Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1993 - 29

earliest crude form, elecuical switchboards put some arristic
conrrol in the hands of an operaror. A typical 1890s rouring
house serup included a prompt corner position which comained
switches ro comrol "duee colors in the foodights, five border
lights with three colors each, and at least three pockets on either
side, each capable of carrying ten incandescem lamps ... " 16 Most
early dimmer boards worked through a series of imerlocking
knobs and switches and, according ro a reporr in Electrical
World (27 March 1896: 252), they required some dexteriry on
the pan of the operaror:

When The Whole
WorldIs Watching
~

For instance, assum[e] that the thearre lighting is at full
brilliancy and it becomes desirable ro dim the side lights
and the lights in the body of the thearre leaving the footlights and the light in the flies burning, but not at full
brilliancy. Locking all of the levers imo the gang switch,
the larrer would be drawn forward umil the foodights
and the lights in the flies were dim enough. Bya quaner
turn of the handle comrolling them they would be left
behind, and the dimming of the rest of the lights could
be cominued at pleasure.
In addition ro preseming an operaror with a dangerous series of
exposed faceplates, most early dimmer systems worked through
elecrrical resistance which caused them ro overheat, and many
required ghost loads before they could fully dim ro black. But
elecrrical dimming systems were still an improvemem over the
old gas tables, the large wheel system which had conrrolled
gaslighting. Not only were elecrrical switchboards less clumsy
and more compact, but they were able ro provide true blackoutS, offering appealing new possibilities from a comrol and
design poim of view.
Despite the improvemems in comrol, the new incandescem
lamps were not immediately successful in inspiring new
approaches ro lighting design. The standard foodighting and
overhead barren positions from the gas lighting era were often
simply electrified and utilized in the same manner they always
had been. This lack of imagination in the placemem of elecrrical fixtures meam that most productions lit by early incandescent light seemed a litde brighter, bur not necessarily more
effective in their lighting. For an apparendy small gain in
brightness, theatre managers often had ro comend with the
inconvenience and expense of providing a dynamo to generate
power for the thearre. A thearre elecrrical pi am frequendy occupied an emire thearre basemem or a building next door, and it
might have ro be supplied with as much as four rons of fuel a
day to run the engines. Meanwhile cell[ral gas mains were still
readily available in most rowns, and gas companies were trying
ro remain competitive. In order ro render itself initially appealing, therefore, elecrrical incandescence had ro prove itself more
than JUSt a slighdy brighter alternative ro gaslight.
In this respect, eleCtricity's greatest challenge came from an
enrrenched "gas mell[ality" which not only dampened creative
sparks, but resisted change alrogether. Gaslighting had proven
viable for the berrer parr of a cemury, and open flame lighting
had been a parr of the theatre since it first moved indoors.
\X/hen the eleCtrician first arrived on the scene, he did not come
armed with revolutionary new dramatic ideas. In fact, the thearrical electrician was simply the gas man in differem overalls.
David Belasco's lighting chief, Louis Hanmann, apdy sLlmmarized the problem:
[Before electricity, the] man in charge of the illumination
was called the gas man. He was generally a plumber by
trade, and worked at it in the daytime, going ro the the-

Performance...
When the building code requires
fire venting over
your
theatre
space, how can
you comply and
still maintain
acoustical integrity? The Bileo
Acoustical Fire
Vent is designed
FMApproved
to provide the necRated STC-45
essary emergency
andOITC-37
automatic heat
and smoke venting or manual ventilation and at the same time
functions as a barrier against outside noise intrusion. Vents can be factory modified to provide
operation from stage level. And, the complete Bilco
Acoustical Fire Vent has been tested and carries
STC-45 and OITC-37 ratings.

The Bilco Acoustical Fire Vent
CaU or write
for complete
information.

I~The Bileo Company, P.O. Box 1203,
New Haven, CT 06505 (203) 934-6363

TD&T

1993 SPRING

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1993