CHAPTER II.

SOME REMARKABLE STAGES, ANCIENT AND MODERN. AN ELECTRIC CURTAIN. We present an engraving of the electric drop scene of the Comédie Française, at Paris. The curtain is held by five ropes, _a_, which pass over pulleys, _o_, at the upper part, and wind round a wooden drum, B, to which motion is given in one direction or the other in order to cause the curtain to rise or descend. Such motion is obtained by the aid of a belt connected with an electrical shunt motor, F; a counterpoise, D, held by a rope which passes around a drum, assures an equilibrium at every point. It is an easy matter to maneuver the curtain by means of the motor, the curtain being raised as required. Three different velocities in descent and two in ascent are obtained. The maximum velocity of descent is five feet per second, the medium is three feet six inches, and minimum is three feet five inches. The velocities of ascent are respectively two and one-half and three and one-half feet per second. This was, we believe, the pioneer of all theater curtains which were worked by electricity. There have been many since. [Illustration: ELECTRIC DROP SCENE OF THE COMÉDIE FRANÇAISE.] THE FAN-DROP CURTAIN. In Japanese ballets a large fan is sometimes used in place of a drop curtain, and in some of the Paris _cafés_ a fan is also used, as this enables them to make evasion of the law relating to theatrical performances. We present an engraving showing the fan at the Paris Opera House, in a ballet called “_Le Rêve_” (The Dream). It scarcely differs in principle from an ordinary fan, but the sticks are twenty-three feet in length; that is to say, two stories high. There are in all ten sticks that revolve around the same axis (letter K in our second engraving). They are connected by strips of canvas of the same width. The two extreme sticks, A and B, and the two center ones, C and D, are prolonged beneath the axis of rotation. It is these four sticks only that are acted upon in order to open and close the fan. Others participate in their motion through arcs of iron which connect one with the other. The maneuvering apparatus is readily understood by reference to our engraving, the ropes from the four working sticks of the fan running over windlasses. The fan is arranged in advance under the stage. In the middle of the first act it is mounted vertically, all closed, upon the stage, behind the streamer which completely hides the maneuver. The fan is manipulated by two men, one at each windlass; moreover, the work is facilitated by the use of cables, provided with counterpoises, which are hooked above to the four principal sticks and pass over guide pulleys placed in a semicircle. The cables are concealed behind a decoration representing foliage which hides the edges of the fan. [Illustration: FIG. 1.--VIEW OF THE FAN AT THE PARIS OPERA HOUSE.] [Illustration: FIG. 2.--APPARATUS FOR MANEUVERING THE FAN.] AN ELEVATOR THEATER STAGE. We present an engraving of the theater stage of the Madison Square Theater, New York City, which shows a remarkable advance in stage management. The first movable stage is probably that which the late Steele Mackaye patented in 1869. The details of Mackaye’s patent were not completely worked out, but this was done by Mr. Nelson Waldron, the stage machinist, who elaborated the system and obtained a patent on it. The stage in the theater we refer to is moved up and down in the same manner as an elevator car, and is operated so that either of its divisions can be easily and quickly brought to the proper level in front of the auditorium. This enables the stage hands to get one scene ready while the other one is in view of the audience. The shaft through which the huge elevator moves up and down measures one hundred and fourteen feet from the roof to the bottom. The stages are moved up and down in a compact, two-floored structure of timber strapped with iron, and knitted together with truss-beams above and below, and substantially bound by tie and tension rods. The whole construction is fifty-five feet high and twenty-two feet wide and thirty-one feet deep, and weighs about forty-eight tons. A vertical movement of the structure or car is twenty-five feet two inches at each change. The car is suspended at each corner by two steel cables, each of which would be capable of supporting the entire structure. These cables pass upward over sheaves or pulleys set at different angles, and thence downward to a saddle to which they are all connected. Secured to this saddle is a hoisting cable attached to a hoisting drum, by the rotation of which the stage is raised or lowered. Only about forty seconds are required to raise or lower the stage in position, and the entire structure is moved by four men at the winch. The movement is effected without sound, jar, or vibration, owing to the balancing of the stage and its weight with counterweights, which are suspended from the saddle to which the cables supporting the stage are attached. The borders and border lights are supplied to each of the movable stages, and each stage has its own trap floor, with traps and guides and windlasses for raising the traps. The space for operating the windlass under the top stage is about six feet. Our illustration shows that while the play is proceeding before the audience, the stage hands are setting the scene on the stage above. [Illustration: STAGE OF THE MADISON SQUARE THEATER, NEW YORK CITY.] SOME REMARKABLE AMERICAN STAGE INVENTIONS. The fact that there have been many important and brilliant inventions relating to stages made by Americans has been overlooked, and nearly all of