Month: May 2018

Part 432: Thomas G. Moses and “Miss Bob White”

In 1902, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “We did one act in “Miss Bob White” and went to Philadelphia to put it on. It was a quaint musical comedy. Hitchcock starred in the leads.”

Moses was referring to Raymond Hitchcock, a comic opera comedian who was born in Auburn, New York. His theatrical career started as an amateur actor, with his debut in “Ingomar.” The reviews condemned his performance so badly that he was stranded in Philadelphia and ended up working behind the counter in Wanamaker’s store. Hitchcock recovered from this experience and became a chorus member in the Charleston Opera Company during 1891. For twelve years he played various roles, working for Dan Daly, George W. Monroe, Peter F. Dailey, Robert Hilliard, Mary Irwin and Henry W. Savage. His talents allowed him to perform either musical roles or straight acting. Savage offered Hitchcock a principal part with the Castle Square Opera Company. It was Savage who convinced Moses to be his lead scenic artist for the Castle Square Opera Company at the American Theatre, prompting Moses to move to New York in 1901. This is where Moses would have first encountered Hitchcock.

For the Castle Square Opera Company, Hitchcock played Sir Tobin Topax in “The Golden Wedding,” Uncle Hank in “We ‘Uns of Tennesee,” and David Tooke in “Three Little Lambs.” Other shows at this time included “The Belle of Bridgeport,” “A Dangerous Maid,” “Vienna Life,” “The Burgomaster,” “Miss Bob White,” and “King Dodo.”

During Hitchcock’s two years with the Castle Square Opera Company, he appeared in numerous shows, including “Miss Bob White.” It was the show that followed “Miss Bob White,” however, that would elevate Hitchcock to stardom under Savage’s management in the production of “King Dodo” at Daly’s Theatre in Chicago (1902).

“The American Stage of To-day: Biographies and photographs of one hundred leading actor and actresses” featured Hitchcock in 1910. The article reported, “Mr. Raymond Hitchcock furnishes a composite instance of a facile character actor who has swung back and forth between the two branches of his profession” (page 103).

Willard Spencer’s “Miss Bob White” premiered at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia on April 15, 1901. Hitchcock was part of this production too. This three-act musical comedy involved two millionaires, Billy Van Million (John Slavin) and Artie Tre Billion (Raymond Hitchcock) who live as tramps for two months after losing an election bet. They head for a farm and are followed by an heiress, Clare Livington (Ethel Jackson). Livington disguises herself as a milkman, “Bob White.” By the end of the show, she wins the love of Artie. The show included twenty-six musical numbers and was a success in Philadelphia, completing a 136-performance run.

To be continued…

Part 431: It was the Life

Moses wrote, “Many of these shows opened out of the city, and I was compelled to go with them. I never knew when I was going to be at home. One night I was to go to Jersey City, as I understood from the phone message. On my arrival there, I found the show was to open in Hoboken.

It was then quite late and I couldn’t get to Hoboken from Jersey City without a lot of trouble, so I went back to New York and got a boat to Hoboken. When I arrived it was too late for my scene as they were through rehearsing. I found my way back to New York, crossed over to the 3rd Avenue Elevated.

Went to 129th Street and got a car to Frodam where I had to change for Mt. Vernon. Just missed the car. Had to wait nearly an hour. I had two hours at home, then back to the city. “It was the life.”

Part 430: Thomas G. Moses in Catharine, New York

Thomas G. Moses was able to spend several weeks on vacation with his wife and two youngest children during summer of 1902. It was also an opportunity to refocus on his fine art techniques for landscape painting. He sketched throughout the Town of Catharine in the upstate New York area.

Moses wrote, “I broke away from business long enough to take the family to Catharine, N. Y., where we enjoyed the farm life for several weeks. I found plenty of good spots to sketch and I made hay while the sun shone.”

