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vickifrank
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bullet Topic: Oleo Drops
    Posted: 9/22/07 at 9:26am
I've been writing an article for my (company) web site on the techniques of constructing an Oleo Drop, but I have no pictures and only a small diagram that I've drawn up.
 
Does anyone have any tips to add to the article? 
 
Anyone with any pictures of their Olio in use or under construction that they don't mind me using on the site? 
 
This is a sales site, but the articles are general purpose to help folks with typical theater problems.
 
Here's the article as it currently is.  Keep in mind that my company manufactures a scrim that can be used in this construction technique.  So the Olio Drop article is tilted toward use of the Oleo with a scrim (Wow! Different!  Never do that with sharks tooth).  The same technique can be used with canvas drops.
 
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Gaafa
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bullet Posted: 9/23/07 at 12:55am
This probably won't help?
In the dim distanced past I remember they used  various  methods  in diffent spaces.
The olio was a designated space just upstage of the Teaser & Tormentors, which was behind the Grand house rag.
Vaudeville didn't realy take place as such, we Pohms seemed to have jumped from Musical Hall to Variety shows.
But they utallised Olio performers & dancers, such as the Tiller Girls, Windmiller Dancers & other acts as fillers, on the apron stage.
With the olio drops these were oil [painted] cloth drops, later with used as  a false house rag with local adds to pay the power bills, rather than using it for upstage scene changes. Of course they graduated to using slide projectors on the olio for that purpose, which helped with the gas bill as well!
These then become known in a lot of venues as just the Slide Sheet used on the olio Line space.
As a lot of smaller vebues became more mechanised, scrim drops were refered to as the oleo. Meaning suspened or  dampered, when the use of Tumblers, normally used only for scrims, in hemp houses. Was taken over by  more sophisticated fly counterweight systems [to most this  was a newly discoverd system - Yet the principle had only been around since the opening performance of ancient Greek theatre?]
Which brought about the demise of the olio,oleo & tumbler drops. Ameatre still carried on  utalising this method for a long time. but became lost with every crop of amdramers, who have never being exsposed to them.
 untill they are now being rediscovered again, to be utalised in the village hall & whatever venues are being performend in.
Much the same as the pro venues are reverting back to utalising 'Boarder batten' lighting as a new inovation?
when this was said to me by a techie from the  Aussie Ballet  Company, It took a lot to keep a straight face &  just blurt out "Are they, that's amasing!"] 'So everthing old is new again'.
[Gawd I prattle on - but it helps to pass the time,]
Anyhow eting back to what I started out to say, before I unterupted!
 I have no pics of these systems to hand, unlewss i can get one from the Old Mill theatre in South Perth, but that was only a Tumbler my mate & me  made a while ago?
Which has a cloth drum masked by a Boarder & the drop rolls down ontill the tail batten is on the deck.
It was easily produced in a couple of days & operated by one of the crew, without the need for a lot of muscle power.
Unlike the old one made in the 50's, uncovered in the dungeon & they attempted to use, but chucked into the skip instead.
{Why is beyond me? If it hasn't got press buttons & flashing lights, it must be useless!}
So against all their edicts of it's a waste of time & resources, we carried on anyway, putting it together in short order!
we fosicked about the Salvage yards & came near all the bits we needed.
Using a 20' Ali lighting batten,as described in your article. Whe got mate s rates  for 2 bearings & housing to suit  the batten, then cut some disks  out of  odd pieced of ply & chip board, to slide on to the pipe. These acted as support ribs for a lenght of plastic sewer drainage pipe to fit over the batten pipe. We managed to snaffle from a road drainage contractor working near by.
Luckily we had a piece of the plastic pipe to be able to precut the disks to suit the pipes diameter.
securing the disks at regular intervals along the pipe, with small 'L' brackets & tek screws. We sliped the plastic pipe on , with aid of  squirts of dish washing liquid. ]Lemon fragrent of course!].
Tek screwed the plastic pipe tp secure it into place.
Fitted 2 larger disks on the PS end, seperated by  a series of dowels set  around the disks, to replicate as a winding sheave for the operating sash cord.
[I was going to use a wheel fim off a car, without  the tyre & tube, but it would have been too heavy, for the ballance.]
Popped the two bearings in thier housings on the Ali pipe. Used two hemp lines thru single pullies, secured in the roof viod. Gaffer taprd the prepared calico scene drop rolled onto the tumblers drum, then raised it in to place behind  the boarder.
With the drop rolled on the tumbler drum, the hemp lines were cleated & snotted off.
The sash cord line was tied of at one end to the dowelled sheave & wrap laid around it, to a sort of  measured lenght of the drop first before lifting, with the other end left cioled in the balance of the cord.
[Prior to brining in the  tumbler cloth, so it wound wind on as the tumbler cloth was brought in.]
We unrolled the tumber cloth in, untill the tail batten was on the stage deck. Adjusting the long & short hemp lines on the tumbler, untill the tail pocket skirt brushed the deck & was level with the it all hanging square.
It works great & runs easily, comtrolled by the sash cord. So much so they have used it for almost every show since.
I realise this is a load of drivel & not what you article is about, but it may help in some way?
I'm glad you have brought high tech gear that can be used in low tech situations, with price tag, we don't have to save gold bricks up to afford!
I apolgise if this might be confusing [it is to me?] with the spelling & grammar. My medication has not kicked in yet, but coffee & a quite few smokes seems to do the job though!Wink 
I can't seem to get this  ruddy spell checker to work!
Confused 
      Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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vickifrank
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bullet Posted: 9/23/07 at 10:16am
Hi Joe,
 
Yes, I'd like the pictures if you can get them.  I have several requests from small theaters (and churches) doing theater productions for rigging solutions.  Good hearted idiot that I am, I figure 'why not help them!'
 
