VI 
REFLECTIONS ON SCENERY

GOOD results have been obtained by lighting exterior settings
with reflected light and color. Tints not procurable by the use
of gelatine mediums are possible with this type of lighting,
which may employ reflectors or lenses as the light source. This
illumination may also be used for interior settings where it
takes the place of baby lenses but with superior results.
 First I shall describe the type of reflector which is used for
interior scenes. The foundation of the reflector is a ten-inch
disk made of No. 24-gauge galvanized iron. This is stiff enough
to hold its shape; and still it is possible to bend it if a
change in contour is desired. In the center of the disk a
quarter-inch hole is bored, so that it may be fastened to a
universal joint allowing it to be moved in all directions. An
Optipod made by the Eastman Kodak Company is an ideal fitting to
use as a swing-joint for this purpose.
 For the reflecting surface is used a silver paper manufactured
in Germany. In making this paper an overlay of pure silver leaf
is given a protective coating of lacquer to keep the silver from
tarnishing. Foil paper, which resembles silver leaf, is not as
good. Neither is aluminum leaf. These surfaces appear brighter
than silver to the eye; but neither has the property of silver in
reflecting light. Silver leaf applied to a surface that has been
painted white is as good as the paper; but it is hard to obtain
silver leaf because aluminum leaf has replaced it in decorative
work. To attach the paper to the disk I use orange shellac,
giving the disk a thin coat and allowing it to get tacky before
applying the paper. If the disk is squeezed in a letter press the
paper can be put on smoothly; but with a little practice it may
be smoothed out just as well by using a cloth to rub it down. Of
course, the paper, with its metal coating, has a tendency to
wrinkle.
 After the paper has been applied a slight curve is put in the
disk, the degree depending upon how wide the band of light coming
from the reflector is to be. If the disk were to be left flat the
light would be circular in form; but the slight bow produces a
band of light that can be directed either vertically or
horizontally or at any angle, simply by turning the disk in a
circular motion on its axis, or by swinging it either sideways or
up or down.
 The edges of this illumination are soft; and some very natural
effects are obtainable if a little judgment is used in setting
and balancing the lights.
 The arrangement that holds the disks and the lamps in place is
constructed of wooden battens covered with galvanized iron. Size
of the fixture is governed by dimensions of the lens hood. These
hoods vary, as every manufacturer has his own idea of their
proper construction. If a special hood is built it may be made
shorter than the regulation size as there is no need here to draw
the lamp back in the hood to obtain a small spot. For focusing, a
two-inch movement is sufficient, a condensing lens being employed
to con-


LIGHTING WITH REFLECTORS
 Thus is solved the problem of using strong light at close range
and still keeping it diffusive in quality. The method is
comparable with that by which a person five feet from a mirror is
to all intents and purposes ten feet from his image, or with that
scheme of block and tackle by which a short pull on a rope is
converted into a long one. The difficulty here overcome has long
been one of the chief reasons that stage illumination lacked the
character of daylight.

centrate the light into the silvered reflector. Two 5- by 9-inch
lenses are used.
 When completed, the fixture looks like a crate with one side and
the bottom removed, the top and back being made of three 7/8 by
3-inch battens. Two square end-pieces are made of the same
material and to these the battens are bolted. I can give only
approximate dimensions because of the aforesaid variation in hood
sizes. But all in all, the fixture will be about eight feet long
by eighteen inches square. To the center batten six lens boxes
are fastened at equal distances, care being taken that enough
intervening room is left for the doors to be opened for replacing
lamps. The individual door must be on the side of the lens box,
as it will be out of reach if placed at the back. The box itself
does not have to swing sideways; but there must be enough
clearance between it and the frame of the fixture so that it may
be tipped to an angle of ninety degrees.
 Provision must be made to keep the top portion of the fixture,
which carries the lamps and the reflectors, from sagging in the
middle-accomplished by trussing the front batten with a
quarter-inch cable. Two quarter inch flanges, into which short
nipples and tees have been screwed, are fastened to the top
batten one foot right and left of center; the cable is passed
through the tees and fastened to both ends of the frame. A small
turnbuckle attached at one end of the frame stretches the cable
taut.
 The arrangement that holds the reflectors to the fixture is made
of pipe. A three-eighths by one-quarter reducing bushing is
screwed to a piece of three-eighths pipe sixteen inches long. The
bushing is drilled and tapped for a one-quarter-inch thumb-screw.
This pipe is fastened to the frame directly over the lens box
with two pipe-straps and runs parallel with the center of the
lens. Two 24-inch Pieces of 1/8 inch pipe are screwed into the
elbow, forming a right-angle. To the lower end of one pipe the
swing joint is attached, the other end sliding into the pipe on
the frame and the set-screw holding it in place. The reflector is
kept about one foot away from the lens. This distance varies and
depends on how the fixture that carries the lamps is hung. For
that reason the pipe that carries the reflector is made
adjustable.
 The fixture is hung on two irons which have to be made. They are
bent first in the shape of an inverted U, the lower ends being
bent further in the shape of hooks that clamp under the top
batten of the end frames. A piece of angle-iron, bolted to the
top of the frame and the hanger, will keep the hanger in place on
the frame. The fixture is heavy and every precaution should be
used to make it safe. A one and one-quarter inch pipe is slipped
through the hangers; to this pipe the hanging lines are attached.
One to four fixtures, end to end, may be carried on one pipe.
 To give some idea of how this arrangement works we will assume
that an interior is set on the stage with the ceiling in place.
Over the ceiling, and almost touching it, the fixture containing
the lenses has been lowered into place, the front edge about six
inches back of the front ceiling batten. The lenses are now in
such position that their light would be thrown into the orchestra
pit if the drapery did not mask it or the reflectors did not
catch it. To be in position the disk reflectors should be so
fixed that the center of the disk is center of the ceiling
batten, the ceiling batten being about six inches away from the
drapery. As to the drapery, if everything is in its proper place,
that should mask the fixture if it is trimmed ten inches below
the ceiling. However, less will suffice if the first row of seats
is more than six feet away from the stage. In some instances
where lenses are used back of the drapery, the trim has to be so
low that the view of the setting is almost entirely cut off from
the gallery.
 It is best to set the lamps from a high stepladder. At first
this will take time; but as we get familiar with the system it
can be done very rapidly. It is a great deal easier than
adjusting a hot lamp. On the stepladder I have set twelve of the
reflectors in two minutes and have set them accurately.
 This system has many other advantages over the lens box. The
lamps themselves are away from inflammable material; the quality
of the light is better; the fixture may be set easier, and the
drapery can be kept at a higher trim. The fixture should be
counterweighted and raised and lowered by an endless line running
through a sheave on the stage. After the scene is set the fixture
is lowered into place. When the scene is to be struck the lights
are taken up first.
 To use reflected illumination for an exterior setting a number
of different applications may be devised. If a cyclorama is
employed, one that is high enough to go from the stage to the
gridiron so that borders need not be used for masking, the
reflectors may be mounted on frames similar to those used for
wings. The frames are covered with profile,(1) the silver papers
of different colors are stuck to the profile with shellac, the
top