Catharine, New York, was approximately 252 miles northwest of Moses’ home in Mount Vernon, New York. It was located less than two miles south of Odessa and approximately seven miles from the tip of Seneca Lake. In fact the town of Odessa was not incorporated until three years after Moses’ visit; it still remains a picturesque area for farming. The current address for the Town of Catharine is 106 Grant Road, Odessa, New York. Here is the website: http://www.townofcatharine.com/

The Town of Catharine was formed in the year 1798 (originally named Catharines town) and was part of Tioga County.  The original town had 26 families and approximately 89,407 acres of land.  Currently, the town is governed by an elected Board of 5 Councilmen with one of the councilmen is elected as the Supervisor.  The Town has it’s own traffic/civil/penal court with one elected justice and a court clerk.

The town of Catharine that Moses visited in 1902 was the second of two Catharine towns in Schuler County, New York, named after a local chieftess called “Queen Catharine.” The first town was the Seneca village of Queanettquaga that once encompassed the falls and area between the hills at the base of Seneca Lake. This area was informally known as Catharine’s Town and also known as Che-o-quock, Shughquago and Sheoquago.

“Queen” Catharine (1710-1804) was from the noted Montour family, from whom the first settlement and nearby Montour Falls derives its name. She was from French and Iroquois decent, a heritage that would prove to be her undoing after the Iroquois formed an alliance with the British. The first Catharine’s Town was destroyed on the orders of General George Washington during the Sullivan Expedition in 1779. It was one of more than 40 tribal villages destroyed across western New York in retaliation for raids in the eastern part of the province.

The New York legislature created a second town of Catharine during the first elections in 1798. The town was originally organized as part of Chemung County, before the formation of Schuyler County. Catharine was divided to form the towns of Veteran and Catlin in 1825, and later the town of Montour. Moses would have journeyed by train from Mount Vernon to Watkins Glen, before traveling to the farm in the Town of Catherine.

Moses recounted an entertaining incident while sketching one day in Catharine; he wrote, “My white sketching umbrella was the cause of a runaway. A pair of horses were hauling a long wagon filled with empty milk cans. The horses started to run and the driver couldn’t hold them. The wagon jumped across the road before I could lower the umbrella. The wagon was down the hill, spilling the cans. I can hear them now.”

To be continued…

Part 428: Sketching at Seton Falls

While living in Mt. Vernon, New York, Thomas G. Moses (1856-1934) had the opportunity to go on sketching trips with fellow scenic artists John H. Young (1858-1944) and Harry Vincent (1864-1931). Young and Moses met in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during 1876. Both began their artistic careers in fresco painting, transitioning to scenic art and design about the same time in Chicago during 1880; they both worked for Sosman & Landis.

From the beginning, Moses and Young took many sketching trips with other scenic artists all across the country from West Virginia to the Rocky Mountains. These trips with were for research to be used on future productions and to hone their artistic skills. By 1884, Moses and Young spent their Sundays at F. C. Bromely’s studio in Chicago painting in oil. Moses wrote, “We both made some progress. Bromely was quite dramatic in his work and we enjoyed it during the year.” John Hendricks Young was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1858 and was two years younger than Moses.

Moses met Vincent when he worked with A. J. Rupert and Frank Peyraud to create the settings for William Haworth’s “A Flag of Truce” 1892. After the project was completed, Vincent joined Moses to work for him at Sosman & Landis’ new annex studio that same year. Located in the old Waverly Theatre, Moses recorded that his studio crew included A. J. Rupert, Frank Peyrand and Harry Vincent, besides a number of assistants and paint boys.

Of his New York sketching with Young and Vincent in 1901 Moses wrote, “Every Sunday this summer I went sketching near home, and it was very picturesque. John Young and Harry Vincent joined me quite often, as we all lived near the spot. Occasionally I would go to Seton Falls, a very rugged place. Ella and the children would get a carriage and drive over with a luncheon for me, and late in the afternoon, in the cool of the evening, we would take an extended drive, along Long Island Sound. We enjoyed it very much.”

Where the three was sketching is currently known as Seton Falls Park; an irregular 35-acre section of land between East 233^rd Street and parts of Marolla Place and Crawford, Seton and Pratt Avenues. This area now includes a woodland, wetland, and bird sanctuary named from the prominent waterfalls built in the park by the Seton family. In the 19th century, the Setons were instrumental in the political and social affairs of what was then the town of Eastchester. It was often called the “Grand Canyon” of the Bronx. Seton Falls Park was less than two miles away from Mount Vernon, where Moses and Ella were living at the time.

