Cigarette trading card featuring the Bowery Theatre, New York City.

The Bowery Theatre was a playhouse in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Bowery saw its most successful period under the populist, pro-American management of Thomas Hamblin in the 1830s and 1840s. By the 1850s, the theatre came to cater to immigrant groups such as the Irish, Germans, and Chinese. It burnt down 5 times in 17 years and once more in 1929. Although the theatre's name changed several times, it was generally referred to as the "Bowery Theatre". Playhouse is a common Elizabethan term for a theatre. ... Categories: Stub | Streets in Manhattan ... New York City, officially named the City of New York, is the most populous city in the United States, the most densely populated major city in North America, and is the largest financial center in the world. ... Populism is a political ideology or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the elite in society, which exists only to serve its own interests, and therefore, the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and instead used for the...

Founding and early management

By the mid-1820s, wealthy settler families in the Bowery area of New York City wanted easy access to fashionable high-class European drama, then only available at the Park Theatre. Under the leadership of Henry Astor, they pooled resources and bought land where Astor's tavern stood, facing the neighborhood and occupying the area between Elizabeth, Canal, and Hester streets. They hired architects Ithiel Town and John Trimble to design the new venue. Categories: Stub | Streets in Manhattan ... New York City, officially named the City of New York, is the most populous city in the United States, the most densely populated major city in North America, and is the largest financial center in the world. ... Canal Street is a major street in New York City, crossing lower Manhattan to join New Jersey in the west (via the Holland Tunnel) to Brooklyn in the east (via the Manhattan Bridge). ... Home of Ithiel Town, New Haven, CT Ithiel Town (1784 - June 12, 1844) was an American architect and civil engineer. ... John Trimble John Trimble (1831 – 1902) was one of the seven founders of the Grange. ...

The new playhouse, with its Neo-Classical design, was more opulent than the Park, and it seated 3,500 people, making it the biggest theatre in the United States at the time.^[1] Frances Trollope described it as "superior in beauty [to the Park]; it is indeed as pretty a theatre as I ever entered, perfect as to size and proportion, elegantly decorated, and the scenery and machinery equal to any in London…."^[2] Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... Frances Trollope (1780–1863) was an English novelist and miscellaneous writer who wrote under the name Fanny Trollope. ...

The Bowery Theatre opened on 22 October 1826 with the play The Road to Ruin, under the management of Charles A. Gilfert. New York Mayor Philip Hone spoke at the opening ceremony, imploring to the theatre's intended upper-class audience: "It is therefore incumbent upon those whose standing in society enables them to control the opinions and direct the judgment of others, to encourage, by their countenance and support, a well-regulated theatre".^[3] Its first few seasons were devoted to ballet, opera, and high drama. The theatre was by this time quite fashionable, and the expansion of Manhattan toward the Bowery gave the theatre access to a large patronage. The theatre burnt down in 1828, but was rebuilt. In 1829, the owners fired Gilfert. Philip Hone (b. ... The Waltz of the Snowflakes from Tchaikovskys The Nutcracker Ballet is the name given to a specific dance form and technique. ... The foyer of Charles Garniers Opéra, Paris, opened 1875 Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental as it is through the lyrics. ... Manhattan Borough,highlighted in yellow, lies between the East River and the Hudson River. ...

Hamblin's tenure

The owners hired a British-born actor named Thomas Hamblin in 1830 to manage the theatre. After it burnt down later that year, Hamblin obtained the lease and rebuilt. He then took the theatre in a decidedly different direction for what would be its most innovative and successful period.

