History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 135

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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"I shall briefly refer to the chief characteristics of the leading members of that noteworthy organization. The proprietors, Messrs. Mckenzie & Jefferson, were managers in the most enlarged sense of that term, and not theatrical adventurers like many of the present time. To executive abilities of high order were united a sin- cere devotion to their profession and an experience of rare value, attained in the best schools of classic acting. which gave the widest scope to their intelligent appre- ciation of what was needed to elevate the stage. The purpose was to place the theater among the honored in- stitutions of our enlarging civilization. After leaving Chicago, at the close of the season, in 1839, they visited Galena, in this State, and Nashville, Tenn., with a ma- jority of their Chicago company. Mr. Mckenzie, I be-

lieve, died in Nashville, a few years later. Neither of them ever returned to this city as managers.

" I have no information to impart concerning Mr. Leicester, after he left Chicago. During his stay here he held the position of leading tragedian in the com- pany, and was a most admirable actor.

" Greene C. Germon was an actor of light comedy parts, and one of the finest vocalists of the time. He died in this city in either 1852 or 1853. Mr. Germon became the most famous impersonator of Uncle Tom, in Uncle Tom's Cabin, and used to sing the pathetic melodies with a depth of feeling and beauty of expres- sion never surpassed. He was to have made his re- appearance in that character on the night of his death.

" Mr. Sankey, the delineator of old man parts, was the peer of any actor ; a gentleman of consummate abil- ity, possessing the requisites of greatness, and would have undoubtedly attained high rank in his line of work had he not met with death by drowning, near New Orleans, in 1840. His sudden death was a great loss to the early stage. His mind was of superior qual- ity, his methods were cultured, and his facial expres- sions were as varied as his conception of art was true.

" Charles Burke, a son of Mrs. Jefferson by a former husband, died of consumption in New York, sometime in the fifties. Mr. Burke was the superior of William E. Burton in his best days.

" Mrs. Ingersoll, the leading lady, was gifted with a fine presence and abilities of high order. The charac- ters assumed by her were acceptably interpreted. During the season of 1839 Mrs. Ingersoll was much out of health, and did not often appear. Upon such occa- sions the leading roles were assumed by Mrs. McKen- zie, who was a most painstaking artist. MIrs. Inger- soll subsequently married J. S. Wright, both of whom are still living.

" Mrs. Joseph Jefferson, the comedienne of the com- pany, was one of the most charming ladies that ever adorned the stage. Slight of form, graceful of action, earnest in manner, a sweet singer, she capti- vated her audiences upon every appearance. With the citizens of long ago she was an especial favorite, and is remembered by every one who knew her then with the most profound respect and admiration. not only for the marked abilities displayed in her professional work, but also for the beautiful simplicity and quiet dignity of her private life. The subsequent eminence of her two sons amply testify to the faithful manner in which she dis- charged her motherly duties.

"For more than a generation Mr. Warren has been a member of the Boston Museum Company, and one of the greatest favorites on the American stage."

The time was not ripe, however, for the continuance of a superior theatrical company in Chicago. With a population of but 4,800, it was not possible to maintain a regular place of amusement, and upon the departure of Mckenzie & Jefferson's company came a period of reaction, which may properly be termed the subsidence of the art here. From such meager sources as broken files of newspapers and stray correspondence-the only available indices of the times-little satisfaction can be gained. Those men who have attempted to write sketches of the drama in Chicago have but cursorily al- luded to the seven years following, from 1840 to 1847. as " completely obscured." or as " worthy only of brief- est mention." This convenient method of covering a doubtful period was less laborious than the one em- ployed by us, although it must be admitted that the re- sults attained by more patient research are not wholly

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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

satisfactory. It may be summarized that with the de- parture of Mckenzie & Jefferson's company a reaction set in, and many years elapsed before the drama was properly revived.

Howe & Sands's Circus obtained a license in 1839, but the document bears no date.

Some time in March, 1842, Mrs. Mary C. Porter played an engagement here, without obtaining the formal permission of the city authorities. April 4 she petitioned the Council to grant a license, and also urged the abandonment of a suit brought against her by the city for violating the ordinance. No record of action is preserved ; but from the fact that April 9, on the oc- casion of a benefit performance, such significant plays as " The Stranger," " A Manager in Distress," and a " Day in Paris," were given, we are left to infer that chance alone did not dictate the selection of her bill.

