Vogue-Wright Photographic Studio

I had been out of Grad school for just a year and had worked various free-lance Theatre jobs in NYC, New Jersey, New Hampshire and on Long Island, but at the end of August 1981 I started working at Vogue-Wright Photographic Studios in NYC.
My brother, a photographer in the Studio, had told me that things were not getting done on time because the carpenter that they had was just a bit too laid back and not a take charge kind of guy so I had sold the president of the company that I was just what the Studio needed.

I was brought in to add a little more planning and construction expertise to Studio and worked with the company designer to figure out how to build the sets needed for the wide variety of photo shoots that the Studio did.
I do not know what they told the other carpenter, I was never really his boss, but the designer would talk to me about the different projects and I would pass it on to him.
He did not seem to care and did what he was asked to do, more or less, often less.

There was a lot for me to learn about how things were normally done.
The Studio was on two floors of our building with the 15th floor being where most of the full size room sets where put up and the 18th floor had the offices and Fashion Studios.
We did some unique shots but most were simple table top set ups with seamless paper, fashion shots in front of walls and many room shots.
The JC Penny catalog was our biggest client, but with did work for Brooks Brothers, Spiegel, A&P Food Markets and numerous other small shots.

The typical set-up was just two intersecting walls, with a gap for lighting and sometimes window.
The designer would pick a paint color that matched one of the highlight colors in the product that they were selling.
We seemed to do an endless supply of bedroom set-ups with every color and pattern of linens that they sold.

We used hard covered, Hollywood or TV style flats.
Traditional Theatre flats were made with 1x3 pine lumber frames with canvas skins.
Hard cover flats use the same 1x3 but attached on edge and covered with ¼” ply back in 1981, but today Luan Ply is used.

It was at the Studio that I started using Drywall Screws for the first time.
The screws had only been around for a few years and had been designed for attaching Drywall (Sheetrock) to metal studs.
The original screw teeth were fine and often would pull out of wood, plus the steel used was brittle and would easily sheer.
The birth of the cordless electric drill, and that everyone is always looking to make things easier, the use of Drywall Screws caught on fast in both Theatrical and General Construction.
As the use of the screws caught on, manufactures made improvements in both the steel used to make them and the screw threads.
If you go to Home Depot or Lowes most of the screws you would find are called deck screws and it is hard to find the original style meant for steel studs.

Back when I first started working in Theatre if we wanted to use screws we would have to drive them in by hand or use a Yankee Screwdriver.
My accident with a Yankee Screwdriver in High School I documented in a previous post.
Whenever I think about it I have to stop and find the small scar on my arm.

It is still there.

When I took the job I was not sure how long I would stay there, I did not want to give up on Theatre, but it was a good paying job with good benefits and it was the best offer I had at the time.

I will chronicle some of the more interesting events that happened to me over the next year in the Studio, around the City  and even on the train ride to and from work each day.



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