Shorpy Saturdays - Historical Pictures of Detroit

**gnome** · December-19-11, 05:34 PM

As a Cliff Claven point of interest, if you think back to old depictions of theatrical stages you will remember the shell-shaped footlights along the stage apron. Those footlights used acetylene gas to heat up cone shaped pieces of lime until they gave off brilliant light. That is why the idiom "being in the limelight" has nothing to do with citrus fruit.

Moreover, to bore you even more, the result of being in the limelight was that the actors whacked out their eyesight and needed to chill out their rods and cones so after the show they would hang out in a room painted green. That room became known as the "GreenRoom" a term that most people consider the room where Johnny Carson's guests get liquored up before going on stage.

Also, to extend this even further, the brims of real major league baseball caps are all covered in dark green fabric so as to aid the ballplayers see the ball against a bright blue sky.

I must add that the moonlight towers didn't use lime but rather carbon rods. They look like large thick pencil leads, about 3/4 inch thick and maybe a foot to 18 inches long. Carbon arcs are pretty rare now, but you can find them in old movie theaters and in those WWII searchlights in front of carpet store grand openings.

There was a guy named Jack Frost, who had a place off of Piquette who carried theatrical carbon arcs. Messy, hot, noisy and really bright.

**EastsideAl** · December-19-11, 06:49 PM

Great information gnome. Not boring in the least.

My favorite thing in that picture is the baseball scoreboard on top of the building at the northeast corner of Woodward and Elizabeth. Based on the first few numbers [[and the semi-leafless condition of the trees) I believe it shows the score of a game in the pennant-deciding series between the Tigers and the White Sox on either Oct. 4 or 5, 1908.

**beachboy** · December-20-11, 01:18 AM

Originally Posted by gnome

...result of being in the limelight was that the actors whacked out their eyesight and needed to chill out their rods and cones so after the show they would hang out in a room painted green...brims of real major league baseball caps are all covered in dark green fabric so as to aid the ballplayers see the ball against a bright blue sky...guy named Jack Frost, who had a place off of Piquette who carried theatrical carbon arcs. Messy, hot, noisy and really bright.

Thank you, gnome, for posting this interesting info!

BTW, why green? B/c, the human visual system response peaks at 555 nanometers wavelength: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_vision , which is in the green portion of the visible spectrum.

Also, carbon arc lamps [[CALs) are great outdoors, but dangerous inside. When the carbon rods burn under the influence of high current [[20-60 amps at 220 volts), the released energy liberates ionic Nitrogen from the air [[80 pct N₂), which combines with ionic carbon from the rods to form some cyanogen [[CN)₂, an extremely poisonous gas:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanogen

That is why movie-theater projectors with CAL illumination are stack-vented, like the pic of the 70mm projector shown below:

[[stack vent is silver pipe at top center)

To advance the rods and keep them burning near optimally, a few Rube Goldberg gadgets were developed in the Machine Age. Here's one example:

Finally, a YouTube video about CAL projectors and how to run them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iScIfqfCGk

and a CAL for lighting up the sky [[we used to call 'em "searchlights"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hv50...eature=related [Part 1]
[[at about 1:30 the arc is initiated, powered by a generator)

and here is the light in all its glory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zqLA...eature=related [Part 2]

I hope this isn't too pedantic...like gnome, I apologize if this is boring.

**mfossano** · December-27-11, 10:49 PM

Here's last Saturday's Shorpy photograph: Hot Water: 1905

http://woodwardspine.com/2011/12/24/...ot-water-1905/

**buckster1986** · January-09-12, 03:13 PM

Here's last Saturday's Shorpy photograph: Made by Maul: 1913

http://woodwardspine.com/2012/01/07/...-by-maul-1913/

**Rockin' Best** · January-10-12, 09:59 AM

Thanks to Jeff Buck for locating and making these images available. As a 4x5 view camera shooter, I look at these 8x10 plates with awe and admiration. Notice how incredibly pinpoint sharp these images are? They were shot with lenses designed and ground over 100 years ago. See if your little digital camera even begins to approach what these ancient cameras could do. Of course it can't!

**buckster1986** · January-10-12, 12:13 PM

Thanks, Rockin'. There's no denying that I love old photographs [[Shorpy is full of them) and I love Detroit.

**kahnman** · January-10-12, 02:27 PM

Just a reminder to everyone - all of these photos [[and tens of thousands more) are available for free from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs online collection. That's where Shorpy got them from:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/det/

Be prepared to go on a wormhole trip of photographic overload. The Library of Congress is my favorite online research site - hands down.

Also check out the HABS/HAER section as well. Historic building surveys that include photos, history and drawings. Great stuff!!