the literature of the subject does not consider them at all. This is probably owing to the fact that in many cases the inventions have been planned out on so large a scale they can hardly be used, and, unfortunately, they usually exist only on paper. Still, we cannot help but admire the genius of such men as Steele Mackaye, whose inventions in this line were most remarkable, and to whom we have already referred in reference to the elevator stage. We now purpose to describe one of the most gigantic affairs that was ever devised for obtaining scenic effects. It was intended for the “Spectatorium” at the World’s Fair at Chicago, in 1893. It will be remembered that the unfinished building was just outside the lower end of the Fair grounds. Unfortunately the scheme was not carried out. In brief, Mr. Mackaye’s idea was to increase realism in the performances, and, at the same time, lessen the time of the waits between the scenes. To this end he devised means for producing various scenic effects in imitation of natural or other scenery, with special reference to the proper presentation of important historical or other events, as, for instance, the discovery of America by Columbus or the burning of Rome by Nero. His arrangements permitted of the exhibition of various occurrences, either on land or water, in such a manner as to give the effect of the actual occurrence. Thus, near and distant moving objects were to be moved at different rates of speed for the production of perspective moving scenic effects. His invention consisted primarily of the combination of movable stages adapted to support and carry the scenic arrangements and properties or persons. The building might, of course, be of any desired form; a proscenium wall or arch was to be provided, and Mr. Mackaye devised an adjustable proscenium opening to meet the various requirements of the drama. Back of the proscenium arch was a series of stages which could be made in any desired shape and fitted to support and carry scenes, properties, or persons. They were provided with rollers or wheels and ran on tracks or floated on tanks. These stages, or cars, as they might be termed, were to be moved over a track which was really a segment of a circle. In order to save space the cars were so arranged that they would telescope. As already mentioned, the cars could be driven at any rate of speed; thus, where there were four concentric stages, the one the furthest away from the audience could be moved much slower than the one nearest the spectators. Electric motors and cables were to haul the moving stages over the curved tracks, or guideways. Ample facilities were to be provided for the use of vessels; the various tracks on which ran the scenic car being arranged so that they could be flooded without interfering with the moving of the scenes. Waves were to be produced by what was known as a “wave maker,” consisting of a plate pivoted to a reciprocating frame which works in guideways fitted within channel bars, which are secured to plates forming a canal connected with the curved water ways or channels. The wave plates were to be connected by a pitman rod to the crank wheel or shaft of an electric motor. When it was desired to give the effect of waves upon the surface of the water contained in the reservoir of the foundation floor of the scenic department which overspreads this department to sufficiently conceal the tracks in the water channel, the wave maker could be set in motion by the operator or prompter turning on the current to the motor. Channels, conduits, sluices, and gates were to be provided to cause the water to flow from one channel into another. The current was to be made by spiral blades or archimedean screws journaled in proper supports and geared to electric or other suitable motors. The rotary motion was to be imparted to the blades to force the water through the channel and thereby produce a current. Powerful electric fans were to be provided for the purpose of forming currents of air for producing the effect of a gale of wind blowing in either direction, and a motor in the dome over the scene would permit of the currents of air descending, ascending, or moving in a rotary course, so that the effect of a stiff gale, a hurricane, or a cyclone could be produced. The air could also be sent through flexible tubes, so that it could be guided in any desired direction. Mr. Mackaye had several other devices, also, for producing atmospheric effects upon the stage. What he termed “cloud creators,” or “nebulators,” consisted essentially of a cloud cloth having the cloud forms of shadows placed thereon and adapted to move in front of an illuminating lamp so as to cast the cloud shadows over the landscape or scenic arrangement, or produce the effect of moving clouds upon a sky foundation or other surface. The cloud cloth may consist of any suitable material, on which may be placed various cloud effects or forms, the cloth being secured to a sliding frame or fitted over rollers, so as to move in proximity to an illuminating coloring device, from which light may pass through the transparent or semi-transparent material on which the cloud effects or shadows are placed so as to cast the shadows upon the scenic arrangements or sky foundations, thereby imitating clouds moving through the sky, or cloud shadows moving over land and water. Rain was provided for by a series of perforated pipes connected with a water supply, so that a gentle rain or a hard shower could be produced. These pipes were to cross the stage, being secured to the fly galleries. The fog producer consisted of a trough