(1)That is, any light, composition wall-board that will hold its
shape. band being amber, the middle red, and the bottom blue. The
blue is soft in tone and results from it are unlike anything
obtainable from gelatine.

 Some very good blues are to be had in gelatines; but if they are
good they are strong in color, which means that they are hard on
make-up, turning all reds therein purple. Thus, although they are
excellent on the scenery, they make poor mediums for lighting the
characters. Also, the steel-blue gelatines fade so quickly that
they are useless in a short time.
 The size of the reflector frames will depend upon the available
room. In any event, it will be well to keep them small because
small frames can be more easily handled. If a large one is
needed, two or three may be battened together. A good size is
five by eight feet. This is large enough to receive the projected
light from four reflectors.
 Each frame is suspended from three lines--two fastened at its
top corners and run from the gridiron right and left of center
back of the drapery border, and another line brought down center.
This last-named line is two feet downstage from the first two,
and is attached to a bridle on the lower portion of the frame in
order to tilt it. The other ends of the lines are run down to the
stage. After the frame is up in position, the hanging lines are
fastened to the roller of a small windlass. The board can now be
raised or lowered and set at the desired angle.
 The reflectors are hung about three feet behind the frame, the
distance varying because it depends on the angle or spread of the
beam of light that comes from the individual reflector. When the
frame passes the path of light thrown by the reflectors, it is
impossible to tell where one color fades out and the other comes
in. There are obtainable by this means soft intermediate


REFLECTOR LAMP WITH COLOR REFLECTOR
 This is the type of light being inspected in the frontispiece.
The parallel rays of the lamp strike just that portion of the
reflector directly facing it. The reflector is divided into three
colors which may be moved up or down in a slide attached to the
lamp and which itself may be adjusted at varying angles.

tints not procurable by any other method. On a painted drop I
have thus kept the blues of twilight in the "valleys" and the
orange sunset tints in the "sky." There was no defined sharp line
of light, but a soft blend resembling nature's own.
 I also have used these reflectors in the wings. There, at each
side, the projectors were fastened to a wooden frame one above
another. The reflector board worked up and down before the lamps
on slides, contrived in this manner: To the side of each
projector a rod was securely fastened, and to this rod a
sheet-iron slide was attached by means of a swivel-joint, that
the slide might be tilted. The profile board with the silver
paper was raised or lowered in this slide by means of a line that
came to the stage and that was counterbalanced so that the board
would stay in any position without fastening the line.
 The system I have described obviously cannot be used in a
production where many settings are used, especially if there are
numerous hanging pieces. Mr. Belasco used the method in a play
starring Mrs. Fiske, called "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary." The
first act represented an old English garden. No painted scenery
was used in it. The flowers, the leaves on the trees, and the
tall hedges looked as real and fresh as those we see in nature's
garden. But every color was tried under the light before the
final order for the flowers and the leaves was given. Colors
under different artificial lights change to such an extent--as
every department store buyer knows--that they must be selected
under the light in which they are to be used.