On the 23d of the same month H. B. Nelson's com- pany opened a season which lasted until May 7 follow- ing.

August 4, 1842, a license was granted Messrs. Lyne & Powell for a season of one month's duration at the Rialto.

In their application they referred to the hardness of the times and the lack of patronage. Governed, perhaps, by motives of generosity, or, possibly, by visions of agreeable diversion at nominal cost, the city fathers voted to issue a license for the paltry sum of $15. The theatrical company consisted of Messrs. Powell, Lyne, Hastings, Graham, Sharp and Jackson ; Mesdames Powell, Hastings and Ramsey. Among the dramas produced were "George Barnwell," "The Apos- tate," and "The Fratricide," but the engagement was an unprofitable one.

Dan Marble played an engagement in Chicago Au- gust 30, 1842, with Mrs. Sillisbe as the leading lady, in " Black-Eyed Susan " and " Forest Rose." In spite of the effectiveness of Mr. Marble's acting patronage was discouragingly light. The American remarked: "We are aware that a considerable portion of our community will not countenance a theater, no matter how talented its members."

Benjamin F. Taylor writes thus concerning those early days, and the appearance of Mr. Marble:

" It was in that dusty old trap [the Rialto], I think, that I saw Dan Marble, for the first and only time. The play was ' Black-Eyed Susan,' and Marble's admirable William melted the house as if it had been something in a crucible. It was, in its way, the perfection and sim- plicity of nature. The audience was a little mixed. There were the fellows that in New York would have ' Killed for Keiser ' -- the 'wake-me-up-when-Kirby- dies' stripe. There were a small handful of half-breeds, a sprinkling of lieutenants from the army, one or two worn-out paymasters. The pit was full of sailors, with occasionally a wharf-rat ; but for fresh-water tars there was a wonderful effusion of salt water. Even the al- ways conscious dress-circle flickered with any number of white cambric mops; and when the play took the right turn at last, the . gods' applauded until the spiders swung in their webs and the mice in the walls were whist. Even the chaps that spent their time in the in- terludes in bawling . boots ' and . supe,' and eating pen- nuts, mopped out the corners of their eyes with their dirty knuckles; and had the theatrical management fur- nished soap as well as sorrow, some of them might have put a better face on the matter. I can see the central figures in that dress circle to-day. Hands that I think of have shriveled out of the white kids they wore that night. The blue dress coats and buff vests have been

laid aside for other and stranger wear. Yonder, crowned with iron-gray Jacksonian hair, is the stately form of Colonel Kercheval. The man near him, with large, luminous eyes, is Hon. Giles Spring, owner of one of the finest judicial minds that ever graced the State. Bu- yond him is Dr. Maxwell, with a step as light as that of a wisp of a girl, for all of his two hundred and odd pounds of solid flesh. Close by are E. W. Tracy and George W. Meeker, and Dr. Stuart, and-but why keep on calling the dead man's roll? Some of the beauty as well as the manhood of the young city was there, and brightened up the dull old place like moonlight - but what matters it? The foot-lights are out, the players departed, and the air is full of dust withal. Down with the curtain."

The American, commenting on Mr. Marble's work in " Luke, the Laborer," September 3, said: " He proved that humor and pathos were not inseparable, but may be to a remarkable extent united in the same person."

But even this astonishing discovery failed to move the more confirmed opponents of the theater, and Mr. Marble's venture in Chicago is now recalled as much more of an artistic than a financial triumph.

A benefit was extended Mrs. Powell, September 14, which is historically noteworthy from the fact that it was also the occasion of the debut of " a gentleman of this city," the first to appeal to the public for local ap- proval. The gentleman so mysteriously referred to by the American, and whose name was carefully excluded from the bills, was George Brier, noted in private life for the excellence of the ice cream he dispensed to the citizens. The play selected was Othello, and the per- formance was by no means a bad one, notwithstanding the silence of the Press upon that subject. But the American did not fail to preserve a glimpse of the state of dramatic education at that period ; for in its prelim- inary announcement of this initial performance of the tragedy here, that faithful chronicler of the time sug- gestively said : " The audience would be much gratified by Mrs. Powell singing 'Strike the Light Guitar,' which she sings so admirably." Imagine Desdemona spring- ing from beneath the fatal pillow, flushed with the vio- lence of dodging an amateur Othello's vigorous efforts to appear realistic in the death scene, and skipping gaily to the footlights as she caught the key of " Strike the Light Guitar !"

