Drypigment.net: During the spring of 1918, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “My fingers itch to get back on special scenery. This awful grind of stock scenery is and has been almost impossible.”
In 1918, many touring shows still contracted agreements that required theatres to provide stock scenery and props.
1 comment:
This is really fascinating. I did not know that in the 1800's there were companies that produced stock scenery and I don't recall my history books ever talking about the subject. I always thought that a venue produced their own and any traveling show would produce their own to travel with. I didn't realize that a touring company would have the venue create the scenic elements. Nowadays venues don't have any stock scenery if they are a roadhouse. They may have soft goods such as legs and borders, but not much beyond that and tours bring in everything. From a historical context it would be interesting to know more about when the transition occurred. It would also be interesting to see if any of these drops that were created by these scenic companies still exist anywhere in a preserved state or if they have all been since destroyed and disposed of. It is really interesting to see all of the pieces listed in the catalog. I wonder how many community theatres would benefit from a set of 37 pieces from one of these companies. I also wonder too how many plays in the lexicon of American Theatre could be performed using one of these stock sets.
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