Drypigment.net: Here is a mind blowing article that I stumbled across well over a year ago. It was published in the “Lincoln Star” on Dec. 18, 1910. Keep that date in mind – 1910. I came across the article while I was looking for information pertaining to David H. Hunt, the Sosman & Landis salesman who was a founder of New York Studios, a scenic firm) and Sosman, Landis, & Hunt, a theatrical management company. New York Studios was advertised as the eastern affiliate of the Sosman & Landis, similar to many regional offices established by scenic studios during this time.
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When I read “Electrical Mechanism for Handling Hanging Scenery,” I’m not sure what I was imagining, but it certainly was not a motorized fly rail system. I love reading about the history of theatre technology in article like this because it is neat to see how theatre technology has developed, and what those mechanisms looked like when they were first invented. The patent diagram for this machine is so cool! It is fitting that it was a stage carpenter that invented this fly system because because he was probably someone who had to handle the drops and hanging scenery, and so he made something that would do his job, but easier and faster. This invention was patented in 1912. I wonder why we still find manual counterweight fly systems in so many theatres still, if this electrical invention has been around for over a hundred years. I also love the idea that this would be published in a local newspaper – that sentiment just makes me smile.
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