Part 362: Thomas G. Moses’ and “Shenandoah” at McVicker’s Theatre
Thomas G. Moses was the scenic artist at McVicker’s Theatre in Chicago during the 1897-1898 season. McVicker’s Theater was built by James Hubert McVicker in 1857. It was remodeled by 1864, then destroyed by fire in 1871. McVicker rebuilt and reopened the following year. By 1883, the venue was remodeled, but again destroyed by fire in 1890. For a third time, McVicker’s Theatre was rebuilt, reopening in 1892. In 1898, McVicker’s widow sold the theater to Jacob Litt for a term of ten years. Litt had managed the venue prior to becoming its proprietor. He hired Moses for his first season after purchasing the venue.
Moses and Litt had worked together on other projects over the decades, including the Academy of Music in Milwaukee during 1886. Litt leased numerous theatres across the country and many endeavors became lucrative successes. By 1898, Litt said, “I have a hard time keeping the different companies straightened out as I have over 250 actors and actresses on my salary lists just now. I am going to make McVicker’s a producing house as much as possible” (Chicago Inter Ocean, 27 August 1898, page 6).
At McVicker’s Theatre, Moses created the scenery for Litt’s grand revival of “Shenandoah.” The production was staged during the second half of the 1897-1898 season. Bronson Howard’s Military drama previously appeared at McVicker’s in 1890 and was reported to be “a phenomenal success” for this fort appearance. The Chicago Inter Ocean reported that with the second burning of McVicker’s Theatre in 1890, the “Shenandoah” scenery was “transferred to the Auditorium to complete its great run” (Chicago Inter Ocean, 28 Feb., 1897, page 37). The Chicago Tribune noted that “The play ‘Shenandoah’ did not suffer by the McVicker fire for, large as the audiences were during the 100 nights at the theater, they were almost as large again at the Auditorium” (31 August 1890, page 30). After the Auditorium, the show toured to St. Louis.
The 1898 “Shenandoah” production opened at McVickers during May and ran until the end of July. In June, the battle scene from the show was performed as part of the midsummer entertainment for a Chicago Press Club event. Smart idea. The Chicago Tribune reported that this entertainment was arranged “through the kindness of Manager Jacob Litt (5 June 1898, page 11).
In his typed manuscript, Moses described his painting of the “Shenandoah” settings in detail. He wrote, “For the production, Otis Skinner played the lead, supported by a full company with at least a dozen horses. We built up the stage for a big battlefield, and worked all other scenes inside of it. I couldn’t find an authentic picture of Shenandoah Valley, so I faked it. One night there was a crowd of old G.A.R. men and after the performance they asked my permission to go up on stage and look over the battlefield. Mr. Litt went with them and listened to their comments of the big cyclorama drop backing. They pointed out the very house where they all stopped for water, etc. Litt introduced me and afterwards said, ‘You made a big hit with those chaps with your accurate drop.’ I was pleased and told him it was a fake, that I just composed it. He could hardly believe it. Of course, I had some idea of the general character of the mountains and farmhouses.”
For me, it is fascinating to examine the personalities that Moses interacted with from year to year. His relationship with Jacob Litt is mentioned in installments #123, 216, and 255. He is a brief mention of Otis Skinner and where he was at in his career when he starred in “Shenandoah.”
Otis Skinner (1858-1942) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and raised in Hartford, Connecticut. His older brother Charles Montgomery Skinner became a noted New York theatre critic and journalist, while his younger brother William became an artist. Encouraged by P. T. Barnum, Skinner played various bit roles in stock companies during the 1870s until he built up his repertoire and began touring with Augustin Daly by the mid 1880s. In 1889 he was performing with the Edwin Booth and Helena Modjeska troupe. By the mid-1890s, Skinner became recognized as a star in his own right. It was during this period when Moses painted the settings for his show “Shenandoah.”
By November of 1898, “Shenandoah” began a return engagement at McVicker’s Theater. The Chicago Inter Ocean advertised that the production was “attracting an audience that crowded the house to its doors” (Chicago Inter Ocean 14 November, 1898, page 7). However the return engagement starred Maurice Barrymore in the leading role, not Skinner.
To be continued…
