Part 558:Thomas G. Moses and Bert C. Whitney
In 1906, Thomas G. Moses wrote that he worked on “Knight for a Day at the Whitney.” Moses was referring to the new musical comedy produced by B. C. Whitney. The Act I setting depicted Fairview Villa at Mme. Woodbury’s Seminary for Ladies in Evanston, Illinois. The Act II depicted an old estate upon the Isle of Corsica. Robt. R. Smith wrote this two-act show with music by Raymond Hubbel.
Bert Cecil Whitney was a well-known producer in New York and Detroit. Known to his friends as “B.C.” He was a second-generation theatre producer, following in his father’s footsteps. It was the elder Whitney, a longtime leader in the merchandising of musical instruments, who erected the Whitney building in Detroit, Michigan. Bert’s childhood was spent around the Whitney Grand Opera House where his father Clark J. Whitney (1832-1903) was the proprietor, ushering, selling tickets, and learning the rudiments of the business.
In 1898, Bert took charge of his father’s affairs, becoming manager of the Detroit Opera House. Whitney operated theatres in Detroit, Chicago, Toronto, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Owosso and Battle Creek. He also produced musical comedies for the road. His 1929 obituary in the “Detroit Free Press” remembered that Whitney sent forth, “some of the most pretentious organizations of that time. Among them were ‘A Knight for a Day,’ ‘The Isle of Spice,’ ‘The Isle of Bong Bong,’ ‘Piff, Paff, Pouff,’ The Show Girl,’ ‘The Broken Idol,’ The Loved a Lassie,’ ‘Captain Careless,’ ‘The Head Waiters,’ and ‘The Convict’s Stripes,’”(27 Oct. 1929, page 2). The article continues and adds in some interesting side information, “Bert St. John, now manager of the Detroit Consistory [Scottish Rite], was manager for the Whitney during the most active years as a producer, and recalls that in “The Convict’s Stripes” there were four girls destined to win fame in the movies. They were Mary and Lottie Pickford and Lillian and Dorothy Gish. The play, under the title of ‘The Little Rd Schoolhouse,” had been produced in stock in Toronto, where Fred C. Whitney saw it, and purchased the road rights. Later he assigned these to his brother in Detroit. The Pickfords (they went under their true name of Smith at the time) and the Gish sisters had appeared in stock production. Instead of training new children for the parts, Whitney persuaded Mrs. Smith to take the four on tour. St. John was manager of the company, and relates that Jack Pickford, then a baby, slept in bureau drawers over most of the United States during the next two years.”
After a successful run at Wallack’s theatre in 1908,”A Knight for a Day “toured to Shaftsbury Theatre in London, the venue managed by his brother. Whitney’s little brother, Fred C. Whitney (1861-1930), was also a producer. In 1908, Fred became a lessee of the Shaftbury theatre. (Anaconda, Standard, Anaconda, Montana, 13 Jan. 1908).
In 1907, Moses again worked for Whitney in B. C. Detroit, writing, “A big five act show of “Captain Careless” for Bert Whitney. Was produced in Detroit. The first act was laid at the base of the great Rock of Gibraltar and made a very effective scene.”
To be continued…
