re: Where can I get McCandless' "A Method of Lighting the Stage"?
Know I need to try and find one... I've checked my entire school district and they don't have it, the public libraries don't have it... and I really don't want to buy the thing...
McCandless, Stanley R. Glossary of
Stage Lighting. New York:
Theatre Arts, Inc. 1926.
McCandless, Stanley R. Lighting the School
Auditorium and
Stage. School Executive, June, 1946.
McCandless, Stanley R. Lighting for the Audience. New Haven, Conn.: Illuminating Engineering, 46: (August 1951) 1952.
Other books beyond the one I once read either at Elmhurst College or Illinois State University, but have not found again. Believe it was called "The Essentials of
Stage Lighting" by him as his third main
book. Or am I confused like 20 years later in it being the above former Glossary
book? (Possible.) This in addition to "A Syllabus" which is a great text also - gets into the more technical type details of lighting,
fixture design and history of lighting/lamps. Really good
book the Syllabus - say in my top 15.
Of A' Method, I have a third 1947 and fifth 1973 printings. Other than forwards and a few things changed and are interesting, but for the most part it's the same info and should be. The third printing was a gift and had it's
jacket. It was probably found in a used
book store for like $10.00. The Fifth printing was my "used" college text
book in about 1991. What colleges are no longer requiring this as a text to read?
Should be a plethora of these books on the market in used
book stores, Amazon, E-Bay and with other sources including library sales and
book seller festivals. Above noting of E-Bay pricing at times over priced, with some patience and looking about you should find one for your own library at an economical cost.
I do think this
book important to hold in reading and have to re-read later. This “A Method” is a
book I have read a few times and is probably the #1
book in my library I have studied. I would easily save my Fuchs’ and a few other books first in that the A’ Method is more easily replaced, but for a
base study into lighting a copy on
hand is important. On-Line copy... yea you can read it but it won’t be immediate or referenced as easily as for me in pulling something I want to know such as in this case which ones I have from the
book shelf.
Don’t know about
current design theory and web type stuff but often when I was designing, I wanted that info at easy grasp. A web search and even
book mark for a source, than scrolling
thru to find what I was looking for takes more time than grabbing the
book and thumbing
thru it. Often at work I even prefer to use my hard copy library of catalogs in search than web searches. Web searches take often twice as long to find what you want especially dependant on how the website was set up. McMaster Carr for search... in the
current year they did too much in
ease for someone but leaving me behind. Other sites like Cooper... it could be an all day search on the web - verses pull out the catalogue and you can find what you are looking for.
Yea, everyone should have a copy of the
McCandless “A Method of Lighting the
Stage” that is a lighting person I think. Goal should be under $20.00 for it - with shipping perhaps included given how many of this
book is out there. Say up to $30.00 and worth it. Like the “Backstage Handbook”... two of the first two
base books all should have - “
Photometrics Handbook” I think running third. These are
base books that new books supplement but necessary classics still.