{{short description|Type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls}} {{other uses}} {{Use British English|date=September 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}} thumb|upright=1.35|A diagram of a limelight burner
'''Limelight ''' (also known as '''Drummond light''' or '''calcium light''')<ref name=smith>James R. Smith (2004). ''San Francisco's Lost Landmarks'', Quill Driver Books.</ref> is a non-electric type of stage lighting that was once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illumination is created when a flame fed by oxygen and hydrogen is directed at a cylinder of quicklime (calcium oxide),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/CHEMWEEK/Lime/lime.html|title=Chemical of the Week – Lime|website=scifun.chem.wisc.edu|access-date=2017-12-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217232600/http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/CHEMWEEK/Lime/lime.html|archive-date=17 February 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> due to a combination of incandescence and candoluminescence.
Although it has long since been replaced by electric lighting, the term has survived, as someone in the public eye is still said to be "in the limelight". The actual lamps are called "limes", a term which has been transferred to electrical equivalents.
==History== ===Discovery and invention=== [[File:Homemade Limelight.JPG|thumb|Heating calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) in a stove burner causes it to glow, although this is not as bright as a real limelight.]] The limelight effect was discovered in the 1820s by Goldsworthy Gurney,<ref>[http://www1.chem.leeds.ac.uk/delights/texts/Demonstration_19.htm Limelight – Leeds University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219082452/http://www.chem.leeds.ac.uk/delights/texts/Demonstration_19.htm |date=19 February 2011 }}, Retrieved 18 October 2013.</ref><ref>{{Webarchive|title=BBC Bitesize Local Heroes: Sir Goldsworthy Gurney|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010309042300/http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/archive/local_heroes97/bioggurney.shtml|date={{Date|2001-03-09}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iX194mHFAcYC&pg=PA11 | page = 11 | title = The Correspondence of Michael Faraday | isbn = 978-0-86341-251-6 | author1 = Faraday, Michael | author2 = James, Frank A. J. L | year = 1999}}</ref> based on his work with the "oxy-hydrogen blowpipe", credit for which is normally given to Robert Hare. In 1825, Scottish engineer, Thomas Drummond (1797–1840), saw a demonstration of the effect by Michael Faraday<ref>{{cite book|last1=Carver|first1=Craig M.|title=A history of English in its own words|date=1991|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York|isbn=0-06-270013-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofenglish00carv/page/158 158]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofenglish00carv/page/158}}</ref> and realized that the light would be useful for surveying. Drummond built a working version in 1826. The device is sometimes called the ''Drummond light'' after his adaptation of Gurney's discovery.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://shop.osi.ie/Shop/Products/Default.aspx#historic| title=Historic mapping – archive origins| publisher=Ordnance Survey of Ireland| access-date=2011-03-21| archive-date=12 March 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312130215/http://shop.osi.ie/Shop/Products/Default.aspx#historic| url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Early use in Europe=== alt=19th century limelight used for stage lighting|thumb|A 19th century limelight used for stage lighting. Collection: Stadsschouwburg (city theatre) Bruges, Belgium. The earliest known use of limelight at a public performance was outdoors, over Herne Bay Pier, Kent, on the night of 3 October 1836, to illuminate a juggling performance by magician Ching Lau Lauro. This performance was part of the celebrations following the laying of the foundation stone of the Clock Tower. The playbill called it ''koniaphostic'' light and announced that "the whole pier is overwhelmed with a flood of beautiful white light".{{sfn|Bundock|2000|p=6}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QRMFAAAAQAAJ |title=The Mechanic and Chemist: A Magazine of the Arts and Sciences |year=1839 |page=354 }}</ref>
