By 1901, David H. Hunt was listed as manager for the Pike Theater Company. It appears that theatrical management company of “Sosman, Landis, & Hunt” closed and other firms took over the management of their Cincinnati and Indianapolis venues. Hunt’s sole role became that of a stock company manager and his company toured the country, stopping in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Detroit, Washington, Baltimore, and New York.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune on July 1, 1901, reported that the company brought with it nearly “three carloads of scenery, specially designed and gotten up for the plays to be presented during the summer season in Minneapolis and St. Paul.”
In Minnesota, the “David H. Hunt’s Pike Theater company” was performing several plays, including Bronson Howard’s “The Banker’s Daughter” and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” In a July 14, 1901 interview with Hunt and company members, his scenic artist explained the importance of scenery for their company:
“People are just commencing to realize that good plays are frequently as dependent upon good scenery as good actors,” said Scenic Artist Slipper, “and it is certainly true that a play without the advantage of scenery would be a burlesque upon the modern methods of management” (Star Tribune, page 14). “We are told that Shakespeare’s plays were first produced without scenery, but we are not informed they were great success except as lectures or monologues of rare literary merit.” He continued, “The success of the drama depends upon the illusion it creates; acting is an illusion – that, is, it excites the auditor to tears over a situation which does not exist, or moves to mirth with an incident that is purely imaginary. So, too, is scenery an illusion. We show you a landscape in a production at the Metropolitan which seems to the spectator in front to stretch away for miles, whereas it is but a few rods distance from the eye, and, perhaps, no more that three feet away from the house, or the shrubbery, or the forest which seems so near you. Thus, if the actor deceives your ear with a cry which seems to have it in tones all the attributes of heart-felt sorrow and tragedy, the artist deceives the eye by producing an impression simply by a few touches of the brush and the proper combination of colors something akin to that produced by the omnipotent hand of nature herself as revealed in the far stretching landscape, or as is shown in the more artificial work of the man as applied to the architecture and the furnishing of apartments.”
The following year, the Hunt’s stock company was performing Hall Caine’s “The Christian,” again touring across the country with the production. Newspapers reported that the his stock company had been in existence for nearly seven years, during which time it had played over 250 different plays and had appeared in almost 2,400 performances. This suggests that there was simply a name change from “Sosman, Landis & Hunt” to David H. Hunt for the same stock company.
The Evening Star reported, “Stock was a new thing when Mr. David H. Hunt decided that vaudeville was not a success at his Cincinnati theater, and installed the first stock company there since the famous old days when Davenport, McCullough and other old-time stars had appeared with the ante-bellum stock companies in the smoky city. Mr. Hunt was a young man, his company contained players who were themselves little known, and with the development that followed hard work and success the organization was brought to a standard of perfection. Mr. Hunt early decided that pecuniary success would only result from artistic success. He set about obtaining good plays and good players, with the result that people in Cincinnati accord the Pike Theater Company both consideration and affection. For several years the company played entirely in Cincinnati, then tried Minneapolis and St. Paul for spring engagements, next added Detroit to their list of cities and now adds Washington, New York and Baltimore” (Washington, D.C., 13 Sept. 1902, page 22).
The story for Hunt continues on a different trajectory and ends by 1911. In 1903, he marries stock company actress Angela Dolores (Detroit Free Press 21 May 1903, page 12). By 1906, Hunt was back in Chicago, managing a stock company for the Chicago Opera House. A newspaper article reported that “David H. Hunt who has considerable experience in this particular branch of amusement business, will assume active management, and he has made definite arrangements with important Eastern managers whereby he will offer their successes at popular prices” (Inter Ocean, 19 August 1906, page 26). Two years later, Hunt has returned to managing his wife’s touring production with William Duvre and Harry English(Cincinnati Enquirer 30 August 1908, page 26). This lasts for approximately five years. Newspapers report that her tour remained under the personal direction of Hunt and who promoted her as the “best known stock leading lady” (Fort Wayne Daily News, 16 Feb 1911, page 5).
But what happened to Sosman, Landis & Hunt? By 1902, Landis left the scenic studio due to health reasons. This left Sosman solely in charge of both artistic and administrative duties. He realized that he could not do it alone and repeatedly requested that Thomas G. Moses return to Chicago and work in the studio. Up until this point Moses had partnered with Will Hamilton, forming the studio of Moses & Hamilton. They were working in New York. The decade from 1894 to 1904 is one of the most interesting periods in the career of Moses.
We return to 1894 tomorrow, understanding one of the factors that caused Moses to depart the Sosman & Landis studio – for his second time – in 1894.
To be continued…
