of course, for the illumination.
The mellowness and softness of
scenery PAINTED in England is some
times said to be due to the methods Of
the foreign painters, who make no al
lawance for the stage lights but use
their colors as If they We're to be view
ed in the daylight. IT is certain that
English scenery shown here exhibits
certain eXcellencies that our own paint
ers have not shown. But that has been
attributed generally to the interior
lighting arrangements in use at the
best of cur theaters The failures in
this important feature of stage man.
agement here are commonly attributed
not so much to the lack of apparatus
as to the insufficient care taken by the
usually ineXpert persons in charge of
this feature of most New York produc-
lions, 1t is rarely thought worth while
for some undiscovered reason to pay
much attention to this branch, of stage
management here.
One of the present tendencies in scene
painting is to do away with the bord-
ers or flies" that now hang from the
top of the stage They have already
disappeared from interior scenes and
regular canvas ceiling Is now used in
them. Several years ago a street
scene with the tops of the houses in
visible above the prpscenium arch, but