Rattlesnake brook trickles through Seton Park. The lack of rattlesnakes is credited to the settlers’ use of early pigs to decimate the snake population; pigs find snakes of all types a delicious treat. Today, the remnants of Rattlesnake Brook primarily remain encased in masonry as its winds through the Park.

To be continued…

Part 427: Thomas G. Moses at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition

Thomas G. Moses and his wife Ella were able to spend much more time together while living in New York. When the couple was in Chicago, Moses was constantly on the road while Ella and the children stayed in the city. Seldom were they able to spend time together as a family in any one location. In New York, there were opportunities to explore the region and go out on sketching trips. In 1901, Moses wrote, “Ella and I went to Buffalo for the exposition, and we certainly enjoyed ourselves for the short time we were allowed to see it all. We returned to New York by the way of Alpine, N.Y. and paid a visit to Ella’s cousin, Mrs. Hall. We enjoyed the country air for a week and good farm cooking.”

One of the reasons to attend the 1901 Pan-American Exposition was to see the scenery produced by Moses & Hamilton for “A Trip to the Moon.”

Earlier that year, they had painted the moving panorama that created the scenic illusion where the airship Luna left earth and flew to the moon. A souvenir album of the exhibition depicts the airship Luna’s departure from the Pan American Exposition fairgrounds, hovering over Niagara Falls before taking ascending to the Moon.

This same attraction would later be transferred to Steeplechase Park and then Luna Park, when the airship Luna II and Luna III would hove over Coney Island before departing for the Moon. It must have been delightful for Moses to share his accomplishment with the love of his life, while on a short respite from the grind at the studio.

The 350-acre site for 1901 Pan-American Exposition was in Buffalo, New York. The fair took place on the western edge of Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Avenue to Elmwood Avenue and northward to Great Arrow Avenue.

It was an international extravaganza from May 1 until November 2 that featured innovation in art and industry from countries throughout the western hemisphere. Twentieth-century optimism inspired the event, but it ended in tragedy with the assassination of President William McKinley on September 6, 1901. He was shot by Leon Czolgosz at the Temple of Music, dying eight days later from gangrene caused by the bullet wounds.

When the fair ended, the contents of the World Fair grounds were sold to the Chicago House Wrecking Company for $92,000, and demolition of the buildings began during March 1902. The only exception was the New York State Building as it was designed to outlast the Exposition and became the Buffalo History Museum. The Museum’s holdings now include many of the records from the Pan-American Exposition Company. There is also a lovely website devoted to “Doing the Pan” at http://panam1901.org/midway/index.htm  It includes an article by Edward Hale Brush from June 17, 1901, “Pan-American’s Midway, Some of the Amusement Features for the Big Buffalo Exposition.” Here is a section of the article:

“When the Midway at the Pan-American was proposed, it was determined that it should be the very best of its kind and the greatest thing “that ever happened” if in treating of so light a theme one may be permitted to fall in to the language of the streets. From the beginning an effort was made to cull from the vast number of novel and attractive features offered those which would combine the elements of excitement and entertainment and at the same time impart the kind of educational influence which travel in foreign climes and among strange and unknown peoples is wont to confer.

There is a strange fascination in the Midway — in the seeming confusion, the grand medley of tongues, music, architecture and customs that one finds in this part of an Exposition and particularly such a Midway as that as the Pan-American is to be. The exhibitions of the Midway will be found on one street, which will have over a mile of frontage, and while in this way everything will be brought into close proximity for the convenience as well as amusement of the visitor the space covered by the various amusement features will be most extensive.

There will be a continuous throng of people passing down the main street of the Midway, and on either side of this street will be the dozens of different exhibitions, which will each and every one of them be a pretty good show in itself. Some of them will cost several hundred thousand dollars each for production.

It requires a great deal of inventive faculty — in fact, something quite approaching inspiration itself — to create such original exhibitions as many of these on the Pan-American Midway are to be. For instance, let me cite the story of how “A Trip to the Moon” came to, be suggested to the inventor of this Midway feature, Mr. Frederic Thompson.

