Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-04
FUTURE STAGE SCENERY.
Recent Inventions - New Fireproof
Methods Sheet Iron Canvas"

Methods-sheet Iron Canvas"
Paris Cor. London Globe.
1t appears that we are on the eve of
revolution in the artificial world OF
glamour and illusion, which to most is
more attractive than the dull and hard
reality Of their lot. Art for its full en-
joyment requires ease of body and mind;
therefore 1t is a pity that, in spite of mod
ern improvements in the way Of exits, fire.
proof curtains, electric lights, and so forth.
playgoers, especially of the more timid sex,
yet harbor a certain feeling Of risk, lin
gering dread of being suffocated or crushed
to death, should fire break out on the stage.
The ma terials Of stage scenery, paint, dry
wood and canvas or paper are highly in
fiammable, and soon run Into blaze.
Scenery usually consists of wooden frame
works covered with canvas, painted with
various parts Of the scene. The canvas is
frequently backed with paper. generally
old playbillS.
Attempts are made to render 1t f1reproof
but they do not overcome the substantial
combustibilty of the materials themselves
as the fires at the Coincide Franchise and
the store of scenery for the opera, in
Paris demonstrated not so long ago. The
risk of fire increases when paper, owing
to It's cheapness, is used in place Of canvas,
as 1t is In some of the poorer playhouses
Even is such good theaters as those Of
Rouen, Nancy, DIXON, Lyons and Nice, pa
per scenery of special kind introduced by
the scene painter, Eovescall Of Milan. Is
employed The tarred paper, strengthened
by cotton netting of large mesh, used at
the Elysee Palace Theater, Vichy, is ap-
parently no better.
Stage scenery will never be incombusti ble
and theaters quite safe until refractory
materials are adopted and proposals for
asbestos glass fllament scenery have
been made. but canvas and paper still hold
the field At length, however, they have a
serious rival, which promises to GUST them
and reassure the playgoer. 1t is the plan
of a well-known French scene painter, M
Moisson, and consists in substituting for
wood, canvas, or paper. in all parts OF a
scene, what we call tin" that is, timed
sheet iron. or else light galvanized sheet
iron. The frameworks are made of tubes
formed of this material bent according to
requirements, the metal sheets which take
the place of canvas or paper are fastened
to them with soft solder. On the sheets.
which are of special manufacture, the scene
painter lays a proper ground and then
paints over 1t, as on canvas Trees, houses
and other objects for landscapes be
formed by thin metal plates. cut out and
lightly soldered to sheet-ron plates con-
nected by thin wires to the framework
These can be painted into the likeness of
trees, grass, and SO
Another and simpler method is not to
apply the ground paint to parts of the
sheet representing spaces and avoid
cutting out the sheet The new scenery of
Moisson is not only incombuStible, but more
PRACTICAL, Ill the Se1lSe OF lndndBedDle, imam
the old. 1t is light. easily shifted and re-
quires fewer shifters. People of the rou-
tine temperament" told, "machin-
lists by profession" offer objections to it,
as usual in such cases. but it is making
Roadway despite them. 1t is not only solid
and light, but more economical, for. though
1t costs rather more to begin with, the
parts can be used over again in other plays
by removing the sheets from the frames.
The sheet metal also serves for back
ground, or a drop curtain, and renders the
clumsy, expensive iron curtain needless.
High authorities like the technical COM
mission of the Seine and the prefecture of
police. Paris. have tested, approved and
recommended it to managers. That class
ical house, the Odeon In the Latin quarter
was, it seems the first to set example
by adopting 1t in the piece "Armde ct
Gtldis," and a number of houses have fol-
lowed in its wake for instance, the Pal
marium Theater of the Jardin d'Acclimata-
ton. the Theater MaIthurius, the Theater
Grevins, the Bobino Concert and the Eden
Concert. 1t is expected that the great
houses will not delay to adopt it. and
probably other nations will not lag far be-
hind