No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
An Inventory of Gas Lighting Equipment in the Theatre Royal, Hull, 1877
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2009
Extract
In 1917, the editor of Edison's Monthly looked disdainfully back on the era of gas in the theatre: “Stage lights,” he said, “took up almost as much room as the scenery itself. Long yards of rubber pipe trailed across the stage and wings. Only the footlights were permanent and only the crudest stage effects were possible.” He might have mentioned the unbearable heat they generated and their malodorous fumes. This house organ for the electrical industry had, of course, a vested interest in deprecating gas and extoling the virtues of electricity. But there were also enthusiasts for gas; in 1923, for example, Louis Hartmann reported that one of the best of the old gas men—William Hall—had told him:
I have always claimed that the electric switchboard and dimmer equipment is only the evolution of the old gas table or switchboard, not a new creation. With the gas table of the other days we accomplished the same results you obtain today—in a crude way, we will admit, but with wonderful results. I will state without fear of contradiction that the combination of old gas lighting equipment and the calcium [i.e., lime] light apparatus, we have given productions that even in this era of advancement have never been equalled, that is so far as stage spectacular effect is concerned.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1974
References
Notes
1 “Theatre of the Past,” EM, IX (1917), 339Google Scholar.
2 “Lighting Effects of the Stage,” Transactions of the Illuminating Engineering Society. XVIII (1923), 426 ffGoogle Scholar. Theodore Fuchs, the noted lighting designer, corroborated this judgment in his Stage Lighting (New York, 1929), p. 41Google Scholar.
3 We have considerable testimony from eye-witnesses of the 19th century; see Hunt, Leigh, Critical Essays (London, 1807)Google Scholar; “The Theatre,” Chamber's Encyclopedia (London, 1867)Google Scholar; and Fitzgerald, Percy, The World Behind the Scenes (London, 1881)Google Scholar. More recently, scholars have turned their attention to stage lighting in the 19th century, and the following stand out as major contributions: Byrne, M. St. Clare, “Lighting, Stage,” The Oxford Companion to the Stage edited by Hartnoll, Phyllis (London, 1967)Google Scholar; O'Dea, William, The Social History of Lighting (London, 1958)Google Scholar; and Wolcott, John R., “The Genesis of Gas Lights,” Theatre Research, XII (1972), 74–87Google Scholar.
4 Wilson Barrett's papers are kept in two of the constituent libraries of the Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin: The Miriam Lutcher Stark Library holds the bulk of the material, including the document under investigation in this paper, but none of the collection has yet been catalogued; The Hoblitzelle Theatre Arts Library has the remaining material. For further information about the Barrett collection, see my article “Wilson Barrett: A Theatrical Legacy,” The Library Chronicle, n.s. No. 7 (Spring, 1974), pp. 10–21Google Scholar.
5 See Roy, Donald, “Theatre Royal, Hull; or the Vanishing Circuit,” in Nineteenth Century British Theatre (London, 1971), edited by Richards, Kenneth and Thomson, Peter, pp. 25–37Google Scholar.
6 See “Plot Book for the Royal Princess's Theatre, London, 1880–1885.” a MS in the Hoblitzelle Theatre Arts Library, University of Texas at Austin, TexasGoogle Scholar.
7 (27 October 1866), p. 800.
8 Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalogue (Chicago, 1902), #111, p. 663Google Scholar.
9 Ibid.
10 Fuchs, p. 40.
11 Ibid., p. 39.
12 P. 661.
13 A rather lengthy description of this theatre during Barrett's regime may be found in a letter from Mr. John Beaumont, the managing director of the Grand Theatre (Leeds), to Wilson Barrett III, the grandson of our subject, dated 5 April 1963. It, the letter, may be found in the Hoblitzelle Library among the biographical files in envelope F–11.
14 The World Behind the Scenery (London, 1881), p. 53Google Scholar.
15 See O'Dea, p. 161.
16 P. 622.
17 (New York City, 1866), p. 148.