Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-23
SOME STAGE TERMS.
The Difference Between the "Spot" and
"Flood" Lights.

From the New York Tribune.
One of the consequences of the Iroquois
Tbeater fire in Chicago has been the in
lection into the press reports of the jargon
of the theater readily understandable to
the initiate. but as Greek to the average
layman.
For a time the cause of the fire appeared
to be the Tapping of a piece of scenery
against a spot light. Later it was de-
cIared that the light was a flood, neither
term being understandable to an outsider.
Alfred Davis the general stage manager
of the Proctor Theater, explained the other
day that spot lights were employed to cast
a circle of light upon the stage where a
single person was TO be brought into es-
pecial prominence. 1t consists of an arc
electric light inclosed in cylindrical hood
about the diameter of stovepipe, and pro-
yided at the open end with a condenser lens
for the purpose of concentrating the rays
upon a small area. Possibly If bit of
scenery were permitted to rest upon the
hood for twenty minutes the heat of the
inclosing iron might char 1t, or even burn it,
A flood light is an arc in a rectangular
box painted white upon the inside to serve
as reflector 1t is supposed to flood the
stage with light, hence it's name.
Bunch l1RnIS are cluSISTS OIL gas OF lH@
| candescent lights, either arranged within a
| reflector or exposed naked. They are used
| back of scene behind doorways, where
| light is needed off the stage to represent
| the illumination of that part of a dwelling
not shown. For the same purpose strip
| lights are used-rows of incandescent lights
| fastened to a strip of wood provided with
| hook by which it may be hung to the
! back of a scene when required
Side" lights are incandescent lights ar
| ranged on either side of the proscenium
\ arch. sometimes they are built within tn :
| arch, or, as was the case in the Iroauois,
| they are arranged to be swung outward
! when the curtain is raised.
| The footlights are familiar to all, and
/ the border lights are those hung over
! the stage. directly above the scenery shut
! ting off the top of the stage. These are
/ arranged in a trough like an inverted ~
! to cast their light down upon the stage.
| These are practically all of the lights used
| upon the stage of a house, though magic
| lanterns are employed at times for the SIM
| ulation of water effects, moonlight ripples
! and lightning. The oid-fashioned calcium,
using the oxyhydrogen gas, is so seldom
| employed in the modern theater to call
| for comment. All of these terms will
| be used for the next few weeks in the re-
| ports of the investigation.
| Other bits of stage jargon will probably
| be employed. For instance the Torment
| or is the first curtain back of the pros
cenium arch. 1t is so called because the
| actors will crowd in that entrance for a
\ better view of the performance. and so
| torment the stage manager, whose domain
| it is supposed to be.
| Entrances are not doors. but the inter
walls between the bits of scenery placed on
| either side of the stage. These side pieces
| are wings" except when they are in two
parts and hinged so that they may be OPEN
| ed out and made to stand without support.
In that case they are clippers" The
scene at the rear of the stage is drop
| If 1t is merely a cloth. with stiffening pieces
| at top and bottom. If 1T is built on a
| framework 1t Is fiat. Any fat piece of
| scenery is fiat" but an interior built
| of Hats" is box setting" If a piece
| of scenery is hoisted above the stage it is
filed" the curtains above the top of the
| stage are "flies;" and the space above the
| Tiles is headroom." The platform on one
side of the stage. from which the ropes
for these scenes are worked, Is the ..hy''
| gallery and the working there fly
men," in contradistinction to the regular
stage hands who are grips" If there is
a second gallery above the first, 1t is a
| ''tieoff loft
When scene is put together 1t is "set.''
and when taken apart 1t is struck. "
Ropes used for hanging scenery are Lines. "
and there are three to a scene. The one
nearest the 'fy' gallery is the short line, "
| the one furthest away the long line The
wooden pieces in which the lines are tied
are ''battens BY but the lower strip to
hold the bottom of the scene even Is a
| key platform above the stage Is
bridge but the bridge upon which the
lights are worked from Immediately behind
the arch is bird cage" 1t was from one
of these that the Iroauois scenery was
supposed to have taken fire.