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Friday, November 15, 2019
Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 845 – “All the World’s a Stage, But it Lacks an Asbestos Curtain,” 1913
Drypigment.net: In 1913, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Miles asbestos curtain in Cleveland, which I did, hangs badly and big dents kill my picture. As it is a woven wire asbestos there is no remedy – they should never be folded, always rolled.” There were many different ways to construct a fire curtain for the theatre, with a wire substrate being one.
This was a really fascinating article about the use of asbestos in both the theatrical realm as well as the excerpt from a 1913 magazine article which raves about the usefulness and practicality of using asbestos in nearly every room in the house. Though I had been aware of the use of asbestos in theatres for fire curtains I had not been previously aware of how innately decorated some of these curtains could be. I was really blown away by the magazine article which detailed all the practical uses and the frequency of contact that was potentially possible with this material. I had more of a concept of the use of asbestos as insulation material lining pipes but the potential use of it in the kitchen in particular is a bit jarring given the information we have today about the material. Whenever I come across information of the use of hazardous material before the testing and widespread understanding of the effects they could have I can’t help but think about some of the popularized materials and technology we’re using today that could potentially have negative effects in the future that isn’t clear to us as we use it and relish the convenience we enjoy from it.
It seems that, almost always in our industry, solving one problem creates another. The widespread use of asbestos offset the immediate issue of deaths from theater fires, but created the long term issue of lung damage and disease. Obviously no one knew it at the time, or it would have not been implemented as widely as this article indicates. That said, prior to improved fire prevention and retardancy techniques, the dangers of asbestos may have been preferable to the alternative. On the other hand, as an article posted on this site some time ago pointed out, deaths in theater fires were caused more by issues with venue capacity and egress. In any case, I had no idea that asbestos was once woven into house curtains; I can imagine that the curtains sloughed off asbestos for many decades, getting sucked into the lungs of stagehands. From what I have read, hazard mitigation is a major obstacle in the revitalization of old/abandoned venues--they are all chock full of asbestos and lead.
Another wildly fascinating and historically informative article from Tales of a Scenic Artist and Scholar. This magazine snippet is very revealing of how capitalistic society is. A fireproof material was created and it worked really well so people started mass producing it and advertising to everyone without further investigation. I am not at all surprised that this fiber was discovered, manufactured into products, and then sold on a massive scale without any testing of negative effects of the materials, because that would slow down the production of profit from this very successful product. It always fascinates me to read ads like this one that give so many tips and tricks for a versatile product, because the author has obviously thought about the use of asbestos sheeting very thoroughly. Reading the 1913 article now knowing how dangerous asbestos is interesting and it makes me wonder how all of the people that took these suggestions for asbestos household uses reacted after discovering the dangers of asbestos. Also, the painted fire curtains are fascinating to me, and what the justification was for having a painted fire curtain, as that seems kind of useless to me.
This is a really interesting article that I think shows a lot about how far we have come as a society. Asbestos was so widely used in almost every facet of life before it was realized that it caused mesothelioma and other threatening illnesses. I remember when I was younger, a lot of the schools in my town were old buildings and all had asbestos in them in some fashion. One of them had it under the carpets and another had it as insulation for the pipes. It was a great material that provided for so many different uses. To date, I often hear that there has not been as good of a replacement since we stopped using it. It is interesting because we have had to work around this problem in so many aspects of day to day living, but we still are not quite there according to a lot of people. I am not sure how fire curtains have progressed, but it is interesting to see industries find replacements for this once very important product.
Old fire curtains contain fascinating histories. The Temple theatre in Rochester NY is now the Auditorium theatre which hosts touring Broadway shows. While I have been to and worked many shows in that venue, I have never actually seen the fire curtain down. I would imagine that it has been updated since originally being installed in the space, but I don’t know. I grew up around Asbestos. It covered the pipes in my Elementary, Middle and High Schools. Even in the Kindergarten building and after school buildings I went to. It was everywhere. Old buildings are architectural wonders. But if you want to own and renovate one, I hope you have deep pockets. Things like lead (which is also found in stained glass windows) and asbestos are everywhere and abatement is costly. It’s still good for fireproofing and insulation purposes, but because of overzealous injury attorneys, the product has gotten a bad rap. It’s only dangerous if you breathe the fibers and with the correct PPE, you can work with the product without harm. The issue that these injury lawyers never discuss in those late night ads is that it is not the product but rather the way the company using the product operated. There would be far less cases of cancer and a more widespread use of the product still today if only companies cared more about people than profit and required use of PPE and other protection.
Before this article, I wasn't aware that asbestos was used so heavy not only in the greater world but in fire curtains specifically. The earlier comment that highlights the idea that to fix one thing you often end up with other unforeseen problems resonated with me not only as a statement about this article but about life in general. I like solving problems in new and creative ways but that can often similarly bring about unknowable side effects. I've really only had one encounter with asbestos. It was at a high school in Austin where I was attending a competition. I remember us reading the signs around the school that said caution asbestos and the reactions of the teachers versus the students were vast. We were more interested in it for its novelty rather than as a warning for our safety. As asbestos has been stripped from buildings people have become increasingly aware of its volatility however I feel for some of our generation asbestos was already mainly an over issue by the time we were old enough to have a grasp on what it was. The attitudes towards the substance are greatly varied depending on the age of the person and our teachers all wearing respirators around the school definitely demonstrated that.
Like the article says, now we see the word Asbestos and our eyes grow two sizes bigger. But in reality Asbestos used to be very popular, until we discovered the affects is has on the human body. The humanities Department in my undergrad, was built long, long time ago in 1903, all the buildings had asbestos innerlays in order to make them Safer, all the building were also fallout shelters, but that’s a whole other discussion. It was believed that as long the asbestos is encapsulated it wasn’t harmful to the students and people in the rooms. So, we kept on using them. Throughout my four years there, some buildings had to go under renovations because they were falling apart and the asbestos was ‘leaking” out. Nowadays, similarly to asbestos, the silica mineral found in sand is proven to have harmful reactions in the body. Because of this, new OSHA policies are being developed.
I haven’t seen a lot of theater outside Baltimore, but these asbestos curtains sound absolutely fascinating. I hadn’t even heard of beautiful murals and asbestos fire curtains until Kevin mentioned them in class. Thinking about the protocol of having it down until 15 minutes or so before the show must be fascinating for the performance experience. Theatergoers who show up fashionably early experience a static mural, unrelated to the specific play every single time they go. I’d be curious of that affects their perception of the set and the play even subconsciously. The photos of the curtains in the article were beautiful, and I’d be interested to hear how the designs were chosen for the specific theaters. Obviously, fire is a big problem, but it seems that alternative fire suppression methods are now being used because we know asbestos is a carcinogen. The last thing this article made me think about is how much asbestos people had all over. Just like lead, it does stuff really well, but it’s dangerous at the same time.
8 comments:
This was a really fascinating article about the use of asbestos in both the theatrical realm as well as the excerpt from a 1913 magazine article which raves about the usefulness and practicality of using asbestos in nearly every room in the house. Though I had been aware of the use of asbestos in theatres for fire curtains I had not been previously aware of how innately decorated some of these curtains could be. I was really blown away by the magazine article which detailed all the practical uses and the frequency of contact that was potentially possible with this material. I had more of a concept of the use of asbestos as insulation material lining pipes but the potential use of it in the kitchen in particular is a bit jarring given the information we have today about the material. Whenever I come across information of the use of hazardous material before the testing and widespread understanding of the effects they could have I can’t help but think about some of the popularized materials and technology we’re using today that could potentially have negative effects in the future that isn’t clear to us as we use it and relish the convenience we enjoy from it.
It seems that, almost always in our industry, solving one problem creates another. The widespread use of asbestos offset the immediate issue of deaths from theater fires, but created the long term issue of lung damage and disease. Obviously no one knew it at the time, or it would have not been implemented as widely as this article indicates. That said, prior to improved fire prevention and retardancy techniques, the dangers of asbestos may have been preferable to the alternative. On the other hand, as an article posted on this site some time ago pointed out, deaths in theater fires were caused more by issues with venue capacity and egress. In any case, I had no idea that asbestos was once woven into house curtains; I can imagine that the curtains sloughed off asbestos for many decades, getting sucked into the lungs of stagehands. From what I have read, hazard mitigation is a major obstacle in the revitalization of old/abandoned venues--they are all chock full of asbestos and lead.
Another wildly fascinating and historically informative article from Tales of a Scenic Artist and Scholar. This magazine snippet is very revealing of how capitalistic society is. A fireproof material was created and it worked really well so people started mass producing it and advertising to everyone without further investigation. I am not at all surprised that this fiber was discovered, manufactured into products, and then sold on a massive scale without any testing of negative effects of the materials, because that would slow down the production of profit from this very successful product. It always fascinates me to read ads like this one that give so many tips and tricks for a versatile product, because the author has obviously thought about the use of asbestos sheeting very thoroughly. Reading the 1913 article now knowing how dangerous asbestos is interesting and it makes me wonder how all of the people that took these suggestions for asbestos household uses reacted after discovering the dangers of asbestos. Also, the painted fire curtains are fascinating to me, and what the justification was for having a painted fire curtain, as that seems kind of useless to me.
