Despite the advantages of this piece of equipment, other theatres were slow to do installations.
Bob Foreman notes that there evidently wasn't another orchestra lift installed until the one at the Earl Carroll Theatre in New York in 1922. Ignoring that, at least one writer tried to give Peter Clark credit for the first pit lift, but his didn't come along until 1924. It's not like the 1910 installation in Los Angeles was secret -- it was even pictured in a 1917 issue of Popular Mechanics.
At the end of a 1927 article about the Capitol Theatre in New York we see Peter Clark getting credit for the first pit lift, but it was the 1924 installation at the Eastman in Rochester:
Typically, Clark was getting credit for equipment that was pioneered by others. The lift installation at the Metropolitan in Los Angeles in 1923 was for the orchestra but the location was onstage behind the proscenium so it really doesn't count as a pit lift.
The first organ lift: When the California Theatre on Market St., a house later renamed the State, opened in 1917 it featured what is acknowledged as the first organ lift. Jack Partington, later famous for his stage lift installations, evidently got his first taste of the possibilities of that sort of equipment when the firm he was working for took over the California. Later as manager and stage supervisor of the new Granada Theatre in 1921 he put one in there as well.
An article from the December 17, 1921 issue of Moving Picture World that mentions the Granada's organ lift. Thanks to Bob Foreman for finding the article.
The first stage lifts: The first known installation of a stage lift in a movie palace was in 1923 at the Metropolitan in Los Angeles. The orchestra was on stage, on a huge lift occupying the front half of the stage.
While supervising the Granada's shows Jack Partington developed a system of stage lifts he termed "Flying Stages," also known at various times as Automatic Stages and Magic Stages. Bob Foreman, who has done extensive research on Partington (and on one of his equipment design rivals, Peter Clark) notes that the Metropolitan's bizarre on-stage orchestra lift might have inspired Partington to develop his equipment for the Granada. Neither Partington nor Peter Clark were involved in the lift installation at the Metropolitan although the house did have a Peter Clark counterweight system. The new equipment was introduced at the Granada in February 1925.
An article that appeared in the February 20, 1925 issue of the Examiner under the headline "Partington Talks On Granada Innovation." Thanks to Jack Tillmany for finding the article.
An article from the February 23, 1925 issue of the Examiner. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating it.
Performers up on one of the stage lifts at the Granada with the orchestra on a bandcar downstage. Note the guide tracks for the organ lift behind the console. It's an undated photo in the San Francisco Public Library collection.
Partington goes to Los Angeles: A February 13, 1926 article in Exhibitors Herald announced that Jack Partington was being made general manager of the Metropolitan. The Herald issue is on Internet Archive. About his work at the Granada the article noted that "...he had developed a new type of prologues and and stage presentations that have become a sensation. One of the outstanding features of his work there has been the invention and perfection of an automatic stage. The stage is built in three sections and by the use of invisible tracks and special machinery the sections can be lifted and lowered and shifted at every conceivable angle on the regular stage. Partington has already arranged for the construction of a huge automatic stage to be built at the Metropolitan. Through the use of this stage and his new production system he plans to produce stage presentations on a more elaborate and spectacular scale than anything ever before attempted for a motion picture house..." Thanks to Bob Foreman for finding the article.
The new stage equipment was in operation at the Metropolitan by August 1926. An October 24, 1926 L.A. Times article about Partington presented his views on the differences between the traditional vaudeville style and the more informal manner he desired for his presentations. At the time, he was overseeing the productions at both the Metropolitan in L.A. and the Granada in San Francisco. The Granada was acting as the tryout house with the shows then moving to Los Angeles.
More Partington installations:
A December 2, 1925 Variety item located by Bob Foreman announced the Paramount-Publix circuit's intention to install Partington's equipment in it's theatres. Only a few installations were ever completed. The third stage lift installation in a movie palace was evidently the Partington installation at the Oriental in Chicago in 1926.
An article located by Bob Foreman from the October 31, 1926 issue of Film Daily discussing Partington's installation in Chicago. Bob comments: "Partington's machines facilitated a vista stage pictures transitions, in a seamless and flowing motion to complement the music of Paul Ash! The basic version could be installed in an existing house at rock bottom prices and without much ado."
Soon Partington was outfitting other theatres in the Publix circuit as well. The article on Partington in the October 24, 1926 L.A. Times article had noted that Publix was planning to install the "Automatic Stages" in its new theatres in Seattle and Portland. These houses survive, both now called the Paramount.