containing lime. This trough, which was suspended from the fly galleries and the roof, was to be lowered into another tank, slacking the lime, and thus forming a fog, the wind-making permitting of the lifting or the dissipating of the fog. A whole series of the “nebulators,” “umbrators,” and fog and rain producers was arranged for, the patent drawings showing six. The audience could see nothing of the mechanism, as each was masked by borders. The scenes, with Mr. Mackaye’s system of lighting, could be painted in their natural color, the high lights not needing to be emphasized as in ordinary scene painting. Another curious invention is what Mr. Mackaye was pleased to term a “luxauleator.” It was a stage appliance which was intended to prevent the audience from witnessing the operations or movements of the actors behind the proscenium opening between the acts or when it was desired to shift or rearrange stage scenery. The invention consisted of a series of lights, set in backings or reflectors, placed in the form of a border or other suitable arrangement around the proscenium opening so as to throw the space in the rear of the opening into complete shade while flooding the other space, as the auditorium, in front of the opening, with rays of light, and so crossing each other and blending in such a manner as to intercept all sight of anything that may be placed or moved in the shaded portion of the stage. By this means the ordinary drop curtain may be dispensed with, and, at the same time, it renders it unnecessary to extinguish the light in the auditorium when removing or shifting stage scenery. This was tried in a model and was found to be satisfactory. In view of Mr. Mackaye’s remarkable invention, it can never be said that America is behind England and the Continent in the matter of stage business, and the inventions of Mackaye are representative ones of a whole class of American inventors, although their work was perhaps not so brilliant as his. Another interesting theatrical construction is that of Mr. Claude L. Hagen, the master machinist of the Fifth Avenue Theater, New York City. In brief, the invention provides for a building preferably of circular form, in the center of which is a circular pit or cistern provided with an entrance which may be used by carriages and persons on foot. This entrance is provided with a lock gate which can be closed, so that the cistern or pit can be filled with water for aquatic purposes. The pit can also be used for a circus ring, horse show, etc., or can be filled with chairs, or used for a standing audience or promenade; the center may be occupied by an electric fountain. From the edge of the pit rise the tiers of seats and boxes in a similar form to that of the Coliseum at Rome. The stage is designed to permit of a series of tableaux or pictures being built permanently, so that it will not be necessary to resort to the scene painter’s art to give light and shadow. There are no borders or overhead scenery, but the light is arranged to move in the same manner as the sun, surrounded with large cylinders of glass so covered as to cause the lights on the scenes to be the same as in nature. The proscenium opening is at one end of the circular building, and the circular stage surrounds the entire auditorium, revolving into the empty space underneath the tiers of seats and boxes. The space underneath the tracks in which the stage runs being used as an arcade, connection with the lower portion of the tiers is by means of stairways at the foot of each aisle, there being similar exits midway of the aisle, connected with drawbridges to the stairways on the exterior of the building. The top of the tiers of seats opens on to a wide promenade which connects with a roof garden or _café_ on the portion of the building over the stage, behind the proscenium aisle. Entrance to this promenade is made by means of endless traveling stairways which form parts of a broad stairway. The moving stairway in case of accident is automatically locked with and into the solid portion of the stairway, thereby forming an ample means of egress. The arrangement for the stage is of great interest, as the scenes can be built in the most elaborate manner, and the effect is, of course, far more realistic where real earth, trees, fences, etc., can be used. Where a piece is to have a long run, as a spectacular performance, this added realism will prove of great value, and the labor and time which is expended in preparing the stage for each performance will be saved; for at the termination of the scene the electric motors or other sources of power are put into motion, the entire stage is rotated, and the next scene is moved in front of the proscenium aisle. A portion of the revolving stage consists of a tank filled with water, so that marine scenes with ships and boats can be produced. For example: in case a drama of “Columbus” was to be produced, Columbus is discovered bidding his friends farewell on the shores of Spain; he then gets into his boat, and the stage is caused to slowly revolve, bringing into view his ship. The land then disappears from view, and this is succeeded by scenes of the voyage, storms, etc. Then the floating branch of the tree is discovered; then the coast of America appears; then the disembarkment takes place; and this is followed by the journey into the interior. Of course, the movement of the stage can be reversed, and the return journey made. The circular stage platform can at any time be cleared of all its appurtenances, and the stage can be used as a race track, being caused to move in a direction opposite