Magic, Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography

by Albert A. Hopkins

THE GRIDIRON FROM UNDERNEATH, SHOWING DROP AND BORDERS.

The flies consist of galleries, on both sides of the stage, running from the proscenium wall to the back wall. The “fly rail” consists of a girder made especially strong, to take the weight and pull of the ropes and scenes which are brought down from the gridiron. Each cloth or gas batten hung from the gridiron has four or five ropes by which it hangs, and these are all brought over the pulleys in the gridiron floor down to the flies, where they are made fast on belaying-pins or cleats fixed to the fly rail. The “fly floor” is supported by joists running from the fly-rail girder into the wall of the stage. On the fly floor are often placed windlasses used to raise the heavy weights which are suspended from the gridiron. The load is usually relieved by counterweights which are placed against the wall. The counterweights are usually encased, to minimize the danger of accident in case the rope breaks. The “fly galleries” are usually two tiers in number, but in very large theaters there are often three tiers of fly galleries, one above the other. Nearly all the working of the flies is done from one side of the stage. The flies are often connected by a bridge against the back wall of the stage, and sometimes there are intermediate narrow bridges among the scenery. These enable the “fly men” to cross the stage quickly without necessitating their coming down to the level of the stage. In modern stages of the better class, iron and steel construction is very largely used for the gridiron, flies, etc., and, of course, tends to decrease the danger from fire.

Nearly all of the older stage floors fall three-eighths to one-half inch in a foot, from the back to the front, in order to enable the audience to see the actor or singer as he retires “up” the stage; but in modern stages the floors are usually level, as then the scenery can be set plumb. The divisions of the stage are numerous, and include the imaginary divisions called for by the stage directions, and the actual divisions of the stage into “traps,” “sliders,” and “bridges.” The imaginary divisions need not concern us here.

In the front and center of the stage is a trap called the “grave trap,” on account of its use in the grave scene of “Hamlet.” It is a small wooden platform made to rise up and down in grooves between four uprights. The stage may have other traps. The trap as an aid in stage illusions is referred to in [Chapter IV. of Book III.] of the present work.

In ordinary stages the traps are floored over, and before they can be used a portion of the floor of the stage has to be removed. This is done by releasing a lever and letting the section of the floor drop into a groove and slide under the immovable parts at the side of the stage. The opening left in the stage is filled by the floor of the ascending trap. Back of the grave trap there are three narrow strips of openings which are technically called “sliders,” then a wider opening which is known as the “bridge.” The rest of the stage is taken up by alternate bridges and sliders. The sliders consist of narrow strips of wood which are made to slide horizontally, right and left, under the stage. They slide in grooves cut in the joists, and are moved backwards and forwards by means of ropes which wind around windlasses which are operated from the mezzanine floor underneath the stage. When both sliders are slid away right and left, the open space in the floor and the space underneath is known as the “cut,” and it is in the “cut” that the scenery is placed which is to be raised up from below. Scenes are raised up the “slider cuts” by means of lengths of wood sliding up and down in grooves forming very wide and narrow elevators. The scene is attached to the lower bar. The floor of the bridge is like the slider floor in construction; the only difference is in the width of the opening left in the stage when the section of the floor has been removed. To fill this space a platform of the same dimensions as the opening which is left in the stage where the bridge is removed is used. The bridge is used to raise bodily any heavy scene, furniture, or a group of figures, but it only raises its load level with the stage, while some of the new hydraulic bridges, or the counterbalanced rising bridge, which we will shortly describe, permit of lifting the part of the scene to any height. There have recently been many reforms in this part of stage management. The level underneath the stage floor is known as the mezzanine floor. This is the working level for all the traps, sliders, and bridges, and it is on this level that all the windlasses are placed which work the ropes to remove the sliders, bridges, etc. The mezzanine takes the same position regarding the manipulation of the stage machinery below as does the fly gallery above. In some cases the mezzanine floors are multiplied so that there are three or four. The lowest level of the stage is known as the “cellar,” or “well.” From the cellar spring the uprights which support the joists of the stage floor. At the bottom of the cellar are placed the drums and shafts used for lifting the bridges. In many theaters there is what is known as the “back stage.” It has no movable portion, no gridiron, flies, or cellar. This space is most useful for distant scenes. In the finest stages, as that of the Vienna Court Theater, the entire cellar is constructed of iron and steel, and everything is worked by hydraulic power. Scenes are not only raised up from the cellar and let down from the gridiron, but are also “built up” on the stage. Such scenes may be only small “profile strips,” or they may be large constructions like a throne, in which the heavy foundations called “rostrums” run in on wheels. Where the run of the opera is to be long, sometimes they are built at great expense and are very ingenious; but they always take up considerable room, and require time to adjust.

In continental theaters what is called the “chariot and pole” is largely used. Narrow slits in the stage permit of an upright pole passing through it, the scene being fastened to it. The truck, or “chariot,” which supports the pole runs on the floor of the mezzanine on rails. This manner of shifting the scenes is sometimes very useful. The chariots can be worked singly or in gangs, and they can be worked simultaneously with the borders and the drops, as the ropes which manipulate them can all be brought under the control of one drum or windlass.

Having now described a stage of the ordinary variety, we will take up a large stage built on conservative lines. The stage of the Metropolitan Opera House is one hundred and one feet wide, and the depth is eighty-four feet. The height from the stage to the gridiron is ninety feet, to the first fly gallery thirty-six feet, and the depth of the cellar is twenty-eight feet. The stage is divided widthwise into four bridges which run entirely across the stage. Each bridge is divided into four parts, so there are really sixteen working bridges. The wings, or side scenes, are held in place by means of sliding scene posts. The general method of securing the side scenes by scene frames and extension braces will be understood by reference to the engravings in the chapter entitled “[Fireworks with Dramatic Accessories],” in the present work. When not in use, the wings for the opera are temporarily piled against the side of the house. At each side of the stage are huge scene-rooms. The stage proper is supported upon an iron framework, and there are three mezzanine floors, though one only is used. When it is desired to raise any part of the stage above the level in order to represent broken ground, or for what is called a “runway,” or for any other purpose, a narrow trap door is lifted and a man at each end of the bridge raises it up to the desired height. The bridges can be raised to a height of twenty-three feet. They are counterweighted, so that it requires very little effort to raise them. It is considered that with this system the stage can be worked about as well and quickly as in the far more elaborate hydraulic stages, as those of Buda-Pesth and Chicago; certainly the simplicity of arrangement is a point in its favor, and, being purely mechanical, it is not liable to break down at a critical moment. The simple bridges are not favored by all stage machinists, however. The wing posts slide up and down through the floor and drop down flush into it. They are at the ends of the bridges.

PLAN OF STAGE OF METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE.