klieg light

Kliegl Brothers logo from the 1922 catolog

A Klieg light is an intense carbon arc lamp especially used in filmmaking. It is named after inventor John H. Kliegl and his brother Anton Tiberius Kliegl. Modern klieg lights use a tungsten-halogen filament. They usually have a fresnel lens or ellipsoidal lens.

Film

The carbon-arc source was so bright that it allowed film directors to make "day" at night, which also heralded the era of blinding actors – a term coined as "Klieg eye".

Stage

In the early days of spotlights, the name "Klieg light" became synonymous with any ellipsoidal reflector spotlight, another carbon-arc source or any bright source. Initially developed for film, the Klieg light was adapted to an incandescent stage fixture in 1911.

Although not completely certain, the title of the first ERS (Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlight - abbreviated to ERS), often goes to the 1933 Klieglight, which was first used to light an outdoor pageant in New York. Century Lighting introduced their Lekolite in the same year.

The Universal Electric Stage Lighting Company, Kliegl Bros. Props. was founded in 1896 and grew to be the largest stage lighting company. The company closed in the 1990s.

Tradenames often become part of backstage vernacular. Leko, Klieg, "six-by", and so forth, are terms all referring to an ERS.

See also

• Actinic conjunctivitis - eye condition caused by overexposure to these lights
• Limelight

External links

• Kliegl Bros
• Joel Rubin interview
• American Heritage Dictionary