1900-1910, Give My Regards To Broadway!
The first decade of the 20th Century was both boring and transformational
in the history of "our" Broadway. The seeds of that transformation
go back to 1882, and the construction of The Madison Square
Theater at 24th Street. The Mallorys, who had built the theater,
had employed a young actor-manager from San Francisco along
with two brothers from the lower Eastside to help manage the
theater. David Belasco, who had the distinction of appearing
on stage with another unknown child, Maude Adams, in San Francisco
in 1877, was soon to become a playwright, theater owner and
builder. The two brothers from the lower Eastside were, of course,
Charles and Daniel Frohman. The first sign of the transformation
occurred when producer Rudolf Aronson decided to build a theater
of his own. At the time, theater was concentrated between Union
Square and 24th Street.
While looking for space in the area, Aronson was approached
by a friend who had a vacant lot "way up-town", at Broadway
and 39th Street. Procuring financing from some of the wealthiest
finance wizards of the day, the Goulds, Roosevelts, Vanderbilts
and Morgans, Aronson built a splendid theater on that site.
When it opened in 1882, the Casino was considered the finest
example of Moorish architecture outside of Spain. It was also
considered too far from the center of things to ever make a
profit. It did modestly well for the first ten years, offering
not only light operas and operettas, but New York's first "roof
garden". Aronson was ousted in 1892, when his change of venue
to vaudeville flopped. But he had, under his management, brought
some of theater's best-known stars up-town. Lillian Russell
and Marie Dressler, were among the stars who appeared for Aronson.
Daniel Frohman had departed the Mallorys, and was establishing
a repertory company and a reputation at the Lyceum theater on
24th Street. He had taken David Belasco with him as the "house
writer". Charles Frohman had begun his separate career as the
manager of theater professionals and in 1893, opened his own
theater, The Empire, one block up from the Casino. In November
of that Year, Abbey's Theater opened next door to the Casino,
and the uptown migration of the theater continued. The Casino
led the way for a number of entrepreneurs to build in the vicinity
of Longacre Square; a long open promenade where Broadway crossed
7th Ave. Following Aronson's lead, the likes of Charles Frohman,
Henry Abbey, and Oscar Hammerstein and the Shuberts were among
the investors and creators of the new theater district.
The first decade of this century witnessed the creation of
numerous theaters in the new Longacre Square area. And, in 1902,
when the Hotel Pabst was razed to allow the Times Building to
be built on that spot, Longacre Square became Times Square.
New theaters in the area include the Victoria, At 42nd St. and
Seventh Ave., built in 1899; the Republic, on 42nd St. built
in 1900; the Lyric, a few doors down and next door to that,
the New Amsterdam, both built in 1903. The following year the
Lew Fields theater was built on the same block. There were several
others built in the area from 39th Street to 45th Street, and
some enterprising individuals were progressing even further
uptown to Columbus Circle and Central Park West.
Belasco separated from Daniel Frohman and was producing his
own shows, generally the same style of melodrama and light comedy
that was popular at the time, and Charles Frohman had become
a "star-maker". Working both in the United States and in Europe,
he had acquired the contracts of a number of actors and actresses.
He had an uncanny ability to link certain roles to certain personalities
to maximize their appeal to the public. An example is Maude
Adams, who had grown up on stage, but had little or no "presence".
Frohman managed to talk James Barrie into writing a script for
his novel, The Little Minister, as a vehicle for Miss
Adams. Produced first in Drury Lane, then in New York, both
the play and Miss Adams were received enthusiastically. By 1901,
Miss Adams, in her second Barrie play, Quality Street,
was a bankable box-office draw.
In 1905, Frohman again assailed Barrie to write a script from
one of his novels; an improbable play concerning alligators
and pirates, baby-sitting dogs, little boys trapped in eternal
child-hood and a character that was a wandering spot of light.
