USA > New York > New York City > History of New York City : embracing an outline sketch of events from 1609 to 1830, and a full account of its development from 1830 to 1884, Volume I > Part 46
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Mr. and Mrs. Wood, eminent singers, appeared at the Park in 1833. in opera. Mrs. Wood was an extraordinary vocalist. She sang and played the piano and other instruments correctly when she was four .years of age. She first appeared on the stage in London at twenty. Mrs. Wood was a Scotch girl. Won by a title, she married poor Lord Lennox, who was poor in purse and spirit, and they were soon divorced, when she immediately married Joseph Wood, of the Covent Garden Theatre troupe. She died in England in 1863.
The apparent public interest in the Italian opera caused the forma- tion of a stock company in New York for the purpose of establishing it permanently in the city. They built an elegant opera-house on the corner of Church and Leonard streets. The enterprise was a total fail- ure. In the fall of 1536 the house was opened for dramatic perform- ances, and it was called the National Theatre. It afterward passed into the hands of Mr. Hackett, and at length into those of James Wallack. During its management by the latter the building was de- stroyed by fire (September, 1839). but was soon rebuilt. It was leased first to Alexander Wilson, and then to William E. Burton. During the management of the latter it was again (May, 1841) consumed by fire.
The above mentioned New York Opera Company was formed through the exertions of Signor Rivafinoli, and the house was first opened to the public in November, 1833. On that occasion Signorina Clementine Fanti, a large and beautiful woman, was the first soprano.
James Sheridan Knowles, author of The Hunchback, William Tell, and other plays, first appeared on the stage in New York at the Park in the spring of 1831. He had been performing in Philadelphia. At
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the close of the season he returned to Europe and entered the pulpit as a Baptist minister, in which profession he was very popular.
During this decade several famous singers and dancers appeared in the New York theatres. Mademoiselle Celeste took the town by storm, as it were, by her dancing, when she appeared in 1834. She had been married in 1828, at the age of fifteen years, to an American gentleman, and became the mother of an only daughter. She afterward made a successful professional tour in Europe, when she returned to New York, and made a more successful tour in the United States during three years, gaining by her profession the net sum of $200,000. She returned to England. She came back in 1838. and played a farewell engagement at the Park in 1840. She came again in 1851, and per- formed at the Broadway Theatre. She came agam in 1865, and, as ever, excited great interest. She was then fifty-one years of age.
Mme. Vestris, who was noted for the elegance and symmetry of her figure, beauty of face, and as a most perfect actress in pantomime, de- lighted New York from 1836 to 1838. She was a daughter of Bartolozzi, the eminent engraver ; married Armand Vestris when she was sixteen years of age, and became the most popular dancer of the time. She did not aspire to the stage, but at her husband's request and for his benefit she appeared at the King's Theatre, in London, in the summer of 1815. From that time for many years she was the leading vocalist and dancer of the London stage. In 1830 she became connected with Charles Mathews, Jr., professionally and otherwise, and in the same year, hav- ing long been separated from her husband, she became legally married to Mathews, just before they embarked for America, and bore his name while they were here. Her American engagement ended late m 1838, when they returned to England, and she became the lessee of a theatre in London. She died there in 1856, at the age of sixty years, in com- parative poverty, having squandered her immense earnings as fast as they were received.
Mathews, the husband of Madame Vestris, was the son of the more celebrated comedian of that name. He revisited New York in 1857, married Mrs. A. H. Davenport, and brought her out at Burton's Theatre as Mrs. Mathews. His last appearance in New York was in May, 1858, when he returned to England with his new wife.
Miss Charlotte Watson, a beautiful English girl of seventeen summers, bewitched New York theatre-goers by her marvellous sing- ing. She appeared at the Park in 1835. She was of a celebrated musical family, and had recently accompanied the great violinist Paganini on a musical tour in Great Britain and on the continent.
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She so charmed the Italian that he offered her his hand in marriage. There were impediments. He induced her to elope from England and jom him at Boulogne, with a view to their marriage at that place. His intentions were honorable. Her father, informed of the affair, went in pursuit, and reached Boulogne before her arrival. He brought her to America. In February, 1837, she married Thomas Bailey, of New York City. Mrs. Bailey continued to appear in public occasionally. She made her last appearance at the Park in the fall of 1857 as second to Madame Anna Bishop. She had sung a ballad for Mr. Brough's complimentary benefit at Niblo's in January, 1851.
