The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-11-18
Inventor Tells the Secret
of Amazing Stage Effects
Made Since His First
Realistic Scenic

SuONtu a ltlIlllA lol lltiAlb hibNihS bNtl
sea and land: two ships colliding by
the force of the waves. and outbuild-
ings blown away; trees uprooted and
fences demolished,
FIRST. we will investigate the cy-
clone. The stage was darkencd as the
wind could he heard. While the audi
once shivcrcd in sympathy, Mike the
stage hand, rcNolvcd rapidly round
cheese box. across which was stretched
Il heavily corded piece of silk. As the
wind blew, clouds and floating debris
passed across the stage. These were
painted upon thin muslin, drawn
across the stage rapidly, giving the cf-
feet OF a real storm. | added To the
effectiveness of this panorama 10y us
ing tor the first time transparent
disk. upon which was painted clouds
and debris. This disk quickly rcvolv-
ed before a powerful lantern which
projected the image upon the stage,
gIcatly adding to the effect of general
chaos that follows the wake of a Sc
we're storm. As ihc fun force of the
wind reached the stage the roofs Of
the farmhousos. barns and outbuild-
iugs were blown off. Stage hands re
leased heavy sand bags fastened to
invisible wires that extended through
pulleNs at the ceiling and then down
To the roofs of the fltcd buildings AS
the sand bags swung To the Moor tho
roofs followed in the wake of tho
aoWlng wind.
Hand Made Surf.
The sea water was composed of
the sam, kind of green oilcloth men
toned before. This was waved ny
hand To represent the surf. Painted
on profile scenery were the two ships,
which added to the horror of the
scene 10y having a collision. These
reached the Hour through Sits IN the
oilcloth ana were dawn toward each
other 10y wires as the sailors were seen
unfuring the sails i'm an cndcavpr To
avoid what seemed certain destruction.
rs the prov of one ship broke 'hruuGh
the bUlwarks Of the other there was
a crashing of timbcrs-the same sound
which has often struck terror INTO the
hearts of travellers upon real vessels.
But it wasn't very dangerous Tins time.
II was rather hard work, though,
breaking heavy planks and sticks i'm
the side wings to add To- the terror Of
| the make believe tragedy.
There were few incidcntals which
added to the effectiveness of the scene.
When the vessels crashed into each
f., .-,,ly n
ity. bc an upheaval OF splinters ana
parts Of the broken hull. trapdoor
I'm the luur held down 10y means Of n
strong spring was covered with bits -
broken wood. At the right moment
this spring was released throwing the
debris into the air.
Again, there couldn't very well 10
! Il storm without thunder. Previous 10
this time noise closely resembling
/ this sound had been produced by shaN-
! ing an iron sheet made this more
! realistic 10y building what is called 4
! huh drum. This consisted of steer
l"ylind"r about three times the size of
! the largest bass drum. Heavy raw
! hides were spread tightly over the
. ''lllS1 lfS'lllpllllE WY lllUNl a luft'
drum. by beating on this we could
raise thunder sulc enough. This re
mains IN" popular way of producing
this effect. Tho distant rumbling often
! heard preceding a storm is sometimes
Icaused by rolling heavy cannon balls
along q trough much the same rs tho
! balls are sent up the side of a bowl
/ ing ale.
1T wouldn't do to- have thunder and
In lightning, so | had to think up "a
way to produce this deadly weapon Of
nature did it lay attaching a mega
tive wire To one large Tile the posi-
tive to another. By rubbing them to-
eethcr was able to produce an rlcc-
lrical storm whenever | desired. This
was an Improvement over the old way
which consisted of dHrkcuing the stage
and flashing a, torch at intervals N the
wings The authorities condemned the
use of files some time ago as danger
'ous on account Of fire The method
IN us" today is a magnesium gun. This
closely resembles pepper box anG
is loaded with metallic magncsia \
bloNDll' ~ illd'H'b ~ NU' 'llh'lSlu'
and an alcohol wick surrounds the
outside The magncsa is blown
agains' the flame. producing a bright
flash
"ro show Che whitccaps at the top
Cf the waves as they broke over the
prov of the vessel rocksalt was used
This was also projected into the air by
means of springing trap doors, ana
answered the purpose well.
MY next production containing
elaborate scenic effects was The Heart
of Chicago The features i'm this were
the Chicago fire and "A train approach-
ing head ON. The perspective was 50
arranged that at the rise of the cur
tain the headlight "f the engine APP
peared To Ice off in the distance, about
the size uc a quarter The illusion was
perfect Gradually the light grew
larger aud brighter. thus appearing
as if it neared the audience. This
was accomplished by raising the light
which worked in n groove 10y means
of pulley and invisible wire. In front
of the light was a shutter arrange
ment very much like the one which