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COLOR MEDIA
In the beginning, when daylight was used to light performances, there wasn’t a whole lot in the way of options. Interestingly, in the 16th century, when candles were used to light
performances, Sebastiano Serlio used vials of colored water placed in front of the burning candles to create a color system. With the advent of electric lighting, gelatin filters were used to color stage lighting.
Rosco Laboratories (founded in 1910) led the way in production of these filters. However, when tungsten halogen lighting came into being in the late 1950’s, gelatin filters no longer cut it. They melted, which can
be a problem. So, Strand Lighting, yes, Strand, introduced cinemoid filters in 1960. Cinemoid filters were acetate sheeting with inherent self-extinguishing properties (no more flaming fixtures). And in 1967, Lee
Electric Lighting was founded and introduced an exact color reproduction process using a lacquer process over two sides of a polyester film base. In 1970, Joe Tawil opened The Great American Market, now known as GAM
Products. It wasn’t until 1978 that the world first heard of Roscolux, arguably the world’s most popular color media. The process to make Roscolux involves adding color to the actual production process of the
polyester sheeting. In this way, color is actually incorporated into the polyester. While Lee, GAMProducts, and Rosco continue to manufacture gel, and introduce new color every year, the manufacturing processes
remain relatively unchanged.
DIMMING AND CONTROL
Again, when daylight lit performances, very little could be done to dim the lighting, except for praying for a cloud, waiting for darkness, or a solar eclipse. However, as early as 1637,
when Nicola Sabbatini wrote and published "Practico," we see how important dimmers were. There is a sketch in his book of a mechanical dimmer, a metal container lowered over a candle to dim the light,
which was a milestone and a major breakthrough in stage lighting.
Gas lighting in theatres replaced candles, and control over gas lights was generally harder to manage, although handles allowed the amount of gas sent to fixtures to be controlled, thus dimming the lights. For all
practical purposes, dimmers did not show up until the electric age of stage lighting. The first saltwater dimmers appeared in 1900. These dangerous and totally impractical devices were replaced by the resistance
dimmer in 1910. General Electric introduced the autotransformer dimmer in 1933. Anyone who has ever run an autotransformer dimmer will tell you that it is a series of handles and switches requiring nothing short of
a ballet from offstage technicians. The silicon controlled rectifier was introduced in 1958 by General Electric. The SCR allowed dimmers to be compact (compared to resistance dimmers), and remote controlled. By 1960
Kliegl Brothers was installing SCR dimming systems, and Century Lighting was installing their C-Core line of dimmers. Due to the expense of the SCR, and the amount of power they typically used (or at least the way
it was distributed), massive patch panels appeared on most stages. The patch panel was used like a telephone operator patch panel to reassign circuits to dimmers. (Today if patching is required, it can be done from
most consoles directly without requiring someone to manually do so.) SCRs are still the basis of most dimming systems today. And while they are generally thought to be on their way out, the SCR dimmer has been a
part of our lives for more than 50 years.
Consoles in the late 50s and 60s were two and three scene preset models. Manually operated, these boards were very hard to operate quickly and offered little in the way of help when trying to recreate cues. That all
changed in 1968, when Strand introduced the IDM/MSR Memory Console, the world’s first memory control console. That model was followed quickly in 1971 when Strand introduced the DDM (Digital Dimmer Memory),
installing
the first one at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.
Perhaps no other event would impact dimming and control as much as the decision by Fred Foster and his brother Bill to build
a memory console in 1975. For the next several years, they worked on micro-processor based consoles, launching the first ETC branded console, Concept, in 1982.
MOVING LIGHTS
I am sure that most of
us think that moving lights did not exist prior to Vari*Lite’s launch in 1981. However, in the early 1970’s a company called Dyna-Light in Springfield, Missouri (the capital of the entertainment lighting
industry) launched a fixture called the "Moto-Light". This fixture was basically an ellipsoidal reflector spotlight on a motorized yoke with automated pan and tilt and not much else. There was also a
European product, the "Mac Spot,” a vast improvement over the Moto-Light, which was basically a par can on a motorized yoke with automated pan and tilt and not much else.
