Part 1

SECRETS OF SCENE PAINTING AND STAGE EFFECTS

[Illustration:

THE OLD GLOBE (OR ATLAS?) THEATRE BANKSIDE.

THE MEETING OF SHAKESPEARE WITH THE BURBAGES, FATHER AND SON. ]

SECRETS OF SCENE PAINTING AND STAGE EFFECTS

BY VAN DYKE BROWNE

FULLY ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR AND BLACK AND WHITE

_SEVENTH EDITION_

LONDON GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, LIMITED NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.

_Printed in Great Britain by_ MACKAYS LIMITED, CHATHAM

SECRETS OF SCENE PAINTING AND STAGE EFFECTS

The idea of dramatic representation is to produce the impression of reality, and the value of such representation is in direct measure with the force of such impression. In this connection stage scenery and effects are of the utmost importance. When properly used, they add tremendously to the realism of dramatic representation. We see this clearly proved in London to-day at such theatres as Drury Lane and His Majesty’s. The success of the big productions at those theatres depends almost, if not quite, as much upon the quality of the scenery and effects as upon that of the plays performed or of the actors and actresses engaged. This is shown by the views expressed by the dramatic critics and the public generally. Perhaps the production at Drury Lane is a strong melodrama. What is most discussed in connection with that production? Almost always some big and novel effect, such as the representation of a race between aeroplanes or a battle between submarines. Again, in the case of a Shakespearean production at His Majesty’s, the talk in the green-rooms and at the dinner-tables of London is often more of the scenic beauty of the production than of the achievements of the actors and actresses, and the talk of the ‘man in the street’ follows the same lines.

The ancient Greeks and Romans were very fond of the drama and have left us some great plays, but they did not realise the value of scenery; indeed, very often their performances were given without scenery of any sort. The drama of the Romans, like most other manifestations of their civilisation, was based on that of the Greeks. The greatest of the Greeks as playwright and producer was Æschylus, who flourished about 500 B.C. There appears to be little doubt that it was he who first introduced scenery in connection with dramatic representations. To him, too, the credit is due of having erected the first permanent theatre. Previously, the dramatic performances of the Greeks had always been given in the open air.

The scenery used by Æschylus was stationary scenery; indeed, it was not until more than 2000 years after his period that movable scenery was first introduced. There has been much discussion as to the actual date when this took place. Some students of the Elizabethan drama have asserted that movable scenery was used by Shakespeare and his contemporaries; but the proofs of this are not at all definite. The general consensus of opinion is to the effect that Davenant, the English playwright, was the first to apply this novelty. At any rate, there is convincing evidence that in or about the year 1662 he produced a play with the accompaniment of movable scenery. Probably this scenery was very clumsily contrived, but it embodied the principle on which the cleverest effects of the present day are based.

And how clever some of those effects are! It is worth the while of anybody at all interested in theatrical matters to inspect the scenery arrangements at an up-to-date theatre. At every turn he will find something to wonder at and admire. Quite recently at one of the London theatres there has been installed a new electrically driven equipment for raising and lowering cloths, sky borders, curtains, and for setting ceilings, etc. It has proved a great success. Wire is used instead of the old hempen ropes, and this is an enormous advantage from the fire-risk point of view. Further, it has enabled the number of stage hands to be reduced. The equipment works with far less noise than the ordinary hand system, and much more quickly and certainly. It seems quite likely that before long this electric-power system will be the one adopted at all the big theatres, but for the smaller theatres, and certainly for the halls at which amateur companies usually give their performances, the old system will continue to be used.

There have been a number of books issued during recent years on the subject of Scene Painting and Stage Effects. I have read all of them, but have come to the conclusion that none effectively covers the ground. Some of these books are evidently produced as advertisements of dealers in paint for scenic purposes. Those dealers doubtless know much about the making and mixing of paints, but it does not follow that they are acquainted with the art of placing the paint on canvas, any more than it follows that a maker of pens or paper is a literary man. Others of these books are far too technical, both as regards matter and style. The perusal of them cannot possibly be of much assistance to the amateur in scenic painting, however intelligent he may be. It almost seems as if the authors did not really wish to impart information, but only to publish a book showing their own intimate knowledge of abstruse terms and definitions.

