The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-10-23

stead Of being stretched on frames,
are hung as curtains and one of
which drops" forms the background
for every stage setting.
Scene Painting Great Task
+ Where the herculean stature of
grand opera production does entail no
end of extra work is in the scene
/ painting. An idea Of the proportions
Of the pictures that must be painted
by the opera house artists may be
formed from the fact that the drop"
used in the opera of Madame Butter
+ ny" and which shows the harbOr OF
/ Nagasaki, Japan measures 400
square feet The rhuch-admired pal
/ ace scene in Aida" is sixty-six feet
long and thirty-six feet wide, while
I one of the scenes OF "CaValleria Rus
ticana" embraces $500 square feet OF
canvas.
There are two different schools
or TWO different methods of scene
painting employed in the great stu
dos which have been established by
The multimuliOnaires who back"
grand opera in order that there shall
always be ready 10 hand an ample
( scOurce Of scenic supply. Under one
J plan the scenic artists. with their
pots, stand on what is known as a
''scene-painting bridge"
RMS bridge, with a huge expanse Of
canvas on either side Of ii. presents
/ al first glance merely the impression
/ Of a long. narrow room, but upon
closer inspection it may be seen that
the floor IS in reality a bridge with
supports only at the ends and on
either side of the narrow platform
one may look, as from a precipice
] n a N.nHasa ia
panse of canvas is lowered at will as
the artists complete one section of the
surface 10 be painted and are ready to
apply their brushes to the succeeding
clean space.
Under the other method of pro-
cedure scenery is painted ION the
/ fiat" that is the eXpanse Of canvas
10 be decorated instead of being sus-
( pended. in reality adjustable form be-
fore a midair bridge is stretched on
the floor of a studio. a floor upward
OF 200 feet in length and the artist
/ literally walks over his canvas
1 Whichever method is employed for
/ the actual painting OF the scenery
there are numerous pFeliminaries,
and these are the same in both cases.
First, the artists make a water color
sketch OF each projected drop" and
/ in order TO ascertain the ultimate Eff
feet Of a complete set they make
miniature mOdels-cOmplete as TO
wings" and all-Which, when put in
place on a tiny stage. look for all the
world like the toy theatres that de-
light children at Christmas time, but
which in this case have the practical
advantage that they give the scenic
artists practical foresight as to color
schemes, detail arrangements, etc
Costume and WARDROBE Department.
ANY woman would be interested
could she have a peep into the cos
tune and wardrobe department of
grand opera house. Here are high
salaried French designers. tailors fit-
tiers, seamstresses and all the other
functiOnaries of a dressmaking estab-
ishment of the first magnitude Thou
sands. of costumes are made every
year, some of them costing hundreds
of dollars apiece and other thousands
of costumes are altered and repaired
Here. as in the other departments of
the workadav world beyond the
/ scenes thought and study must sup
plement manual labor.
The costume designers have to thor
oughly familiarize themselves with
the costumes worn in the various pc
RODS of the worlds history involved
II
ing, and at the same time they must
keep in touch with the latest develop
ments of current fashion in order TO
present the newest thing in toilettes
in operas the scenes of which are laid
in the present day. Furthermore. the
grand opera costumers must know
something of heraldry; of the cos
tunes and insignia of ancient and
modern royalty and Of the Roman
church.; of the significance of the dec
Orations worn by the nobility and of
Il the correct details Of the uniforms OF
the military and naval officers of all
the nations on the globe.
An up-to-date cleaning establish
ment is an important adjunct of the
costume or wardrobe department and
the opera house has its own expert
Il shoemaker. who fashions not only the
commonplace fOotgear OF the pr0saic
age. but all the novelties from silken
boots TO bejeweled slippers that made
i dress picturesque in former periods of
the worlds history. Yet another mar
vel of the industrial city within the
grand opera house is the electrical de-
partment. There are more than 5000
i incandescent lights and fifty arc lights
on the stage of the modern home OF
! grand opera, and the electricians must