Tumbler is like an Oleo turned upside down, right?  So the roll is on the bottom--a little bit confused because you said you hide the drum by a border, so how can it be on the ground?  (But I've read that Tumblers have roll on the ground.)
 
 
I'm figuring on writing another article on breasting techniques, and most likely on how to set up an inexpensive traveler system--without major architectural changes; how to do a kibuki (hmm wonder if that's spelled right) drop; and how to set up invisible entrances.
 
My company doesn't install, or do these systems, but I've found that providing this information seems to help my customers--and saves me time on the phone (because I will take the time and solve their problems).
 
BTW--I love the history of the term, I hadn't heard that explanation although I knew that Oleo Drop in some regions of the US means any painted drop--your explanation makes the 'why' of that clear.
 
Thx for your help. 
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Gaafa
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bullet Posted: 9/24/07 at 7:58pm
Sorry for the confusion!
A Tumbler cloth drum is flown out, up behind the boarder, with the cloth rolled around the tumbler drum.
when unrolled the tail batten comes in, as though it was a fly drop, from the boarder to the deck. [also known as a roll drop]
Thus the rolling action is from the fly's, t'other way round to the oleo. As it rolls up on the tumbler drum, rather than the tail batten.
Or as other olio's do with two dropper lines, each one runs down on opposite side of the cloth. Wrapping under the tail batten & hauled togeter via pullies, rolling the cloth on to the tail batten, as it is hauled out. The two lines are unsightly on the front of the cloth all the time when it's in. Unless they can be masked in the dropper line colour or as part of the painted scene. Which is next to impossible & only probrable in theory, not practice.Cry
I assume with the 'travelers'. this also includes 'tabs'?
Which as you would realise & know are normally handled on tracking under slung or attached to fly battens [barrels - pipes]. With the tab tracks either dead hung from hemp dropper lines or attached to fixtures in the cieling.
There are a lot of weird gaff arangements such as drapes & clothsrunning on a stretched wire or a cobbled together improvisations.
With drapes or cloths being run on wire or line arrangements, sagging is the biggest problem, when the cloth bunches & the unballanced weight in one area. Also the niose if steel rings are used to carry the cloth.
The usual way around the niose is to use plastic coated clothes line or plastic carries or plastic rings, but sagging will occur no matter how tight the line, even ustalising turnbuckles to tention it.
The only way really is to use tracking, the type produced with bearing carrier rails & used for stage work.
Most theatrical drapes suppliers have them & they are faily generic in style, with sectional straight or curved track pieces & attachments.
With the tracks the hauling line is threaded thru the track. Which keaps it up & out the way, on both travellers & french action tabulating drapes.
In all cases it doesn't take an Achy-tech to design or draw up, as it can all be used straight off the shelf.
As for the Kabuki the only time I have had anything to do with this style of scenery, was as kid many years ago.
It was at a theatre at Bath [UK] where multiple grooves were set in across the stage, for sliding screens. They had a woden insert that dropped in to cover up & have a flush stage deck, when they were not used.
The top tracks were on fly battens & it  was a bit of messing about to set up for large sliding screens.
The terms when I was a kid did tend to differ in Britain with locaction, accents & general lingo of the various areas. [Which can change dramaticly between venues, even though they are only a few miles apart.Sleepy

One thing I forgot to mention is with the ties used to hang legs, boarders, Teasers, tormentors & scrims. [I have not used them on full cloths as yet]
Is to use plastic reuseable electrial [zip] ties, instead of rope, cord or cloth ones.
These work well & just as quick as tieing the bows off on the batten for bump [get] In & undoing for Bump Outs on shows.
With drops & cloths they may tend to slide depending on the  surface of the batten used, but untill I try, I wouldn't know if the head of the drop may need to be tied off or not in each end to stop side movement. [there again it might be easier adjusting the drops?] as it's not a problem with the maskings.



      Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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vickifrank
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bullet Posted: 9/25/07 at 10:17am
Yes, that helps.  After I wrote the last I realised what you were saying.  Still would love to have pictures.
 
