# Old-time truss and theater rigging



## jjdrummer (Dec 14, 2012)

Hello ControlBooth community,
My high school is putting on a production of O_ur Town _(1941), and I was wondering if you had any Ideas and techniques of old-looking truss for a period play inside the play. also, the play is for a theater competition, so the set-up time is minimal, (estimated 15-30 minutes) and It has to be old looking, and prefferably working... but its not a requirement. I was considering using the Elation dimmer system in a box, and just using a few PAR38's or Par46's. the truss I was considering of borrowing from a friend of mine, and It's an old-ish truss, because It went around on tour with the washinton national opera company. any thoughts and Ideas would be great! thanks!
,Jared Jacknow
L.D. of McLean Drama company
AKA jjdrummer
this was the truss idea I had: http://www.cokerexpo.co.uk/Gantry/S35QGoalPost.jpg
Its silver like that one.


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## Les (Dec 14, 2012)

According to our discussion concerning http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/lighting-electrics/8881-lighting-trusses-used-theater.html, truss didn't show up in the production industry until the 1970's at the earliest. I remember when I was involved with the show (as a theatre manager, so very indirectly), they built a rolling unit to resemble an old pin rail, and stretched manilla rope from top-to-bottom (going for that "hemp house" look, which is still the most recognizable element of theatrical rigging - though antiquated). The lighting battens were pipe, similar to what we see today.

The lighting designer for the production I witnessed also used footlights, which were widely seen in that era. Maybe you could fill a few burlap sacks with cotton batting to resemble sandbags and hang them in a few strategic places.

If you want visible units, try to find some 8" fresnels or the like, and put barndoors on them. That barndoor look always seems to get the point across. Scoops have a nice old-timey look to them as well (because, well, they're old-timey  ).

Here's an old ~1927 pin rail:


(360Q fixtures circa 1980's - not period. That said, boy, those are in nice shape). The pin rail is older than the period of the play, but would likely still be in use for a 1941 production as some are still in use today - as indicated by the photo. 

Here is http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/general-advice/30398-little-history-video.html that may provide some ideas as well.


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## jjdrummer (Dec 14, 2012)

Fresnels would work great! we just got some more fresnels, some are 6" and some are 8". the cotton batting is a great idea. I hadn't been able to find anything about truss back then, though I know they had very basic PARs and Fresnels. thank you very much for the Help and Ideas! the support really helps. I've been recently researching lighting designs for Our Town by Michael Skinner and I like how they use major silhouettes, but I'm trying to find out how to do that real quickly with the set up limit and all.


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## derekleffew (Dec 14, 2012)

http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/lighting-electrics/8881-lighting-trusses-used-theater.html 
The PARcan didn't enter the stage lighting world until about 1960 at the earliest.
.


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## gafftapegreenia (Dec 14, 2012)

No PAR cans in 1941. Sealed beam lamps had only been around for a few years on cars at that point, and Halogen lamps didn't even dominate the scene until the 70's. 

Fresnels are a great choice. Ellipsoidals would have been radials. Plano-convex spots were still abundant.


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## MPowers (Dec 14, 2012)

If you truly want to represent the period, you need to use PC spot lights, lekos with chimenys, fresnels, footlights and maybe even an olivette, also called a "Bunch" light (because it had a "bunch " of light bulbs in it)
A Brief History of Stage Lighting A Little Bit of History
Kliegl Bros. Universal Electric Stage Lighting Company Historic Kliegl catalogs. Check out the ones from 1936 and 1950, the two closest to the "Our Town" period. Look on page 37 of the 1936 cat for the spotlights.

For historic rigging, rope and sand bags and pinrails are the look. Battens of the period were usually wood for scenery and gas pipe for stage lighting(of course the gas pipe was used to hang the electric lights on, not to provide Gas Light). There were some counterweight houses and they used pipe for all battens. But, No Truss!

A little reading, no pictures http://www.peteralbrecht.com/stage-rigging-in-historic-theatres



Hope this helps.


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## derekleffew (Dec 16, 2012)

MPowers said:


> ... and maybe even an olivette, also called a "Bunch" light (because it had a "bunch" of light bulbs in it)
> ...


If I may beg to differ--olivette and bunch light are two separate and distinct lighting instruments.
.


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## MPowers (Dec 17, 2012)

derekleffew said:


> ....If I may beg to differ--olivette and bunch light are two separate and distinct lighting instruments........



You may indeed differ. In fact you are absolutely correct. However, for what it's worth, When I first started in this crazy, wonderful life, although they were largely no longer used,you could still find them around. We often used the word Olivette to mean either or both as they both were generally used on stands, on stage, from the side. Olivette was either, but bunch light was only that.


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