One day Mr. Thompson was studying on how to create some new and startling effects for the “Darkness and Dawn” concession, in which he is also interested and in which is a representation of Dante’s “Inferno” revised and brought up to date. Throwing himself upon a couch in his office and gazing dreamily through half closed eyes at the circles of smoke from his pipe, he was seeking a solution to the problem how to carry his passengers over a deep and almost bottomless gulch he had created in the very heart of the infernal regions. Suddenly he hit upon a grand idea. Starting from his couch, he exclaimed: “I have it! But this will never do for ‘Darkness and Dawn.’ I’ll make it ‘A Trip to the Moon.'”

Thus was born the idea which resulted in the construction of the large building one sees among the first on entering the Midway and which is called “A Trip to the Moon.” It contains within it some of the most weird and mysterious illusions one could find in traveling the whole world around. Mr. Thompson will carry his visitors to the Moon by the airship Luna. The scientific principle which he has developed in planning this voyage is one which renders it possible to make the trip a very delightful as well as exciting experience.

Strange to say, Mr. Thompson conceived almost the identical ideas of the possibilities of interest in an underground City of the Moon which have been written up in story form by Mr. H. G. Wells in the Cosmopolitan and Strand magazines. Neither of these gentlemen is acquainted with the other nor could have obtained his ideas from the other, so that this merely furnishes another instance of great minds running in the same channel.

The magazine writer has carried his adventurers to the moon and caused them to discover its inhabitants underneath the surface of the earth’s satellite instead of on top. Mr. Thompson had done the same thing in “A Trip to the Moon,” which will present to Pan-American visitors far stranger sights than they ever dreamed of.”

To be continued…

Part 426: Thomas G. Moses and William A. Brady

“Under the Southern Skies” was a comedy drama in four acts by Lottie Blair Parker and produced by Brady. It ran for a total of 71 performances at the Theatre Republic in New York, opening on November 12, 1901, and closing in January 1902. The scenery produced for the show was by Moses & Hamilton, along with John H. Young.

Moses & Hamilton also produced the scenery for Brady’s “Pretty Peggy.” Moses recalled the production as “a good opportunity for scenic splendor.” “Pretty Peggy” was written by Frances Aymar Mathews and founded on the life of the famous Irish actress Peg Woffington. It depicted the “charmingly sympathetic story of the love of David Garrick for Peg Woffington, and the tragic ending of that historical romance” (Tammany Times, Vol. 20, No. 26, April 1903, page 6). Mathews included the British Theatre riot in the play that had erupted when the Woffington, attempted to perform at Covent Garden with her French dancers, inciting the English audience’s anti-French sentiment and anger.

For “Pretty Peggy” the Tammany Times reported that “Some 250 people are used in the presentation, and a large number of these are continually before the audience, first as acrobats in a circus tent, next as diners in the picturesque Covent Garden, and finally as rioters in the remarkable mob scene” (Vol. 20, No. 26, April 1903, page 6).

The play opened with trapeze performers, jugglers, dancers and strong men rehearsing their respective feats inside a circus booth at Dublin. It is here that Woffington meets the London actor Garrick. In the next act, Peggy is already the leading woman of the Covent Garden Theatre, and the actress celebrates her birthday by a great feast set out in the green room.

Of this scene, the “Theatre Magazine” reported, “The beautiful eighteenth century costumes are all of extreme riches and the furnishings elaborate to the verge of extravagance, while a veritable army of supernumeraries are employed to add to the animation of this picturesque tableau (Theatre Magazine Vol. 3, page 110).

It was produced by William A. Brady (1863-1950) and starred his wife Grace George (1879-1961). It opened at the Herald Square Theatre and ran for 48 performances from March until May 1903. There was a return engagement of “Pretty Peggy” at Hoyt’s Theatre with 32 shows from October until November 1903.

Part 425: Thomas G. Moses’ design for “In Dahomey”

In 1901, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “We started with Hurtig and Seamons, which proved to be good in quantity and quality.” He was referring to the theatrical management team who was made up of Benjamin F. Hurtig, Jules Hurtig and Harry J. Seamon. Benjamin and Jules were brothers. Their offices located at 1435 Broadway.

