National Theatre (Boston, 1836)

Last updated
The National Theatre, corner Portland and Traverse Street, West End, Boston, ca.1860 1860 NationalTheatre Boston.jpg
The National Theatre, corner Portland and Traverse Street, West End, Boston, ca.1860

The National Theatre (1836-1863) was a theatre in the West End of Boston, Massachusetts, in the mid-19th century. [1] [2] William Pelby established the enterprise in 1836, and presented productions of "original pieces, and the efforts of a well selected stock company, which, with few exceptions, have been American. The scenery is of the highest order, and the business of the stage well directed. Mr C.A. Eaton made his debut at this theatre, and here Mr. F.S. Hill's early labors were eminently successful. Mr. J.S. Jones has written and produced on this stage thirty pieces, embracing every department except tragedy." [3] William Washburn designed the building, erected on the site of the former Warren Theatre. Performers at the National included Edwin Adams, Marietta Zanfretta, Jean Margaret Davenport, [4] Julia Dean, Jonathan Harrington, W.H. Smith, [5] Mary Ann Vincent, and Billy Whitlock. In 1852 the theatre burnt down, and was rebuilt. [6] In 1863 the building was again destroyed by fire. [7]

Contents

Architecture

In 1836:

"this theatre, planned and erected by Mr William Washburn, is 120 by 76 feet (23 m), exclusive of the saloons, refreshment rooms, &c., which are contained in an adjoining building, 20 by 60 feet (18 m), fronting on Traverse Street, and communicating with the lobbies. The leading architectural features are Doric presenting brood pilasters with slight projections on the front which support an.unbroken entablature and a pediment, 18 feet (5.5 m) high at each end. The roof is covered with slate and zinc, and is surmounted by an octagonal lantern, 12 feet (3.7 m) in diameter and 18 feet (5.5 m) high, having a window on each of its sides. The structure is covered on the exterior walls with cement, in imitation' of granite, which gives a uniform and beautiful appearance. The interior comprises a pit, with 600 seats, three tiers of boxes, with 336 seats each, and a gallery with 200 seats. The saloons, lobbies, refreshment rooms, &c. are spacious, convenient and well ventilated by large windows on the two streets and in rear. The boxes have five rows of seats each, and are accessible from both streets, affording, in case of fire or other cause of alarm, ready egress from the house. The main roof is supported by 18 hard pine pillars, 36 feet (11 m) high and 10 inches square, which also support a portion of the boxes, and divide them from the lobbies. The remaining boxes are supported by 2 octagonal pillars of the same material, 9 inches in diameter. The main ceiling is a single arch, of 55 feet (17 m) span, rising within 9 feet (2.7 m) of the ridge. The gallery is entirely above the level cornice of the building, having an arched ceiling which rises five feet higher than the main ceiling, and is ventilated by a large round window placed in the centre of the tympanum. The proscenium presents an opening 40 feet (12 m) wide and 33 feet (10 m) high. It is composed of pilasters, having ornamented capitals and bases, which support a beautifully enriched arch, crowned with the American eagle. The depth of the stage is 61 feet (19 m). The circle of boxes is so arranged, that in every part of the house a full view is had of the stage. The decorations are in good taste. The lower tier of boxes is adorned with paintings of the battles of the United States Navy; the second tier bears the arms of the States, and the upper parts have appropriate scenes from the Iliads." [3]

