One might think that work at the Canadian Conservation Institute can be routine. On the contrary, CCI staff are occasionally asked to fulfill somewhat unusual (even glamorous!) requests. One such opportunity came from the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Stanstead, Quebec, early in 1999. The Arts and Entertainment Network was producing a new TV miniseries ("The Fabulous Showman P.T. Barnum: Inventing the American Age") and wanted to film a scene in the Opera House. The director of the Opera House, knowing that I had examined its historic interior in 1998, requested that I supervise the film crew to ensure that any negative impact on the fragile interior elements would be minimized.

I arrived several days in advance of the shoot and spent the time padding an elaborate wooden entrance staircase and laying corrugated cardboard sheets on the floors in preparation for the arrival of the film crew. [In retrospect, it would have been preferable to use rigid, wood fibre sheets on the floors; the cardboard sheets provided adequate protection against the heavy equipment, heavy tripods, and dollies used for tracking shots, but the "low-tack" adhesive tape required to fasten the cardboard sheets to the floor became "high tack" after four days, and a clothes iron was required to remove it.] I also supervised the installations of the production company's art department to ensure that no damage was done to the building fabric: when modern elements such as light fixtures were replaced with mock gas fixtures that mimicked the style of the 1850s, I asked that foam padding be used where the mock fixtures were attached to the stamped tin ceilings; offending exit signs and fire alarms were covered with paper masks and period curtains were installed with friction-fit rods; and I specified that wherever possible pins should be used instead of nails, and that nails and pins had to be inserted into wood joints rather than flat surfaces.

Opening night at the Opera House in 1904. J.J. Parker Collection - Stanstead Historical Society Exterior view of the Haskell Opera House (the left side is in Canada and the right side is in the United States).

To enhance filming, boom lights outside the Opera House create artificial daylight within.

The film crew arrived early on Monday morning and I found that the size of the crew, to say nothing of the size of some of the grips*, was quite daunting. The literature even warns of this.¹ For the rest of the day I had to be in many places at the same time, answering questions, looking over people's shoulders, acting as traffic cop, and negotiating to minimize the impact on the building while not impeding the artistic flow of the work. To their credit, the crew from Les Productions la Fête/Barnum Productions was very professional and very receptive to my suggestions and prohibitions. I was also aided by the exceptional location manager, Catherine Dawe of Barnum Productions, and Phil Desormeaux of the Haskell Opera House, who were in constant contact by cell phone. Inevitably some restrictions had to be imposed, e.g. no food or drinks would be allowed on the stage; IR-emitting lamps had to be moved away from decorative plaster and shielded; stage sets could not be touched; and the stage curtain could not be raised and lowered as a film prop because it was too fragile. But never doubt the power of being a star! Leading man Beau Bridges, ill with a cold, required (and was allowed) cups of chamomile tea while on stage to keep his voice intact, although his assistant was warned to be VERY careful when pouring that tea.

As filming progressed, the call, "rolling...action," was often followed by "cut," then "RETOUCHE," and a makeup assistant would hurry over to the actors to repair sagging eye lifts or a flattened coiffure. Unfortunately, sometimes they were just a little too enthusiastic, and several times I had to lunge quickly to prevent a wayward make-up backpack from inadvertently brushing against the stage sets.

Film director Simon Wincer made use of several of the original historic backdrops, including the stage curtain and the forest and street scenes, but I did not allow him to use the drawing room scene as it was too fragile. And I conducted my own retouche on the street scene by repairing two tears at the edges of the fabric, top and bottom, that were in danger of propagating across the width of the drop.

Filming wrapped up on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I worked with the crew from the art department and the Haskell Opera House to remove the modifications. I was also able to do a post-mortem on the event with the Board of Trustees of the Haskell Opera House that afternoon. The impact on the interior was minor and I noted all damages in a report in which I also recommended repair options and some preventive care measures to be taken before the Opera House was closed for the rest of the winter.

The use of historic sites for filming is a novel way to fund preservation, not only directly by payment from production companies, but indirectly through the increased publicity it generates. Given adequate preparation and supervision, it can be rewarding for everyone.

*Grip: A very large member of the film crew who carries heavy and expensive camera equipment, and who NEVER EVER drops anything.

References

1. Mignier, A.M. Coming Soon to a Museum Near You: Collections Care During Film Production. Graduate thesis report. Orinda, CA: John F. Kennedy University, 1996.

About the Opera House...

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House was opened in June 1904 by Martha Stewart Haskell and her son Horace, as a gift to enrich the communities of Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont. The site is unique in that the international boundary actually passes through the Opera House, with the stage in Canada and the seats in the United States. The interior design, by James Ball of Stanstead and Gilbert Smith of Boston, is purported to be a scale version of the old Boston Opera House which was destroyed by fire at the beginning of the century.¹ In addition to its unusual location, the Haskell Opera House is note-worthy because its interior elements (including the original stage sets and machinery) are intact. Many historic theatres from the 19th century have been restored in recent years but stage sets from this period are notoriously ephemeral and few have survived. The stage sets of the Haskell Opera House include painted wings or legs, backdrops, teasers, and other traditional theatrical stage elements that are direct descendants of the perspective stage settings of Bolognese architect Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554).² All these sets are painted in a traditional water-soluble distemper on cotton or linen canvas, and they are the only known surviving work of Erwin LaMoss,³ an important scene painter active in Boston in the late-19th century. The sets include a forest scene, a street scene, a drawing room, and an ambitious stage curtain depicting the Grand Canal in Venice; they are of very high quality and are an irreplaceable heritage treasure.

Other elements worth noting in the Opera House are the moulded plaster decorative elements in the balcony front and the proscenium arch, the mural paintings flanking the stage, and the original wooden folding chairs for the audience. There are two classes of chairs in the orchestra section and the hat racks under them reflect this: top hats (typically worn by affluent men) would fit snugly in the U-shaped wire racks under the expensive seats in the front and soft caps (typically worn by men of more modest means) would fit in the simple racks of the cheap seats at the back; ladies, of course, would never remove their hats in public.

References

1. Étude du décor de scène de l'opéra Haskell de Rock Island, rapport présenté au Ministère des affaires culturelles du Québec, Des Rosiers et Associés Inc., Montréal, avril, 1992, pp. 4–6.
2. Serlio, Sebastiano. Regole generali di architettura (1545).
3. Haskell Opera House Renovation Project: Project Summary. Haskell Free Library and Opera House, November, 1996.