Stereopticon Show at Ventfort Hall in Lenox

The Museum of the Gilded Age at Ventfort Hall in Lenox presents "David Brooke and his Remarkable Victorian Stereopticon" on Saturday, November 17 at 4 p.m. Brooke, who began to collect stereopticon (or lantern slides) more than 25 years ago, will use a double lantern of 1900 vintage. His entertainment will include many hand-painted slides, dating from the late 19th century. Some involve movement, created by means of a crank, lever or slipping glass.

Volcanoes erupt, summer changes to winter, and artificial fireworks "explode." Brooke's program will also include song slides, which were used to advertise sheet music in silent movie theaters, and illustrations to accompany the singing of the hymn "Rock of Ages." The show will conclude with a series of comic slides, which record startling accidents and transformations and pose several riddles. The finale will be the famous "Ratcatcher" in which a snoring gentleman accidentally swallows rats.

Brooke is a member of both the British and American Magic Lantern Societies and has given shows at many museums and historical societies. He is the former director of the Robert Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.

The lantern dates from the 17th century as a form of public and private entertainment and flourished especially during the Victorian Age. According to Brooke, during this time the Royal Polytechnic Institute in London offered highly sophisticated lantern presentations. The Institute made its own elaborate slides and used many lanterns at one time with both front and rear projection.

The lantern was also used by ministers, missionaries, scientists and professional entertainers, not to mention such amateurs as parents and children. By the end of the Victorian era, the lantern was experiencing competition from a new phenomenon, motion pictures, to which, Brooke says, it had contributed many special effects.

Admission is $15 for non-members and $12 for members; tea and refreshments are included and will follow the program. Admission funds are earmarked for the continuing restoration of Ventfort Hall, built in 1893 by George Hale and Sarah Spencer Morgan, sister of financier J.P. Morgan. For more info call 413-637-3206.