Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2010 - 58

The 1893-94 catalog features border lights and bunch lights in both gas and electric versions.

Beyond the hardware store
In 1886, stage rigging consisted of pulleys,
ropes and bits of hardware purchased from a
hardware store. With many of its principles derived from sailing ships, rigging did much the
same kind of job backstage as it did on naval
vessels: It hoisted large, wide sheets of fabric,
with the end result an unfurled backdrop instead
of a billowing sail.
As scenery moved from drops to solid
wooden portals and flats, however, riggers needed more rugged hardware to do the job. Clancy's
first catalog offered a long list of products that
could stand up to heavy-duty backstage use:
John Clancy's designs for stage screw eyes, brace
hooks, irons, and cast-iron sheaves and swivel
blocks. He also invented the world's first movable
head and loft blocks, creating a flexible solution
that allowed stagehands to shift the position of a
line set as the production required.
Clancy made many excellent products, but
he was also a shrewd businessman. He began
each of his catalogs with a personal letter, written in a florid style that would soon become his
trademark. In his letters, he offered "members
of the Amusements Profession" the use of his

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offices, with desks and stationery provided for
their convenience. Clancy assured his readers
that everyone who purchased his equipment
would be treated fairly and equally.
"I am not, as rivals have reported, selling
goods at or below cost, on the contrary I give all
notice that I am making a fair living profit on all
goods that I manufacture," he wrote. "Our prices
are like the laws of the Medes and Persians, unalterable until further notice, with no deviation
under any circumstances, with no inside track for
anybody, but the same prices to one and all."
Clancy's business grew like wildlife as theatres across the country received his catalogs.
"I beg to say that in endeavoring to avoid being over-flushed with success, I have spared no
expense in improving my goods and designing
new styles, and am gratified to know that they
have now won their deserved popularity," he
wrote in 1887. "Youthful vigor combined with
wise management is my boast, and realizing that
even the strongest can be overthrown, I shall
ever aim to convince you by my dealings that I
am your faithful servant."
Just three years after his first catalog

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arrived at theatres, manufacturing processes
and materials began to mature and change at J.
R. Clancy. The 1889 catalog tells us that stage
screw eyes were now made from steel instead
of iron, making them stronger and lighter
weight. Clancy tested many kinds of hardwood
for his stage braces, and finally chose seasoned
spruce for their construction.
Perhaps most interesting, J. R. Clancy offered a line of calcium lights "for Theatres, balls,
Tableaux, lawn Parties and Stereopticons."
Calcium lights-more colloquially known as
limelight-used an oxy-hydrogen flame and
cylinders of calcium oxide to generate an intense, bright beacon. J. R. Clancy continued to
carry components for these lights well into the
age of electricity.
by 1891, Clancy's inventory of gas lighting
equipment grew to include border lights, bunch
lights-nine burners with a reflector-footlights, ground rows, and wing lights. John Clancy carried every piece of apparatus required to
run calcium lights, and-predicting the advent
of electricity-he stocked an expanding wire
guard used with incandescent electric lamps.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2010