In 1972, Grand Funk Railroad LD Stefan Graf (Fantasee Lighting) worked with Tour Electrician Jim Fackert (Leprecon) to create “Cyklops”, the worlds first touring automated spotlight operated with joysticks
offstage, using a 500w Xenon source.
And in Italy in 1976, Pasquale Quadri, resolving to make the most of his knowledge of optics and his passion for electrical engineering, founded Clay Paky.
It was a watershed however when Vari*Lite introduced the unit that was called the Vari*Lite (later the VL-1) in 1981. Dependability issues aside, the popularity of this seminal fixture led many folks in this industry
to decide they could make something smaller, brighter, better, less expensive – in general all of the things that the creative minds in this industry think when they see anything. Martin Professional was founded
in 1987, only a year later, a small lighting company in Austin Texas, named High End Systems would release the Color Pro. And the next year, the world would see the Intellabeam for the first time. And in the same
year, Clay Paky would launch the Golden Scan.
Fixtures in the intelligent lighting portion of our industry evolved over the next decade to include moving yoke fixtures from pretty much everyone who makes moving lights, outdoor units that change colors and
project patterns, and smaller image projectors that can use 35mm slides as image media. But, the more things change, the more they stay the same. In 2001, Vari*Lite, arguably the guys to blame for all of this to
begin with, launched a new product. It’s concept? Well, it’s basically an ellipsoidal reflector spotlight on a motorized yoke with automated pan and tilt. The difference this time is that this one color mixes,
has shutters, zooms, and about a million other things. For thirty years of progress, I’d say that is pretty impressive.
STANDARD FIXTURES LIGHT SOURCES
For this section, we do have to travel back in time to about 4 Billion B.C. (give or take). At that point the sun came up. For a long time, that was the source of all stage
lighting. Around 400,000 B.C. man discovered fire, most likely by accident. His additional discovery that a bunch of sticks tied together provided a concentration of light led to the discovery of the torch, and led
the human race down the path to civilization, such as it is. History tells us that around 13,000 B.C., man made the discovery that lamps could be used to illuminate caves. These lamps, found by the hundreds in the
famous Lascaux caves in France were made from natural sources such as shells or hollowed out rocks, and used animal or vegetable fats as their fuel source.
Sometime around 2,500 B.C. near Mesopotamia, glass
was invented. It would still be another 4700 years before the first crude lenses were developed in Greece and Rome.
Around the 6th century, the candle came into being. Candles made of beeswax were pricey and were used primarily by the aristocracy and in churches. Less expensive tallow candles were widely available but did not
become widely used until the 14th Century.
In 1038 A.D., Alhazan (Abu Ali Hasan ibn al-Haitham) began studying reflection. His work contradicted Ptolemy’s law of refraction and disagreed with his theory of vision. His work included research on reflections
from spherical and parabolic mirrors. It is also rumored that while in Egypt, the Caliph requested he find a way to control the Nile floods, when he could not figure a way to do so, Alhazan feigned madness until the
Caliph died. (I am sure a great number of lighting designers will consider this when they get their next unreasonable request.) His work became hugely influential when it was translated into Latin in medieval
Europe.
Up to the 17th century, chandeliers using candles were hung overstage for general stage lighting. While tallow candles were still all the rage for the poor folks in theatre, they dripped tremendous amounts of wax,
and required that the wicks be trimmed constantly. This meant that during a performance, no matter how good or bad, wicksmen appeared onstage with the actors to trim the wicks. That had to have been distracting.
The 1700’s and 1800’s were a period of fast growth for entertainment lighting. When Ben Franklin decided to fly a kite in an attempt to prove the hypothesis that lightning was an electrical phenomenon, we
were on our way to the great electric age. However, there were a few more stops to make prior to that.