One of the best American actresses, and one of the best of women, was Miss Charlotte Saunders Cushman, a lineal descendant of the Rev. Robert Cushman, who preached the first sermon in New England. She first appeared on the stage at the Bowery Theatre in September. 1835. She was then twenty years of age. Her father, a Boston mer- chant, had left her mother at his death in indigent circumstances, with five children. Charlotte was the eldest. She had an excellent voice, and sang at a concert when she was fifteen years old. Her fine con. tralto voice on that occasion attracted great attention. She sang at one of the concerts given by Mr. and Mrs. Wood, who encouraged her to cultivate her voice. After receiving instruction she appeared at the Tremont Theatre as the Countess in the Marriage of' Figaro. That was in 1835. She was immediately engaged as a prima donna for the New Orleans theatre. The change in climate caused the loss of the firmness of her voice, and she was compelled to abandon vocalism and become an actress, in which profession she was finally very successful.
Miss Cushman came north, unsuccessfully sought employment at the Park, and accepted an engagement at the Bowery Theatre with a hope of giving support to her mother and family. But she was prostrated by illness, and her acting was long delayed. She recovered. played a few nights, was again taken ill, and before she had regained her health the Bowery Theatre was burned, with all her theatrical wardrobe. Mr. Hackett, of the National Theatre, engaged her, and she first appeared there in 1931 in Romeo and Juliet. That fall she became the leading stock actress at the Park. After directing the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia for a while, she went to New York in 1844 to play with Maeready. Success attended her. She played at the Princess's Theatre, London, in 1845, eighty-four nights in succession. She alter- nated her residence and professional duties between America and Eng- land for several years. She finally left the stage m 1861, but after- ward gave dramatic readings on occasion. Miss Cushman was tall and
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commanding in appearance, with light hair and complexion and refine- ment of manner. Miss Cushman died in her native city, Boston, on February 18, 1876.
Miss Ellen Tree, a charming English actress, first appeared in America at the Park at the close of 1836. She followed and rivalled Fanny Kemble in popularity. Iler acting always attracted the " cream of society." The bloom of youth had departed from her cheek when she came to New York, but being a most consummate actor and charming woman, her slight personal defects were unnoticed. At the end of two years Miss Tree returned to England, and in 1842 she mar- ried Charles Kean.
In 1836 Mademoiselle Augusta appeared at the Park as a famous ballet-dancer, and won immense popularity. Lovely in form and feature, and endowed with maidenly reserve of manner, she attracted crowds nightly, and won every heart. She was called, professionally, mademoiselle, but she was the wife of a venerable French nobleman, the Count Fitz-James, and said to have been a scion of the royal house of Stuart. He died in 1851. Augusta's last appearance on the stage was at the Metropolitan Theatre in New York in 1855, when she be- came a teacher of dancing in that city.
In the spring of 1839 two famous dancers, Monsieur and Madame Taglioni, made their first appearance at the Park in the ballet of La Sylphide. They were brilliant performers. Madame Taglioni was not pretty in feature, but was vivacious and faultless in form and motion. The popularity of the Park was then waning, and the Tagli- onis, after performing one season, returned to Europe.
We have observed that the popularity of the Park was waning. It was too severely strict in its adherence to the pure drama and the highest performances in the histrionic art. Public taste about 1837 and 1838 was evidently changing. The Bowery Theatre had intro- duced " sensational " acting, and was attracting the multitude of theatre-goers. A vulgar taste was evidently usurping the seat of refined taste. The pure drama no longer satisfied the cravings of the vitiated appetite newly created, and the better actors at the Park played to comparatively empty seats.
Clara Fisher (then Mrs. Maeder), who a short time before com- manded overflowing houses at the Park, was now struggling in vain to attract paying audiences at the little Olympic and Vauxhall; Cooper was suing for an engagement : Junius Brutus Booth was playing at the Franklin : Mrs. Duff and Mrs. Brown wore unappreciated at the Richmond Hill ; and Forrest, James Wallack, and Placide were
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starring at the Chatham, afterward known as Purdy's National Theatre.