to that in which the horses run, and at such a speed as to keep the horses in view through the proscenium opening. Thus, the whole course of a steeple chase, a hurdle or other race, or even a fox hunt, can be shown to an audience, with the fences, walls, waterways, and other scenery moving in the most natural manner. The whole plan seems to have great flexibility, and it is to be hoped that at some time one of these interesting buildings will be built. A REVOLVING STAGE. For some years past the public has been demanding more and more realistic representations of plays. Managers have found great difficulty in satisfying this demand, owing to the time required to set elaborate scenery. The public will not stand long waits, which are often sufficient to cause the failure of a play or opera. These delays are bad enough between the acts, but in plays or operas which necessitate changes of scene during the acts, the waits become well nigh unbearable; and many of the works of Schiller, Goethe, and Shakespeare become well nigh monstrosities, as many of them are divided into interminable acts and scenes. This difficulty has been sometimes avoided by the use of an elevating stage such as we have just described, or by the so-called “Shakespeare stage,” in which the front part of the stage remains unchanged, while on the raised rear stage different scenes succeed one another. This is regarded as eminently unsatisfactory. Baron von Perfall, manager of the Munich Theater, published a book setting forth his ideas in regard to the thorough transformation of the stage as it then existed. The manager of the royal stage in Munich made a practical and successful test of the invention of Herr Lautenschlager, the mechanical director of the Royal Theater of Bavaria. The revolving stage was used in a representation of Mozart’s “Don Juan.” When the nature of the invention first became known, many people associated it with a device used on Japanese stages, which consists of a revolving platform in the center of the stage, a similar device being employed in America and England for displaying “living pictures;” but this arrangement has only a superficial resemblance to the revolving stage we are considering. The arrangement used at the Court Theater at Munich is essentially as follows: [Illustration: CHANGE FROM THE THIRD TO THE FOURTH SCENE OF THE FIRST ACT OF “DON JUAN.”] On the ordinary stage floor is placed a revolving disk, or platform, which raises the floor slightly. This circular platform is fifty-two feet five inches in diameter, and presents not quite a quarter of a circle to the proscenium opening, which is thirty-two feet nine inches wide. It turns on rollers that run on a circular track; the revolving mechanism is driven by electricity. If a scene is set on the quarter circle presented to the audience--perhaps a closed room of considerable depth--something similar can be arranged on the opposite side of the platform which opens to the rear of the stage, as well as on the other quarters, so that four different scenes are set on the stage at the same time. For a play of four acts, requiring a different setting for each act, all four scenes can be prepared beforehand, and at the end of the first act the stage is turned a quarter of a circle (which requires about ten or eleven seconds), and the scene desired for the next act is presented to the audience; and so on at the end of each act. In case three changes were required in one act, after the portion of the stage occupied by the first scene had been turned away from the audience, it would be cleared and set for the first scene of the next act. The scenes need not be limited to representations of closed rooms; any desired scene can be set on the turning stage, and, if necessary, the whole stage can be used the same as any ordinary stage. Difficulties will occur only when two scenes requiring great depth--for instance, two landscapes with distant views--follow one another. But Herr Lautenschlager has shown that even these difficulties can be overcome by setting the scene along the radius of the circular stage so that the portion used decreases considerably toward the rear, and in this way he gains the entire depth of the stage for another scene. Much more of the artistic element enters into the setting of a stage of this kind than of a stage that is set on straight lines. The reader will understand the above after an examination of the accompanying plans, which show the stage set for the third and fourth scenes of the first act of “Don Juan.” The third scene shows Don Juan’s garden, in which the peasants invited to the _fête_ gather and the maskers meet. This is changed to the hall in which the first act closes. As shown by the plan, considerable depth was required for this scene. Our large illustration shows how this change is accomplished, or how it would appear if darkness did not prevail when the stage was being turned. Before the garden had completely disappeared, a portion of the hall would be visible, with all the life and motion, the dancers, and the gaily dressed crowd of guests. [Illustration: PLAN SHOWING THIRD AND FOURTH SCENES OF FIRST ACT.] The “under machinery”--the traps, chariots, bridges, etc.--are worked in various ways, and they are as accessible and as easily managed as in the ordinary stage. The overhead work is about the same as in any other modern iron theater. A stage of this kind, constructed of iron, and equipped with electrical driving devices, would meet the most exacting requirements of the present age. The success of Herr Lautenschlager’s plan in the Munich Theater gives ground for the hope that it will soon be adopted in other theaters. The inventor of this stage, Karl Lautenschlager, was thoroughly educated as an engineer, and has had so much experience in the management of the mechanical devices of different theatres that he is admirably fitted to plan a thoroughly practical stage which meets the entire approval of those interested in “stage reform.” A revolving stage was patented by an American, Mr. Charles A. Needham, in 1883. It certainly seems to contain the germ of Herr Lautenschlager’s invention. A Mexican, J. Herrera y Gutierrez, of the City of Mexico, invented in 1892 a theatrical arrangement in which the conditions of the revolving stage are reversed. In the center of a circular building were five auditoriums forming a circle which was capable of turning. The stages were rectangular and surrounded the auditoriums. A different scene was set upon each, and the auditoriums were turned, facing each scene in turn. THE “ASPHALEIA” STAGE. In some theaters there is a whole series of traps worked by hydraulic power. These traps are capable of raising a whole section of the stage if desired. In the so-called “Asphaleia” stage--in which each trap goes right across the stage and is divided into three parts, each of which rests on the plunger of a hydraulic press, so that it can be raised and lowered either independently or simultaneously with the rest of the traps in that division--the whole of the floor can be raised or lowered as desired. It will be readily seen that by this means a stage manager has at his disposal a very effective aid in setting a large scene. Each section of the floor of the stage can be fixed in an oblique position, and the traps can be arranged one after the other so as to form a succession of steps, bridges, balconies, or even a ship, in a moment, with perfect safety, and without previous preparation. The old clumsy timberwork set pieces and the building up of scenes is avoided, and the method of working is in many ways an ideal one, but, after all, does not seem to possess the flexibility of a series of divided bridges such as are used at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. The hydraulic traps permit of the easy representation of uneven ground, which strengthens the possibility of illusion and gives a chance for a far more picturesque arrangement than is permitted the plain ordinary stage. The trap arrangement of the “Asphaleia” stage should be regarded as something more than a mere arrangement of traps. In this theater it is arranged so that entire scenes can be raised and lowered through the slides simultaneously. It is possible to raise up from below the stage, in view of the audience, a complete scene representing a room. With these facilities the waits are very much shorter. The hydraulic stage of the Chicago Auditorium is a fine example of good hydraulic work. In the “Asphaleia” stage even the drop scenes are manipulated by hydraulic power from a central point. The fire curtain is also actuated by a hydraulic cylinder fixed to the middle of the fire curtain. Valves are provided in various parts of the stage, which permit of dropping the curtain. For detailed information concerning the splendid stages at Halle, Buda-Pesth, and Chicago, the reader is referred to Mr. E. O. Sachs’s series of articles on “Modern Theater Stages,” in “Engineering” for October 23d and November 13, 1896, and to his monumental books upon the same subject. [Illustration: THE “ASPHALEIA” STAGE, SHOWING HYDRAULIC TRAPS AND HORIZON.] In our engraving it will be noticed that the horizon is represented by a canvas background like a panorama. In the “Asphaleia” theater the back of the stage is much wider, as compared with the opening of the proscenium, than it is in ordinary theaters. Its whole area is surrounded by a continuous cloth scene, on which there is painted a sky called the horizon, which runs from the back of the stage and up each side for quite a distance. In order to produce the effect of an unbroken surface the corners are rounded off very carefully so that the eye of the spectator is not brought up by the wings. With this system it is no longer necessary to use so much rock and tree work, and it is quite possible to represent boundless plains or the illimitable expanse of the sea. This continuous horizon not only helps in the illusion, but it reaches so high up that borders are no longer needed. The horizon, like the canvas in a cyclorama, represents a uniformly illuminated surface, which gives the same impression as the sky. The horizon is carried by the rollers, and it may be painted so that at a moment’s notice the different aspects of the sky can be represented, from the deep blue of Italy to the mists and fogs of the North, and from the fleeciest clouds to a sky heavy with thunder. It is even possible to change the nature of the sky during the action of the play or opera. Another very important feature of the “Asphaleia” stage is the system of lighting; gas battens and footlights are dispensed with. In the “Asphaleia” theater there is a special arrangement of the proscenium; all the lighting is done from the side. There are many other interesting features of the “Asphaleia” stage, which is almost entirely fireproof, and tends not only to minimize the danger of fire, but also to insure the safety of the workmen and artists. This form of theater stage is, of course, expensive in its initial outlay, but it is much cheaper in its actual working. Opinions seem to be very much divided as to its merits; at any rate, it is a most interesting example of the most