What's not so commonly known is the rest of the system -- how the upstage areas were referred to as areas 2, 3 and 4. Thanks to Mike Hume for doing some research on the matter. Here's a drawing of the stage of the Palace Theatre in New York he found on Internet Archive from the 1915 book "Writing for Vaudeville" by Brett Page.
Mr. Page discusses the areas of the stage in his section "The Physical Proportions of the Vaudeville Stage" beginning on page 27:
"1. One -- Back of the proscenium arch – four feet or more behind – it you have noticed canvas-covered wings painted in neutral-toned draperies to harmonize with every sort of curtain, and you have noticed that they are pushed forward or drawn back as it is found necessary to widen or make narrow the stage opening. These first wings, called 'tormentors,' extend upward from the floor – anywhere from 18 to 25 feet, – to the 'Grand Drapery' and 'Working Drapery,' or first 'border,' which extend and hang just in front of them across the stage and hide the stage rigging from the audience. The space lying between the tormentors and a line drawn between the bases of the proscenium arch is called 'One.'
"It is in One that monologues, most 'single acts' – that is, acts presented by one person – and many 'two-acts' – acts requiring but two people – are played. Behind the tormentors is a curtain called the 'olio,' which fulfills the triple purpose of hiding the rest of the stage, serving as scenery for acts in One and often as a curtain to raise and lower on acts playing in the space back of One.
"2. Two -- Five, or six, or even seven feet behind the tormentors you have noticed another set of wings which – extending parallel with the tormentors – serve to mask the rest of stage. The space between these wings and the line of the olio is called 'Two.' In Two, acts such as flirtation-acts – a man and a woman playing lover-like scenes – use scenery or small 'props,' and all other turns requiring but a small playing space, are staged.
"3. Three -- An equal number of feet back of the wings that bound Two, are wings that serve as boundaries for 'Three.' In Three, playlets that require but shallow sets, and other acts that need not more than twelve feet for presentation, are played.
"4. Four -- Behind the wings that bound Three are another pair of wings, set an equal number of feet back, which serve as the boundaries of 'Four.' But, as there are rarely more than four entrances on any stage, Four is usually called 'Full Stage.' In Full Stage are presented all acts such as acrobatic acts, animal turns, musical comedies, playlets and other pretentious acts that require deep sets and a wide playing space."
Mike also calls our attention to a corresponding system of numbering the linesets in many early counterweight systems. He notes that it's a lovely explanation as to why we see lineset numbering restarting at one after each light batten, itself presumably immediately upstage of legs + border or portal.
A photo by Mike of the index strip light at the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena. It's an Armstrong-Power installation from 1925. Note the numbering starting over after each borderlight (2B, 3B, etc.).
In a post on the Facebook page Archiving Technical Theatre History Mike comments:
"Page spells it out for us in his book: 'There are sets of lines in the rear boundaries of One, Two, Three and Four, and [back]drops can be hung on any [line]set.' He goes on to tell us about the border-lights, placed 'in front of the drops in One, Two, Three and Four, and they take the names of first border-light, second border-light, and so on from the drops they illuminate.' So the answer is clear: The vaudeville stage was divided into sections, or bays, and those references translated from the stage directions given to the actors right over to the technicians working the stage, who numbered their linesets according to the common setup used in every theatre.
"It's like a meta-language for touring circuits; every theatre would have slightly varying depths of wings/portals, different numbers of linesets, but by referencing everything at a meta-level shows could easily transfer from theatre to another and so long as the backdrop came in 'at the back of One' and the chorus knew to get setup 'in Two,' everything would work seamlessly no mater the idiosyncrasies of the particular theatre."
Thanks, Mike! Check out the fine photos of the many theatres he's explored, along with lots of tech data, on his Historic Theatre Photography site.
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