American theatres stratified in the Jacksonian Era, and the Bowery emerged as the home of American nationalism and populist causes, placing it in direct contrast to the Park Theatre's cultivated image of traditional European high culture. This was partially the result of an anti-British theatre riot at the Park; Hamblin renamed the playhouse "the American Theatre, Bowery" in reaction. Hamblin hired unknown American actors and playwrights and allowed them to play for long runs. Before 1843, early blackface performers such as George Washington Dixon and Thomas D. Rice played there frequently, and acts such as J. B. Booth, Edwin Forrest, Louisa Lane Drew, and Frank Chanfrau also gained renown on the Bowery's stage. George L. Fox and his pantomime became the most popular act at the Bowery until after the Civil War. Bowery productions also debuted or popularized a number of new character types, including the Bowery B'hoy, the Yankee, the Frontiersman, and the blackface Negro. Order: 7th President Term of Office: March 4, 1829–March 3, 1837 Preceded by: John Quincy Adams Succeeded by: Martin Van Buren Date of birth: March 15, 1767 Place of birth: South Carolina or North Carolina Date of death: June 8, 1845 Place of death: The Hermitage, Nashville, Tennessee First... // Nationalism is an ideology which holds that the nation, ethnicity or national identity is a fundamental unit of human social life, and makes certain political claims based upon that belief; above all, the claim that the nation is the only legitimate basis for the state, and that each nation is... Populism is a political philosophy or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the elite in society, and that the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and used for the benefit and advancement of the people as a whole. ... This reproduction of a 1900 minstrel show poster, originally published by the Strobridge Litho Co. ... Portrait of George Washington Dixon, c. ... Thomas Dartmouth (T.D.) Daddy Rice (May, 1808 - September 16, 1860), was a comedian and the creator of the blackface form of comedy of the 19th century and early 20th century. ... This photograph of Edwin Forrest was taken by Matthew Brady. ... Louisa Lane Drew (January 10, 1820 - August 31, 1897) was a British - American actor. ... Pantomime may refer to two different types of performing arts. ... Bhoy and ghal (pronounced like boy and gal, respectively) were the prevailing slang for the young men and women of the rough-and-tumble working class culture of Lower Manhattan in the late 1840s and into the period of the American Civil War. ... The term Yankee has a variety of meanings. ... Negro means black in Spanish, Portuguese and ancient Italian languages, being derived from the Latin word niger of the same meaning. ...

The pro-Americanism of the Bowery's audience came to a head during the Farren Riots of 1834. Farren^[4], the Bowery's British-born stage manager, had reportedly made anti-American comments and fired an American actor. Protesters reacted by attacking the homes, businesses, and churches of abolitionists and blacks in New York City and then storming the theatre on 9 July. Farren apologized for his comments, and George Washington Dixon sang popular songs to quell the rioters. Stage management is a sub-discipline of stagecraft. ...

Hamblin defied conventions of theatre as high culture by booking productions that appealed to working-class patrons and by advertising them extensively. Animal acts, blackface minstrel shows, and melodrama enjoyed the most frequent billings, and hybrid forms, such as melodramas about dogs saving their human masters, became unprecedented successes. Spectacular productions with advanced visual effects, including water and fire, featured prominently. Hamblin also innovated by using gas lighting in lieu of candles and kerosene lamps. The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... 1906 postcard advertising a minstrel show The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an indigenous form of American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, usually performed by white people in blackface. ... Poster for The Perils of Pauline (1914). ... Visual effects (vfx) is the term given to a sub-category of special effects in which images or film frames are created or manipulated for film and video. ... Gas lighting is the process of burning piped natural gas or coal gas for illumination. ...

By the time the Bowery burnt again in 1836, it was the most popular playhouse in New York City.^[5] Visual spectacle had become such an integral part of its appeal that Hamblin claimed $5000 in wardrobe losses from the fire.^[6] Not even the Panic of 1837 could affect his profits. When an interim Bowery burnt down in 1838, another replaced it in 1839. The Panic of 1837 was an economic depression, one of the sharpest financial crises in the history of the United States. ...

Through Hamblin's actions, working-class theatre emerged as a form in its own right, and melodrama became the most popular form of American theatre. Low-class patrons such as Bowery b'hoys and g'hals predominated in the audience. The Spirit of the Times described the Bowery's patrons: Bhoy and ghal (pronounced like boy and gal, respectively) were the prevailing slang for the young men and women of the rough-and-tumble working class culture of Lower Manhattan in the late 1840s and into the period of the American Civil War. ...