The Argand Gas Lamp premiered in 1783, which was the first improvement to the gas/oil lamp in hundreds of years, and in 1792, William Murdock realized that coal expelled gas, which could be used to light things like
his home and office. This was yet another improvement in gas/oil lamps, the second in two decades after years of stagnation.
The 1800’s brought an enormous amount of change. In 1809 the Carbon Arc Light was first shown (show of hands, technicians who just came up with yet another reason to push for a new followspot at the next budget
planning session.) In 1810, Austin Fresnel, a French engineer with too much time on his hands develops a lens system for lighthouses, this same lens would later be used on general wash fixtures, for which the
fixtures would be named. In 1823, Thomas Drummond discovered that a piece of limelight, when heated with an oxygen and hydrogen flame, produced enough light to throw a beam 95 miles. In 1856 the Princesses Theatre
in London used limelight as the world’s first followspot. Michael Farrady converted magnetism into electricity in 1832, which allowed for the development of electric motors, generators, and dynamos (invented in
1856 by Werner von Siemens). In June of 1874, two Canadians, Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans applied for a patent for an electric light bulb. In 1878, Edison Electric Light Company was incorporated, and in 1880,
the U.S. issued a patent for the T.A. Edison Electric Lamp. And by 1881, the Savoy Theatre in London became the first theatre outfitted entirely with electricity.
In 1893 the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees is founded. And in 1896, Kliegl Brothers Lighting is founded.
Between 1900 and 1930, several companies were founded that are still in operation today: Rosco Laboratories (1910), Strand Electric Company (1917), Mole Richardson (1927), Union Connector (1929), Pani Projector
Corporation (1930), and Times Square Theatrical and Studio Supply (1930).
The Linnebach Projector was first used in the Munich Opera in the early 1900’s. Kliegl Brothers introduced it to America in 1922.
It is impossible to refer to lighting design technique or entertainment lighting in the 20th century without talking about the impact of Stanley McCandless. His "A Method of Stage Lighting" (first published
in 1928) is a technique book still used in classrooms today. The very concepts of area lighting, specials, and warm and cool color washes were first addressed by McCandless. He is known as the father or modern stage
lighting design.
The fresnel made its appearance during this time as well. Kliegl Brothers Lighting claims to have incorporated a fresnel lens into a theatrical lighting fixture in 1929. I am sure this had nothing to do with the
stock market crash.
And in 1933, several major products debuted: Kliegl Brothers introduced the ellipsoidal reflector spotlight (used in the outdoor pageant "Romance of the People" at the Polo Grounds in New York), Century
Lighting introduced the Lekolite (so named for Joseph Leve and Edward F. Kook – founders of Century Lighting, hence Le-ko), and the Gobo was born.
The parabolic aluminized reflector (par) lamp appeared around
1940. Though there is some discussion as to its creator, Dick Thayer is generally credited with its invention.
In 1952, Strand Electric debuted the Pattern 23 Baby Mirror Spot. This fixture achieved incredible popularity by offering different lens configurations and four framing shutters. Options for this fixture included
iris and template holder. This fixture was not retired until 1980!
Dichroic lamps first appeared in 1955, the same year that Altman Stage Lighting was founded by Charlie Altman. In that same year, Colortran opened its doors for business.
In 1960, General Electric introduced the quartz halogen lamp to the world. Around this same time, metal halide lamps were developed. Metal halide lamps would prove themselves invaluable when moving lights came into
existence. And speaking of lamps and lighting, Thorn opened its doors for business in 1960. Their lamp division was purchased by General Electric in the early 1990’s. Osram introduced the HMI lamp in 1969 at the
request of the German Federal Television System. It became very popular because of its warm color temperature, and is used widely in moving lights today. Ushio, now a major lamp manufacturer, opened its doors for
business in 1969 as well.