Performances

Performances
YearPlayAuthor
1837Carpenter of Rouen! or The confrerie of St. BartholomewJ.S. Jones [8]
18383 degrees of BankingJ.S. Jones [8]
1838Surgeon of Paris; or, The Mask of the HuguenotsJoseph Stevens Jones
1838Hamlet [9]
1838Valet de Sham Charles Selby [8]
1839
1839Moll Pitcher; or, The Fortune Teller of Lynn
1839Solon Shingle; or, The People's LawyerJoseph Stevens Jones
1842Ivanhoe [10]
1844Jack Sheppard J.B. Buckstone [8]
1844Nervous Man William Bayle Bernard [8]
1846Wizard of the wave! or—The ship of the avenger! John Thomas Haines [8]
1848
1848 Jonathan Harrington (ventriloquist) [11]
1847Witchcraft! or the Martyrs of Salem [12] Cornelius Mathews [13]
1849Serpent of the Nile [8]
1849Ben the BoatswainThomas Egerton Wilks [14]
1849Mazeppa or The wild horse of Tartary [8]
1849Ivanhoe! or—The knights templars [8]
1851Stranger or,--Misanthropy & repentance Kotzebue [8]
1851Honey moon or, how to rule a wife John Tobin [8]
1852Philip Augustus of France J. Westland Marston [15]
1852I've Swallowed a Policeman [8]
1852Heir-at-Law
1853Pet of the petticoatsJohn Baldwin Buckstone [8]
1853Fortunio and his seven gifted servants Madame d'Aulnoy/James Planché [8]
1853Madelaine, The Belle of the FaubourgVirginia Cunningham [16] [17]
1853Faint heart never won fair ladyJ.R. Planche [8]
1853Wept of the Wish-ton-Wish Wm. Bayle Bernard [8]
1853Tower of Nesle! or The chamber of deathGeorge Almar, adapted from Dumas and Gaillardet's La tour de Nesle. [8]
1853Six degrees of crimeFrederic Stanhope Hill [8] [18] [19]
1853Gale Breezely! or, The tale of a tarJ.B. Johnstone [8] [20]
1853 Ernest Maltravers: or, The robber father and maniac daughter Bulwer-Lytton [8]
1853Lady of LyonsBulwer [8]
1854Egyptian Prince, "the very popular Ethiopian farce" [8]
1854Othello [8]
1854That Good for Nothing [8]
1854Faustus [8]
1854Monte Cristo [8]
1854Sledge DriverPlanche [8]
1854Much Ado About Nothing [8]
1854Mary Tudor or, The artisan and the Jew [8]
1854Fallen angel or Faust and Margaret Dion Boucicault [8]
1854Devil's in it [8]
1854Invisible prince! or, The island of tranquil delightsPlanche [8]
1856Cushing's New York Circus [21]
1858Three fast men Or, The female Robinson Crusoes [8]
1858Linda, the Cigar Girl [8]
1858O'Flanagan and the fairies [8]
1858Buck bison: or, Baby Blanche, the child of the prairie [8]
1858Woman's love Or, The secrets of the heart [8]
1858Farmer's son Or, The golden axe [8]
1859Inez, the poisonerFrederic S. Hill [8]
1859Flowers of the Forest, A gipsey storyJ.B. Buckstone [8]
1859Cross of gold, or Theresa's vow [8]
1859Three guardsmen or, The seige [ sic?] of Rochelle [8]
1859Magic pills! Or, The conjuror's gift, "a grand Christmas pantomime" [8]


Images

Managers/Proprietors

Managers and proprietors included: William Pelby (1836-1850), [23] William B. English (ca.1857-1863), Thomas Barry, Rosalie Pelby, John B. Wright, Henry W. Fenno, [24] George Bird, Joseph Leonard, W.M. Fleming, Joseph Cushing, G.H. Griffiths, James Pilgrim, Henry Willard, Charles R. Thome, Sr., John Moran, Walter Gay, Henry Willard, F.B. Conway, E.B. Williams, Thomas Hampton, J. C. Myers, C.J. Boniface. [25]

Variant names

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1782</span> Calendar year

1782 (MDCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 1782nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 782nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 82nd year of the 18th century, and the 3rd year of the 1780s decade. As of the start of 1782, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaiah Rogers</span> American architect (1800–1869)

Isaiah Rogers was an American architect from Massachusetts who eventually moved his practice south, where he was based in Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio. He completed numerous designs for hotels, courthouses and other major buildings in Boston, Massachusetts, and New York City, before that relocation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatham Theatre</span> Former theater inManhattan, New York City

The Chatham Theatre or Chatham Street Theatre was a playhouse on the southeast side of Chatham Street in New York City. It was located at numbers 143-9, between Roosevelt and James streets, a few blocks south of the Bowery. At its opening in 1839, the Chatham was a neighborhood establishment, which featured big-name actors and drama. By the mid-1840s, it had become primarily a venue for blackface minstrel shows. Frank S. Chanfrau restored some of its grandeur in 1848.