When Maude Adams stepped to the apron and asked if the audience
believed in fairies, the theater roared. Miss Adams, the play
and Frohman became theater legends. She played the role for
eight years and although Peter Pan was not made into
a full-fledged Broadway musical until 1954, for Mary Martin
, the play was always accompanied by music and Peter always
sang a song or two, usually songs that were popular at the time.
Theater during the "Gay Nineties" was still an ensemble production.
Stars and their "hits" were still packing their trunks, and
since trucks and buses weren't available, they boarded trains,
often with the greater stars in their own private cars, to take
their shows on the road. Traveling across country, the whistle-stops
and one-night- stands were very lucrative for performers. To
insure that his stars had lucrative routes and theaters along
the way, particularly in the smaller towns, Charles Frohman
instigated the creation of the "Syndicate". They picked the
stars, the plays, and the theaters for the entire season. Though
Erlanger controlled the Syndicate, Frohman's influence was such
that he controlled the open time for hundreds of theaters throughout
the country. His stars, and he, made huge amounts of money.
The second sign of the transformation was the acceleration
of the argument for "realism" in theater. Two playwrights were
introduced to American theatergoers in the Nineties, who, either
encouraged the change or merely revealed that Americans were
more sophisticated than the self-appointed arbiters of public
morality. Both Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw had plays
produced by American companies. Different styles perhaps, with
different focuses and intentions, they were thinking man's (or
woman's) plays. While at the time they each had only a cult
following, it wouldn't be long before their works were greeted
enthusiastically.
In addition, two actresses made it clear that "realism" was
the wave of future American theater. European star, Eleonora
Duse, relatively unknown in the States made her debut at the
Star Theater in a four-week engagement. Ms. Duse believed that
the art of "acting" was to reproduce what would be, if the events
on the stage were being lived at the moment by the participants.
It became clear to audiences, colleagues and critics, that Ms.
Duse knew what she was about.
In the same year, (1893), Minnie Maddern, who had resigned
from the stage to take up the part of society matron after marrying
Harrison Grey Fiske, returned to the stage. Mr. Fiske was owner
and editor of the Dramatic Mirror. Mrs. Fiske's chosen
role was Nora in Doll's House, which she, too, performed
without "dramatizing" the part. Like Camille earlier
in the century, the first Ibsen productions were "purified",
and they caused little stir, but the style in which they were
presented was noted by critics and audiences alike.
The Shuberts were just beginning to make their mark. Three
brothers who ran a chain of theaters in up-state New York, the
Shuberts, Samuel, Lee, and Jacob, leased a theater in Manhattan
and were soon building others. Gradually acquiring theaters
nation-wide, they began producing and financing the works of
other "independents": independent of the "Syndicate" that is.
Joined by other producers and a group of prominent actors, the
opposition between the Syndicate and the Independents developed
into a war of sorts until the middle of the second decade.
Now that the stage is set for the first decade of the new millennium,
let's take a look at what was transpiring in the first decade
of this New Age.
In 1900, Broadway (the Broadway we're interested in) extended
from the Star Theater on 13th Street, to the New York Theater
on 45th Street. Patrons were paying $1.50 to $2.00 each for
the best seats to see their favorite stars. At the Casino Theater,
a British production came to town. Florodora, a play
about romance and perfume on an island in the Philippines, had
a bevy of lovely ladies twirling parasols and a string of gallant
gentlemen in morning suits singing "Tell Me Pretty Maiden" to
them. The song, the play and the girls all became instant favorites.
Florodora was a huge hit. The show ran for 553 performances
and was revived many times. All six of the "Pretty Maidens"
became the wives of millionaires within a very few years. Although
not an original cast member, 16 year old Evelyn Nesbit, the
infamous girl on a swing, became a Florodora Girl. She went
on to greater fame in 1906, when her jealous husband shot and
killed architect Stanford White, her versatile but unfortunate
lover, at a production of Mamzelle Champagne, at the
Madison Square Theater. White's house, where the infamous red
velvet trapeze was installed, can still be seen on West 24th
Street.
