 The Man of the Hour by George Broadhurst playing at the Savoy c. 1907 | |
 | |
| Address | 112 W. 34th St. New York City United States of America |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 841 |
| Current use | Demolished |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1900 |
| Demolished | 1952 |
The Savoy Theatre was a Broadway theatre at 112 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It opened in 1900 (for its first few months as Schley Music Hall). It was converted to a cinema around 1910, until it was closed in early 1952 and then demolished. [nb 1]
George Krause, a manager of other theatres, with financial backing of Tammany Hall politician Timothy D. Sullivan, built Schley Music Hall at 112 West 34th Street, on the south side of the street, and west of Broadway. [1] : 578 The site adjoined the Herald Square Hotel. It had a frontage of 18 feet on 34th Street, and 50 feet on 33rd Street. It seated about 840, but the floor chairs were folding chairs. [2]
It opened on February 26, 1900, aiming to show vaudeville and burlesque fare. Kraus immediately sold out his stake to New York Yankees owner Frank J. Farrell, and the venue closed on April 29. Under a new lease by Alfred Aarons, the house reopened on October 8, 1900, as the Savoy Theatre. Aarons only lasted until early February 1901, and Hyde and Behman then leased it, followed by Charles Frohman and Frank McKee, who started performances on September 21, 1901. Notable runs included Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (Sept. 1903-Jan. 1905, 150 perf.), and The Man of the Hour by George Broadhurst (Dec. 1906-Jan. 1908, 479 perf.) starring Douglas Fairbanks. [3]
Around late 1910, play performances ceased. The venue was leased by Walter Reade Sr. (then Walter Rosenberg), who eventually ran a large chain of movie theatres, and became a movie house. It operated until 1952 (when Reade Sr. also died), and soon the building was demolished. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Savoy opera was a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte built to house the Gilbert and Sullivan pieces, and later those by other composer–librettist teams. The great bulk of the non-G&S Savoy Operas either failed to achieve a foothold in the standard repertory, or have faded over the years, leaving the term "Savoy Opera" as practically synonymous with Gilbert and Sullivan. The Savoy operas were seminal influences on the creation of the modern musical.
Winthrop Ames was an American theatre director and producer, playwright and screenwriter.
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Helen Carte Boulter, also known as Helen Lenoir, was a Scottish businesswoman known for her diplomatic skills and grasp of detail. Beginning as his secretary, and later marrying, impresario and hotelier Richard D'Oyly Carte, she is best remembered for her stewardship of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and Savoy Hotel from the end of the 19th century into the early 20th century.
Louisa Emma Amelia "Louie" Pounds was an English singer and actress, known for her performances in musical comedies and in mezzo-soprano roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
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Lillian Lee was a stage actress in New York City beginning in the early 1880s. She was in the cast of the original Ziegfeld Follies in 1907.
William John Charles Pitcher, known as Wilhelm or C. Wilhelm, was an English artist, costume and scenery designer, best known for his designs for ballets, pantomimes, comic operas and Edwardian musical comedies.
Jessie Busley was an American actress and comedian who performed on stage, screen, and radio for over six decades.
Ida Hawley was a musical comedy actress and soprano singer from Canada who worked in the U.S.
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The Herald Square Theatre was a Broadway theatre in Manhattan, New York City, built in 1883 and closed in 1914. The site is now a highrise designed by H. Craig Severance.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch is a 1901 novel by American author Alice Hegan Rice, about a southern family humorously coping with poverty. It was highly popular on its release, and has been adapted to film several times. The early editions of the book carry the author's birth name, Alice Caldwell Hegan.
Alfred Baldwin Sloane was an American composer, considered the most prolific songwriter for Broadway musical comedies at the beginning of the 20th century.
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Charlotte Alice Alter was an American actress on stage and in silent films.
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The Bijou Theatre was a former Broadway theater in New York City that opened in 1878 as Theatre Brighton and was demolished in 1915. It also served as an opera house and silent movie venue throughout its history. Located at 1239 Broadway between 30th and 31st Streets, had been converted from a drinking and gambling establishment into a theatre for variety, and opened August 26, 1878, with Jerry Thomas as proprietor. The house had many changes and names until John A. McCaull, a Baltimore lawyer, and Charles E. Ford took charge of it. Considerable money was spent and when they reopened the house on March 31, 1880, as the Bijou Opera-house, it looked like a modern and well-regulated theatre. In 1881 and 1882, Lillian Russell appeared in three different operettas.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, is an 1903 comedy by American author Anne Crawford Flexner. It was based on two books by Alice Hegan Rice, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1901) and Lovey Mary (1903). It has three acts and two settings, all within the "Cabbage Patch", an impoverished neighborhood on the fringes of Louisville, Kentucky. The character-driven play covers three weeks time and has multiple storylines, including an ill-starred mail-order marriage, two refugees from an orphanage, the return of a long-lost husband, and a handful of young romances.
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