In 1901, Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide advertised that the firm ran the Harlem Music Theatre (a variety venue in New York), the Bowery Burlesquers Co. and The Social Maid’s Burlesque Co.; they were well-known as “New York amusement caters.” By 1909 when Benjamin Hurtig passed away, the firm controlled five playhouses in New York, two in Brooklyn, two in Chicago, one in Syracuse, one in Rochester, and the Lyric in Dayton, Ohio. They also owned and controlled nine companies on the road. Hurtig & Seamon were members of the Columbia Amusement Company, which controlled the operation of forty-five burlesque houses; of which Jules Hurtig was vice-president.

Moses & Hamilton painted the scenery for a few of Hurtig & Seamon shows, including “The Sons of Ham,” a show that featured the African American performers Egbert Austin “Bert” Williams and George Walker. This production rejected the stereotypical black roles, with Williams portraying a man who was simply down and out. The production boasted a company of fifty people with “special scenery and electrical effects” (Davenport Morning Star 15 February 1901, page 5).

The same year that Moses & Hamilton began working for Hurtig & Seamon, the theatrical managers were in the midst of planning the construction of two new theatres in New York, both on 125^th Street (The Evening World, NY, NY, 28 June 1901, page 9). One was to be erected on 125^th Street between 7^th and 8^th Avenues, while the other was to be erected near Lexington Avenue. The first structure would contain a music hall, theatre and big roof garden. During the planning and construction, Hurtig & Seamon primarily occupied the old Harlem Opera House (est. in 1889 by Oscar Hammerstein) that was just down the block at 211 West 125^th Street.

In 1902, Moses recorded that he designed “In Dahomey” for Hurtig & Seamon. He wrote, “Williams and Walker were starred, and the show was taken to England, where they were commanded to appear before King Edward VII.” The show starred Bert Williams (as Shylock Homestead) and George Walker (as Rareback Pinkerton). The cast was invited to give a command performance in the garden of Buckingham Palace on June 23rd for the young Prince of Wales’ birthday celebrations (the future King Edward VIII).  In England a cakewalk scene was added to the finale of the show.

“In Dahomey” was advertised as “a negro musical comedy,” based on the book by Jesse A. Shipp, with music by Will Marion Cook and lyrics by poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. It was the first full-length musical written and performed by all African Americans that opened at a major Broadway house. The three-act musical production opened at the New York Theatre on February 18, 1903, and closed after 53 performances on April 4. The show with almost fifty performers, was then transported to England where it opened on April 28, 1903, at the Shaftesbury Theatre and completed a provincial tour throughout the United Kingdom. In 1904, the musical returned to Broadway and ran from August 27 until September 10, at the Grand Opera House. This seventeen-show run was followed by a major 40-week tour across the United States.

While on tour in the United Kingdom, Williams and Walker were both initiated into Waverly Lodge No. 597 of Edinburgh, Scotland, along with nine others from the Williams and Walker Colored Minstrels troupe. In 1922, when Williams died, the Edinburgh Lodge requested that he be buried with Masonic honors, a courtesy performed by St. Cecile Lodge No. 568 of New York City (William L. Fox, “Lodge of the Double-headed Eagle,” page 225).

Here is the Story of “In Dahomey,” as it was printed in the original program:

“An old Southern negro, ‘Lightfoot’ by name, president of the Dahomey Colonization Society, loses a silver casket, which, to use his language, has a cat scratched on the back. He sends to Boston for detectives to search for the missing treasure. Shylock Homestead and Rareback Pinkerton (Williams and Walker), the detectives on the case, failing to find the casket in Gatorville, Fla., ‘Lightfoot’s’ home, accompany the colonists to Dahomey. Previous to leaving Boston on their perilous mission, the detectives join a syndicate. In Dahomey, rum of any kind, when given as a present, is a sign of appreciation. Shylock and Rareback, having free access to the syndicate’s stock of whiskey, present the King of Dahomey with three barrels of appreciation and in return are made Caboceers (Governors of a Province). In the meantime the colonists having had a misunderstanding with the King and are made prisoners. Prisoners and criminals are executed on festival days, known in Dahomey as Customs Day. The new Caboceers, after supplying the King with his third barrel of appreciation (whiskey), secure his consent to liberate the colonists after which an honor is conferred on Rareback and Shylock, which causes them to decide ‘There’s No Place Like Home.’”