By reasonable computation there were about 300 persons on the stage and wings alone—soldiers in fatigue dresses—officers with side arms—a few jolly tars, and a number of "apple-munching urchins." The scene was indescribably ludicrous. Booth played [Richard III] in his best style, and was really anxious to make a hit, but the confusion incidental to such a crowd on the stage, occasioned constant and most humorous interruptions. It was every thing or any thing, but a tragedy. In the scene with Lady Anne, a scene so much admired for its address, the gallery spectators amused themselves by throwing pennies and silver pieces on the stage, which occasioned an immense scramble among the boys, and they frequently ran between King Richard and Lady Anne, to snatch a stray copper. In the tent scene, so solemn and so impressive, several curious amateurs went up to the table, took up the crown, poised the heavy sword, and examined all the regalia with great care, while Richard was in agony from the terrible dream; and when the scene changed, discovering the gohsts of King Henry, Lady Anne and children, it was difficult to select them from the crowd who thrust their faces and persons among the Royal shadows.

The Battle of Bosworth Field capped the climax—the audience mingled with the soldiers and raced across the stage, to the shouts of the people, the roll of the drums and the bellowing of the trumpets; and when the fight between Richard and Richmond came on, they made a ring round the combattants to see fair play, and kept them at if for nearly a quarter of an hour by "Shrewsberry clock."^[7]

Understandably, Hamblin was careful to remain in this crowd's good graces. After 1830, for example, he regularly offered use of the Bowery Theatre for the annual firemen's ball. Only the Chatham Street Theatre boasted a more rowdy audience.^[8]

The theatre burnt down once more in 1845. This time, Hamblin had fire insurance, and he rebuilt with an eye toward appealing to a more upscale patronage and to staging more spectacular melodrama. The theatre now seated 4,000 and with a stage 126 feet square, secured its place as one of the largest playhouses in the world.^[9] Hamblin largely left the management to others in this period, though these managers and those that came after Hamblin's death in 1853 largely upheld his emphasis on melodrama and visual splendor. Property insurance provides protection against risks to property, such as fire, theft or weather damage. ...

Later management

By the middle of the 19th century, immigrant groups, notably the Irish, began populating the Bowery neighborhood. They came to form a significant portion of the Bowery's audience, mostly in the low-price gallery section. In order to cater to them, the theatre offered plays by James Pilgrim and other Irish playwrights. Meanwhile, the Bowery emerged as the theatrical center for New York's Lower East Side. Categories: Manhattan neighborhoods | Stub ...

Germans Gustav Amberg, Heinrich Conreid, and Mathilde Cottrelly converted the Bowery into the Thalia Theatre in 1879, offering primarily German theatre during their ownership. In 1891, Yiddish theatre became the predominate attraction. Italian vaudeville succeeded this, followed by Chinese vaudeville. "Fay's Bowery Theatre" burnt down on 5 June 1929 under Chinese management and was never rebuilt. Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Eastern European Ashkenazaic Jewish community. ... Vaudeville was a style of multi-act theater which flourished in North America from the 1880s through the 1920s. ...

Notes

1. ^  Wilmeth and Tice 42.
2. ^  Trollope, Fanny (1832). Domestic Manners of the Americans.
3. ^  Quoted in Cockrell 29.
4. ^  Cockrell calls this individual George P. Farren. Wilmeth and Bigsby in The Cambridge History of American Theatre: Beginnings to 1870 call him William Farren.
5. ^  Bank 116.
6. ^  Bank 94.
7. ^  Porter, William T. (1 December 1832). The Spirit of the Times. Quoted in Cockrell 31-2.
8. ^  Bank ?
9. ^  Wilmeth and Tice 42.

Frances Trollope (1780–1863) was an English novelist and miscellaneous writer who wrote under the name Fanny Trollope. ... Domestic Manners of the Americans is a novel by Fanny Trollope. ... William Farren (May 13, 1786 - September 24, 1861), English actor, was born, the son of an actor (b. ...

References

• Bank, Rosemary K. (1997). Theatre Culture in America, 1825-1860. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Cockrell, Dale (1997). Demons of Disorder: Early Blackface Minstrels and Their World. Cambridge University Press.
• Praefcke, Andreas. "New York, NY: Bowery Theatre", Carthalia. Accessed 28 November 2005.
• Trollope, Frances (1832). Domestic Manners of the Americans.
• Wilmeth, Don B., and Miller, Tice L., eds. (1996). Cambridge Guide to American Theatre. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Wilmeth, Don B., and Bigsby, C. W. E. (1998) The Cambridge History of American Theatre: Beginnings to 1870. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Wilmeth, Don B., and Bigsby, C. W. E. (1999) The Cambridge History of American Theatre: Volume II, 1870-1945. New York: Cambridge University Press.