The first great revolution
in stage lighting began in England with the introduction of gas
lighting. In 1804, F. A. Winsor, an entrepreneur, took out a patent on a
lighting apparatus based on gas. An English engineer, William Murdock,
towards the end of the 18th century, had developed this practical
method, which used coal gas for illumination.
Gaslight was adopted
in American theatres too. The Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia
was illuminated by a gas light system on 25th November 1816. An
advertisement in the Aurora in November 1816 claimed this to be the
first application of gaslighting in theatre in America and boasted that
the lighting system was both safe and brilliant.
The Chestnut Theatre
burnt down only four years later, on April 1820, one of the first
causalities of the new system. Nonetheless, theatres in Baltimore,
Boston and in New Orleans soon followed suit and introduced gaslight to
their stages.
Source: Manic Sylph
23:26
Sunday 30 November 2014
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