The bibliography of Charles Dickens (1812–1870) includes more than a dozen major novels, many short stories, several plays, several non-fiction books, and individual essays and articles. Dickens's novels were serialized initially in weekly or monthly magazines, then reprinted in standard book formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Museum (theatre)</span>

The Boston Museum (1841–1903), also called the Boston Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts, was a theatre, wax museum, natural history museum, zoo, and art museum in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts. Moses Kimball established the enterprise in 1841.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melodeon (Boston, Massachusetts)</span>

The Melodeon was a concert hall and performance space in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts, located on Washington Street, near West Street. Musical concerts, lectures, sermons, conferences, visual displays, and popular entertainments occurred there.

Moses Wight (1827–1895) was an artist in Boston, Massachusetts and Paris in the 19th century. He painted portraits of Edward Everett, Louis Agassiz, Charles Sumner, Alexander von Humboldt, and other notables.

Amory Hall was located on the corner of Washington Street and West Street in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. Myriad activities took place in the rental hall, including sermons; lectures by Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Lloyd Garrison; political meetings; exhibitions by Rembrandt Peale, George Catlin, John Banvard; moving panoramas; magic shows; concerts; and curiosities such as the "Nova Scotia Giant Boy."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ordway Hall (Boston)</span>

Ordway Hall (est.1852) was a theatre in Boston, Massachusetts located off Washington Street in the former Province House. John P. Ordway established and managed the hall, which specialized in "negro minstrelsy," particularly the Ordway Aeolians, his own troupe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornhill, Boston</span> Street in Boston, Massachusetts, US

Cornhill was a street in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, located on the site of the current City Hall Plaza in Government Center. It was named in 1829; previously it was known as Market Street (1807–1828). In its time, it comprised a busy part of the city near Brattle Street, Court Street and Scollay Square. In the 19th century, it was the home of many bookstores and publishing companies. As of 1969, Cornhill exists as 144 feet along the edge of City Hall Plaza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Washburn (architect)</span> American architect


William Washburn (1808–1890) was an architect and city councilor in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in the mid-19th century. He designed Boston's National Theatre (1836), Revere House hotel (1847), Tremont Temple (1853) and Parker House hotel (1854). He served on the Boston Common Council from ward 6 in 1854 and 1855. He was chairman of the Boston Board of Aldermen in 1855.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Church (Boston)</span>

Grace Church (1835–1865) was an Episcopal church in Boston, Massachusetts, located in Beacon Hill, on Temple Street. The church operated for 30 years. Ministers included Thomas M. Clark (1836–1843); Clement Moore Butler (1844–1847); and Charles Mason.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Williams & Everett</span>

Williams & Everett (est.1855) in Boston, Massachusetts, was an art dealership run by Henry Dudley Williams and William Everett. The firm sold original artworks by American and European artists, as well as "photographs and carbon-pictures of eminent persons, noted places, and famous paintings." It also continued the mirror and picture frame business that had been established earlier by the Doggett brothers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Studio Building (Boston, Massachusetts)</span>

The Studio Building (1861–1906) on Tremont Street in Boston, Massachusetts, housed artists' studios, theater companies and other businesses in the 19th century. It "held the true Bohemia of Boston, where artists and literati delighted to gather." Among the tenants were portraitist E.T. Billings, architect George Snell, sculptor Martin Milmore, artists William Morris Hunt, William Rimmer, Edward Mitchell Bannister, Phoebe Jenks; gallerist Seth Morton Vose, and many others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selwyn's Theatre</span>

Selwyn's Theatre (1867–1870) of Boston, Massachusetts, was established by British-born actor John H. Selwyn. Architect Benjamin F. Dwight designed the building. Personnel included Dexter H. Follet, Arthur Cheney, H.A. M'Glenen, Charles R. Thorne Jr., and Charles Koppitz. In 1871 Selwyn's was renamed the "Globe Theatre."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horticultural Hall (Boston, 1845)</span> Building in Boston, Massachusetts, US (built 1845)

Horticultural Hall (1845-1860s) of Boston, Massachusetts, stood at no.40 School Street. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society erected the building and used it as headquarters until 1860. Made of granite, it measured "86 feet in length and 33 feet in width ... [with] a large hall for exhibitions, a library and business room, and convenient compartments for the sale of seeds, fruits, plants and flowers." Among the tenants: Journal of Agriculture; Azell Bowditch's seed store; and Morris Brothers, Pell & Trowbridge minstrels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Odeon, Boston</span>

The Odeon of Boston, Massachusetts, was a lecture and concert hall on Federal Street in the building also known as the Boston Theatre. The 1,300-seat auditorium measured "50 feet square" with "red moreen"-upholstered "seats arranged in a circular order, and above them ... spacious galleries." The Boston Academy of Music occupied the Odeon in the 1830s and 1840s Notable events at the Odeon included "the first performance in Boston of a Beethoven symphony."