Perhaps the most famous Shakespearean production of the new
Century was Sarah Bernhardt's, Hamlet, in 1901, performed
in French, no less. Mlle. Bernhardt's interpretation was less
than graciously received, and at the end of her tour she vowed
never to return to America. She kept her word too, until 1906.
In 1904, a musical opened called, Little Johnny Jones.
It was the third attempt by its author to succeed on Broadway,
however, it was a failure. Still, George M. Cohan persevered.
He took the show on tour and reworked it several times before
returning it to the Great White Way. The second time around
it was well received. The story of an American jockey accused
of miscreance in England, Little Johnny Jones introduced
two songs to America. The first was "I'm a Yankee Doodle Boy",
the second song was called "Give My Regards To Broadway". Along
with Irving Berlin's 1940's song, "There's No Business Like
Show Business", from "Annie Get Your Gun", "Give My Regards",
is considered one of the national anthems of the Broadway Theater.
Cohan's next show, in 1906, was called, Forty-five Minutes
from Broadway. The score had some standards that are still
sung today; most notably, "Mary is a Grand Old Name". For the
rest of the decade and most of the next, Cohan, young, brash
and arrogant, assured of his own talent wrote and starred in
hit after hit. By the beginning of the next decade he will build
his own theater. (Cohan's Theater opened in 1911, on the corner
of Broadway and 43rd Street with a transfer of his hit Get-Rich-Quick
Wallingford.) >From the acceptance of Little Johnny
Jones, to the end of the next decade, the actor, singer,
dancer, writer, director, manager, George M. Cohan, truly owned
Broadway. In 1909, he opened another hit called The Man Who
Owned Broadway, and, indeed he did.
In 1905, the Casino Theater, now in the control of the Shubert
organization, was severely damaged by fire. It was rebuilt and
opened the new season with a musical starring Eddie Foy. In
it, Foy sang a small song called, "How'd You Like to Spoon with
Me?" It was written by a 20 year old unknown, Jerome Kern. Control
of the Casino passing to the Shuberts must have seemed a blessing
to Mr. Fiske. The offices and plant of the "Daily Dramatic Mirror"
was surrounded by Frohman's Empire Theater, which had entrances
on both Broadway and 40th Streets. Fiske's offices on that corner
were just one block north of the Casino.
Fiske, and his wife posed ardent opposition to the Syndicate.
When a production of Mrs. Fiske's was evicted from a Syndicate
theater to engage a Syndicate production, Fiske bought and renovated
the Manhattan Theater on Sixth Ave. and 33rd St. for Mrs. Fiske.
Likewise, "under pain of dismissal", Syndicate actors were forbidden
to read or buy advertising space in the "Daily Dramatic Mirror".
Maurice Barrymore, on hearing this, posted his subscription.
1905 was also the year that almost saw the end of the feud
between the Syndicate and the Independents led by the Shuberts.
Samuel Shubert was killed in a train-wreck in Pennsylvania.
His grieving brothers were all for withdrawing from New York
theater and met with Erlanger to discuss the possibilities.
One of the points of contention was a contract that Samuel had
made with Belasco. Erlanger, with all the tact that he was known
for, stated, "I do not honor contracts with dead men". This
so shocked and offended the Shubert brothers, that they were,
from that moment, determined to remain in New York and destroy
the Syndicate.
Notable productions during this period were L. Frank Baum's,
The Wizard of Oz, in 1903, and operettas such as Victor
Herbert's, Babes in Toyland, in 1903, and, Naughty
Marietta, in 1910, and Franz Lehar's, The Merry Widow,
in 1907, and Oscar Straus's, The Chocolate Soldier, in
1909. 1900 to 1910, was also the decade that saw the productions
of Belasco's Madame Butterfly and Girl of the Golden
West. The most memorable thing about these is that Puccini
saw a production of Madame Butterfly, in London, and
wrote his opera.
