Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-08
less D. BONNER
AND HIS WORK

~ I'D YOU ever witness storm in the
tropics-a storm that carries all be
~ fore it, punctuating its approach
with vivid flashes of lightning through
inky blackness and foretelling destruction
by an incessant cannonading in the over
cast heavens? If you have you will ap-
preciate the difficulties of reproducing
such phenomena upon the stage and yet,
if you also saw the Ferris production OF
CLEOPATRA at the Auditorium a few
weeks ago, you will realize that the task
has been accomplished.
There was a storm. the most realistic
and terrible of its kind ever placed upon
a Los Angeles stage. From in front OF
the curtain the effect was tremendous.
The storm king, majestic in his wrath,
arose at command of the Egyptian queen
to destroy the Roman fleet. Darkness
fell tempest arose. Lightning flashed
athwart the horizon. and the crash of
thunder was deafening. Great palms
swayed to and fro and fell crashing TO
the stage before the fury of the on
slaught. Storm clouds raced madly across
the sky. 1t was nature in hostile mood,
a wonderful picture of terribly destruct-
i've and unleashed power.
King of the Storm
Back of the scenes a young man, short
and heavily set, stood calmly regarding
his work This was his storm. He had
made it, and his hand was on the lever
of its control. He seemed unconcerned In
the midst of the tumult. He didn't even
laugh, and certainly the scene was ridic-
ulous enough to compel laughter from
the ordinary observer.
over to the left of the stage was
wagon piled high with boulders. Its
wheels were eliptical, and when the con-
veyance was dragged across the floor
heavy rumble of thunder resulted. High
up in the wings was the thunder boy
with still more boulders, which, on sig
nal he dumped into an irregular wooden
chute with many turnings. These rocks
hurtling stageward in their narrow con-
fines thundered realistically until they
struck, at the bottom, heavy metal
sheet put there for that purpose This
was the crash that seemed so fearsome
from the auditorium
So much for the thunder. Back of the
horizon line stood a. stage hand, Jovelike
in his control of the clouds. He revolved
a painted glass disk at the end of tin
cylinder back of which was a strong
light. The scene, a transparency, caught
up the clouds, which then scudded across
the sky as though driven by mighty
wind
How lightning Is Made
Still another mechanic controlled the
lightning, produced by a similar contriv-
ance, the glass being smoked black, and
irregular lines scratched across it's suf-
face by pin point. This provided the
flash outlined against the heavens, while
the glare came from two carbons, nanip-
ulated by hand and which lighted up the
entire stage when brought into contact.
The storm rose to sublime height of
fury. Then the curtain fell and the au-
dience broke into enthusiastic applause.
Once twice. three times the great velvet
was raised and lowered. The lights
sprang up and in an instant the storm
disappeared, the scene was struck and a
new one erected in it's place.
''Great, Jess, great!' called Dick Ferris |
approvingly, and Jess d. Bonner smiled
and went about his further business. 1t
had been merely an incident in his weeks
work.
Bonner is a young man. He looks
scarcely more than boy and readily |
confesses that his youthful appearance in |
the past has initiated against his profit |
able employment, managers being
afraid to trust so young a man with the
important duties which fall to an artist
in his position.
A Master Scene Painter
Jess Bonner is a master scene painter.
He has painted and designed all of the |
scenes used in the Ferris productions |
Every newspaper in town has commented
upon the beauty of the work Every pat
ron OF the playhouse has marveled at the
lavishness of the productions. Yet few
OF them ever have heard of Bonner, and
probably not one in ten thousand would
recognize him on the street.