" What is the cause of this indifference to the legitimate drama ?" asked Clark, of the Knickerbocker Magazine. "What do the public want ? Novelty, excitement, dash, show, parade. Spectacle has be- come the order of the day. Impossible circumstances drawn up in big, windy words, glowing scenery, pompous processions, discordant noises, roaring lions, and men and women who can outroar them-these, with novelty for the scene-shifter, are the aliment for which the public appe- tite is set."
The last and most famous of the dancers who visited America at this period was Mademoiselle Fanny Elssler, a German woman, who first appeared in public at the Park Theatre in New York in May, 1841. She came with a high professional name, for she had charmed crowds of delighted people at the theatres in Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and London. She was tall, and of exquisite womanly proportions. Her complexion was of delicate whiteness, which contrasted finely with her rich, glossy, and profuse chestnut hair. She is described as being exceedingly fascinating in person and manner. Mademoiselle Elssler won immense popularity at once by her execution of the dainty Pas Cracovienne.
Mademoiselle Elssler was a native of Vienna, and was about thirty years of age when she came to New York. She and her sister Theresa had been educated for the ballet at Naples, and they first appeared on the stage at Berlin in 1830. Fanny left the stage in 1851. Theresa married Prince Adalbert of Prussia, and was ennobled by the king.
There were several meritorious actors and stage managers who first appeared at the New York theatres during this decade, and rose to eminence in their profession. Among the most notable of these were Hackett,* Danforth Marble, t and Hill, in the personification of the
* Mr. Hackett, whose wife was an actress, had been a merchant, but failing in business took to the stage as a profession. He first appeared on the boards in 1826 as an imper- sonator of " Yankee character" and exponent of " Yankee humor." In this line he was for years unrivalled, was very popular, amassed a fortune, and paid every mercantile creditor his just dnes. In private life Hackett was much esteemed.
+ Danforth Marble-" Dan Marble," as he was familiarly termed-was another success- ful impersonator of character. He was a native of Danbury, Connecticut, learned the trade of a silversmith in New York, became a member of a Thespian association, was introduced behind the scenes at the Chatham Theatre, and resolved to become an actor. In April, 1531, he paid the manager of the Richmond Hill Theatre $20 for the privilege of performing the part of Robin Ronghhead. Again he paid him $10 for a similar privilege. Then he took a position among the lowest grade of actors, performing chictly in " Yankee" and " Kentucky" characters. He made a decided " hit" in the play of Sam
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traditional " Yankee" and of other nationalities. Mr. Hill * was known as " Yankee Ilill." There were also Hambhin. + Mitchell, Burton, and Flynn-' Poor Tom Flynn, " as he was spoken of in his later years.
Edward Simpson was, of course. chief among managers at that period, and was a veteran at the beginning of this decade, for he and Stephen Price had been lessees of the Park many years.
William Niblo, whose place of amusement was very popular for many years, even down to the beginning of the present decade (1870-80), began business life as the keeper of the famous Bank Coffee-House, corner of Pine and William streets, which he opened in 1814. He had married the excellent daughter of Daniel King, a famous innkeeper. first in Wall Street, and then on the site of " Niblo's Garden." near Spring Street. There King died about 1828, and in his house Niblo opened a branch of his coffee-house in 1829. To his surprise and de- light, he soon found it filled with the families of eminent merchants, who preferred boarding for a while to housekeeping. The then great merchant, Archibald Gracie, and his family were boarders within a week after it was opened. The omnibuses, just introduced, made a residence that distance from business quite feasible. Niblo's was the only building on the block where the Metropolitan Hotel now stands, and there were no houses on Broadway opposite.
At the suggestion of friends Niblo opened a " garden" for the pleas- ure of the higher class. of citizens, where ice-cream, cake. lemonade, and other refreshments were served in the open air. It was very suc-
Patch, and became immensely popular in the West and South-West. Within seven years from the time he paid $20 for the privilege of trying his powers, he was one of the most attractive star actors at the Park. He went to London in 1844, where he was very popu- lar in a play entitled The Vermont Wool-Dealer, and his welcome on his return was an ovation. His last performance was at St. Louis in May, 1849. A few days afterward he died there of Asiatie cholera. In 1836 Marble married a daughter of Mr. Warren, of Philadelphia, a celebrated comedian.
