By Joey Vasquez and Joseph Daniels
Walter Christian Thee Jr., known to the world at large as Christian Thee, was a master trompe l'oeil painter, a Broadway scenic designer, and a magic inventor and consultant. His wand was a paint brush and his stage was canvas. The miracles his genius wrought in all aspects of his life were numerous and truly awe inspiring.
Born on Sept. 27th, 1934, in New Jersey to Walter and Edith Thee, Christian and his sister Anita moved with their parents to Columbia, SC when Christian was only three. His father was a regimented man with little time for foolishness, while his mother, “the artist and free spirit” became Christian’s inspiration and greatest supporter.
Never quite fitting in with his peers, even during his later teens at Dreher High School, Christian was already making use of his talents in magic, learned from Ringling Brothers lead photographer, his uncle, Joe Steinmetz. With his mother Edith’s help, and extensive practice and study on his own, Christian developed a genuine gift for painting and design. By that point, his skills as an actor led to finding his tribe; the people of the world of theatre.
By his teens, Thee was designing sets for Columbia, SC’s Town Theatre. A few trips to New York City during his childhood and teens led to Christian and his mother sharing Broadway classics of the “golden era.” By his graduation, Chris had decided to go to New York on his own to study scenic design from the famed Lester Polakov, an acclaimed American scenic and costume designer, painter, and educator, at the celebrated Lester Polakov Studio of Stage Design. Christian would excel and eventually graduate and go on to work on such successful Broadway productions as Hair, Guys and Dolls, Sunset Boulevard, and Dracula among many others, and design sets and scenic pieces for the 1964 World’s Fair.
Chris also had an affection for games and game design and would create Artifax, a game allegedly stolen from him by Parker Bros (renamed Masterpiece) as well as one that he loved to fool guests at his home with, Detente.
He dreamed in his paintings, and he created fantastical worlds where the viewer danced with their eyes.
While in New York he purchased his first residence—a warehouse in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood he would craft into a secret oasis affectionately referred to as “Some Garage in Brooklyn” which would host guests such as Broadway luminaries like Stephen Sondheim, Hal Prince, and even the cast of Saturday Night Live. During this time Chris would meet his great love, Bruce Bahr.
Chris and Bruce immediately fell in love, and their romance would last more than 35 years. They were the perfect partnership. Bruce would work in the fashion industry and then go on to later handle all of Christian’s business affairs. The pair were able to work all over the world—they loved to travel—and secure work for the Royal Family, Tiffany’s, and many film and theatre productions. After they sold their Brooklyn Heights residence they moved to Connecticut until 1996 when they experienced a severe winter resulting in 16 snowstorms. The frigid weather would ultimately bring the pair back to Christian’s roots and they returned home to Columbia, SC.
Doorway at Morgan’s Cover
Their new home, affectionately called Morgan’s Cove, would become a jewel box of a showpiece. The magical space featured Christian’s art throughout: secret doors, trompe l'oeil art adorning every wall, a full studio, and even a magic parlor for Chris to present his beautiful magic to invited guests. Over the years, many a person passed through that home on tours or for private dinners.
Sadly, in 2011 Bruce passed away after a battle with leukemia. Of course, Christian was heavily impacted by such a gravitational loss. Rebuilding after Bruce’s loss would help foster new life in the house, which would eventually become the showplace for a production he helped create titled The Dark Cabaret, as well as an occasional business networking evening he called , The DaVinci Society.
Christian continued to work, and even when his health started to fade, his desire was to paint, to work, to create. He dreamed in his paintings, and he created fantastical worlds where the viewer danced with their eyes. Every piece he created invited play. To experience his work was to see imagination come to life. Ever one to impart a wink and a dirty joke, Christian invited others to dream along with him to create a world that would thrive on creativity and joy. Not only did Bruce give him the tagline “A Brush With Deception,” Chris used his wand to create magic throughout his life, and every one of the lives he touched.
Joey Vasquez and Joseph Daniels, better known as the associates in the name, Christian Thee and Associates, co-created The Dark Cabaret with Thee which ran successfully in Columbia, SC for five years. They are honored to continue the legacy of Christian Thee.