modern form of engineering talent being devoted to the building of a thoroughly scientific stage. M. Georges Moynet says in “_Trucs et Décors_,” from which we take our engraving, that the manipulation of the scenery at Buda-Pesth is very slow and that the cellar is very damp. We have just described the “direct ram” system of operating traps and bridges, but it will be readily seen that the space required for the rams is practically lost, so another system is sometimes used. This is called the “crane” system. In this the bridges and traps are maneuvered by wire ropes which are worked by hydraulic rams placed against the walls of the stage building. Some of these systems are very complicated, but the results are very satisfactory, and are said to be economical, doing away with much handwork, especially so in the day-time. The Court Theater at Wiesbaden possesses a very novel feature. The entire space occupied by the musicians is really a gigantic trap, the whole floor being raised or lowered by hydraulic power, noiselessly and in a moment. This device was installed by Herr Fritz Brandt, of the Berlin Court Theater. The idea of having an orchestra movable was to permit of the musicians playing at the bottom of the pit when the production of a Wagnerian opera was given, as Wagner believed that the musicians should be out of sight. He made arrangements at the theater at Bayreuth by which the orchestra is entirely concealed from view, the sound coming from the bottom of the deep orchestra well. At Wiesbaden, if a small operetta is to be given, the platform for the musicians is raised to the normal height. This arrangement is valuable in other ways, for in the case of a ball the platform may be run to any height. The hydraulic rams are powerful enough to raise the entire load of sixty-five musicians, so that if desired the orchestra can be see-sawed up and down according to the requirements of the score. The Lyceum Theater, New York City, is similarly equipped. A THEATER WITH TWO AUDITORIUMS. The people of New York City have the reputation of being the most tireless theater-goers in all America; a statement which is verified by the ever-increasing number of large and well-filled places of amusement. Of late years the growth of the popularity of the style of entertainments which are classed under the name of “vaudeville” has called into existence a special type of theater, which, in addition to the regulation stage and auditorium, includes special halls of entertainment, with lounging-rooms, _cafés_, etc., and, for use in the hot summer months, the inevitable roof garden. To judge from the nightly programme of a first-class house of this type, the excellence of the performance is measured, after its quality, by its length and variety. The more rapidly the various artists can make “their exits and their entrances,” the more concentrated amusement can be packed into any given hour of a “continuous performance.” [Illustration: A THEATER IN NEW YORK CITY WITH TWO AUDITORIUMS.] It was with a view to enlarging the stage capacity that the proprietor of Proctor’s Pleasure Palace, in New York City, resorted to the bold expedient which is shown in the illustration on page 284, from which it will be seen that a single stage is made to do duty for two separate auditoriums. The way in which this was accomplished will be seen by reference to the sectional diagram, which is taken longitudinally through the auditorium proper, the stage, and the new auditorium, which is known as the Palm Garden, being so named after the palms and tropical plants and vines with which it is decorated. The part of the diagram which includes the auditorium and the stage shows the construction of a typical summer theater of to-day--the _café_ in the basement and the roof garden being special features in a house of this kind--which introduces no new structural features of much consequence beyond a strengthening of the roof supports. Stripped of its galleries and scenery, a theater consists of two four-walled structures, the auditorium being about square in plan, and the stage floor about the same width as the auditorium, and half the depth. The walls of the stage are carried considerably higher than the roof of the auditorium, in order to accommodate the drop curtains, which are hung by ropes that pass over pulleys attached to what is known as the gridiron, a stout framework located near the roof of the scene loft. When the drop curtains are not in use they are raised clear of the proscenium, as the opening from the stage to the audience is called, and hang in parallel rows as shown in the diagram. Below the stage floor are shown the traps. Here, in the older theaters, were frequently located the dressing-rooms of the performers, though the more modern arrangement is to build them at the sides or the rear of the stage. In carrying out the idea of a double stage a hall was built immediately behind the theater proper, and a proscenium arch was cut through the rear wall of the stage, the floor of which was carried out into the hall and provided with the regulation footlights. The new proscenium was provided with its own curtain, and all that was then necessary was to paint the backs of the existing wings and drop curtains with scenery, and the doubling of the stage was complete. The original intention was to have three or four performances of such a character that they would not interfere with each other going on upon the stage at the same time, and during the summer months this was frequently done. Ordinarily, however, the curtain opening to the palm garden is kept lowered, and