Vintage Lighting What would early side lights have looked like?

[Judy]

I'm trying to make some of the 1903 Chicago Iroquois Theatre fire more understandable to folks like myself who are clueless about theaters.
Anyone who has read about the fire knows how the curtain hung up on the left side of the stage, on some sort of a light reflector that had been used in the last number and should have been swung back/folded back when that number was completed. It wasn't, so when the asbestos curtain was lowered, the reflector was an obstacle. I'd like to find a picture of a similar light fixture but don't know what I'm looking for. In the 1914 Kliegl catalog is pictured something called a border light. Were border lights sometimes mounted to the side of the proscenium? Would they have had a hinged reflector?

BTW, feel free to comment on my efforts so far. And dang, if you like the site even a smidge, please like it so Facebook will unveil the statistics. I need 30 likes and have only 9. TY

Chicago Theater Fire at Iroquois Theatre's Photos | Facebook

Theater | Facebook

 

[JD]

Unlikely. Border lights are generally used directly above, or reversed and used as foot lights.
A "Light Border" may refer to a series or string of lamps around the stage opening.
A "Light Board" on the other hand would refer to the system controlling power flow to the lights.
I read some of the article with interest. Although I was not around in 1903, a calcium lamp (often referred to a "Lime light") is one in which a block of calcium oxide (Lime) is heated white-hot by a flame. No electricity is used. It sounds like the operator spoke of sparks from above. As a carbon-arc lamp of that day would have to be maned, an incandescent lamp would not. From that, it sounds like the fire was started by a problem with an incandescent lamp or fixture, or the cabling to it. Since they were using lights with operators at the sides (or at least one side), one could suspect it was one of those that blocked the drop of the fire curtain.

This being "Control Booth", you will probably see a lot more information posted on this thread as others with knowledge of the fire find it.

Gas Limelight:

Page credit: http://www.iatse635.org/635_pages/extras/limelight.html

Lots of info on the "Calcium" or Limelight: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limelight

 

[DrPinto]

I'm not so sure the fire curtain got hung up on a light fixture.

Depending on which story you read, you will get different versions of the events. One story says that fire curtain snagged on a wire and couldn't be properly lowered (http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/PDF/iroquois.pdf). Another version says the curtain was caught on a bracket (Iroquois Theatre Fire : chicagology) and another says it snagged on a light fixture (Eastland Memorial Society). I've also read several different estimates of how far above the stage it was stuck.

I would suggest trying to get your hands on the actual report from the fire marshal. Maybe contact someone at the Chicago Fire Department or a Chicago library or museum. You need some original source material.

Ever since I didn't receive my $1000 from Bill Gates for forwarding my emails, I've become more skeptical about what I read on the internet.

What you have so far looks really good. I'd love to see you make a thread and post this on CB. I would bet very few theater techs know about the Iroquois Theatre fire.

 

[JD]

I think the line I am having problems with is this one:

Chief Electrical Inspector, H. H. Hornsby, of Chicago's electrician's department testified:
"The wire leading to the calcium arc light might have been broken or detached," he said. "It requires no volts of electricity to operate one of those lights."

There are Calcium lights that run off of gas. There are (carbon) arc lights that run off of electricity. I have never heard of a "Calcium Arc" light. The problem is, terms stick around in theater long after the equipment is no longer in use. We talk about someone being in the Limelight, even though they haven't been used in over 100 years. Calcium lights showed up in theaters in the mid 1800s but fell out of use around 1870 due to the introduction of the carbon arc. The Iroquois theater was suppose to be "state of the art." I would doubt there was a calcium light in the place. Still, the term was probably still used by lay people to describe a very bright light. Last but not least, the fixture in the picture has a what looks like a typical resistor ballast(s) mounted on the shaft of the stand. That would also be consistent with an old carbon arc lamp.

There is one other line I have problems with:

"I was about twenty feet above the lights which were being used, having left my place to watch the performance. While I was looking down on the performers I noticed a flash of light where the electric wires connect with the calcium light. The flash seemed to be about six inches long."

We know at 110 volts, arc length is limited, so this had to be a vaporized copper "arc flash." This would probably come from a power feed cable of significant amperage shorting. Any wiring post-ballast would be limited in current. In all my years of operating carbon arc lamps (yes, there are a lot of us who remember them well), I have never seen anything like that ejected from the arc, or any malfunction post-ballast produce something like that. (Except a blown rectifier on a Super Trouper, but rectifier packs didn't come into play until the 1940s.)

 

[venuetech]

photos of interest



this one shows the planks over the alley used to escape the balcony. I had heard the story of this but looking at the photo is a bit of a wow moment.




photos of interest

 

[tjrobb]

I rarely get onto the forum with my laptop, usually its my phone, but with this thread I took a moment as I found a book published soon after the disaster and felt it may help.
"Chicagos' Awful Theater Horror"That's the online version, the one issue I have is the captions don't line up with the photos but it seems to work. Also rather in-depth. Hope this works for you.