The Broadway Theatre (September 27, 1847 – April 2, 1859), called the Old Broadway Theatre since its demise,[1] was at 326–30 Broadway, between Pearl and Anthony (now Worth) Streets in Lower Manhattan, New York City.[2] With over 4000 seats,[3] it was the largest theater ever built in New York when it opened.[4] During its brief existence, many prominent performers of the era appeared on its stage. It presented plays, opera, ballet, hippodrama, and circus performances in a space that was reconfigured several times. The operators always struggled to make money, however,[3] and after twelve years the Broadway Theatre was replaced by a more profitable building, for the textile trade.
The founding
The original projector of the Old Broadway Theatre was Thomas S. Hamblin, in an agreement with James R. Whiting. But on April 25, 1845, just as Hamblin was about to begin construction, his Bowery Theatre burned to the ground, involving him in a loss of $100,000. At first he announced he was carrying on with his plan. Then he was publicly opposed by David Hale, editor of The Journal of Commerce and prominent member of the Broadway Tabernacle, across Anthony Street, which was used as a venue for concerts and other events. The New York Herald thought Hale objected to the prospect of competition so close by. Hamblin gave the project up.[5]
Col. Alvah Mann,[6][7] a well-known circus proprietor, then commenced the erection of it. After spending $14,000, he was obliged to call in the aid of James R. Raymond,[8][9][10][11] a wealthy touring-menagerie owner, in order to complete the building.[12] George Barrett[13] was the initial acting and stage manager, and assembled the stock company of actors. On January 24, 1848, a few months after the theatre opened, Mann took a partner,[14] E. A. Marshall,[15][16] manager of the Walnut Street Theatre[17] in Philadelphia, with "[t]he sole management of the Theatre, so far as its dramatic and theatrical arrangements are concerned, ... in the hands of Mr. Marshall. ... "[18] Barrett left and was replaced by William Rufus Blake on February 21. The partnership was dissolved on October 25, 1848, Mann relinquished the building to Raymond, who held a mortgage on it, and Marshall became sole lessee and manager.[19][20] He remained with the theater nearly ten more years.[21]
The building
Map published in 1853
One writer called the location "the very best spot in the city. It is accessible by all the omnibus lines, in the midst of the hotels, on high and wholesome ground."[22]John M. Trimble was the theater's architect, and Addison Alger was the contracted mason and carpenter.[23][24] The L-shaped lot had 75 feet on the south side of Anthony Street and the same on the east side of Broadway, the main entrance; it was 175 feet deep west to east. The façade on Broadway was three stories high and finished to look like stone.[25] The upper stories each had six colored-glass windows. A balcony with thirteen large gas-lit globes overlooked the sidewalk from the second floor.[26][27] (All the gas for the theater was manufactured in the rear basement from oil, to save money.)[28][27] There was a square observatory on top.[25]The Evening Post called the theater "a decided ornament to Broadway".[29]
The effect on entering the house was called "brilliant in the extreme".[22] It was lighted by thirteen chandeliers, each under a colorful grotesque figure of a Moor in the attitude of feeding it with oil.[27][22] The stage curtain was of fringed crimson silk looped up by cords, and the drop depicted a Swiss landscape. The ornaments throughout the theater were gold on a white ground, and the fronts of the boxes represented a chase beginning on the lowest front, and continuing on the other two, turning alternately from right to left and from left to right. The top of the stage was adorned with portraits of Washington and Lafayette with the arms of New York State and the United States. The orchestra pit, surrounded by an open balustrade, was twelve feet by twenty-seven, with a double floor and a sounding chamber to increase the body of tone, especially of the cellos and basses. The stage was ninety-five feet wide by eighty-seven deep, and forty-seven feet across the proscenium.[30]
The arrangement of seats was unusual for the period. The pit was transferred from the ground floor to the gallery (third tier), and in its place the inclined plane of the dress circle (first tier) was extended with the slope of an amphitheatre clear down to the stage. These seats were all entered from the dress circle, and cost the same price: one dollar.[27][22] They were "well-stuffed sofas of luxurious width and inclination, leaving ample room between them for the 'largest liberty' of the feet."[30] One writer contrasted the "personal comfort and luxury" with the Park Theatre's "system of torture applied to legs and arms" and "old fashioned filth, darkness and discomfort", adding, "all that is over".[31]
The family circle (second tier) cost 50 cents and had 13 rows of benches. The third tier had "upper boxes", for which seats cost 50 cents, and the gallery, which cost 25 cents[30][32] and had 20 rows of benches plus three additional rows, in the back, for African-American customers.[26][27] The third tier included an unconnected female section with a separate entrance, on Anthony Street; the rest was for males. A newspaper editorial published October 2, 1847, addressed this arrangement in the context of sexual activity in theaters.[30][33]
(On October 18, 1847, prices for the upper boxes and gallery were reduced by half.[34] On January 10, 1848, prices for the rest of the house were reduced by half, as well.)[35]
A large reservoir on the top of the building held a hundred tons of water, in case of fire.[30][27]
Performers and performances
Edwin Forrest
Anna Bishop
James E. Murdoch
Lester Wallack
Hermine Blangy
Fanny Morant
William Rufus Blake
Charlotte Cushman
Mrs. James W. Wallack Jr.
Adèle and Hippolyte Monplaisir
Marietta Alboni
James W. Wallack Jr.
