In 1883, Farny and Dewitt C. Waugh collaborated on a theatre screen for the Bijou theatre in New York City. The screen was a big hit. The Cincinnati Enquirer quoted one New York critic that said, “from an artistic standpoint, it was the finest drop in New York, which means the United States.” And, according to the Brooklyn Union:
Mr Farny, whom we know as a clever illustrator who of late has done some admirable work for The Century, has done himself credit in the drop curtain which he recently completed for the Bijou Opera House, new York. It is a model of what such a work ought to be; it is sufficiently decorative, and yet not too conventional: It is such a bit of painting that we might expect from a trained artist and decorator like Mr. Francis Lathrop, and Mr. Lathrop shows nothing better in his work in the New Metropolitan Opera House than this curtain painted by Mr. Farny.
Unfortunately, I have yet to locate a picture of it yet. I do have this description from The New York Times:
The curtain for that new and attractive theatre, the Bijou Opera-house, which is to be opened on Wednesday evening, was painted by Messrs. Waugh and Farny of Cincinnati. It represents a portion of an ancient Roman villa wear the Mediterranean Sea, whose blue surface is seen at the left of the curtain. In the centre there is an arcade of marble, supported by Corinthian pillars, The arcade ends in the middle of the picture, and a few steps give entrance to a court below. Several figures are in the picture, which is fall of details. One of these is a statue of Aphrodite.
This is a picture of the New York Bijou Theatre in 1895 from Wikipedia:
