<\/p>\n
Although I have occasionally mentioned some old handbill that advertised a public entertainment, I think tonight is the first time that this program has given special attention to theater programs.<\/p>\n
Last summer I received from a former Waterville man, Isaac Blaine Stevens, now living in Nashua, New Hampshire, a large carton of old papers, among which were play bills of Boston theaters in the 1880’s. First there was the Boston Museum, where on March 9, 1885 Edwin Booth started two weeks of repertory appearances. He opened in Shakespeare’s “Richard III”, and the play bill called attention to Mr. Booth’s first appearance on any stage which occurred at the same theater 36 years earlier. It said: “A facsimile of the Boston Museum program dated September 10, 1849, recording Edwin Booth’s first appearance on the stage, will be presented to the audience attending this production of Richard III, it having been in that play, as Tressel, that Mr. Booth first faced the footlights.”<\/p>\n
The Booth repertory that spring of 1885 included such varied plays as “The Lady of Lyon”, “Richelieu”, “The Merchant of Venice” and “A New Way to Pay Old Debts”.<\/p>\n
At that time the Boston Museum supported a large stock company, which had been broken up into two companies, one on tour during the Booth appearance, the other supporting Mr. Booth. The theater announced that beginning the week of March 30, the touring group, called “The Wanderers”, would return, and the united company would appear in a series of plays. I wonder how many of them my listeners tonight remember. They were “East Lynne”, “Box and Cox”, “Ticket-of-Leave Man”, “The Three Guardsmen” and “A Midnight Marriage”.<\/p>\n
How many of you ever heard of the 19th century actress, Mrs. A. J. Vincent? She was no Ellen Terry, but she had in 1885 a nation-wide reputation. At the Boston Museum during’ the week of April 25, she alternated between t1She Stoops to Conquer” and “The Rivals”.<\/p>\n
Compared with prices in the small town opera houses in the 1880’s, ticket rates at the Boston Museum were high. In the evening orchestra seats were two dollars, first balcony $1.50 and second balcony one dollar. Although \u00a72.00 was still charged for an orchestra seat at the matinees, seats in the second balcony could be obtained for as little as 50 cents.<\/p>\n
Another Boston theater contemporary with the Museum was the Globe. It too sometimes featured Edwin Booth. In the fall of 1883 Mr. Booth put in a fortnight at the Globe. He opened in “Richelieu” and closed in his greatest part, “Hamlet”. In between he gave performances of “Macbeth”, “King Learn and”Othello”.<\/p>\n
The Globe announced as prices for the Booth engagement: general admission 50 cents, orchestra and balcony circle $1.50, first balcony $1 .00, second balcony 50 cents.<\/p>\n
It is interesting to note that in 1583 elections fell on November 6, just as they did in 1962. The Globe’s play bill said: “Election returns will be announced in the smoking room on the evening of November 6. Carriages may be called at the Essex Street or Washington Street entrances.”<\/p>\n
Considering that top price for seats to see Edwin Booth at the Globe in 1883 were only $1.50, it is interesting to see how much higher prices the same theater could get during a week in 1885 when Henry Irving appeared in Louis XI. Seats in the orchestra sold for $2.50, and the general admission price was doubled from 50 cents to a dollar.<\/p>\n
In May, 1885 the attraction at the Globe was Joseph Jefferson. He opened in “The Cricket on the Hearth”, then gave five performances 0 f his best known part, “Rip Van Winkle”. Still another Boston theater of the 1880’s was the Park. In the spring of 1884 it was featuring Fanny Davenport in “Fedora”, to be followed by Augustin Daly’s company in “Red Letter Nights”.<\/p>\n
Boston’s newest theater in 1880 was Halleck~s Alhambra. In August of that year it presented Annie Ward Tiffany in “The Child Stealer”, and announced: “Performance every evening without regard to weather. Entire building waterproof.” That last statement makes sense only if we interpret it to mean that some of the older Boston theaters had leaking roofs.<\/p>\n
Of course the old playbills contained advertisements just as they do today. In that hot summer of 1880 Halleck’s carried ads for eating places by the cooling sea. There was Wave Cottage, City Point, featuring its fish dinners; the Harber View House, which boasted the coldest glass of lager on the Point and the Point Pleasant House, which offered the three B’s of boating, bathing and billiards.<\/p>\n
Another ad told you that, if you would buy a pair of calf boots at Patterson’s on Eliot Street, you would get a button hook free. The ad further said: “At Patterson’s no auction culch or shoddy goods are sold.<\/p>\n
Listen to a few more ads from those theater programs of the 1880s:<\/p>\n
“Ostrich feathers dyed, cleansed and curled.<\/p>\n
“Horsford’s Acid Phosphate — invigorating, strengthening and refreshing.<\/p>\n
“Crawford House, Scolly Square; ladies’ dining room open until midnight.<\/p>\n
“Andrews’ folding parlor bed — durable, economical, and will not sag.<\/p>\n
“The improved comfort corset; no bones to break.”<\/p>\n