I think the present book will be found to be free from the faults to which I have just referred. It is not an advertisement of any man’s goods; it has been kept as free as possible from technical difficulties; and it is an honest endeavour to cover the ground with which it deals. The book includes within its scope the whole art of scene painting. It deals with the problem of perspective in as clear and simple a way as possible. It gives designs of typical scenes and of the furniture appropriate to such scenes. Further, it contains much useful information as to stage building—from a platform for a drawing-room entertainment or a fit-up tour to an elaborate permanent structure. In addition to all this it describes in detail the working of scenery, including curtains, full scene sets, a chamber set, etc.

The need for such a book is evident. Every town of any size has its amateur dramatic society, and in the big towns and cities those societies are to be counted by the dozen. Amateurs quite rightly pride themselves on doing as much as possible in connection with the performances they give; they make their own costumes and even sometimes write their own plays. Now they will be able to paint their own scenery. In the case of almost every amateur dramatic society, there is at least one member who has some knowledge of the art of painting. With the aid of the advice and information given in this book he will be able to apply that knowledge for scenic purposes. Without such advice and information, however clever a painter he may be, he could not so apply it. There is a world of difference between painting a picture to hang on the wall of a gallery or a drawing-room and to be inspected at short range, and in painting a scene to form the background of a stage and to convey a bold and definite effect to hundreds or thousands of people inspecting it from all parts of a big hall or theatre.

In this connection I may mention a performance which I witnessed in the provinces recently. It was given by a local amateur society. The play was a good one, and the acting was good, but the scenery was lamentably poor! It had been painted by two talented artists, both of whom have several times exhibited at the Royal Academy, but they had failed entirely to get the effects at which they had aimed. Looked at from a few yards’ distance, the scenes were simply a blur of paint; yet, when I went round after the performance and inspected them closely, I found that as ‘pictures’ they were admirable productions. That is the difference in a nutshell—a scene may be and should be picturesque, but it is not a ‘picture’ in the Royal Academy sense of the word. At other amateur performances I have seen various shifts resorted to. The background of the stage has been covered by ordinary wall-paper and hung with ordinary pictures. The effect has never been what was intended. The play produced may have been a comic one, but, in my case at any rate, quite as much laughter was excited by the faulty scenic effects as by the jokes uttered by the actors.

As a matter of fact, there are very few working scenic artists; the profession may quite fairly be termed a close corporation. The artists realise that so long as their number is few, their individual receipts will be high. Instead of welcoming any addition to their ranks, they do their best to keep others out. To go to one of these scenic artists for information as to his profession is simply to waste time. I heard a story the other day of a man who knew something about the business, and who wanted to learn the more intimate secrets. He obtained the acquaintanceship of a skilled scenic artist and did his best to extract those secrets from him. He failed utterly. He even went to the extent one night of deliberately making the artist drunk, or nearly so, in the hope that then the man would talk. The man did talk, but none of his talk was about his art. Although not master of his faculties, he still had the sense to know that he must not impart any information about his art. He talked about his wife, his mother-in-law, and many other interesting subjects, but not a word fell from his lips as to scene painting or stage effects.

Some dealers sell paper scenes, which to some extent supply the need felt by amateur societies—but only to some extent. The scenes are usually of miniature size and are inadequate for large stages; besides, the mounting of them on canvas is a difficult and expensive task, and even when it is performed the result is often imperfect, for paper soon crumples up on a canvas background. The best thing is for the amateur to do his own work if possible. This book will make it possible. All the various points are dealt with. The reader will learn as to the right sort of canvas, the right sort of glue, and the right sort of brushes. Valuable hints will also be found as to scenic artists’ frames, the stretching of canvas, the use of pulleys to pull up canvas, stencilling, and many more necessary matters. Exact diagrams as to all these are given. The pages dealing with the construction of a platform will be found very useful. On how many occasions is not such a platform wanted! There is the need for one, not only for the purpose of dramatic representations but also for concerts and various social functions.

The book deals very fully with stage effects. The reader will learn the best and simplest ways of producing the effects of rain, snow, hail, thunder, galloping of horses, etc. Occasions for the use of these occur in very many plays performed by amateurs. The realism of such effects is very great if they are produced properly. The truth of this may be proved at any of the cinematograph theatres; the impression of the pictures is again and again intensified by some effect worked behind the curtains. Stage lighting is also adequately dealt with in the book. This section will be useful to many amateur societies. It is not sufficient to have the right sort of limes—there must also be a full knowledge of the best way of working those limes. That knowledge will be obtained from a careful study of the section in question.

