vinntec Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Hi everyone I have a production of Somerset M's Home and Beauty coming up and would like to fly in some appropriate overhead lighting for Act III the kitchen. This is set during the last winter of WW1 (late 1917) in a grand town house. Does anyone have any suggestions or pointers to photos of the sort of thing I should be looking for? Would it be gas or electric? It is an amateur production so would be looking to adapt something we have already or can buy cheaply. Suggestions welcome. Peter (Lighting Designer). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Kitchens are awkward since the salons would have had early electric chandeliers but electric lighting didn't spread widely until the 20's. This website might give some ideas but the experts in antique electric lighting for film and stage are fritzfryer.co.uk over in Ross on Wye. I'm sure that they wouldn't mind a phone call. Fritz himself was a "rock legend" behind such stuff as proto-Queen, Horslips and Motorhead albums and rightly well respected as founder of the Four Pennies. See here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldradiohand Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Not familiar with the book or play, but it depends on the kitchen - where it is and how posh. Tungsten bulbs came in during the early 1900s so might just be in your kitchen if it was in an urban area with an electricity supply. Most likely is gas lighting using mantles - still used for camping lanterns. Soft, slightly greenish light with a bit of a flicker, again only in urban areas with mains gas. (even quite small towns had gasworks). Either as overhead fittings or wall sconces. Rural areas would probably use oil lamps with wicks and chimneys but paraffin pressure lamps (as in Tilley lamp) were also available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinntec Posted May 27, 2013 Author Share Posted May 27, 2013 Hi Kerry, thanks for the leads. By the first world war, electricity was available for the well-off in the major cities and was a must have item. One would guess that this would have included the servant's quarters at the same time. Searching for photos of such kitchens on the internet doesn't really help as they mostly miss out the light fittings and the number for this period are fairly small. A few do show "coolie" type overhead lights which we have some of, and might get away with painting green on the outside. The other common ones are conversions of gas fittings (so station lamps might do) or white globe lights which look too posh for a downstairs kitchen. I was hoping the original upstairs downstairs series would have some photos of Mrs Bridges' kitchen at this time (when the BBC were renown for their accuracy) to use as a benchmark but nothing which shows what was above! I will see what else comes to light. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csg Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 you may be interested in this URL - it should lead to a 1913 Mazda publication that has several references and pictures of domestic fittings of the era. http://www.lamptech....%20News%203.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 http://www.christopherwray.com/showroom/designcentre.asp May search for something to modern spec that could be dressed to suit. I'd suggest that various places in England at that time had Electric light, wick oil/kerosene lamps and gas lamps off town or bottled gas. SO really you should be able to make most choices with a period feel and it still look OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinntec Posted May 27, 2013 Author Share Posted May 27, 2013 you may be interested in this URL - it should lead to a 1913 Mazda publication that has several references and pictures of domestic fittings of the era. http://www.lamptech....%20News%203.pdfWow! Now that's what I call a reference. What a pity there wasn't a section on lighting the kitchen downstairs but plenty of useful stuff. Thanks..Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csg Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 I can only suggest looking around the www.lamptech.co.uk site as there are many similar journals on it, you may strike lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 http://filamentlightbulbs.co.uk/ may help with the actual lamp, to be honest you may get away with bakerlite pendant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinntec Posted May 28, 2013 Author Share Posted May 28, 2013 http://filamentlightbulbs.co.uk/ may help with the actual lamp, to be honest you may get away with bakerlite pendant.Hi Thomas - good idea. We might get away with some simple "coolie" shades (painted green on the outside probably) and one of these crazy lamps would set them off nicely. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinntec Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 Just to close the loop, we have a green "coolie" lantern with inner white (and BC fitting) and two white "coolie" lanterns (with ES fitting) which are a slightly different. shape We will paint the outside of these as close to the same green as the original then hang from a bar with the odd one (with ES converter so we can order 4 identical lamps including a spare) in the middle. We will use Classic Edison lamps (http://filamentlightbulbs.co.uk/product/40w-60w-classic-carbon-filament-style-lightbulb-bayonet-screw) to reinforce the 1917 electric mood. This should do the trick and I can adjust positioning to suit (the range will be SR directly underneath so this might justtify its own lantern). Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Play with height of hang to avoid shadows from the theatrical lighting. Coolie shades could produce some unwanted obstructions if hung too low and be hardly noticeable hung too high. I have had interesting shadow problems from even bare glass incandescents in the past. Alton used to use "normal" light fittings, changing out 60W bulbs for 200W ones, for filming purposes which is worth bearing in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam2 Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Gas and electric light were both in general use at the time.Electric lights might have used tungsten filament lamps, but carbon filament lamps remained fairly popular.The "coolie hat" shades might have been used, but glass shades were in widespread use, cheap pressed glass for kitchens etc. This type was popular for both gas and electric lights.ebay Link to illustrate the type of lampshade to which I refer, no recomendation is made re the seller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinntec Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 Hi Adam - thanks for your comments. We did consider something similar but couldn't find anything at amateur theatre prices (and don't really want any real glass of course). A scan through hundreds of photos on Google images showed a lot of white fishbowl shades (closed or open at the bottom), coolie shades or variations on it in quite a few, and converted gas lamps in posh kitchens around this sort of time. So I am fairly confident that with the Edison lamps in the three coolie shades (dimmed down possibly to show off the filaments) will do the business.Regards -- Peter Play with height of hang to avoid shadows from the theatrical lighting. Coolie shades could produce some unwanted obstructions if hung too low and be hardly noticeable hung too high. I have had interesting shadow problems from even bare glass incandescents in the past. Hi Kerry - I was planning to put them on a bar together but have now changed my mind. I would rather put the three lanterns roughly where they would have been in a real kitchen (one over the range for example) and agree a way of raising and lowering them with the chief tech. I would like them to be fairly long (say down to 8-9 ft above the stage) and maybe not all the same height. I will put up with the shadows to get a better effect. I agree with you that high up they will be lost (our bars only go a short distance above their trim height) - so your comment was timely and in tune with my thinking.Regards -- Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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