In 1884 Boston had one theater, the Bijou, devoted to comic opera. In April it offered “A Trip to African, an opera that I am sure has long been forgotten, and in May it put on “The Beggar Student”, which the program said had enjoyed over 300 performances in Vienna and Berlin and came to Boston direct from a triumph at the Casino Theater in New York. For its performance of “The Beggar Student” the Bijou provided a military band, a grand chorus of a hundred voices, new and elegant costumes, and specially designed scenery.<\/p>\n
On the back of each Bijou program appeared a diagram of the theater. The management was proud of two recent innovations, electric lights and telephone. The announcement said: “This theater is lighted by the Edison incandescent system; no gas is used. Seats may be secured by telephone at the usual prices.”<\/p>\n
Typical of home talent entertainments common in the 1880’s was a production of the Newton Boat Club in 1884. They were putting on a show called “The Newton Minstrels to raise money for the club’s expenses. Their announcement said: “The purpose of the club is to encourage boating on the Charles River, to promote physical culture, and to foster unity of feeling among those interested in rowing in Newton.”<\/p>\n
The show itself was the usual colored minstrel show, with end men, interlocutor, solos, duets and choruses, but some of the program announcements strike us as a bit strange in this mid-twentieth century: “Our entertainment is run on Standard Time, which is to say that trains will leave Boston for Newton at 7 P.M. and returning will leave Newton at 10:21 P.M. Articles will be checked for 10 cents provided you can find the baggage room.<\/p>\n
“No stopover checks during the intermission.”<\/p>\n
One ad in that Newton program reminds us of a new fad of the 1880’s — bicycling. The ads of course referred to those top-heavy vehicles with the big front wheel and the little rear wheel. But I venture few of my listeners ever heard of a tandem high-wheeler. That there was such a vehicle is shown by a cut depicting it in the ad appearing in that old Newton program. The cut shows a bicycle with two high wheels, one behind the other and sitting atop each wheel is a rider, with his feet on pedals attached to the wheel’s hub.<\/p>\n
While most of the old programs in Mr. Stevens’ collection were from the Boston area, two directly concerned Waterville. They both dealt with the same event, an appearance of the Forepaugh Circus in this city on July 16, 1885. One was a circular advertising the circus itself; the other advertised railroad excursions to it.<\/p>\n
The circus ad was replete with the usual extravagant and flamboyant statements: “Wait! Wait! for the exalted ruler of recreation’s realm. Any measure of just description would appear to be a visioning dream. See the golden field of glittering pageants, the fabled fairyland of breath-taking novelties piled mountain high. A full quartet of magnificent menageries. A grand company of crack shot champions, Mexicans and cowboys excelling in wild frontier sports, expert lasso throwing, and bronco busting. A whole tribe of wild Indians. The only original, real Roman hippodrome produced by any circus.”<\/p>\n
Forepaugh’s menagerie boasted a 19 foot giraffe, a hippopotamus, three baby tigers, a man-eating and a bull-fighting tiger, a genuine zebra (not a donkey with painted stripes), a flesh-eating vulture, an ostrich, a yak, a llama, twelve camels and twenty elephants, and a special attraction advertised as a unicorn, which turned out to be a gnu or wildebeast.<\/p>\n
Of course there was a street parade, in which six tableau floats carried respectively the Goddess of Liberty, the Golden Lion, the Golden Eagle, the Hive of Industry, the Fiery Dragon, and Cleopatra’s Barge. Besides the caged animals, the camels and the elephants and forty mounted knights and ladies, Forepaugh promised two four-horse Roman chariots, 150 horses, 30 pygmy ponies, and the famous Deadwood stage coach. In the side shows were champion wrestlers and boxers, tattooed ladies, giants and dwarfs, a lady snake charmer, and a family of Zulus. To make it all especially appealing, old Adam Forepaugh offered a reward of $10,000 to anyone who would prove any statement in his announcement to be false.<\/p>\n
The excursion circular proclaimed reduced rates on the Maine Central so that anyone within reasonable distance of Waterville could attend the circus at low expense. Arrangements were made between the railroad and the circus management to have one ticket include the round trip fare and admission to the circus. From Fairfield you could get it all for 65 cents, from Oakland 75, from Fishon’s Ferry (now Hinckley) $1.00. A Belfast resident could travel from there to Burnham Junction, then down to Waterville, see the circus, and get back home again all for $1.50.<\/p>\n
The circular said: “Tickets good on all regular trains. Special trains will be officially announced.”<\/p>\n
And with that final salute to entertainment in the 1880’s, we must say Good Night for Old Times’ Sake.<\/p>\n
Year: 1962<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #553, Broadcast on November 25, 1962<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1182,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}