it is raised only during the intermissions, or when special acrobatic, gymnastic, or animal acts are in progress. A passageway leads from the auditorium to the palm garden, which are both accessible to the audience at all times. This is the first time that such an experiment as this has been tried, and its results will be watched with considerable interest. The effect as one looks through the stage may be judged from the larger engraving. [Illustration: SECTIONAL VIEW SHOWING THE STAGE AND THE TWO AUDITORIUMS.] CURIO’S PIVOTED THEATER. One of the most ingenious of the ancient theaters of which we have any record is that devised by Curio, which is described by Pliny. In the half century before Christ, a wealthy Roman citizen constructed a theater capable of holding eighty thousand persons. The stage of this theater was ornamented with three hundred and sixty columns, and between these columns there were in all three thousand statues. Curio not being able to do anything more magnificent, was, according to Pliny, obliged to substitute ingenuity for extravagance; he therefore constructed two large wooden theaters near each other, and they were so arranged that each could be revolved upon a pivot. In the morning plays were put upon the stages of each of the theaters, the latter being back to back. In the afternoon the theaters were all at once revolved so as to make them face each other, the people being carried with them. It was only necessary to connect the corners of the two theaters in order to have an amphitheater in which gladiatorial combats might be exhibited. [Illustration: SECTION OF CURIO’S PIVOTED THEATER.] [Illustration: PLAN OF CURIO’S PIVOTED THEATER.] It is rather extraordinary that the Romans should have allowed themselves to be carried around in this unstable machine. The theater, of course, was only for temporary use, but during the last day of the celebration, Curio was obliged to change the order of his magnificent entertainments, since the pivots became strained and out of true. The amphitheater form was therefore preserved. The mode in which these theaters were constructed has occupied the attention of several learned persons. The architects in the first century before Christ were accustomed to build wooden theaters; the first stone one was built in Rome by Pompey. It will be seen that the transformation due to Curio’s imagination might have been effected, as Pliny indicates, by a rotation around the pivots, P and Q, of the two great theaters, whose framework rested upon a series of small wheels movable on circular tracks. The stages, C and D, of the theaters were constructed of light framework, and were so arranged that they could be taken down and pushed back at C′ and D′, and thus allow the two theaters to revolve on their own axes so as to come face to face, while leaving between them only the space necessary for rotary motion. This space was then filled with light and movable pieces of framework, A and B, which formed on the ground floor vast doors for the entrance of the gladiators, and, in the story above, boxes for the magistrates. THE OLYMPIAN THEATER OF PALLADIO AT VICENZA.[14] [14] By Albert A. Hopkins. The oldest permanent theater in Europe, at least of those built since the time of the Romans, is the Olympian Theater at Vicenza, Italy, and it is the last of its race. Before considering this curious theater it would, perhaps, be well to glance for a moment at the history of the theater in ancient and modern times. In the old Greek Theatre the spectators were seated in a semicircle in front of a raised platform on which a fixed architectural screen was provided. The action took place upon this stage. The dramas of the Greeks and Romans were of the simplest kind, the dialogue being simple, rhythmical, and often intoned. The amphitheater, in which the seats rose in tiers, could accommodate a large number of spectators. A theater with a radius of three hundred feet could seat twenty thousand spectators. The best counterparts of the Greek theater are some of the concert halls which were built specially for oratorios and concerts. The Greeks fully understood that the facial expression of the actors was lost, the spectators being so far away from the scene of the action of the drama. They attempted to overcome these difficulties by requiring the actors to wear masks with strongly marked features, and to increase their height they were provided with high-heeled shoes. The opera glass in the modern theater has, of course, done away with all objections of this kind. The modern theater is the result of the blending of the old circular theater of the Greeks with the rectangular theater (so-called) of the Middle Ages. The earliest mediæval theaters in Italy and Spain consisted of courtyards with balconies which were impressed into the service, and plays were often performed in churches; but in France the climate was so bad that the tennis courts were used. The trouble with the tennis court was that, owing to the difficulty of roofing a large open space, the room could be only forty or fifty feet wide, and only six hundred to one thousand persons could see and hear to advantage. The accommodations had to be increased by tiers of boxes. The conch-like arrangement of classical times was soon found to be unfit for a spoken dialogue, which cannot be well heard more than seventy-five or eighty feet away, or the expression of the actors’ faces appreciated at a greater distance, so that the next improvement was the rounding off of the corners of the room and the multiplication of boxes, which were placed tier upon tier in