In the fall of 1842 a theater was opened in Chap- man's Building, which was located on the southwest corner of Wells (Fifth Avenue) and Randolph streets, under the management of Mr. Hastings, and was de- clared by the American to be in a " flourishing condi- tion," because of "the indefatigable exertions of the manager.' It was stocked with "new and splendid scenery."

A local theatrical society, known as the " Thespian," was formed in 1842, and in November addressed the fol- lowing petition to the Council:

"To the Honorable Mayor, etc. : The Thespian Society respect- fully represent that they are desirous of giving public exhibitions of a theatrical character occasionally-say once in two weeks. This Society is made up of young men belonging in the city, and they re- spectfully ask the privilege of giving such exhibitions without being required to pay for a license.

"CH. T. THORMER."

It is said that the Society enjoyed a brilliant exist- ance for a time, until, in a moment of unguarded gener- osity, the properties belonging thereto were loaned to a traveling company, who carried them into " the prov- inces " and forgot to restore them to the rightful own- ers.

S. H. Nichols & Co.'s circus performed here for four

483

EARLY AMUSEMENTS.

days beginning August 4, 1843. A license of $50 was demanded.

John S. Potter, "formerly manager of the Louisville and Cincinnati theaters," as his announcement informed the public, petitioned the Council for permission to open the Chicago Theater August 9, 1843. He assured the honorable body that he had arrived in the city with a " talented and respectable company; " that he de- signed coming to Chicago every year, and that he would conduct his theater " respectably." In consideration of these promises he was permitted to proceed at an expense of $25 per month, "in advance."

It has been remarked by some wise observer of natural phenomena that coming events cast their shad- ows before. No one will be surprised, therefore, to learn that, on February 14, 1844, the city of Chicago marveled at the intellectual wonders of a phenomenal pig, which had been advanced in learning under the tutelage of T. E. Osburn. It is not recorded that this porcine paragon predicted the proud eminence destined to be attained here by his race, but is it unreasonable to fancy its doing so? Mr. Osburn demonstrated his own distinctness from the nature of his pet by consent- ing to devote the proceeds of one entertainment to the assistance of the Ladies' Benevolent Society.

November 7, 1844, David Lewis craved official per- mission to play in the theater building.

A MUSEUM was sought to be established in Novem- ber, 1844, on the petition of S. Sercomb, E. Price, E. W. Hadley and A. B. Lewis, who desired the right to found a " permanent " institution, wherein the " won- ders of nature, the beauties of art, and the relics of antiquity " might be exhibited to the public. The pro- jectors requested a free license, or one demanding no further compensation than "the necessary perquisites to the proper officer issuing the same." Inasmach as the request was granted November 21, it is a safe infer- ence that the potential effects of the pass system were felt as long ago as 1844, and the foundations of the pioneer museum were duly laid.

A theatrical company, under the management of Herr Hatch and A. Clare, played a brief engagement in November, 1844, but they reported the houses to be "generally so thin " that a reduction of license to one dollar per night was urgently desired. The Council promptly tabled the petition, and allowed the former rule to stand. The profits of this engagement may be comprehended when it is learned that, on the assurance of the managers, " it took all the proceeds to pay the license."

June 15, 1845, Howe & Mabie's circus performed here, and remained four days, paying Sto per day li- cense.

Prior to August, 1845, the sum charged by the Council for a show license was wholly discretionary with that body, but on the 29th of that month an ordi- nance was passed fixing the minimum at S5 a perform- ance and the maximum at $50. The Mayor was em- powered to act in the absence of the Council. This step was evidently taken to forestall impecunious managers in their insidious assaults upon the weak side of councilmen, through the medium of passes.