Jean Margaret Davenport
Mrs. Barney Williams
Madame Ponisi
Julia Dean
Edward Eddy
As at other theaters, the resident stock company presented familiar plays in repertory, with guest stars – touring actors – playing the leading roles during engagements of one or more weeks.[36] Sometimes a new play or special production had a run of consecutive performances. A bill opened with an overture by the house orchestra and comprised a full-length play plus a curtain-raiser or afterpiece, and perhaps another musical, dance, or specialty act, as well. Sometimes the main piece was an opera or ballet by a guest troupe.[37] Summers the company was off, and the house was rented to touring acts. The performers who played the Broadway were the same as those who played the city's other theaters, such as the Park, the Bowery, Niblo's Garden, and the Academy of Music.
Professor Risley & Sons, a popular gymnastics act, was on the bill for two weeks in October.[48] The popular Italian ballerina Giovanna Ciocca, with Gaetano Morra,[49] played two weeks. The French Ballet Company directed by Victor Bartholomin and featuring Hippolyte Monplaisir and his wife Adèle Monplaisir was on the bill from October 21 to November 29. Another French ballet company played April 3 – 15, starring Mlle. Hermine Blangy, with Mons. Bouxary, in L'Illusion d'un Peintre and Giselle. Anna Bishop's Dramatic Company presented Lucrezia Borgia in Italian and Linda of Chamouni in English. The Monplaisirs returned on July 6 for four weeks (sans Bartholomin), presenting the ballets L'Almee and Le Diable a Quatre.
The stock company was not successful the first season; audiences were meager and the press critical.[50][51]
Edwin Forrest[52] opened the second season[53][19] August 28, 1848, in Othello. He played a total of eight weeks over three engagements during the season, in the roles of Macbeth, Virginius, Richelieu, Damon in Damon and Pythias, and Spartacus in The Gladiator. Ann Childe Seguin and her husband Edward Seguin, singers of opera in English, performed October 11 – 24, and performed The Enchantress by Michael William Balfe for 20 nights beginning March 30. December 4 – 9 General Tom Thumb acted in Hop o' My Thumb, or the Seven League Boots, written especially for him. On Christmas night, Lester Wallack (John Lester) played the title part in the premiere of The Count of Monte Cristo, adapted by G. H. Andrews for this theatre, the first dramatization of the Alexandre Dumas novel to be performed in America. It ran 50 nights (dress circle and parquette raised to 75 cents), and was revived May 14–23, 1849.[54] Henry Placide played March 5 – 24; with John Collins from March 12. April 18 – 21 James Henry Hackett played Falstaff in Henry IV. The Monplaisir Ballet Company ran May 28 – June 23, which ended the season. There followed a summer engagement of Italian opera, and ballet featuring Mlle. Blangy, August 13 – September 15.
The third season[55][56] opened September 17, 1849, with Blake as acting and stage manager. James Hudson made his American debut, performing six weeks during the season.[57]Charles Walter Couldock also made his American debut, appearing with Charlotte Cushman a total of six weeks. John Collins played five weeks. The Seguin troupe played two weeks. Mrs. George Barrett appeared 14 nights. Ellen and Kate Bateman, four and six years of age, respectively, made their first appearance in New York;[58] they played a week, as did each of Murdoch, Hackett, and McKean Buchanan.[59]Extremes, a new comedy, was played for a month beginning February 25. Barrett returned as manager on March 21, after a grand benefit March 20 for Blake, who left the company at the end of the week.[60] May 1 – 11, Mrs. Farren appeared. May 13 Jean Margaret Davenport appeared as Evadne, sharing a bill with dancers Giovanna Ciocca and Gaetano Neri in a new ballet, The Magic Flute.[61][62][63][64][65]Her engagement ended May 25.[66] July 4–6, 1850, Madame Augusta's[67] production of the ballet Nathalie,[68][69] and Felix Carlo and family, pantomimists and gymnasts, formed a bill, closing the season.[70][71][72]
1850–53
The fourth season[73][74] opened August 19, 1850, with Barrett as stage manager, and the American debuts of William Davidge,[75] Frederick B. Conway,[76] and Henry Scharf, and Sarah Anderton. During the season, Conway played opposite Cushman in The Stranger and other plays, and also appeared in The School for Scandal, Morton's All That Glitters is Not Gold, Douglas Jerrold's comedy Retired From Business, a new drama called Presented at Court, James Planché's A Day of Reckoning, a French drama called Belphœger, a new spectacle from the French called Azael, the Prodigal, The Husband of My Heart, The Idol of My Heart, G. H. Boker'sThe Betrothal, and Sullivan's Old Love and New. Playing opposite Conway in the last four was Madame Ponisi (Mrs. Elizabeth Wallis), who made her New York debut November 11, as Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal, and was so successful that she was at once given "leading business". She held that position almost continuously until the house was closed.[77] September 2 – 7 Anna Bishop presented Judith. Collins played three weeks in two engagements. Sir William Don's American debut was September 28; he played for two weeks. December 16 – 28 brought a ballet troupe, Celestine and Victorine Franck with Messrs. Espinosa and Gredelue. April 7, 1851, Vision of the Sun was revived; it starred Miss Anderton and ran five weeks. June 23 saw Cushman as Lady Macbeth. The season ended July 12.
Marshall's friends arranged a benefit for him at Castle Garden, August 12, 1851. It lasted from morning until late at night, and ticket-holders could leave and reenter at will. The next day, the report of this remarkable event took up two and one half columns in the New York Herald.[78]
Its interior entirely remodeled and renovated—the parquet enlarged to more than double its original size, the lower tier of boxes rebuilt, new gas fixtures introduced throughout the building, and a new stage laid, among other alterations before and behind the curtain[79]—the Broadway Theatre opened for its fifth season[80][81] on August 27, 1851, with Thomas Barry,[82] formerly of the Park Theatre, as stage manager. The company played a week and a half of mixed bills including ballet by the Rousset Family, who danced Les Fees, Catarina, and the first act of Giselle. Forrest appeared fifteen weeks over three engagements this season, performing King Lear, Jack Cade, and Metamora, in addition to his other roles. Madame Céleste played seven weeks in two engagements: in St. Mary's Eve and a new drama, The Queen's Secret; as Miami in The Green Bushes, Cynthia in The Flowers of the Forest, and Mazourka in Taming a Tartar; and as the French Spy, Naramattah, Marie Ducange, and the Cabin Boy. She also appeared opposite Conway in Boucicault'sThe Willow Copse. On June 7, Mr. and Mrs. Seguin and Mr. T. Bishop appeared with her in La Bayadare. Collins appeared five weeks over two engagements, in Edward Fitzball's version of Paul Clifford; in a new play by C. P. T. Ware, The Irish Genius; and as Sir Patrick O'Plenipo. Starting December 1 Ingomar the Barbarian was produced for one week, featuring Ponisi and Conway. Lola Montez, Countess of Landsfeld, opened December 29, 1851 for three weeks in the ballet Betley, the Tyrolean. On May 18 she returned for two weeks in Lola Montes in Bavaria, by C. P. T. Ware, in which she played herself. Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams made their first appearance at this house June 21, 1852, running until July 7, 1852, on which date Forrest also appeared, in Jack Cade, and the season ended.
The sixth season[83][84] opened August 30, 1852 with The Hunchback by James Sheridan Knowles, in which Julia Dean made her first appearance at this theater. Collins arrived for two weeks, one of them with the Bateman Children in The Young Couple and The Spoiled Child. Forrest began five weeks on September 20, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams for one week. November 1, Ingomar, the Barbarian with Dean and Conway. November 8, The Duke's Wager, by Mrs. Kemble Butler, with Dean, Ponisi, and Conway. November 15, a new petite drama by the Brothers Mayhew, with the Bateman Children and their father. November 29, Mrs. Mowatt for two weeks, who played Parthenia in Ingomar, Blanche in her play Armand, Rosalind, Mrs. Haller, Ion, and Martha Gibbs, and the title character in Anne Blake, the Poor Dependent, by John Westland Marston. Nine weeks of opera began December 13, 1852, with the world premiere of the opera The Peri with words by S. J. Burr and music by James Gaspard Maeder (1809–1876), featuring Mr. Bishop, Caroline Richings, Ponisi, and Davidge. It was performed twelve times. December 27, La Cenerentola with Marietta Alboni performing for the first time in New York City, supported by Signors Sangiovanni, Rovere, and Barili. Alboni appeared as Norma, Amina, Rosina, and Marie in Child of the Regiment, through January 28, 1853. February 14 for the first time in America, Jerrold's comedy St. Cupid was presented. February 24, Forrest acted Othello. His engagement was interrupted by illness, and on the 28th, The White Slave of England was produced, with Ponisi, Conway, Barry, and Mrs. Vernon.[85] March 7, Forrest resumed, as Jack Cade. April 26, a new comedietta by Charles Mathews (the younger) called Little Toddlekins was given, with Davidge and Mrs. Vernon. On May 2 a new and lavish production of Macbeth opened, with Forrest, Conway, and Ponisi; it played 20 nights. The season closed July 18, 1853. The summer season by the Williamses (July 4 – August 6) was very successful.
1853–56
The seventh season[86][87] opened August 15, 1853, with Forest Rose, by Samuel Woodworth. The Williamses played eight weeks over four engagements, with constantly increasing popularity;[88] their repertory included Shandy Maguire. Julia Dean played six weeks over three engagements, including Isabel and Boker's drama Leonora di Guzman, both with Ponisi and Conway. Forrest played eight weeks in two engagements, performing in Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice, among other plays. J. R. Anderson played six weeks over two engagements, in Hamlet, The Lady of Lyons, Ingomar, Othello, Richard III, John H. Wilkins' Civilization, King Lear, Rev. James White's The King of the Commons, Macbeth, Gerald Griffin's Gisippus, and The Robbers. On November 1, he played Charles in The Elder Brother and Delaval in Matrimony, for the American debut of Fanny Morant. On November 28, Miss Davenport began a two-week engagement which included Adrienne, the Actress, Camille, and the Countess in Love. Collins played December 12, as Major Bagnal O'Daly and Paddy Murphy. On January 23, 1854, Sterling Coyne's comedy The Hope of the Family began, with The Cataract of the Ganges, playing a six-week run. On February 6 a lavish new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream began a run which ended March 11. (It competed with a production of the same play at Burton's Theatre, running at the same time.) May 29 began three weeks of Faustus, with Charles Pope and Ponisi and Conway. The season closed July 8, 1854. (Putnam's Monthly disdained the building, its management, and its audience in a February 1854 article.)[3]
The eighth season[89][90] opened August 21, 1854, with Barrett as stage manager, replacing Mr. Barry. Miss Davenport played two engagements totaling four weeks, in Camille and Adrienne and opposite Conway in both Ingomar and Evadne. E. L. Davenport played five weeks, two of them with his wife, Fanny Vining, who made her American debut (opposite her husband) March 2 in Love's Sacrifice. He performed as Richard III, Brutus, Rolla in Pizarro, Hercule in Civilization, St. Pierre in James Sheridan Knowles' The Wife, and William in Black-Eyed Susan, and in two plays by J. H. Wilkins, The Egyptian, and St. Marc, the latter with Ponisi and Conway. Vining played opposite her husband in Hamlet, The Lady of Lyons, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, and W. Robson's Love and Loyalty. She also played a week without him, opposite Conway, in Romeo and Juliet, The Love Chase, and a new comedy called Charity's Love. A double bill of A New Way to Pay Old Debts (Davenport only), and Charity's Love (Vining and Conway) closed their engagement on May 26. Forrest appeared nine weeks in two engagements, performing in Pizarro, Brutus, The Lady of Lyons, and Coriolanus, among his other roles. William Harrison and Louisa Pyne performed twelve and a half weeks of opera, including La sonnambula, The Bohemian Girl, William Vincent Wallace's Maritana, Fra Diavolo, The Crown Diamonds, The Beggars' Opera, Guy Mannering, The Enchantress, and Cinderella. Agnes Robertson played three weeks, in The Maid With the Milking Pail, The Young Actress, and Asmodeus, as Carlo. She also appeared as Andy Blake, Don Leander, the Fairy Star, and Bob Nettles. Her husband, Dion Boucicault, appeared with her the last week. A Midsummer Night's Dream was revived for one week. Eloise Bridges began a two-week run March 12.[91] The season ended on June 2, 1855. There followed summer seasons by Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams (June 25 – July 31) and Gabriel Ravel et al. (August 6 – September 15).
The ninth season[92][93] opened September 17, 1855, with Blake as stage director. Opening night featured E. L. Davenport in 'Richard III, with Charles Fisher as Richmond. King Charming opened Christmas Eve, 1855, and Sea of Ice was added to the bill January 14. These extravaganzas closed January 26. J. W. Wallack Jr. played January 28 – February 6, including the New York premiere of Leon, or The Iron Mask, an historical play by William Bayle Bernard, with Ponisi and Fisher in the cast. Wallack also acted in Romeo and Juliet, The Stranger, Love's Sacrifice, and The Lady of Lyons, opposite Jane Coombs. King Charming played again February 7 – 15. On February 18, the equestrian dramatic spectacle Herne, the Hunter, adapted by Mr. N. B. Clarke[94] from an historical romance by William Harrison Ainsworth, began a three-week run, with a stud of horses from Nixon & Myers.[95][96] This was followed on March 10 by The Cataract of the Ganges for one week, and then Timour the Tartar was added to the bill (with The Cataract of the Ganges) for one week. Finally, a week of Mazeppa was given, ending the six-week equestrian run. The Keller Company, famous for their stage tableaux, appeared for two weeks beginning March 31. The Williamses played seven weeks, April 14 – May 31, followed by three weeks of the stock company, ending the season on June 21, 1856.[92]
1856–59
By that time, the fashionable residential, hotel, and theater district was moving northward, to the area of Union Square. Simultaneously, the city's burgeoning wholesaledry goods trade was expanding northward along Broadway from downtown, transforming the neighborhood of the Broadway Theatre.[97]
Owing to excavation for a new dry goods warehouse adjoining the Broadway Theatre on the south, its walls were dangerously undermined and new foundations were needed beneath them. The theater was therefore not ready to open for its tenth season[98][99] (1856–57) until December 22, 1856.[100]
The opening performance was The Lady of Lyons with Claude Melnotte played by Henry Loraine,[101] an English provincial actor making his American debut, as a guest. He played leading parts in repertory eight nights. December 29 – January 22, a German opera troupe, starring soprano Bertha Johannsen and conducted by Carl Bergman, with Theodore Thomas as concertmaster,[102] gave twelve performances, including Fidelio, Der Freischütz, Martha, The Child of the Regiment, Czar and Carpenter, and Daniel Auber's The Mason and Locksmith. Ticket prices were increased for the opera: one dollar for dress circle and a newly railed-off portion of the parquet.[103] Forrest performed 23 nights, playing Sheridan Knowles' William Tell in addition to his other roles. The rest of his announced performances were canceled owing to his indisposition. January 26 – February 13, Gabriel and Francois Ravel, along with Mlle. Yrca Matthias, the Martinetti family, and a pantomime and ballet corps, performed eleven times. Ponisi played Romeo to Mrs. Lizzie Weston Davenport's Juliet. Monday, March 16, saw the premiere of the "grand dramatic Eastern spectacular drama" The Usurper of Siam, with Sands, Nathans & Co.'s[104] trained elephants, Victoria and Albert. The week of Monday March 30 – April 4, the elephants appeared in a "Grand Divertisement" on a bill with a drama and a farce by the stock company. April 6 – 17, The Last Days of Pompeii was given, including the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. April 20, Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Davenport began an engagement with a new tragedy, De Soto, by the American playwright, George Henry Miles. The spectacle The Son of the Night played two weeks from May 4 through May 16, 1857. This was followed by a two-week revival (from November 1854) of the spectacle Faustus, which closed the (unprofitable) season on May 30, 1857.[98] On June 3, a benefit was given to Marshall at the Academy of Music.
The eleventh season[105][106] began September 14, 1857,[107] when Mathews began a critically acclaimed run of six weeks in two engagements. The Ronzani Ballet Troupe performed October 6 – November 7.[108][109] McKean Buchanan played one week. The theater was closed the week of December 7 to remodel its interior.[110] When it reopened, on December 14, James M. Nixon[95][96] was "equestrian director", R. White was "director of the arena", and Van Amburgh & Co. presented its "grand equestrian, zoological, and hippo-dramatic company".[111][112][113] The Van Amburgh run closed March 31. On April 5, the house reverted to drama for a four-week engagement by Emma Waller and her husband, Daniel Waller.[114][115][116] (The acting manager was N. L. Griffin and the stage manager F. C. Wemyss.)[117][118] They closed May 1, 1858, and E. A. Marshall ended his association with the Broadway Theatre. It was then offered for nightly or weekly lease. A testimonial to Thomas D. Rice was held May 14,[119] and a benefit for H. B. Phillips[120][121] on May 22. Lola Montez lectured May 24[122] and continued for about two weeks, sometimes acting with A. W. Fenno.[123]
The house was leased by Edward Eddy,[124] a popular actor who had the previous season managed the Bowery Theatre, where he had acted since 1851. He made considerable alterations to the Broadway[125] and reopened it for its twelfth season[126][121] October 18, 1858. Fenno was stage manager. The prices were: dress circle, 50 cents; parquette and family circle, 25 cents; "a new and commodious amphitheatre, comprising the entire third and fourth tiers, capable of seating 2,000 persons, 12 cents".[125] The opening play was The Lady of Lyons with Eddy opposite Julia Dean Hayne, who began an engagement of three weeks.[127] Hackett played November 8 – 15, followed by Ponisi as Lady Macbeth, with Eddy as her husband. Barry Sullivan made his American debut November 22, playing various roles for one week.[128][129] On November 29, Eddy presented the circus of Sands, Nathans & Co., which gave six weeks of ring performances, after which the company furnished the horses for a series of hippodramas: Putnam, the Iron Son of '76; Rookwood; Mazeppa; The Cataract of the Ganges; and Ivanhoe. Harry Pearson[130] made his American debut on February 14, 1859, running one week, followed by Lucille and Helen Western, known as the Star Sisters, for two weeks.
Closing and demolition
At some point Whiting had acquired ownership of the building.[131] On February 28, a newspaper reported he had decided to replace the theatre with warehouses, beginning the work in April.[132][133] A four-week run of Shakespeare'sAntony and Cleopatra opened March 7,[134] and the Broadway Theatre closed forever April 2, 1859.
Demolition began by April 11, 1859, and was accomplished by June 11. The new warehouses were completed by June 9, 1860.[135][136][137][138]
In 1867 one writer summarized the theater's history this way:
By many it was anticipated that it would take the place of the old Park Theatre in public esteem, and that within its walls, as in times gone by, the wealthy, the fashionable, the intellectual, and the refined would seek their amusement and relaxation from the cares and fatigues of the day. These anticipations were not realized. It was never patronized by the best society as a body, and a career of ten years served to dissipate all the popularity it acquired in its earlier stages, while a year or two longer found it razed to the ground ... .[139]
References
Notes
^Brown, T. Allston (September 1, 1860). "History of the American Stage". New York Clipper. p. 157, column 4, paragraph 8. The scenery of the old Broadway Theatre was bought for [the New Bowery Theatre], and re-painted by Brothers Smith. New York City's next Broadway Theatre was the former Wallack's Theatre at 485 Broadway (May 2, 1864 – April 28, 1869).
^ abc"Places of Public Amusement". Putnam's Monthly. 3 (14): 150. February 1854. The chief of our city theatres ... is the Broadway. ... It was built by Col. Alvah Mann, a great circus proprietor, who ruined himself by the speculation, and is now the property of Mr. Raymond, another millionaire of the ring. Broadway is a "star house," and depends more upon the attraction of a single eminent performer than upon the general character of its performances, or its stock company; and it is at one time a ballet, another a tragedian, again an opera, then a spectacle, that forms its attractions. Forrest has here appeared one hundred nights in succession; here too Lola Montez made her debut in America, and any wandering monstrosity is seized upon by the manager to secure an audience. The regular drama, excepting with the attraction of a star, is found to be a regular bore to the public, and a regular loss to the house. The manager of the Broadway, E. A. Marshall, Esq., is neither an actor nor a dramatist, but simply a man of business; and, besides the Broadway Theatre, he is also proprietor of the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, and of the theatres in Baltimore and Washington. Neither the exterior nor interior of this house is at all creditable to the city; it has a shabby and temporary look externally, and the ornamentation of the auditorium is both mean and tawdry. No class of people seem to frequent it for recreation but only to gratify an excited curiosity.
"' ... A hundred thousand dollars worth of property has been swallowed up in one short hour—not a single dollar insured—and I stand before the public ... once more a ruined man.'" ("Mr. Hamblin's Appeal to the Public". New York Herald. April 29, 1845. p. 2, column 1.)
"... opposite the City Hospital, District Attorney Whiting ... owned some houses which at Hamblin's instigation he converted into the first Broadway Theatre. ... " ("Broadway a Quarter of a Century Since". New York Clipper. January 16, 1869. p. 2, column 2. Reprinted in Picton:4–5, and attributed to him.)
"We understand that Mr. Hamblin has just completed his arrangements for building a new Theatre, on an extensive and costly scale, on Broadway, adjoining the Tabernacle—the lot purchased and paid for, the plan agreed upon, and all other preliminaries settled." ("Tremendous Fire!—Bowery Theatre burnt for the Fourth Time!". New-York DailyTribune. April 26, 1845. p. 2, column 3.)
"... Messrs. Whiting and Hamblin hav[e] purchased a site nearly opposite the Hospital, in Broadway, for the purpose of erecting a theatre on it." ("Fire at the Bowery Theatre". New York Herald. April 27, 1845. p. 2, column 2, fourth item.)
"... [Hamblin] is already preparing to build a new theatre opposite the Hospital, in Broadway, and a superb location it is." ("Theatricals". New York Herald. April 28, 1845. p. 2, column 4.)
"Hamblin's design for the new Broadway Theatre is magnificent. ... " ("Theatricals". The New York Herald. May 5, 1845. p. 2, column 2.)
"Mr. Hamblin proposes to re-build the Bowery theatre on a magnificent scale. The site is six lots, containing 75 feet on Broadway, between Anthony and Pearl sts., and 175 feet in depth, with 75 feet on Anthony st.; and the sum required for the completion in all respects, of the most splendid Theatre in the United States, is $200,000. Mr. Hamblin has obtained the ground, and desires to borrow $100,000. ... " ("The Bowery Theatre". The American Republican and Baltimore Daily Clipper. Baltimore, Maryland. May 6, 1845. p. 1, column 4.)
"Manager Hale is out upon Manager Hamblin in another very fierce article in yesterday's Journal of Commerce. ... Manager Hale avows that if some stop be not immediately put to the proceedings of Manager Hamblin, Broadway will be irretrievably ruined." ("Managers Hale and Hamblin Again". New York Herald. May 7, 1845. p. 2, column 1.)
"Hamblin has, it appears, been frightened out of Broadway entirely by Manager Hale, of the Tabernacle." ("Theatrical Movements". New York Herald. May 9, 1845. p. 2, column 2, sixth item.)
^"Recent Deaths"(PDF). The New York Times. March 27, 1854. James Raymond, the well-known manager of circuses and menageries, died at Carmel, Putnam County, on the 23d inst. He originated the business about thirty years ago, and imported the first elephant ever shown in the United States. Among his property, which is valued at $1,500,000, are the Broadway Theatre and Washington Hotel, in the City of New-York.
^"Death of Mr. James Raymond". Wheeling Daily Intelligencer. Wheeling, Virginia. April 3, 1854. p. 2, col. 2. Mr. R. is extensively known as a manager of menageries, and one of the originators of the traveling-show system, which has proved a second Mexico to nearly all who have embarked in the business. Mr. Raymond commenced business with a single elephant, in which a large portion of his neighbors had more or less stock; and from this small beginning more than thirty years since, has been developed the huge caravans of animals which have overspread the country.—The extent of Mr. Raymond's wealth must be very considerable, though we question whether it amounts to $1,500,000, as has been stated.—N. Y. Sunday Times.
^"Personal". Daily Evening Star. Washington, D. C. April 14, 1854. p. 2, col. 3. The late James Raymond, it is said, left by will the sum of $18,000 to his friend Col. Alvah Mann—who sunk that amount into the Broadway Theatre.
for "Hooker": Beach, Frederick Converse; Rines, George Edwin, eds. (1912). "Barrett, George Hooker". The Americana. New York: Scientific American Compiling Department.
^"Broadway Theatre—Notice". New York Herald. October 30, 1848. p. 3, column 3, advertisement. The co-partnership heretofore existing between the subscribers, under the name and firm of Mann & Marshall, is this day dissolved, by mutual consent. The business of the firm will be closed up by Mr. Marshall. ALVAH MANN, E. A. MARSHALL. Dated New York, Oct. 25, 1848. The business of the Broadway Theatre will hereafter be conducted by the subscriber. E. A. MARSHALL. New York, October 25, 1848.
^His brother, Caleb S. Marshall, was his agent at the Broadway Theatre c. 1852 – c. 1858. Forrest, Catherine Norton Sinclair (1863). Case of Catherine N. Forrest, Plaintiff. Against Edwin Forrest, Defendant [in Supreme Court]. Vol. 2. New York. p. 853. Caleb. S. Marshall, for plaintiff: I reside in New York; I am President of the American Guano Company. ... I was connected with [the Broadway Theatre] from about 1852 or 1853 until its close about 1858; I was the agent of E. A. Marshall, my brother, the proprietor.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ abcdWillis, N. P. (October 9, 1847). "Theatricals in New York". Weekly National Intelligencer. Washington, D. C. p. 7, column 5. ... we have seen no theatre in America of which the general effect is so good, and we see that the first talent, taste, and experience have been brought into play in its construction. ... in Miss Rose Telbin (from what we saw of her in Lady Teazle), they have a jewel of attraction. The "School for Scandal" was well-played ... We are glad to hear that 'its purpose is no particular class of public amusement,' and that it will give ... every thing and any thing which an enlightened public wishes to see. The Hippodrome of Paris, as our readers know, is visited by the first classes, as an admirable foil and variety to the opera and the classic theatre. There is a school of most accomplished equestrians in France, whose performances feed the same sense of beauty to which sculpture ministers, and we confess we should like to see a refined and well-conducted exhibition of this kind take its turn at the Broadway Theatre. The most refined circles enjoy this class of amusements, and they would rejoice to have them elevated to the style and place of other theatrical exhibitions.
^ ab"The Drama". The Golden Rule and Odd-Fellows' Family Companion. VII (14). New York: E. Winchester: 224. October 2, 1847. The edifice is of brick faced with wood in front, over which is put a new kind of cement invented by William Gibson, called 'indestructible fluid stone cement'.
^ ab"Theatricals and Musical". New York Herald. September 25, 1847. p. 2, column 3, paragraph 11, "The Theatres of the City". The exterior of the new building is imposing ... The house, it is calculated, will seat 4000 persons. ... The circles or the curves of the boxes are ornamented with French scroll work, which is laid on papier mache. The circles are supported by sixteen fluted iron columns, with handsome capitals in the first tier, the same number in the second tier, and eight in the third tier.
^ abcdef"New York Correspondence". Weekly National Intelligencer. Washington, D. C. October 2, 1847. p. 2, columns 4–5, paragraph 10, "First night of the new Theatre". The opening of the Broadway Theatre last evening forms quite an era in the history of New York amusements. ... it presented on the whole a grand and brilliant spectacle, both inside and out, and the opening-night went off with great success. The house was filled, holding probably between four and five thousand persons. ... the manager has engaged an excellent stock-company. ... Besides the immense throng within, Broadway was filled during the evening in front of the theatre and for some distance each way by multitudes, attracted by the new and magnificent appearance of the building. ... The interior of the theatre is lighted by thirteen rich chandeliers, and the whole number of gas-lights in and about the building is said to be about seven hundred. The fitting up of the theatre within is in a very costly and elegant style. ... The seats in the first tier consist of elegant sofas, amounting in cost to about four thousand dollars. The standing curtain in front of the drop (instead of green, the usual color) is a rich and costly damask silk. The heavy drop-curtain itself is finely painted, representing scenery in Switzerland. The balance-weight for the movement of this curtain is one ton.
