A brief history of Terms

Early stage lighting was achieved by lining the edge of the stage with candles shielded from the audience’s view by an often ornate or gilded shell-shaped enclosure. You could determine how well lit your performance was by how many ‘foot-candles’ were lit. We still use the term foot-candles to measure brightness as representing lumens per square foot.

Candles gave way to gas lamps, which added the ability of adjusting their flame with gas valves mounted backstage. It must have been amazing to witness the lighting looks on stage adjusting ‘themselves’ from scene to scene.

The flicker of a candle was an inconvenience when capturing light on film. To solve this problem, the motion picture industry directed a flame into a calcium oxide (quicklime) crystal. This stabilized the flicker and allowed an even glow to illuminate the performers for the silver screen. .. The term ‘in the lime-light’ was quite literal.