Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-09

tested ton its fullest for he must know at
once the variety of foliage which abounds
on tropical island and other points nee
essary for the proper feeling. This
means that in addition to sundry brushes
and buckets of paint scene painter XII
also contains numerous books pertaining
to vegetation. furniture and anything else
which may come up.
THE time required for painting a set
ting, said Mr.. Duffey, depends aito-
gether on the situation and the conditions
under which il is being done. drop,
or front curtain, must necessarily be
T-ell done. DIS it is nearer to the audience
Sometimes there is "A rush order ana
setting has to he gotten out In re"
hours. That probably means staying
on the bridge all night. When stock
company is playing a run is the time
when [ am worked the hardest. They
may choose a certain play and begin
rehearsals on it. OF course, as soon
as they begin rehearsing / begin paint
ing the scenery After day they MAY
decide to change the play, and that means
that | have to change the scenery, and
get it out in a hurry.
The scenery is painted in water coiors.
which dry pretty quickly. That is
great point i'm our favor. Even as 1t
is l have known cases where the curtain
VI
fastest piece of work have done
in recent years was for the Beiasco Il
few years ago The scenery required
western In nature. ! did not start
on 1t until = O'Clock Monday afternoon,
and tho curtain was only held ten min
utcs that evening. 1t was pretty fast
work. though. At time / had every
boy in the house painting in a mountain
which l touched up afterward. Some of
the borders l simply took out in the alley
and painted while the carpenters were
building other parts of the scenes. Dur
ing the entire afternoon the stage was
taken up with the company.
ITO paint scenery properly continued
Mr.. Duffey, 1.-The painter must have
lot of room. In practically all Of the
theaters here they have frames and
bridges The frames vary, the largest
being about twenty-five by forty-dve feet,
and are worked up and down by means
of windlass. One thing about scene
painters that is different from portrait or
landscape artists is that the latter work
with the idea Of obtaining the proper
perspective only a few inches away,
while we have to figure out how 1t should
look from distance of fifty or seventy
five feet away, as that is approximately
the distance 1t is from the audience.
What appears a monstrOSfty al close
range may appear as really beautiful
flower garden against an azure sky from
the house.
Different scene painters of course,
have different methods which they follow
i'll connection with their work. In mine
usually sketch the scene in roughly with
charcoal first and then go ahead with the
colors. We begin scene at the top and
work down. having the part we are paint
ing always on level by means of the
windlass. Exteriors much more easily
painted than interiors In following
model it may not make any difference
whether or not a tree is fifteen or twenty
feet high. but In an interior that same
difference applied to mantelpiece
would amount to a great deal"
When the scene painter at one of the
theaterS was sought out, a wise-looking
individual went n the stage, and. ap-
parenty addressing his remarks at no
body and nothing, shouted:
Hi. Thompson. Some one to see your
There was pause and then What
do you want?" came in a voice softened
by distance
After peerng into the darkened cor
ners of the large stage and finding no
one the seeker after Information looked
skyward and there, stationed what
seemed to be a fragile contrivance. be-
held the person sought When Mr..
Thompson came to the ground, or rather
the floor of the stage, he explained that
the bridge from which he had descended
was only twenty-five feet up in the air.
a statement which did not lessen the eff
fort 10 see it notwithstanding. After