References

  1. ↑ Boston Almanac. 1841.
  2. ↑ Boston Directory. 1862.
  3. 1 2 Abel Bowen (1838), Bowen's Picture of Boston (3rd ed.), Boston: Otis, Broaders and Company, OL   6905756M
  4. ↑ Samuel Adams Drake (1873), Old landmarks and historic personages of Boston, Boston: James R. Osgood and Co., OCLC   3012180, OL   6905745M
  5. ↑ John W. Frick (2003), Theatre, culture and temperance reform in nineteenth-century America, Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press, ISBN   0521817781
  6. ↑ On April 22, 1852, the National was "entirely destroyed by fire." cf. Boston Almanac. 1853.
  7. ↑ The National burned down on March 24, 1863. Its remaining "stage fixtures, to a considerable extent, had been removed to the new Tremont Theatre upon the opening of that house in the early part of 1863." cf. Winsor. 1886
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1
  9. ↑ American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1, no. 5347. Title: "National. Hamlet! Mr. Pelby as Hamlet. ... On Friday evening, September 7, 1838, will be acted Shakspeare's [ sic ] celebrated tragedy in 5 acts, called Hamlet Prince of Denmark! ... To conclude with, the new comedietta, by Charles Selby, Esq, called The valet de Sham." 1838
  10. ↑ American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1, no. 14230. Title:" National Theatre. Stage manager Mr. Murdoch ... On Tuesday evening, April 12th. 1842. Will be performed ... the drama, in three acts, founded upon incidents in Sir Walter Scott's novel of Ivanhoe--entitled Ivanhoe! or--The Knight Templars. ... To conclude with the grand spectacle, in three parts, entitled The Naiad queen!" 1842
  11. ↑ Boston Daily Atlas, May 26, 1848
  12. ↑ JulesSpy (2023-05-30), English: National Theatre Broadside (Boston): Witchcraft Or The Martyrs of Salem (1847), University of Georgia Special Collections Library, retrieved 2024-06-06
  13. ↑ "Oxford Reference". Oxford Reference. Retrieved June 6, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ↑ Wilks. Ben the Boatswain. French's Standard Drama no.149
  15. ↑ American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1, no. 8202. Title: "March 3d, 1852, will be performed, (first time in America,) a new tragedy in 5 acts, written by J. Westland Marston, Esq. ... entitled Philip Augustus of France! ... To conclude with the new and successful farce, I've swallowed a policeman" 1852
  16. ↑ Cunnigham. Madelaine, The Belle of the Faubourg. NY: Samuel French, ca.1855
  17. ↑ WorldCat. Virginia Juhan Cunningham
  18. ↑ WorldCat. F.S. Hill (1805-1852)
  19. ↑ Frederic Stanhope Hill. The six degrees of crime, or, Wine, women, gambling, theft, murder and the scaffold: a melo drama in six parts. Boston: W.V. Spencer, 1856
  20. ↑ WorldCat. Johnstone, J. B. (John Beer) 1803-1891
  21. ↑ Ballou's Pictorial, 1856
  22. ↑ "Burning of the National Theatre". Gleason's Pictorial. 2. Boston, Mass. 1852.
  23. ↑ Richard Butsch (2000), The making of American audiences: From Stage to Television, 1750-1990, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN   0521662532
  24. ↑ Henry W. Fenno died in 1862; cf. Daily Picayune (New Orleans); Date: 08-14-1862
  25. ↑ Justin Winsor, ed. (1880–1881), "Warren Theatre", Memorial History of Boston, vol. 4, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, hdl:2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t1bk1nn56, OCLC   4953409

42°21′48.05″N71°3′38.47″W / 42.3633472°N 71.0606861°W / 42.3633472; -71.0606861

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.