“Flats,” or scenes at the back, upon frames, to draw off and on, will be found too difficult to use in drawing-rooms, as they necessitate the use of grooves above for them to slide in; therefore, I would suggest the use of “drops”—that is, scenes working after the manner of the curtain, and when drawn up, concealed behind the “borders,” or straight rows of muslin, tacked horizontally across the top, and forming the ceiling of the scene, when completed.
In order that there shall be as little cost as possible in furnishing the scenery, let one lad, who has a taste for drawing, stretch the “drop” upon a bare floor (drawn tightly and tacked to the boards), and then, take a wood, a garden, or a parlor, and with a piece of charcoal, copy the trees, etc., upon the muslin, and then paint them in to the best of his ability. The same plan should be followed with the “wings.”
Care should be taken, however, not to remove the paintings from the floor until they are quite dry, and then stretch them over the frames and fasten securely.
One set of “wings” should be braced firmly to the floor, and when a change of scene is required, the “drop” may be drawn up and the other “wings” slid in and rested against the braced ones. Lamps may be placed on each side of the proscenium, and if footlights are desired, a board may be put across before the curtain, with several lamps placed so as to shine directly upon the stage, while the board prevents them from glaring upon the audience.
The effect can be heightened by a board with a row of candles in tin plates to catch the wax, behind each “border,” so that they may shine down upon the actors; but this is both troublesome and dangerous, as the ceiling is liable to be smutted, and a breath of air may blow the dangling “borders” into the flame and produce a disastrous effect.
This done, the stage may be set as the play requires.
Should the action require a storm, peas may be shaken upon the head of a drum to imitate the rain, a sheet of zinc will furnish thunder, and the effect of lightning may be produced with no danger by filling an ordinary putty blower with licopodium and blowing it into the flame of a candle. (An article for doing this, and called the “flash-box,” is used on the regular stage.)
Colored fires may be produced by following these directions:
| Green. | |
| Nitrate of Barytes | 62 1/2 parts. |
| Sulphur | 10 1/2 parts. |
| Potash | 23 1/2 parts. |
| Orpiment | 1 1/2 parts. |
| Charcoal | 1 1/2 parts. |
| Red. | |
| Strontia | 8 ounces. |
| Potash | 4 ounces. |
| Shellac | 2 ounces. |
| Licopodium | 1/4 ounce. |
| Blue. | |
| Nitre | 8 ounces. |
| Sulphur | 3 ounces. |
| Charcoal | 1/2 ounce. |
| Antimony | 1 ounce. |