Images
Austin's Palace Theatre, 1890s
Advertisement, 1893
Advertisement, 1903
Detail of 1911 map of Boston, showing the Palace at Court and Sudbury Streets
Palace Theatre, ca.1916
The Palace Theatre (ca.1891-1931) of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, was a variety theatre on Court Street in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [1] Acts which performed there included Rose Hill Folly Co., [2] Clifford & Dixon, Murry & Murry, Behler & Stone, [3] and the Adamless Eden Burlesquers. [4] It also showed photo-plays such as The Exploits of Elaine, The Master Key, and "Charles Chaplin comedies." [5] Among its managers and proprietors were William Austin, [6] F. J. Pilling, [7] George Milbank, [8] and Dunn & Waldron. [9] [10] The Palace occupied the building of the former Nickelodeon. [11] [12] It existed until 1931, when it was demolished. [13]
Austin and Stone's Dime Museum (ca.1880s-1900s) of Boston, Massachusetts, was an entertainment emporium in Scollay Square, established by William Austin and Frank Stone. It featured a freak show as well as dancing girls for entertainment. The freak show and other exhibits such as two-headed animals cost ten cents, while admission to the girlie show cost an additional dime. Performers included William S. Hutchings, the "lightning calculator." Comedian Fred Allen wrote about the Museum in his memoir, Much Ado About Me.
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.
Frost & Adams (est.1869) was an artists' supply firm in Boston, Massachusetts, located in Cornhill, on the current site of Boston City Hall and City Hall Plaza. It began in 1869 when artist Francis Seth Frost and retailer E.H. Adams bought the business of Matthew J. Whipple. By the 1880s Frost & Adams were "the chief dealers in artists' materials in New England."
Tremont Row (1830s-1920s) in Boston, Massachusetts, was a short street that flourished in the 19th and early-20th centuries. It was located near the intersection of Court, Tremont, and Cambridge streets, in today's Government Center area. It existed until the 1920s, when it became known as Scollay Square. In 1859 the Barre Gazette newspaper described Tremont Row as "the great Dry Goods Street of Boston."
Beethoven Hall (1874–78) was an auditorium in Boston, Massachusetts, that hosted musical performances and other entertainments in the 1870s. It sat on Washington Street, near Boylston Street, in today's Boston Theater District/Chinatown neighborhood. The architect was William Washburn, who had also designed the first National Theatre and the second Tremont Temple.
The Park Theatre (est.1879) was a playhouse in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It later became the State cinema. Located on Washington Street, near Boylston Street, the building existed until 1990.
The Globe Theatre (est.1871) was a playhouse in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. It was located at 598 Washington Street, near the corner of Essex Street. Arthur Cheney oversaw the Globe until 1876. From 1871 to 1873 it occupied the former theatre of John H. Selwyn. After a fire in May 1873, the Globe re-opened on the same site in December 1874. Architect Benjamin F. Dwight designed the new building. From 1877 to 1893 John Stetson served as proprietor; some regarded him as "a theatrical producer with a reputation for illiteracy in his day such as Samuel Goldwyn has achieved" in the 1960s. The theatre burned down in January 1894.
The Columbia Theatre or Loew's New Columbia Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, was a playhouse and cinema located in the South End at No. 978 Washington Street. Charles Frohman, Isaac Baker Rich and William Harris oversaw the theatre until 1895. Owners included J.J. Grace of New York and Loews. Staff included Harry Farren, Saul Hamilburg and Philip Shea. The Columbia existed until its demolition in 1957.
The Bowdoin Square Theatre (est.1892) in Boston, Massachusetts, was a playhouse and cinema. It was located on Bowdoin Square in the West End, in a building designed by architect C.H. Blackall. Personnel included Charles F. Atkinson and William Harris. Audience members included future magician Julius Linsky and future actor Joseph Sicari
The Tremont Theatre was a playhouse in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry E. Abbey and John B. Schoeffel established the enterprise and oversaw construction of its building at no.176 Tremont Street in the Boston Theater District area. Managers included Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau, Klaw & Erlanger, Thos. B. Lothan and Albert M. Sheehan.
