Watch almost any old western movie and the saloons almost always had a
coating on their windows. It has a small design pattern of colors that
let light in, but made so people could not see inside.

Ok, Hollywood has never been historically accurate with a lot of stuff,
but this is seen in so many Westerns, that there must be some accuracy
to it. Plus, it would make sense that they wanted light, but did not
want children and others seeing what was going on inside the saloon.

The stuff used on these movies was probably some sort of "contact
paper", and I have seen "contact paper" sold for windows which people
use in bathrooms and stuff like that.

But in the 1800's they could not buy "contact paper". So, what did they
use? I asked a guy who works for a glass company, and he does stained
glass too, and he said he has seen that on th Western movies too, but
dont know what it is. He suggested it could be similar to wax paper, but
he was not able to provide any more information, or what the stuff was
called.

Does anyone on here have any knowledge of this?

It's impossible to search the web for it, not knowing what it's called.

On Wed, 07 Feb 2018 15:10:59 -0600, wrote:

Watch almost any old western movie and the saloons almost always had a
coating on their windows. It has a small design pattern of colors that
let light in, but made so people could not see inside.

Ok, Hollywood has never been historically accurate with a lot of stuff,
but this is seen in so many Westerns, that there must be some accuracy
to it. Plus, it would make sense that they wanted light, but did not
want children and others seeing what was going on inside the saloon.

The stuff used on these movies was probably some sort of "contact
paper", and I have seen "contact paper" sold for windows which people
use in bathrooms and stuff like that.

But in the 1800's they could not buy "contact paper". So, what did they
use? I asked a guy who works for a glass company, and he does stained
glass too, and he said he has seen that on th Western movies too, but
dont know what it is. He suggested it could be similar to wax paper, but
he was not able to provide any more information, or what the stuff was
called.

Does anyone on here have any knowledge of this?

It's impossible to search the web for it, not knowing what it's called.


Crystal laquer was one commonly used "obscuring agent" on glass in
years gone by.

On Wed, 07 Feb 2018 16:39:46 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Wed, 07 Feb 2018 15:10:59 -0600, wrote:

Watch almost any old western movie and the saloons almost always had a
coating on their windows. It has a small design pattern of colors that
let light in, but made so people could not see inside.

Ok, Hollywood has never been historically accurate with a lot of stuff,
but this is seen in so many Westerns, that there must be some accuracy
to it. Plus, it would make sense that they wanted light, but did not
want children and others seeing what was going on inside the saloon.

The stuff used on these movies was probably some sort of "contact
paper", and I have seen "contact paper" sold for windows which people
use in bathrooms and stuff like that.

But in the 1800's they could not buy "contact paper". So, what did they
use? I asked a guy who works for a glass company, and he does stained
glass too, and he said he has seen that on th Western movies too, but
dont know what it is. He suggested it could be similar to wax paper, but
he was not able to provide any more information, or what the stuff was
called.

Does anyone on here have any knowledge of this?

It's impossible to search the web for it, not knowing what it's called.


Crystal laquer was one commonly used "obscuring agent" on glass in
years gone by.

Stained glass but I doubt that actually made it to a lot of small town
western bars. In a big city it may have been more common. I suspect
that is just colored cellophane in the old cowboy movies. They were
going to throw a chair or a cowboy through it before the movie was
over anyway.