Every endeavour has been made to illustrate the book in the best possible manner. The plates showing typical scenes will assist the amateur scenic artist very considerably. The diagrams as to perspective have been made as simple as possible, with due regard to the necessity of their illustrating the accompanying letterpress adequately. Indeed, the whole note of the book is the coupling of simplicity and efficiency.

PREPARATION

The professional scene painter requires a very large room for his work, and it must be so situated that there is a large space below the room and an equal amount of space above it. This arrangement is necessary because, with one exception—to which I will presently refer—the scenery is painted from the top downwards, and as the scene painter finds it convenient to stand on the floor of the room while he is at work, it follows that the canvas must first be dropped through a slit in the floor. It is then hauled up to a convenient height, and when all the part which the painter can reach is covered, it is drawn upwards, so that another blank piece of canvas faces the painter. By the time the lowest part of the canvas is in place, the top is therefore well out of the painter’s reach.

If the amateur scene painter can arrange an outhouse in this way, he will facilitate his work, but if the scenery is not very large, he can work fairly well on the canvas if he spreads it out on the floor. In that case he will first roll up the canvas and then unroll a portion of it. After he has covered that he will unroll some more, and will continue the process until he has covered all the canvas. In some cases, however, the scene painter will find that the more convenient method is to suspend the canvas in some way with ropes and pulleys.

[Illustration: [Stage]]

The exception to this customary plan of working to which I have alluded, is when the painter has to produce a street scene on a back cloth or some scene in which the artist’s knowledge of perspective comes into play. For a scene of that description it is best to begin in the middle of the canvas. The necessity for this plan will be appreciated when the chapter on perspective has been studied. A street scene is, perhaps, the most difficult of all scene painting to do well, because if the perspective is not right the effect will be not at all what is required; the houses depicted in the scene will appear to be in danger of toppling over, and the whole effect will be grotesque.

MATERIALS

All scenery is painted on ordinary flax canvas which, in the first case, is only a yard wide. Strips of the canvas are sewn together to make a large sheet. The amount of preliminary work required may be judged from the fact that a full-sized ‘frame’ for a theatre measures 60 feet across by 45 feet in height.

The canvas is joined together in a special way, so that the joins may not be seen and a perfectly flat surface may be presented. The simplest way to learn this process is to take two sheets of paper and set to work in the following way:—

Lay half a sheet of note-paper on the top of another, so that the under one projects about an inch beyond the upper; paste along both edges of the papers and then fold the top paper over the bottom paper, but before doing so push it up about a quarter of an inch, so that it adheres to the bottom paper. The two papers will then be held together firmly and the surface will be practically flat.

[Illustration: [Framework]]

After the required area of canvas has been decided on, it must be mounted and stretched according to the purpose for which it is required. In dealing with a back cloth, cut cloth, or act drop, the canvas is merely stretched tightly across the batten and nailed at intervals, it thus hangs loosely below; the surplus material, if properly dealt with, drops through a slit in the floor as before mentioned.

[Illustration: [Framework]]

In the case, however, of wings and other moveable pieces a proper wood framework is required, as shown in many of our illustrations. On this framework the canvas should be stretched as taut as possible, which can be done either by tacking the bottom and then pulling the canvas over the top batten with the hands while an assistant nails it, or, by using the special pincers shown in the accompanying illustration. These pincers have a long gripping surface with a toothed surface, one set of corrugations fitting into the other. Naturally this grip cannot slip when the pincers are closed, and a great purchase can be obtained, which makes satisfactory stretching a practical certainty.

When the canvas—which, by the way, costs about eighteenpence a yard—has been joined and framed up it is ready for ‘priming.’ The effect of this process is to give it a white surface to which the paint will adhere. ‘Priming’ is made by dissolving whitening in water and adding size. The usual plan is to use about half a bucket of water. Whitening is placed in this, and after it has been soaked till it is fairly soft the surplus water is poured away. The bucket is then filled up with melting size and is well stirred up. It is necessary to be careful about the quantity of size, because if too little is used the paint that is afterwards put on the canvas will come off when it is rubbed; thus, if a back cloth is painted and rolled up, the labour will be wasted.