THE WESTERN MUSEUM .- In 1845 a museum was established in the Commercial buildings, No. 73 Lake Street, a few doors east of the Tremont House. An advertisement of the institution, published in the local papers of that date, assured the public that there were to be found the " best collection of specimens in natural history in the West, including an extensive variety in gool- ogy, mineralogy, chronology and ornithology. In addi-

tion are several groups of wax figures and a superior col- lection of cosmoramic views." The special attractions of the place consisted of concerts, lectures and explana- tory descriptions of the objects on exhibition. Auto- matic figures, "designed to entertain and instruct," performed their harmless and monotonous duties, and nothing was introduced within the walls of the museum which was not "in strict accordance with propriety, morality and religion." Instrumental music enlivened the scene of peaceful divertisement. The fee charged for admission was but twenty-five cents, and, owing probably to the highly instructive purposes of the director, who sought apparently to do good to others, children were allowed to gaze unmolested at the rarities for the sum of one shilling. On the 15th of November, 1845, Henry Fuller, manager of . the museum, petitioned the Council to remove the license tax from his house, urging in support of his plea that the museum was strictly "a place of instruc- tion," and therefore should not be compelled to pay a license fee. This petition was coldly received by the Council, and promptly denied. In spite of this refusal, the musuem continued its precarious life, and February 13, 1846, again appealed for more liberal treatment at the hands of the Council. So grave a matter naturally involved much painful deliberation, and it was not until the 26th of that month that the board voted to remove the license tax, conditioned upon the managers agree- ing to admit no transient entertainments to their hall. Theatrical performances were also prohibited therein without additional contributions to the general funds. The museum was then under the management of Henry Fuller and S. Sercomb, who exhibited their collection in a building on the corner of Dearborn and Randolph streets, in Hodgson's building, which was subsequently converted into a hotel.

The partial concession made by the Council did not conform with the wishes or ideas of those gentlemen; and a second application was made at a date not far removed from the first referred to, in which it was asserted that they "would be under the necessity of closing the museum unless theatrical performances could be given free of license." The petition was referred to a special committee of the Council, who reported :

" We feel that the efforts of Messrs. Fuller & Ser- comb to establish a museum have not been properly appreciated by the citizens, and that they have not afforded that encouragement and patronage which the merits of the museum demand. Your committee find that the museum already embraces a very interesting collection of animals, insects, birds and minerals, together with a variety of artificial curiosities well worthy the attention of the citizens and the patronage of the city, and constituting a nucleus upon which, if adequately encouraged, a museum will grow up credit able to the city and profitable to the proprietors."

The committee, to confirm the sentiment expressed by them, proposed the following, which was received .

"Replied, That, in the opinion of the Common Council, the Museum of Messrs. Fuller & Sercomb is worthy of the support and patronage of the citizens of Chicago and the country generally ; and that all persons having natural or artificial curiosities be respect- fully invited to make contributions of the same to the Museum."

An order was passed granting the Museum a license for six months at the nominal fee of five dollars for the entire period. This action by the Council is, we be- lieve, the first official indorsement of a place of public amusement in this city, and demonstrates that, however loth the city fathers may have been to grant free license

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to theatrical companies, they were not impervious to the effect of an educational argument, even when the instructive medium was dressed in the garb of play- actor. Various entertainments of a theatrical, or semi- theatrical, nature were given in this Museum, from time to time. The Democrat of October 12, 1846, remarked that "Winchell, the drollerist, is in town, and performs at the Museum, this evening. When here six years ago the people would have it that there was nobody in the city but him." Miss Porter and Mr. Gilbert also played here, but the announcement is all that can be recorded now. The presence of J. C. Hough's company is vague- ly recalled, and possibly other organizations visited Chicago during the years 1840-46.

RICE'S FIRST THEATER .- The year 1847 marks an epoch in the dramatic history of Chicago, for then it was that John B. Rice decided to return to theatrical management, and adopted Chicago as his future home. While to Isherwood, Mckenzie and Jefferson belongs the honor of introducing the drama in its peripatetic form, yet to John B. Rice is due the credit and dis- tinction of giving to this noble art a local habitation and a name. The former men were the precursors of the great results, which now are one of the chief badges of Chicago's metropolitanism, but the latter is the man to whom must be accorded the title of founder of the drama as a distinctive feature of the city's greatness.