The settings for “In Dahomey” included:

Act I – scene 1 – Public square in Boston

Act II – scene 1 – Exterior of Lightfoot’s home, Gatorville, Florida; scene 2 – Road, one-and-a-half miles from Gatorville; scene 3 – Interior of the Lightfoot home

Act III – scene 1 – Swamp in Dahomey; scene 2 – Garden of the Caboceer (Governor of the Providence). Execution tower in the distance.

Although Bejamin Hurtig would pass away in 1909, his brother Jules Hurtig & Seamon would obtain a thirty-year lease on the newly constructed neo-classical theatre in Harlem, New York, during 1914. This theater opened as “Hurtig and Seamon’s New Burlesque Theatre,” but the venue would be renamed in 1934 as the Apollo Theatre.

To be continued…

Part 423: Coney Island – “Fire and Flames”

Besides “Trip to the Moon,” “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” and “The War of Worlds,” Moses & Hamilton produced several smaller attractions at Luna Park. Thomas G. Moses recalled, “At Luna Park I had a big show of ‘Fire and Flames,’ a very effective amusement park show. Real fire, real engines and an awful mob of street vendors and loafers. A lot of good comedy and it did good business.”

The attraction that Moses referred to involved the burning of a four-story brick building over the space of a city block. In 1903, the New York Times described this upcoming attraction at Luna Park, reporting that the setting for “Fire and Flames” was to depict “the greater part of Manhattan Island below Forty-fifth Street, with millions of lights in the tall buildings” (New York Times, 28 Sept 1903, page 7). The article continued, “A hotel is to catch fire, when all the paraphernalia of the Fire Department, the ambulances, and police reserves are to be exhibited.”

The Peninsular Club Public Opinion journal advertised “Fire and Flames” as “the most realistic and stirring of all the shows.” The article explained, “Hundreds of supers take part in this, with many horses, cabs, wagons, several real trolley cars, fire engines, hook and ladder outfit, life net and water tower. The street scene is so life-like that it doesn’t seem like a show at all, and the flames bursting from the house-windows, the people at the windows screaming for help, the firemen scaling the walls with their ladders to bring down some, while others leap into the life-net, are all so terribly real that the audience feels that it has assisted at a bona-fide holocaust. The heat and ashes from the flames are sufficiently genuine to give all the thrills an ordinary mortal requires” (The Peninsular Club Public Opinion, August 12, 1905, Vol. XXXIX, No. 7, page 200).

In 1904, the former chief instructor of the New York City Fire Department, Henry W. McAdam, left his position after twenty-one years to become the director in charge of Luna Park’s “Fire and Flames” (Fire and Water Engineering, Vol. 37, 1905, page 248). McAdam was one of sixty fire fighters cast in three engine companies employed to work for Thompson for this one spectacle. The actual burning of the block involved four hundred people (Broadcast Weekly, page 7).

Moses recalled, “It was so popular that a similar attraction called ‘Fighting the Flames’ immediately appeared at “Dreamland,” the nearby amusement park also on Coney Island. Extant photographs documenting the two shows reveal almost identical spectacles.

Amusement park attractions, such as “Fire and Flames,” inspired early filmmakers to record the excitement and action of the spectacle. They left small snippets of popular culture that we are able to still explore when studying the past. Thomas Edison made a short movie depicting the 1904 “Fire and Flames” attraction at Coney Island, giving us a glimpse at the scene Moses describes above. Here is a link to the short film that Moses helped create for Luna Park: https://vimeo.com/165556307

I noticed something wile watching the film of “Fire and Flames;” the scenery is identical the “Fighting the Flames” as depicted in postcard s and photographs.  “Fire and Flames” used a much bigger set.  I wonder the film was incorrectly labeled at time of production since both attractions were filmed at the same time.

Similarly, the competing attraction “Fighting the Flames” was also filmed and is available to view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJylhIhtrlA

To be continued…