BRUSHES

When the ‘priming’ has been made the canvas is spread out and the painter is ready to begin the first part of the work.

This is a convenient point at which to describe the brushes required by the scenic artist. He should provide himself with the ordinary painter’s sash tools, and it is as well to have them in all sizes, from No. 1 to No. 12. The latter is about an inch and a half across. The brushes are not perfectly round. It is also as well to have a brush with a long handle for use when painting foliage.

[Illustration: Nº 1 PROCESS]

The ‘priming’ is applied with what is technically known as a ‘double-tie’ brush; it is merely an ordinary whitewash brush. A brush of a similar kind but half the width—known as a ‘single-tie’ brush—is also needed for painting tree trunks and other large surfaces.

After the ‘priming’ has been applied the canvas must be left to dry thoroughly before it is used. While our canvas is in this state we may well turn our attention to the paints.

THE PAINTS

The scene painter’s colours are known technically as ‘distemper colours.’ They are bought in the form of powder, and the only preparation they require is the admixture of water. The usual proportion is one pound of colour to a pint of water, but some colours will ‘take’ more water than others; thus, ivory black requires more water than vermilion. The powder is merely stirred up until it dissolves, but each pot of paint will require an occasional stirring while it is being used. The painter will also require a small pail of water for ‘letting down’ his colour and a half pail of dissolved size for mixing in before applying the paint and thus causing it to adhere to the canvas, otherwise the paint on drying would fly off in a powder. The artist will also need some sticks of charcoal.

PAINTING THE CANVAS

The first step towards converting the canvas into scenery is to sketch out a rough design on the canvas with a stick of charcoal, but before this is done it may be as well to make a design of the scene required on paper. With this copy before him the amateur can go to work with his charcoal. If he is going to paint a tree it will be as well to have a stick of charcoal fastened to a long stick.

[Illustration: Nº 2 PROCESS]

[Illustration: Nº 3 PROCESS]

No words can tell the artist exactly what colours he should use, for everything depends on the mixture of the colours. The best plan for learning this part of the work is to get an old piece of scenery and try to copy it. At the same time the learner should make a note of the colours that have been used to produce such effect. The artist must remember that the effect he has to produce must not be that which he sees himself, but that which the scenery will present when it is hung up and shown by artificial lights.

In the painting of a tree or any outdoor scene the artist is sure to want to produce the effect of sunlight and shadow. The former is generally produced by painting with a mixture of yellow ochre and chrome yellow. The effect of shadow is produced by painting with a mixture of crimson lake, Prussian blue, and a very little ivory black. When this mixture is made and applied, the artist will probably imagine that it contains far too much crimson, but when the scene is lit by artificial light this effect is subdued. Nevertheless, one often does see a shadow effect on a stage in which far too much crimson has been used.

The exact proportions of these mixtures and the various shades needed to paint a tree can be determined only by experience.

The artist may have to paint over a scene three times. He will always have to do it twice, but the first coat is very light, merely a sketching in of the outlines made by the charcoal.

After a tree has been painted, the foliage must be cut out very carefully. When the scene is finished and the leaves and branches have been cut out, this part of the scene is laid out flat with the painted side to the floor and a piece of fine black gauze is pasted at the back of it. This has the effect of holding out the foliage; without the gauze at the back of it the foliage would fall ‘in a heap’ at all the places where it had been cut. The black gauze is not seen ‘from the front’ when the lights are on the stage.

The painting of a fence for an outdoor scene is simple enough. After the fence has been painted, the canvas is pasted to one or more other pieces to stiffen it and the parts of the canvas not painted are then cut out with an ordinary saw. The painted fence is then stiff.

Having produced his piece of scenery the amateur is strongly advised not to neglect one important precaution, and that is to paint the back of the canvas with a fireproof solution. It is now a rule at all theatres and music halls throughout the country that all scenery and properties must be fireproofed. Things prepared in this way do not readily catch alight: when heat is applied they only smoulder; they do not burst into flames. Many a theatre fire has been stopped at the outset through one of the ‘props’ having been fireproofed.

BROAD EFFECTS