The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1913-10-23

lambert fame AS they looked at IL
the apparition contracted into a focus
OF dazzling lustre Their hearts beat
last; their souls thrilled and they
shouted as with one voice: The
Star! The STAR Gcd Is with usi'
This Is General Lew Wallaces de-
scription OF the Star OF Bethlehem,
appearing to the Wise Men OF the
East in the famous book, Ben Hur.p
This is the way also thsf the mi
raculous star Is shown IN Klaw and
Erlanger's production Of Ben Hur.
II forms the first scene OF the drama.
Flashing upon a darkened stage, with
its background. Of an Oriental desert.
Its effect Is startling in the extreme.
How that Star is produced, first as .
soft lambent flame, bursting with un-
earthly brilliancy and finally fading
away as 1t leads the Wise Men on to
their goal. is an achievement worth
knowing something about. for It is a
masterpiece OF stage invention, and
the most brilliant stage light in the
world.
1t is made possible only by the
wonderful development of the electro
Ugh. and the electric appliances used
on the stage.
If you should go behind the scenes
of the theater where the play is belns
enacted, you would see this magical
Star Of Bethlehem only as a pole
fourteen feet high with cross bar and
huge metallic disc at the top sixteen
feet across It bears about the same
resemblance to the splendid spectacle
It is to produce as the bare frame
work in the daylight of a set p'ecar
OF fireworks does to the brilliant
pyrotechnic display which Is made
when it is set of at night But there
is something elese besides this bare
pole and disc needed to produce the
wonderful illusion. Fifteen feet back
of the pole is large searchlight and
reflector turned toward the big disc.
Just aside from these two pieces OF
apparatus is table covered with what
looks to the unframed eye to be set
of telegraph instruments of various
sizes. But their purpose is far DIFF
ferent. They are electric buttons and
switches, attached in a bewlldering
set of wires that lead to the search
light, to the electric pole and disc,
and to the big wires of the powerful
currents that supply the theater win
light and power
In all this mechanism one fails to
observe at first the star at all. But
| 1t is there. or rather, the thing that
makes It. In the center of the big
Emetallic disc, two mammoth carbon
lips almost an inch thick may be seen
I These form the arc lights Of tremen-
dous power which Is to flash forth
as the Guiding Light dazzling and
binding to the eye in its lnstre.
But there are other effects to be
produced besides the brilliant whit
light IN order TO present the miracle
star as, described in "Ben Hur," II
first apears over the desert hills as
la 'lambent fame" To make seq
GLOW of this sort requires an entirely
different arrangement than for IA
star proper
That is what the big metallic disc
is for In a succession of circlHs
around its face are placed lines Of
tiny incandescent lights Of consider.
able power Over these hundred q
\ little lights and the disc is spread
500 -, i,ba graat rbjte screen vitt
40. ~, ~, Nj - nc n,;da,o Tho,
49, -, d. Mo 49,, ~ ybicr
- " ou,s sass ~ = iii ,;aSt an tbee,
49, gtesSe It,.,, aioc,ric ltgbts.
switch that will set the disc in raDit
motion. When the stage and theatcl
sasssaee ~ -. 80 n,,Ia.oant Glow. a,
!" -. ~ ans,oo Op ,,,I;oh + - no Il
~ ia", e.. nan, o.,,oo - az co1asti,
IN W. ".SI NV. %pps 80 @ii ;.-ois -" Tho sam,
~ q ,ne 90, -, ,oinh Iii
Smell -. s"l .n en- anH to..h ~ inoreaa
llaAe IIe ssat S .%In ~ ~ ,,itob =,
.'S Ut illduG'' 9tiil ano.ii NJ, si y.