Perhaps no standard fixture has changed the complexion of our industry as much as the ETC Source Four. This ellipsoidal reflector spotlight, introduced in 1992, used a 575 watt, high-efficiency lamp, a completely new
reflector system, and changed the way we saw the ERS. The next year, Altman Stage Lighting introduced the Shakespeare, a similar fixture based on the same sort of lamp technology. And in 1998, lighting industry
stalwart Strand Lighting introduced the SL series of the Leko. This fixture used the same lamp technology, but added the unique ability to spin the entire fixture 360°. All of these developments happened within a
few years of each other, and were the first major changes in the ERS since their introduction in 1933.
While we can think that our industry is something of an anomaly, full of strange and wonderful innovators, which it is, we must also look back at the history of lighting in general to see how we got here. It is hard
to imagine a Greek priest in the 4th century standing in a theatre imagining himself lit by a Clay Paky Stage Scan. But throughout our history, we have been integral in religion, art, and the civilization of human
kind.
TIME LINE
4 Billion B.C. (circa)
The Sun turns mass into energy creating light (and suntans)
400,000 B.C. (circa)
Man discovers fire
13,000 B.C. (circa)
Primitive Lamps used by Prehistoric Man
5,000 B.C. (circa)
Greek & Roman Pottery Lamps use various oils for light
3,000 B.C. (circa)
Egyptian texts for funerals and coronations are considered the first plays
2,500 B.C. (circa)
Somewhere near Mesopotamia, glass is invented
500 B.C. (circa)
In the first great theatrical
age, Greeks use actors instead of priests, in specially designed buildings, using daylight for performance
300 B.C. (circa)
The first crude lenses are made in Greece and Rome
400 A.D. (circa)
All performers of pantomime are excommunicated
400 A.D. (circa)
Candles are invented
500 A.D. (circa)
Justinian closes all theatres
1038 A.D.
Abu Ali Mohamed ibn al-Hasan
Ign al-Haytham studies reflection, refraction, the nature of vision, the eye, and publishes a book on optics in 1038. His work becomes an historical reference work in the evolution of optics
1000-1100 A.D (circa)
Theatre is back! Except it is Medieval Religious Drama written for priests and choir boys
1100-1200 A.D (circa)
Plays begin to move out of churches and into theatres again 1545
Sebastiano Serlio invents a system of color filters by placing containers of colored liquid in front of candles
1564-1616
William
Shakespeare writes 36 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 narrative poems
1565-1675
The Renaissance brings about huge changes in theatre. Chandeliers with candles hang above stage for general lighting, candles in
the wings lit scenery, and lighting along the front of the stage provides uplighting.
1576
"The Theatre" is built outside of London's city limits by order of the Lord Mayor of London
1580-1584
Teatro Olimpico, the first permanent classic theatre is built in Vicenza, Italy
1599
The Globe Theatre is built
1612
The Globe Theatre is destroyed by fire after a
performance of Henry VIII
1613
The Globe Theatre is rebuilt
1618
Teatro Farnese, the first theatre with a proscenium arch and main drape is built in Parma
1637
Nicola
Sabbattini publishes "Practico" the first handbook on the art of scenography for the practicing theatre technician. One of his illustrations shows a mechanical method of lowering metal hoods on candles to
dim them.
1669
Hennig Brand discovers phosphorus
1670
First use of candles as wing lights
1673
First use of footlights (candles)
1741-1765
David Garrick implements
changes at the Drury Lane Theatre including removing chandeliers in favor of shifting light sources behind the proscenium and across the apron.
1752
Ben Franklin flies a kite
1769
Guyot discovers the additive method of color mixing
1783
Ami Argand develops a better oil lamp
1792
William Murdock heats coal to produce gas and uses it to light his home and office in
Cornwall, England
1809
Sir David Humphry invents the electric arc lamp
1810
Augstin Jean Fresnel, an engineer of bridges and roads for the French government designs a lens system for
lighthouses in his spare time!