^"Opening of the Broadway Theatre". The Evening Post. New York. September 28, 1847. p. 2, column 4. The important part of the house, occupied by the pit, and of which so little generally is made is here an elegant continuation of the dress circle. How this innovation upon the old English arrangements will affect the habits of play goers, remains to be seen. There would appear to be a great deal in favor of the old "pit" at a lower price than the boxes, and judging by the respectability which has always characterized that portion of the Park Theatre, and by our old recollections of cheerful hours passed there, when double the price would have kept us away altogether, we are almost disposed to regret the change; although the members of the press have to acknowledge, in the Broadway "parquette," a great addition to their comfort and opportunities of appreciating the performances. ...
^ abcde"The Broadway Theatre ..."Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer. September 25, 1847. p. 2, column 3. The third tier has two distinct compartments one being in the middle of the other and completely shut out from it. The entrance to this is from Anthony Street; the other entrance intended for males is in Broadway. ... the management of the theatre will depend principally upon the acknowledged ability of the artists permanently attached to the establishment. ...
^"The Broadway Theatre". The Evening Post. New York. September 29, 1847. p. 2, column 2. The ancient system of torture applied to legs and arms at the Park Theatre, will, we foresee, be hereafter abolished, since Mr. Mann has demonstrated the possibility of an audience sitting in personal comfort and luxury without any diminution of the legitimate drama. People will hereafter wonder how they were able to endure the old fashioned filth, darkness and discomfort. ... a visit to the Park Theatre cost a lady the price of her ticket and the price of her dress. ... But all that is over. A sight of the legitimate drama no longer costs a man the cramp or the rheumatism.
^"Broadway Theatre". New York Herald. September 28, 1847. p. 3, column 5, advertisement. Dress circle and parquette, $1; family circle and upper boxes, 50 cents; gallery, 25 cents.
^"New Theatre in New-York". New-York Semi-Weekly Tribune. October 2, 1847. p. 2, column 3. ... the Theatre [i.e., theaters in general] proffers to Lewdness the convenience of an exchange—a fair—a market, where the most degraded and shameless of lost women resort in quest of "the young men void of understanding" on whom to visit some portion of the retribution of their own irreparable debasement. The Theatre is the ready and constant resort of simple youth from the country in quest of lewd women, and there are doubtless first formed thousands of intimacies annually whereof the fruits are depravation, shame, disease and early death. We hear with sorrow rather than surprise that abridged facilities for this horrible traffic are provided and afforded in the new Broadway Theatre. A portion of the Third Tier, we understand, is set apart for abandoned females; and though, for quiet and decency's sake, the interminglings and indecencies which often occur at Theatres are here forbidden, it is not the less true that the attendance of this class is obviously invited in order to draw after it another and more numerous. Ought such things to be sheltered by silence on the part of the Press?
^"Broadway Theatre". The Evening Post. New York, N. Y. October 16, 1847. p. 3, column 8, advertisement. Dress Circle and Parquette, $1; Family Circle (2d tier), 50 cents; Upper Boxes, 50 cts; Gallery, 25 cts.; Colored Gallery, 25 cts.; Private Boxes, for 8 persons, $10. "Broadway Theatre". The Evening Post. New York, N. Y. October 18, 1847. p. 3, column 8, advertisement. Dress Circle and Parquette, $1; Family Circle (2d tier), 50 cents; Upper Boxes, 25 cents; Gallery, 12½ cents; Season Tickets, $50; Private Boxes, for 8 persons, $10.
^"Broadway Theatre". New York Herald. January 8, 1848. p. 4, column 6, advertisement. Dress Circle and Parquette, $1; Family Circle (2d tier), 50 cents; Upper Boxes, 25 cents; Gallery, 12½ cents. "Broadway Theatre". New York Herald. January 9, 1848. p. 1, column 1, advertisement. Dress Circle and Parquette, 50 cents; Family Circle (2d tier), 25 cents; Gallery, 12½ cents.
^Bell, Robert (1847). Temper. London: T. H. Brown.
^Boase, Frederic (1892). Modern English Biography: A–H. Truro, Cornwall, England: Netherton and Worth, for the author. p. 1209, "Grattan, Henry Plunkett".
^Sala, George Augustus (February 1869). "The Prude". Belgravia. VII: 561.
^"Amusements in New York". New York Evening Express. February 4, 1848. p. 2, column 7. [The management] commenced upon a plan of legitimacy, and no stars. It paraded a company before the town that could not do ordinary justice to any legitimate drama. Its first essay was The School for Scandal, which was a failure, and nothing was ever done to redeem it. ... Instead of the legitimate and no star system being kept up, up to this point, the Broadway stage had been the theatre of Risley and Sons' saltatory performances, of Monplaisir's (so-called) ballet troupe, of Ciocca's developments in the same line. ... [W]henever the legitimate was tried, it was an unsuccessful attempt.
^"Dramatic Record". The Golden Rule and Odd-Fellows' Family Companion. VIII (25). New York: E. Winchester & Co.: 399 June 17, 1848. [Recently], the Broadway has been left to the resources of its stock company, and a number of old plays have been revived ... ; they have fallen comparatively lifeless upon the meager audiences collected to witness their representation. It was asserted upon the opening of this theater that the star system was to have been abolished, but circumstances forced its adoption. ... Mrs. Mowatt's comedy of Fashion is in the course of revival. It is a more judicious selection than ... comedies of that by-gone and lachrymose school. ...