the same manner as high office buildings are erected, to give increased accommodation, owing to the smallness and great value of some of our city blocks. In 1675 Fontana invented the horseshoe form of theater, which has not been departed from. In opera houses and lyric theaters the curve is elongated into an ellipse with the major axis towards the stage. In theaters for the spoken drama, where people must see and hear, the contrary process was necessary and the front boxes were brought near the stage. The introduction of painted movable scenery seems to have been due to Baldassare Peruzzi, who used it in 1508 in the production of “_La Calandra_,” which was played before Leo X. Further improvements led to the necessity of a recessed stage with a framing like that of a picture. Such is in brief the development of the modern theater. Palladio (1518-1580) was a native of Vicenza, a town in northern Italy, forty-two miles west of Venice. He was an architect of the first order, and it is difficult to mention any architect who exercised a greater influence on the men of his time as well as on those who succeeded him. He was an enthusiastic student of antiquity, and, fascinated by the stateliness and charm of the buildings of ancient Rome, he did not reflect that reproductions of these, even when they possessed great archæological accuracy, were often lifeless and unsuited to the uses of the sixteenth century. His writings and architectural work rendered it easy for those who came after him to reproduce buildings which were faultless in their details, but which were cramped, formal, and cold. The Certosa of Pavia would have been impossible in London, yet under the inspiration of Palladio, Sir Christopher Wren was enabled to construct in London the Cathedral of St. Paul, which would have done honor to the great Italian master himself. Palladio died before the theater at Vicenza was completed, and it was finished, though not altogether after the original design, by his pupil and fellow-citizen, Scamozzi. It was an attempt to reproduce the classic theaters of Greece and Rome, and his friends assisted him by sending designs of antique buildings to help him. It consists of an auditorium under an awning in the form of a semi-ellipse, it not being possible, from the narrowness of the situation, to use a semicircle. Its greater diameter is ninety-seven and one-half feet, and its lesser as far as the stage is fifty-seven and one-half feet. Fourteen ranges of seats for the spectators follow the curve of the ellipse. At the summit of these receding steps, or seats, is a corridor of the Corinthian order, which, from the narrowness of the ground, could not be detached from the outer wall at all places. Palladio therefore filled up the nine center and the three external columnations, where the statues touch the external wall, with pieces of statuary. The orchestra is five feet below the seats. The scene, which is sixty feet broad, is an architectural composition of two orders of the Corinthian style superimposed, which are surmounted in turn with a light and well-proportioned attic. On the stylobate of the second story are placed statues, and the inter-columnations are enriched with niches and statues. The panels of the attic are ornamented with reliefs of the “Labors of Hercules,” and the center panel over the largest of the three openings in the proscenium, which is arched, with a representation of an ancient hippodrome. Over the arch is the following inscription: “VIRTVTI AC GENIO OLYMPICORVM ACADEMIA THEATRVM HOC A FVNDAMENTIS EREXIT ANNO MDLXXXIIII. PALLADIO ARCHIT.” [Illustration: SCENE AT THE OLYMPIAN THEATER AT VICENZA.] In the lower order the middle interval has a high open arch, and the two others, on the side, have square openings through which are seen streets and squares of stately architecture, each ending in a triumphal arch. The position of the diverging avenues will be understood by reference to the plan. The magnificent palaces and private dwellings which are here portrayed furnish a very effective setting for the plays which were performed in the theater. Though the distance to the back of the theater is only forty feet, yet by skillful and ingenious perspective and foreshortening it appears to be four hundred feet distant. For this skillful and ingenious conceit, which is unclassical in spirit, we are indebted to Scamozzi. The exterior of the theater is by no means comparable to its internal beauty. It was built not at the expense of the government, but by some private Vicentine gentleman of the Olympic Academy. The theater was completed in 1586, and was inaugurated by the performance of the “_Œdipus Tyrannus_” of Sophocles. The general lines of the interior of the theater are noble and calm. The theater looks as well on paper as in reality, for, like so many of Palladio’s buildings built of brick and stucco, which are now in a dilapidated condition, it has an enduring shabbiness. It must be said that in this remarkable building Palladio conciliated the precepts of Vitruvius and the needs of a contemporaneous society. M. Eugène Müntz has expressed the conception of the theater when he said that it was a “mirage of a Paolo Veronese in architecture,” and indeed, with its profusion of statues and niches and columns, it does resemble the works of the great painter of Verona, who, in his great light-filled frescoes and canvases, crowds the space with monumental architecture, and fills the buildings with the well-dressed courtiers of Venice, until the whole becomes a gorgeous pageant. [Illustration: PLAN OF PALLADIO’S OLYMPIAN THEATER.]