* " Yankee Hill " (George H. ) was a native of Boston. He was a jeweller's apprentice, working near the theatre. He first recited " Yankee stories" and sang " Yankee songs" at the Warren Street Theatre in that city. He was always a favorite at the Park, and was very popular at the Adelphi, in London, in 1838. Hill played with great success at other theatres in Great Britain and the United States. He died at Saratoga Springs, In September, 1819.
+ Thomas S. Hamblin was an Englishman, and made his first appearance on an American stage as Hamlet, when he was about twenty-four years of age. He had first appeared as a ballet-dancer at the Adelphi, in London, with a salary of $1.50 a week. In 1830 he became lessee of the Bowery Theatre with Hackett. As an actor he was rather a failure, but was an energetic manager. In that capacity he served until his death. from brain fever, in 1853. During his administration of the Bowery, that theatre was twice burned, the first time in 1936, and the second time in 1815.
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cessful from the beginning. Vauxhall Garden, that extended from the Bowery nearly to Broadway above Fourth Street, was then too far up town. In a short time Niblo altered an old building on the premises into an open-air theatre for summer dramatic and musical performances, and it became very famous, and remained so until our day. The thea- tre really forms a part of the Metropolitan Hotel, and a small court- yard with a fountain is still called a garden. Upon this the superb lobbies of the theatre open.
This theatre was the scene of the Black Crook, the first grand ballet spectacle ever seen in this country. It was presented in 1865, and ran for several years. It was followed by similar spectacles. The interior of the theatre was burned in 1872, but was soon restored. Its audito- rium will seat nearly two thousand persons. It is still known as Niblo's Garden Theatre. The founder lived until he was nearly eighty years of age, and his face and complexion at seventy-five were as fair as that of a middle-aged woman.
William Mitchell was an Englishman, and first appeared at the Na- tional Theatre in 1836. He was not a marked favorite until he opened the Olympic, on Broadway, late in 1839, with amusing travesties and burlesques, which became very popular. He hit the humor of the time. Burton finally rivalled him, and Mitchell retired in 1850 with a competence, but finally became poor. While arrangements were in progress to give him a benefit, he died, May 12, 1856.
We have observed that William E. Burton rivalled Mitchell as an actor and manager. Ile, too, was an Englishman, was thoroughly educated, and was designed by his father, the eminent scholar and author of " Bibleal Researches, " for one of the liberal professions. On the death of his father he became connected with the newspaper press, and an intimacy with actors led him to adopt the profession of a player. Ile played in the provinces for seven years in an extensive range of characters, and made his first appearance on the London stage in 1831, where he was very successful. He came to America in 1834, and first appeared at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia, principally in comedy. He played his first engagement in New York as a star at the National Theatre in 1839. He was afterward manager of theatres in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and finally of the National Theatre in New York in April, 1841. It was burned in May. In 1848 he opened Burton's Theatre, in Palio's Opera House, in Chambers Street. There he was very successful, drawing crowded houses by his acting in comedies. His impersonations of some of Dickens's characters, and especially Toodles, were constant delights to theatre-goers, and for years
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Burton's Theatre was the favorite resort of the most intelligent class of pleasure-seekers. where fashionable people were not trammelled by etiquette as at the stately Park.
Commerce needed Chambers Street, and with a hope of conquering his rivals, Wallack and Laura Keene, Burton opened Burton's New Theatre in 1856, far up Broadway. Hle was unsuccessful, and aban- doned the field. Burton was an unrivalled comedian, and an accom- plished writer. He died in New York February 9, 1560.
"Poor Tom Flynn" made his first appearance on the stage at the Chatham Theatre. He was stage manager of the Bowery in 1833-34, and afterward of the Richmond Hill Theatre. In 1836 he opened the National Theatre, where he brought out William Mitchell. With others he built the New Chatham Theatre. first opened in 1839. He had now become intemperate : the " social glass" had ruined hun. He made an attempt at reform, and became a zealous public advocate of the temperance cause. This was a hopeful pause in his life career. It was only a pause: he soon relapsed, and he died, in poverty and shame, of cholera in 1849. Flynn married Miss Matilda Twibell, the " belle of the stage," in 1828.
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