Mr. Rice had about determined to retire from the stage, with which he had been identified in the East, when his attention was directed to this place, by a sanguine friend. He concluded to investigate the field, and with that purpose in mind, came to Chicago in the spring of 1847. While here he gave a public entertain- ment in the dining-room of the hotel where he was stopping. So favorably was he impressed with the prospect, and so firmly convinced of Chicago's future development, that he at once arranged for the construc- tion of a theater building. The Democrat of May 11, 1847, said :

"Mr. Rice, of Buffalo, has contracted with one of our oldest and most substantial mechanics, Alderman Updike, to erect a frame building, forty by eighty, on the corner of Dearborn and Randolph streets. Mr. Rice comes here with an excellent reputation as a theater manager. There is no doubt now but Chicago will have a theater."

The site chosen was not upon the corner of Dear- born and Randolph streets, however, but on the south side of Randolph, one or two lots east of the southeast corner of those streets.

Pending the slow processes of erection in those days, let us digress from the theme long enough to ob- serve the presence here of the Grand Olympic Arena and United States Circus, an institution whose polysyl- labical title was invented by E. F. Mabie & Co. It was proudly asserted that no less than one hundred and fifty men and horses composed this stupendous organization. A new brass band was named as one of the many de- lightful features, somewhat contrary to modern concep- tions of attractiveness, when the more surfeited taste regards newness as a questionable quality in bands. Among the performers were : M. Buckley, W. Water- man. the " beautiful female equestrian," Laura Buckley, and "the astonishing bare-back rider," young Henry Buckley, with various other notables of greater or lesser degree. The circus cast the city into a state of intense excitement for three days, beginning May 22.

A moving diorama, representing the burning of Warsaw, was placed on exhibition, in the public hall of the Saloon Building, May 26, 1847.

Returning to the subject of Rice's theater, from our casual diversions at the circus and diorama, we discover that six weeks have sped by, since the announcement was first made. The little theater has assumed the form and dimensions of an imposing edifice to our retro- spective eyes. We saunter into a neighboring hotel, and, picking up the Democrat of June 22, read: " The new theater building on Randolph Street, which is now nearly finished, is worthy a visit. The economy of the interior arrangement is excellent, the stage is roonly and well designed for its purpose, the pit will be a very comfortable and convenient place, while the boxes would tempt any one to spend an evening there." Piqued with curiosity, we are about to visit the inviting place, when other duties interpose. The days fly by. Again the Democrat appears. We learn with pleasure that, " Mr. Rice will open his theater on the 28th day of June. The internal arrangements of the new theater, now nearly completed, are admirable. A full view of the stage can be obtained from every part of the house, and the plan of the old Coliseum has been followed. The boxes are elegantly furnished and fitted up with carpets and settees, rather resembling a boudoir, or private sitting-room in a gentleman's house. than an apartment in a place of public resort. The building has been completed in six weeks. A new era is unquestionably dawning in the theatrical world in this city, and under the efficient management of Mr. Rice, assisted by his talented corps, we shall always have, in the language of Dan Marble, 'Something new, some- thing rich and something rare.' The scenic accompani- ments are said to be beautiful, being the joint produc- tion of two distinguished artists."

The company engaged by Mr. Rice consisted of Edwin Harris, leading man ; Mrs. Hunt now Mrs. John Drew), leading lady ; James Carroll, G. W. Philli- more, George Mossop, Mr. Meeker, Jerry Merrifield, Mrs. John B. Rice, and Miss Homer, the latter being proficient as a dancer ; for at that time, and for many years later, the public demanded a divertisement of this sort between plays. The scarcity of actors and the limited revenue of the little theater caused strange and amusing doubling up of parts, at this early period of the drama, and it was no uncommon thing for one actor to assume several characters in the same play. The Common Council imposed a license fee of $25 per month upon this theater.

On the evening of June 28, 1847, the opening per- formances at Rice's Theater took place. The play given was the ever popular one called the "The Four Sisters." in which Mrs. Hunt impersonated the quadruple role. Jan Marble was engaged as the " star " attraction, and car- ried the leading male part. Of this eventful night the Journal said, in its issue of June 29 :

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 135

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340