This is a really interesting article that I think shows a lot about how far we have come as a society. Asbestos was so widely used in almost every facet of life before it was realized that it caused mesothelioma and other threatening illnesses. I remember when I was younger, a lot of the schools in my town were old buildings and all had asbestos in them in some fashion. One of them had it under the carpets and another had it as insulation for the pipes. It was a great material that provided for so many different uses. To date, I often hear that there has not been as good of a replacement since we stopped using it. It is interesting because we have had to work around this problem in so many aspects of day to day living, but we still are not quite there according to a lot of people. I am not sure how fire curtains have progressed, but it is interesting to see industries find replacements for this once very important product.
Old fire curtains contain fascinating histories. The Temple theatre in Rochester NY is now the Auditorium theatre which hosts touring Broadway shows. While I have been to and worked many shows in that venue, I have never actually seen the fire curtain down. I would imagine that it has been updated since originally being installed in the space, but I don’t know. I grew up around Asbestos. It covered the pipes in my Elementary, Middle and High Schools. Even in the Kindergarten building and after school buildings I went to. It was everywhere. Old buildings are architectural wonders. But if you want to own and renovate one, I hope you have deep pockets. Things like lead (which is also found in stained glass windows) and asbestos are everywhere and abatement is costly. It’s still good for fireproofing and insulation purposes, but because of overzealous injury attorneys, the product has gotten a bad rap. It’s only dangerous if you breathe the fibers and with the correct PPE, you can work with the product without harm. The issue that these injury lawyers never discuss in those late night ads is that it is not the product but rather the way the company using the product operated. There would be far less cases of cancer and a more widespread use of the product still today if only companies cared more about people than profit and required use of PPE and other protection.
Before this article, I wasn't aware that asbestos was used so heavy not only in the greater world but in fire curtains specifically. The earlier comment that highlights the idea that to fix one thing you often end up with other unforeseen problems resonated with me not only as a statement about this article but about life in general. I like solving problems in new and creative ways but that can often similarly bring about unknowable side effects. I've really only had one encounter with asbestos. It was at a high school in Austin where I was attending a competition. I remember us reading the signs around the school that said caution asbestos and the reactions of the teachers versus the students were vast. We were more interested in it for its novelty rather than as a warning for our safety. As asbestos has been stripped from buildings people have become increasingly aware of its volatility however I feel for some of our generation asbestos was already mainly an over issue by the time we were old enough to have a grasp on what it was. The attitudes towards the substance are greatly varied depending on the age of the person and our teachers all wearing respirators around the school definitely demonstrated that.
Like the article says, now we see the word Asbestos and our eyes grow two sizes bigger. But in reality Asbestos used to be very popular, until we discovered the affects is has on the human body. The humanities Department in my undergrad, was built long, long time ago in 1903, all the buildings had asbestos innerlays in order to make them Safer, all the building were also fallout shelters, but that’s a whole other discussion. It was believed that as long the asbestos is encapsulated it wasn’t harmful to the students and people in the rooms. So, we kept on using them. Throughout my four years there, some buildings had to go under renovations because they were falling apart and the asbestos was ‘leaking” out. Nowadays, similarly to asbestos, the silica mineral found in sand is proven to have harmful reactions in the body. Because of this, new OSHA policies are being developed.
I haven’t seen a lot of theater outside Baltimore, but these asbestos curtains sound absolutely fascinating. I hadn’t even heard of beautiful murals and asbestos fire curtains until Kevin mentioned them in class. Thinking about the protocol of having it down until 15 minutes or so before the show must be fascinating for the performance experience. Theatergoers who show up fashionably early experience a static mural, unrelated to the specific play every single time they go. I’d be curious of that affects their perception of the set and the play even subconsciously. The photos of the curtains in the article were beautiful, and I’d be interested to hear how the designs were chosen for the specific theaters. Obviously, fire is a big problem, but it seems that alternative fire suppression methods are now being used because we know asbestos is a carcinogen. The last thing this article made me think about is how much asbestos people had all over. Just like lead, it does stuff really well, but it’s dangerous at the same time.
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