Limelight was first used for indoor stage illumination in the Covent Garden Theatre in London in 1837 and enjoyed widespread use in theatres around the world in the 1860s and 1870s.<ref>{{cite book |url = https://archive.org/details/historyofindustr00almq |url-access = registration |pages = [https://archive.org/details/historyofindustr00almq/page/72 72]–73 |title = History of industrial gases |publisher = Springer Science & Business Media |isbn = 978-0-306-47277-0 |author1 = Almqvist, Ebbe |year = 2003 }}</ref> Limelights were employed to highlight solo performers in the same manner as modern spotlights.<ref>{{cite book |last = Reid |first = Francis |author-link = Francis Reid |title = The Stage Lighting Handbook (Stage and Costume) |publisher = A & C Black Publishers Ltd|edition= 6 Rev |location = UK |year = 2001 <!-- 1224 pages --> |isbn = 0-7136-5396-5 }}</ref>
===Early use in the United States=== During the American Civil War, in July and August 1863, calcium lights were used during the siege of Fort Wagner, allowing Union forces to illuminate their artillery target at night while supposedly blinding Confederate gunners and riflemen. Calcium lights were also installed on Union Navy ships.<ref>[https://hamptonroadsnavalmuseum.blogspot.com/2016/09/in-limelight-civil-war-military.html In the Limelight: A Civil War Military Innovation]</ref>
===Early use in Australia===
In Australia, limelight was adopted in the late 19th century for use in theatres, public lectures, and illustrated presentations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Before Hollywood, there was The Salvation Army |url=https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/before-hollywood-there-was-the-salvation-army |website=Eureka Street |date=2024 |access-date=17 October 2025}}</ref> One of the most significant developments occurred in 1892, when the Salvation Army established the Limelight Department in Melbourne, Victoria.<ref>{{cite web |title=Shining a light on The Salvation Army’s movie-pioneering past |url=https://www.salvosonline.org.au/post/shining-a-light-on-the-salvation-army-s-movie-pioneering-past |website=Salvos Online |date=2023 |access-date=17 October 2025}}</ref>
Initially functioning as a photographic and lantern-slide studio, the department evolved into one of the world’s earliest film production units. It produced hundreds of short films and pioneering multimedia presentations, including ''Soldiers of the Cross'' (1900), and recorded notable events such as the inauguration of the Australian Commonwealth in 1901.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Salvation Army’s Limelight Department |url=https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/salvation-army-limelight-department |website=National Film and Sound Archive |access-date=17 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Limelight documentary: Melbourne’s forgotten film studio |url=https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/melbourne-breakfast/limelight-studio/104187828 |website=ABC Radio Melbourne |date=2023 |access-date=17 October 2025}}</ref>
The Limelight Department’s work is regarded as foundational to the development of Australian cinema.<ref>{{cite web |title=Soldiers of the Cross |url=https://www.thewarcry.org/articles/soldiers-of-the-cross/ |website=The War Cry |date=2023 |access-date=17 October 2025}}</ref> Limelight technology was gradually replaced by electric arc lighting in the late 19th century as more efficient and safer illumination methods became available.<ref>{{cite book |last=Read |first=Paul |title=Film Restoration: The Technology and Practice |publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann |year=2000 |page=11 |isbn=9780240516233}}</ref>
==See also== {{Wiktionary|limelight|in the limelight}} * {{annotated link|Black-body radiation}} * {{annotated link|Timeline of hydrogen technologies}} * {{annotated link|List of light sources}} * {{annotated link|Zirconia light}} * {{annotated link|Nineteenth-century theatrical scenery}} * {{annotated link|Klieg light}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Bundock |first=Mike |date=2000 |title=Herne Bay Clock Tower: A Descriptive History |location=Herne Bay |publisher=Pierhead Publications |isbn=978-0953897704 }} * [http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/noye/Lantern/Lantlime.htm Art Gallery of South Australia History of Limelights] {{Refend}}
==External links== {{Commons category-inline|Limelight}}
{{Artificial light sources}}
Category:Types of lamp Category:Stage lighting Category:Scottish inventions Category:Hydrogen technologies