Bob Foreman notes that Ben Hall, in his book "Best Remaining Seats," credits Partington with the 1927 re-do of New York's Capitol theatre, a project that took place six months after the Roxy opened.
A November 4, 1927 Moving Picture News article about the Capitol stage renovations that was located by Bob Foreman. He notes that here, although Partington pioneered much of the equipment design, Peter Clark gets the credits and Partington is mentioned only indirectly.
Partington's patents: Partington obtained three basic patents for his equipment. Bob comments on patent #1: "The first patent (1925) features a stage-width motorized bandwagon and a means of elevating it, both DS and CS, but does not include an orchestra pit lift. The design is perfect for a quick and cheap renovation, because there are no actual stage elevators. Rather, at the DS position for example, the stage deck is penetrated only by hydraulic rams L and R whose tops become flush with and part of the deck at Bottom position. When they rise, these rams fit into sockets within the bandwagon, which rides on US/DS tracks, and which is provided with positive corner alignment stops."
Plan at trap room elevation showing the rams, the simple hydraulic piping, and the line of the wagon above in its two positions. Item #2 on the drawing are the US/DS tracks that guide the bandcar.
Bob notes: "A masking curtain, contained within the bandwagon, drops by gravity as the platform rises, so to conceal the rams. However, in some conditions the rams are visible during a show, such as when the bandwagon is elevated DS and scenes are played beneath the band! Talk about flying blind! An auxiliary wagon which stores US could be fitted with a scenic backing and rolled DS to this position, this wagon narrow enough to fit between the rams."
A section view showing DS and CS positions of the bandwagon, the masking on its front, and an auxiliary wagon US.
Bob comments: "A compensating mechanism within the bandwagon permitted an uninterrupted electrical feed from the trap room up to the bandwagon, in any position. Control of the hydraulics was via a control board 'with two levers.' No dimensions are given, but if you figure Top position of the bandwagon (on either 'lift') to be 10 feet, and assume a trap room height of 10 feet, then the maximum excavation depth for the rams would probably not exceed four feet!"
Partington was constantly wrangling with stage equipment designer and installer Peter Clark, accusing Clark of copying his innovations. The Partington patent #2 was granted in 1927.
Bob comments: "When a 1932 New Yorker article credits Clark with 'another Music Hall invention' which they describe as 'the migrating bandwagon,' they are in error: Partington invented it and was granted the patent in 1927! In this patent, there are two actual elevators, one in (or about) the pit and the other US. These DS and US lifts are flush with the deck in Top position and flush with the trap room floor at Bottom. A pair of rams located CS can rise above the deck to elevate the bandwagon when required, and at Bottom they are flush with the trap room floor, thus allowing the bandwagon free travel in the trap room from US to DS, passing under a second fire curtain, just like at the Music Hall. So that the wagon can duplicate this travel at deck level, motorized disappearing footlights are included, mounted on a full-width pivot shaft.
A section showing the 1927 Partington improvements which included lifts flush with both the stage floor and the trap room floor and a lift for the apron integrated into the system. In addition to the motorized disappearing footlights note a second set of foots on the downstage edge of the apron lift.
Also note the storage area in the basement downstage of the apron. Bob comments: "An auxiliary wagon is provided, along with a storage pocket under the first rows of seats, again like at the Music Hall. There is also a traveler curtain and railing which wraps around the DS lift."
Regarding Partington's interactions with Peter Clark, Bob notes: "Partington and Peter certainly had the opportunity to chat, the former going to work for Paramount-Publix (as west coast show circuit producer) in February of 1926, and the NY Paramount opening in November, with Clark's first stage lifts, a bandwagon which could move from the pit to the stage, and motorized disappearing foots-- all Partington firsts. Clark's important contribution that made the thing work were the traveling audio cables, which made it possible for the band to keep playing while in the basement! Lucky RCA was the tenant at the Music Hall and could invent a microphone for them."
Partington got a patent #3 in 1928. Bob comments: "The 1928 patent is anti-climactic, containing the addition of transverse tracks located center; the improvement of electric feeds; and collapsible masking for the exposed rams."
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Bob Foreman for all his fine research. He has a serious interest in a wide variety of early stage equipment. To learn more about his investigations visit his site Vintage Theatre Catalogs. And don't miss the first installment of his Peter Clark research: "Peter Clark and Radio City Music Hall."
Jack Tillmany's Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres of San Francisco" can be previewed on Google Books. It's available from Amazon or your local bookseller.
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