As for tracks you can get the tracks for travelers cheaper (at least here in US) at the farm supply store.  The tracks that they use for horse stall doors are the same as those used on stage.  Then you need the other hardware
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Gaafa
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bullet Posted: 9/25/07 at 11:35pm
that's a good idea Susanne.
I have used a lot of weird & wonderful tracking for soft hangings. I never thought of the horse stall ones.
here as I have posted before, we are just a pimple on the backside of the theatre world. So we become adept at using what's at hand for theatre equipment.
Even making our own lighting equipment from roof  guttering. to produce Boarder lights/cyc floods & floats - fly grids from old railway lines!
{We're not fancy - only cheap!}
It is a lot better now & theatre supplies are readily available these days.
Drop breasting [tripping] is not done that often here, mainly because most amdram groups tend to shy away from utalising drop cloths & Fly rigging, as there is only a couple of groups who have a fly loft in thier theatre or even use limited rigging these days.
I always have to smile, when we ol'farts produce a painted scene drop cloth, from a roll of  calico/muslin. Then breast it to fly out with limited hieght problems, to the amasement of the younger ones. [gawd we techies are show ponies.Clown] & when comes to showing them how to make 'thwakers'
or salt water light dimmers - [we have to be complete yoyo's!Tongue]
I did a ceiling on a inset cameo trucked box set piece. By breasting it. Which was easy enough by just epoxy glueing a pocket. acoss the centre of the calico cieling drop. Sliding a batten in the pocket & fly it out on a centre line dropper bridle.

      Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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drose
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bullet Posted: 9/26/07 at 5:13pm
This is a touch off subject, but I'm a little confused.  As far as I know (and I could well be wrong), oleo is short for oleomargarine - lard like.  Olio refers to a hodgepodge or mix and is used in theatre for pre/mostly post show shorts and skits.  So it seems to me Olio is the more likely spelling unless oleo is short for something technical that I don't know about (highly likely).  So what is the difference in usage of oleo and olio?
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vickifrank
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bullet Posted: 9/26/07 at 6:35pm
I've seen both spellings ('olio' and 'oleo') used as well as the term 'roll drop'.  I'd also seen 'Oleo Drop' used to refer to any painted drop--but especially a vaudeville one.  And I've seen Oleo Curtain used to refer to a painted drop/curtain placed downstage.  Some of these were even referred to as canvas stretched on wood and painted with scenes.
 
Joe, I think gave the clue to the meaning a few posts back.  He talked about a placement for the drop being the Oleo placement.  (Furthest downstage)
 
And I found this online: "An Olio in Vaudeville was the short mish mosh of acts that filled the time between main acts. The curtain these olios performed in front of was called the olio curtain. Sometimes spelled oleo, this curtain was rolled up around a tube and raised and lowered with ropes and pulleys. The Melodrama Theatre in Oceano uses an oleo curtain. Olio acts were often incorporated in melodramas to help ease the tension in the audience. These olios often occurred at act breaks."--Dave Holmes http://doggedresearch.com/toadswords/words/excursus13.htm
 
Assuming Mr. Holmes is correct--I deduce (couldn't resist ) that 1.) Olio is a downstage placement of scenery, curtains of any type, 2.) because they were used in the 'mish-mash' short acts called 'Olios'.  3.) Since it was common in vauldeville to use a roll drop as backgrounds for Olio acts, the term became warped to mean a roll drop.
 
But that wasn't your question....you asked what did the term 'Oleo' come from? 4.)More research says that 'Oleo' is short for 'oleograph' a printing term for a picture printed on canvas by a chromolithograph technique.  By the way an oleograph looks like an oil painting because it is printed with oil paint (and of course they wanted to look like oil painting).
 
Thus I deduce, but can't prove, that 5.)two homophones which are also similarly spelled terms started to be interchanged to both mean 'a painted roll drop'.  But especially one hung downstage.
 
There is a precident for this confusion of terms in America.  Did you know that in "Gone With the Wind" a great scandal was created by Rhett saying, "Frankly Scarlet I don't give a damn!".    Well Rhett terrorized the ignorant sensors who thought that he had used profanity (gasp!).  Actually the term "I don't give a damn" was correctly said, "I don't give a dam"  This term came from the original usage, "I wouldn't give a tinker's dam".  A tinker was a guy who used to fix pots for a living.  A tinker's dam was the thing he used to hammer into the pot to fix a hole  (sort of like a plug, or wad of metal).  So a tinker's dam was something worthless--like a 'plugged nickel' had no value.
 
The dissertation written above explains both my alienation from normal society--and proves the proverb: Never Ask a Nerd or foaming-the-mouth theater techie.  LOL  Actually I'm worse... an artist and electrical engineer and (seven step program for this one) MBA, and sort of old fart.
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Gaafa
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bullet Posted: 9/26/07 at 8:55pm
M'finks 'n av'n fought, fink on!
{for instant cockney accent! "Forty fousand feavvers on a frushes froat" = 'Forty thousand feathers on a thrushs throat'}
Olio is any oil [painted] cloth that rolls - in/out.
While oleo is an olio flown fully extended as a whole cloth piece in/out.
Which is in line with oleo suspension on an aircraft undercarriage.
{unlike 'undercarage'- meaning less carage  portions are used by a doddgy builder, in measuring a Bushell (64 carages [stricken portions] = 1 Bushell) - off on a tangent again!}Ouch
I didn't realise vicki you were also a sparky as well?Wink
      Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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