Belasco, whose life was theater, also considered theater as
life. In 1902, when he acquired a long-term lease on an Oscar
Hammerstein theater, The Republic, he changed the theater's
name to his own. When he decided to rename the Stuyvesant Theater
which he was building at the time to The Belasco, he promptly
reverted the Republic to it's original name. The Stuyvesant,
on 44th Street east of Broadway, is still called The Belasco.
He affected the collar and dress of a cleric and lived in an
apartment attached to his offices over his theater, and while
he may have been, "the Bishop of Broadway," he certainly didn't
act the part in private. There are many lurid tales of the gothic
canopied bed and the chamber that adjoined his office. One humorous
tale involves the incredible Jean Eagels, but that's for the
next decade. Let's just say that "dramatize everything," seems
to have been his motto.
As an author, Belasco was prone to use the stock format he
had learned as an actor in San Francisco. The Hero, Villain,
and Damsel in Distress, were the characters of importance and
any "scandalous" situations which might arise in the telling
of their story were always resolved with the highest of proper
Victorian morals intact and in the melodrama of the day, there
was always a little scandal. In all things, "virtue" must triumph.
Imagine the furor which was created by the production of Eugene
Walter's, The Easiest Way in 1908. In this, a woman with
little talent for acting but a genuine ability as a mistress
has the misfortune to fall in love with a newspaper man crusading
for purity. The lady in question finds that living on a "virtuous
income" is difficult and depriving, and the relationship is
hopeless. The "heroine" closes the last act with the line, "Dress
up my body and paint my face. Yes I'm going back to Rector's
to make a hit, and to hell with the rest."
Not only did it create a flood of moral indignation, it caused
some to wonder about their being seen at Rector's. The play,
despite the furor, was a hit. The play was deadly to Rector's
though. The "Place to be Seen" after the theater suffered irreparable
damage from the play. This fore-runner of Sardi's, and the playground
of the likes of "Diamond" Jim Brady and Lillian Russell was
shunned by the majority of same people who created it's "bon
soire" atmosphere. The conception of the "bottle and bird" dinners
of Rector's after-theater crowd was changed forever. The Party-palace
never recovered.
Another important playwright of the first decade is Clyde Fitch.
Not that his plays are particularly memorable, but Fitch was
a prolific writer and understanding the mechanics of the day,
wrote plays that were acceptable by the day's standards and
with distinctly American themes. He gave his plays intense personal
direction, often rehearsing several plays at the same time.
Fitch is regarded by some as being responsible for the proliferation
of American playwrights in the coming years. In 1910, there
were, for the first time, more American plays than foreign plays
on Broadway. In a career spanning only twenty years, from 1889,
when he was hired by Richard Mansfield to assist with a script
for Beau Brummell, to his death in 1909, at the age of
43, Clyde Fitch had written 33 original plays, and 22 adaptations
and dramatizations of other works. He had at one point five
different plays running simultaneously on Broadway, and personally
saw each through rehearsals. An early workaholic, Fitch wrote
constantly. There are tales of him making appointments to answer
his phone. He worked hard but lived well with liveried house
men. When his Long Island estate became too small to house his
art and memorabilia, he bought another nearby and aptly named
it, "The Other House".
Besides the growing popularity of the operetta in Broadway's
repertoire, the other notable musical event of the decade occurred
in 1907; The Follies of 1907, produced by Florenz Ziegfeld.
While not the first revue on Broadway, it was certainly the
most lavish ever to be produced and Ziegfeld would produce 20
more Follies in the ensuing years. Half the budget went to gorgeous
costumes in these shows which glorified the American Girl with
huge musical production numbers. Comic sketches and other varieties
balanced the program. Others tried to imitate the Ziegfeld Follies
(as they became known in 1911) but none were as spectacular
or nearly as successful. A Follies ticket was $2.50, making
it the most expensive show in town. While Rector's was "THE"
after-theater experience, the various "roof-gardens" which had
followed that of The Empire Theater were also rich draws. Ziegfeld
managed to enrich this experience (and himself) by presenting
his own form of cabaret entertainment following his stage extravaganzas.