1814
The first general use of gas street lighting in London
1817
Covent Garden, Drury lane and the Lyceum are all converted to gas lighting
1816
Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia is the first American theatre to use gas lighting
1823
Con Edison is founded as the New York Gas Light Company
1826
The Limelight is invented by Thomas Drummond
1832
Michael Faraday announces he has converted magnetism into electricity, leading to the development of electric motors, generators, and dynamos
1856
The first Limelight is used at the Princesses Theatre in London where a lens was placed in front of a limelight to create a spotlight
1866
Werner von Siemens invents the dynamo offering large
amounts of economically produced energy
July 24, 1874
Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans, Canadians, apply for a patent for an electric filament lamp
October 15, 1878
U.S. Patent #223,898 is
issued to Edison for the T.A. Edison Electric Lamp. Edison Electric Light Company is incorporated January 17, 1880.
1881
The Savoy Theatre in London is the first theatre outfitted entirely in
electricity
1892
General Electric is created through a merger of Edison General Electric and Thomas-Houston Electric Company
1893
International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees is
founded
1894
Argon is discovered by Scottish chemist William Ramsay
1896
Kliegl Brothers Lighting is founded
1900
Adolf Linnebach develops the Linnebach projector for
background and scenic projection
1900
The Saltwater Dimmer is developed
1901
Peter Cooper-Hewitt develops the first practical mercury-vapor lamp
1906
The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America is founded
1907
Tungsten Filament Lamp is developed
1910
Rosco Laboratories opens shop
1910
Resistance Dimmer makes its appearance in theatres
1913
Gas Filled (Incandescent) lamps are developed by Irving Langmuir (GE Research)
1917
Strand Electric Company is established in London
1922
Kliegl Brothers introduces the Linnebach Projector to the U.S.
1926
Century Lighting is established in New York
1927
Mole Richardson opens for business in Hollywood
1928
Stanley McCandless publishes "A Method of Lighting The Stage," theories still in practice to this day
1929
Union Connector is founded by William J. Wolpert
1930
Pani Projector Corporation is formed
1930
Times Square Theatrical and Studio Supply opens for business
1933
The outdoor pageant, "Romance of the People" opens at the Polo Grounds
in New York, featuring the "Klieglight," an ellipsoidal reflector spotlight
1933
Century Lighting introduces the Lekolite
1933
The Gobo is introduced
1933
General
Radio Corporation introduces the Autotransformer Dimmer
1937
The fluorescent lamp is introduced
1940
The parabolic aluminized reflector lamp is introduced
1947
Strong International is formed
1952
Strand Electric introduces the Pattern 23, Baby Mirror Spot
1955
Dichroic lamps are introduced
1955
Altman Stage Lighting opens
1955
Colortran opens
1958
The Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) is introduced
1960
Four Star Stage Lighting opens in New York
1960
USITT is founded
1960
The quartz halogen lamp is introduced
1960
The metal halide lamp is introduced
1960
Thorn Lighting is founded
1960
Lighting Associates introduces the lighting template
1965
Skirpan Electronics is founded
1967
Strand Century introduces the world’s first memory console the "IDM/MSR"
1967
Lee Color Filters opens for business
1969
Ushio America opens for business
1970
Great American Market opens for business (now GAMProducts)
1970
Dyna-Light introduces the Moto-Light (automated fixture)
1972
Fackert and Graf debut the Cyklops
1972
AVAB is founded
1972
DHA Lighting is founded
1975
Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC) is founded
1975
IALD is founded
1975
Desisti Lighting opens up
1975
Robert Juliat begins production
1975
AMX192 is introduced as a control protocol
1976
Clay Paky is founded
1978
Roscolux Color Filters are introduced
1978
Westsun opens for business
1981
Vari*Lite introduces the VL1
1982
ETC launches the Concept
1986
DMX512 is adopted as the USITT protocol standard
1987
Martin Professional Lighting is founded
1987
ESTA is founded
1987
High End Systems launches the Color Pro
1988
High End Systems launches the Intellabeam
1992
ETC launches the Source Four
1998
High End ceased production of the Intellabeam
2000
ProLights & Staging News Debuts
2002
The First Annual Pro Production Live Event Marketplace is held in San Diego, California
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