^Brown (1903):93–94; Ireland:590–91; "The Grand Dramatic Jubilee". New York Herald. August 13, 1851. p. 2. The whole affair was one of a stupendous nature, and altogether the most complete and magnificent display of diversified talent that was ever conceived or executed in any country. It has now formed an epoch in the history of the drama which will be cited in days to come, and reflects the highest credit upon the committee as well as on the cheerfully willing artists, who so ably and so successfully seconded their great enterprise.
^Cibber, Colley (October 2, 1841). Rees, James (ed.). "Biographical Sketch of F. C. Wemyss". Dramatic Mirror and Literary Companion. Vol. I, no. VIII. Philadelphia and New York. pp. 57–58.
^ ab"Amusements". New York Herald. October 17, 1858. p. 7, column 6, advertisement for the Broadway Theatre. The theatre entirely renovated and improved.
^Reports in 1857 claimed Marshall had purchased it from Raymond's heirs, but advertisements as late as May 1, 1858, after which Marshall's name no longer appeared, called him "lessee and manager". "News of the Day"(PDF). The New York Times. April 7, 1857. column 1, last paragraph. (Raymond is called "Reynolds"). "Dramatic and Desultory". New York Clipper. March 14, 1857. p. 375, column 1. Our Broadway Theatre is now said to have been purchased by Mr. E. A. Marshall, the present lessee, who feels sufficiently encouraged by his late experiment in Philadelphia to go in for $275,000 at one slap for the Broadway."Broadway Theatre". The Evening Post. New York, N. Y. May 1, 1858. p. 1, column 7, advertisement. Lessee and manager, E. A. Marshall; Acting manager, N. L. Griffin; Stage manager, F. C. Wemyss.
^"Dramatic and Musical Matters". New York Herald. February 28, 1859. p. 5, column 4, paragraph 2. ... the present owner, Mr. James R. Whiting, will commence the erection of a block of stores on its site about the middle of April. ... Nothing is so suggestive of the upward movement of our city as the change in the location of the fashionable theatres. ... When it goes down there will be an end of theatre building south of Houston Street.
^"Operatic and Dramatic Matters". New York Herald. March 28, 1859. p. 1, column 5, paragraph 14. Since the doors of the house were opened, twelve years ago, lower Broadway has seen many changes—the retail trade, fashionable hotels and private residences moving steadily up town. The theatre site is now too valuable for commercial purposes to be used as a place of amusement ...
^"Building in New York". New York Herald. April 11, 1859. p. 1, column 1, paragraph 10. King & Kellum, No. 179 Broadway. A store where the Broadway theatre at present stands, which will be 75 feet on Broadway, 175 feet deep, 75 feet on Worth street, 25 feet on Pearl street, and 200 feet from Worth to Pearl street. This is all to comprise one store, which will cover nearly half an acre of ground, being the largest store ever built in New York at one time, and nearly as large as the whole of Stewart's establishment. It is to be five stories—or 85 feet—high above the sidewalk. The Broadway front will be of solid marble, in the Norman style of architecture. The store is built for James R. Whiting, Esq., who has leased it to C. W. & J. T. Moore, dry goods merchants. The cost of the building will be about $200,000. The work of tearing down and removing the old theatre has commenced, and the store is to be finished by the 1st of December. For 1894 map: Insurance Maps of the City of New York Surveyed and Published by Sanborn–Perris Map Co., Limited. Vol. 1. New York. 1894. Plate 15 (left half).{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Showing store at 94–98 Worth Street, 552 Pearl Street, and 320–30 Broadway.
^"City Summary". New York Clipper. June 11, 1859. p. 62, column 3, second paragraph. The Broadway Theatre that was, is level with the ground, and nothing remains but a heap of rubbish.
^"City Improvements". New-York Daily Tribune. June 9, 1860. p. 5, columns 2–4, especially column 3, paragraph 12. [The] site is now graced by a stately store of fine architectural finish. The property is owned by James R. Whiting, esq., who expended over $200,000 in the erection of this store. The white-marble front is in the Norman style, striking in its effect ...
^Ireland:492. Ireland adds (p. 682): "Within our memory [in 1867], the ground which it occupied on Broadway was attached, as a flower and vegetable garden, to the house formerly standing on the corner of Anthony, now Worth Street." See also Valentine, D. T. (1865). "History of Broadway". Manual of the Corporation of the City of New-York. New York City Common Council: 587–88.
Brown, T. Allston (1903). "The Old Broadway Theatre". A History of the New York Stage. Vol. 1. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company. pp. 367–412.
Davis, Andrew (2010). "The Marshall Era, 1840–1849". America's Longest Run. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN978-0-271-03578-9.
Graham, Franklin (1902). Histrionic Montreal (second ed.). Montreal: John Lovell & Son.
—————— (ed.). "Olympians of the Sawdust Circle N". Circus Historical Society. Nathans, John Jay (1814-December 26, 1891); Nixon, James M. (1820-September 16, 1899). Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
—————— (ed.). "Olympians of the Sawdust Circle Ra–Ri". Circus Historical Society. Raymond, James R. (1795-1854). Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2017. ... formed a menagerie in the 1820s and toured for some 30 years [with various partners]. ... Died ... leaving property valued at $1,500,000, which included the Broadway Theatre, NYC.
—————— (ed.). "Olympians of the Sawdust Circle Sa–Sl". Circus Historical Society. Sands, Richard. (1814-February 24, 1861). Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
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