One could see more "All- American Girls" or, more of the "All
American Girl," while relaxing over a dinner and drinks after
the show at the theater's roof-garden.
Before we leave this decade, let's take a quick look at some
of the other stars of the day. John Drew is still performing
as he will for several more years. He's been joined by his nephews,
John, and Lionel and his niece, Ethel Barrymore. Drew, who had
been a rapier flexing interpreter of Shakespeare in his earlier
career, has settled into drawing room dramas and light comedies
under the management of Frohman, and is playing opposite such
leading ladies as the ingenue Helen Hayes and his own niece.
Other important stars include Julia Marlowe, E. H. Sothern,
and Richard Mansfield.
Julia Marlowe, who has created a name for herself in standard
Broadway fodder, but who aspires to greatness as a Shakespearean
dramatist, is paired with E. H. Sothern, son of R. H. Sothern.
Sothern was also trapped in light fare with aspirations of Shakespearean
greatness. Together the two make history both on and off the
stage. After the proper sequence of mutual divorces, they marry
and become what neither had managed to accomplish alone.
Laurette Taylor, whose life is truly food for a Belasco melodrama,
and who began her career in Belasco clap-trap, becomes a star
for her role in, The Girl in Waiting, in 1910. James
Hackett, has become a matinee idol. Men love his swashbuckling
roles, women think he's the handsomest man in town and the tights
show off great legs. Hackett is also managing another Hammerstein
theater, also on 42nd Street, down the block from the Republic.
Mme. Modjeska is still appearing. Billie Burke ("Are you a good
witch or a bad witch?") and Helen Hayes have begun their careers.
Miss Alla Nazimova has migrated, first from Russia, then from
Thirteenth Street theater to take her place as a translator
of Ibsen's work. In 1910, the Shubert brothers named a theater
for her, on Broadway and 43rd. It was a short-lived alliance.
The following year, Nazimova signed with Frohman and the Syndicate,
and "The Nazimova" became simply, "The 39th Street Theater".
In 1906, New York had seen its first "moving" electrical billboard.
Some critics suggested that this "novelty" was in part responsible
for the success of Victor Herbert's operetta,The Red Mill,
which opened the new season at Abbey's Theater on Broadway and
38th. Most theaters being built now were more intimate houses,
with seating for 1,000 or fewer, but the New Theater, built
in 1909, at 62nd Street and Central Park West seated 2,813,
and the capacity of the Hippodrome, which stretched the
entire block on Sixth Ave. between 43rd and 44th, could seat
over five thousand. When it opened with it's 4 hour premier
show on April 12, 1905, it featured 280 chorus girls, 480 soldiers,
an elephant parade, dancing horses, and a cavalry charge through
a lake. The stage and it's mechanics and tanks, were overwhelming
to theatergoers. Though the spectacle shows were popular, the
theater was soon in financial trouble. The Hippodrome was very
soon to become another Shubert theater.
In comparison, Miss Maxine Elliot's theater, aptly named, Maxine
Elliot's Theater, opened on 39th St. in 1908, seating 900, Nazimova's
which opened in 1910, had seating for only 699 patrons. The
tiny rose and cream colored jewel, the Comedy Theater, also
built by the Shuberts on 41st St. in 1909, only had 623 seats.
In 1910 there were 40 legitimate theaters in the new theater
district around Times Square and it was only the beginning.
The heyday was yet to come for both Broadway and Vaudeville.
The next decade belonged to George M. Cohan and as a tribute
for his contribution to Broadway, a statue in Times Square celebrates
the Yankee Doodle Boy!
This first decade with its silly dramas and entertaining musicals
and spectacle can be summed up in one word, Entertainment.
Next: 1910-1920: Over There
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