B.F. Keith's Theatre (1894–1928) in Boston, Massachusetts, was a vaudeville playhouse run by B.F. Keith. It sat across from Boston Common in the city's theatre district, with an entrance on Tremont Street and another on Washington Street. Personnel included Keith, E.F. Albee and H.E. Gustin. Virgilio Tojetti painted some of the interior decorations. In 1939, the theater was converted to a movie theater named the Normandie.
The Grand Opera House (est.1888) of Boston, Massachusetts, was a theatre in the South End. Architect George Snell designed the 2,600-seat building on Washington Street. Managers and proprietors included Proctor & Mansfield, A.H. Dexter, George W. Magee, and Stair & Wilbur. Performances included Glyn's Three Weeks.
Chickering Hall (est.1883) was a concert auditorium in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 19th century. It occupied the second floor of Chickering and Sons showrooms on Tremont Street, near the corner of West Street. "Bradlee, Winslow and Wetherell were the architects, and Mr. E.P. Treadwell, the decorator. The hall [was] lighted by the Edison electric light." By 1895: "Tremont St., towards Boylston, for some years has been called Piano Row, for a long row of piano agencies occupied a good portion of the block; but of late most of these have migrated to Boylston St. Chickering Hall, at 152 Tremont St., was for many years a favorite place for fashionable musicales, and the headquarters of the musical profession."
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."
Theatre Comique (1865–1869) of Boston, Massachusetts, was located at no. 240 Washington Street. Personnel included Jason Wentworth, William H. Crisp, James S. Maffitt, George Maffitt, B.F. Lowell, Wm. H. Daly, orchestra leader Aug. Muller, and maitre de ballet Signor Constantine. Among the performances: slack rope and acrobatics by Martini Chiriski and the Levantine Brothers; Mlle. Augusta, danseuse; "Aladdin" with Kate Pennoyer and W.H. Bartholomew; dancing by Betty Regl; Snow Brothers ; Morlacchi Ballet Troupe; Wilson Brothers ; Ada Harland; and Jarrett & Palmer's "Forty Thieves." It occupied the building formerly known as Andrews Hall, Barnum's Aquarial Gardens, and the Boston Aquarial and Zoological Gardens. In 1869 the theatre was renamed the "Adelphi Theatre."
The Plymouth Theatre (1911–1957) of Boston, Massachusetts, was located on Stuart Street in today's Boston Theater District. Architect Clarence Blackall designed the building for Liebler & Co. Performers included Henry Jewett, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, 8-year-old Sammy Davis Jr., and Bette Davis. In October 1911, the touring Abbey Theatre presented Synge's Playboy of the Western World at the Plymouth; in the audience were W. B. Yeats, Isabella Stewart Gardner and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.
The St. James Theatre (1912–1929) of Boston, Massachusetts, was a playhouse and cinema in the Back Bay in the 1910s and 1920s. It occupied the former Chickering Hall on Huntington Avenue near Massachusetts Avenue, adjacent to Horticultural Hall. For some years Loew's theatre chain oversaw the St. James. In 1929 the theatre "became part of the Publix (Paramount) chain, and was renamed the Uptown."
The Gaiety Theatre (1908–1949) or Gayety Theatre of Boston, Massachusetts, was located at no.661 Washington Street near Boylston Street in today's Boston Theater District. The theatre was designed by architect Clarence H. Blackall. The Lyceum Theatre was demolished in June 1908 to make way for the Gaiety Theatre which was built on the same site.
Hotel Touraine (1897-1966) in Boston, Massachusetts, was a residential hotel on the corner of Tremont Street and Boylston Street, near the Boston Common. The architecture firm of Winslow and Wetherell designed the 11-story building in the Jacobethan style, constructed of "brick and limestone;" its "baronial" appearance was "patterned inside and out after a 16th-century chateau of the dukes of Touraine." It had dining rooms and a circulating library. Owners included Joseph Reed Whipple and George A. Turain.
The Boston Evening Traveller (1845–1967) was a newspaper published in Boston, Massachusetts. It was a daily newspaper, with weekly and semi-weekly editions under a variety of Traveller titles. It was absorbed by the Boston Herald in 1912, and ceased publication in 1967.
