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More Light on the Limelight

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2010

Lawrence P. Goodman
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Extract

The first use of the limelight in the theatre occurred on December 26, 1837, at Covent Garden, then under the management of William Charles Macready. This marked the beginning of modern stage lighting. The limelight was the first practical spotlight used in the theatre, and the use of the spotlight is basic to all modern lighting theory and practice. To make a spotlight two things are necessary, a lens and a point source of light of high intensity. (The light source must be small so that it can be focused by the lens.) A reflector can be added to increase the efficiency of the instrument. Reflectors and lenses had been in use for several centuries, but until this time there was no light source of sufficient brilliance which was at the same time small enough to make the spotlight practical.

Type
Research Article
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , November 1969 , pp. 114 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1969

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References

NOTES

1. Wyndham, Henry Saxe, Annals of Covent Garden Theatre from 1732–1897 (London, 1906), II, 133.Google Scholar

2. Drummond, Thomas, “On the means of facilitating the observations of distant stations in geodetical operations,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1826.Google Scholar

3. The Argand lamp is a type of oil or gas burner in which air is fed directly into the flame through a metal tube inside a cylindrical wick. Until the invention of the limelight it was the most powerful light source in use.

4. Drumond, , op. cit., pp. 336–337.Google Scholar

5. Drummond, Thomas, “On the illumination of light houses,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1830.Google Scholar

6. Ainger, A., “Illumination of Theatres,” Journal of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, II (1831), 45.Google Scholar

7. Macready, William Charles, Macready's Reminiscences and Diaries, SirPollock, Fredrick, ed. (New York, 1875), p. 93.Google Scholar

8. The Examiner (London), December 31, 1837.

9. Wyndham, , op. cit., p. 128.Google Scholar

10. Macready, , op. cit., pp. 91–92.Google Scholar

11. Ibid., p. 96.

12. Watson, Ernest B., Sheridan to Robertson (Cambridge, Mass., 1926), p. 258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13. Clarkson Stanfield letter to Thomas Noon Talfourd, May 1836, Henry E. Huntington Library Collection.

14. SirPollock, Fredrick in MaCready, , op. cit., pp. 96–97.Google Scholar

15. Macready, , op. cit., p. 98.Google Scholar

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid., p. 95.

18. Lawrence, W. J., “First Use of the Lime-Light on the Stage,” Notes and Queries, 7th Series, VIII (September 21, 1889), 225.Google Scholar At this time Gye had a contract to light some government buildings. Both of Drummond's very detailed papers were available to him as well as other works by Ainger and Barlow. I have been unable to find any precise information on Gye's work during this time either in publications or documents. Later, Gye managed Covent Garden and during his tenure on March 5, 1856, the theatre burned down while a Bal Masque was being held. Gye's personal office was in the theatre and a large part of his papers and diaries were lost. This loss may have included material relating to the limelight.

19. Wyndham, , op. cit., p. 133.Google Scholar

20. Macready, , op. cit., p. 96.Google Scholar

21. The Times (London), December 27, 1837.

22. The Atheneum, December 30, 1837.

23. The Metropolitan, XXI (February, 1838), 57–58.

24. The Globe and Traveller (London), December 27, 1837.

25. The Examiner, loc. cit.

26. Ibid.

27. Lawrence, loc. cit.

28. The Examiner, loc. cit.

29. Macready, , op. cit., p. 98.Google Scholar

30. Lawrence, loc. cit.

31. Wyndham, loc. cit.

32. Actors by Daylight or Pencilings in the Pit, No. 7 (April 14, 1838), p. 52.