Part 637: John H. Bairstow (1844-1923)
John Bairstow worked as the full-time stage carpenter at the Chicago auditorium from the time that it opened in 1889 until 1905.
John H. Bairstow was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, during 1844. His father was Fred Bairstow, and the Bairstows manufactured machines. They still are a family of inventors if you follow the Bairstow descendants. It is funny how some family lines will gravitate toward certain professions. Halifax’s main industry was manufacture of woolen’s, beginning in the 15th century. By the 19th century, much of the region’s wealth derived from a combination of cotton, wool and carpet industries, not unlike many other Yorkshire towns. There were a large number of weaving mills necessitating the manufacture and repair of loom as well as other mechanisms necessitated by the trade. Bairsstow came from a family of machinery manufacturers in Ovenden. An 1864 entry in the “London Gazette” mentioned the dissolution of Bairstow Brothers and Co. It was after this event and the end of the Civil War in the United States that John Bairstow immigrated to the United States. I have yet to locate the exact year.The entry is as follows:
“NOTICE is hereby given, that the Partnership heretofore subsisting between the undersigned, Thomas Bairstow, John Bairstow, Henry Peel, and Thomas Hudson Oldfield, in the trade or business of Machine Makers, carried on at Forest Mill, in Ovenden, in the parish of Halifax, and county of York, under the style or firm of Bairstow, Brothers, and Co., was this day dissolved by mutual consent, as to the said John Bairstow, and in future the business will be carried on by the said Thomas Bairstow, Henry Peel, and Thomas Hudson Oldfield on their separate account, who will pay and receive all debts owing- from and to the said partnership, in the regular course of business.—Witness our hands this 17th day of September, 1864.Thomas Bairstow. Henry Peel, John Bairstow. Thomas Hudson Oldfield.” This not the same John Bairstow, but a relative who stayed in the region.
At the age of twenty, Bairstow married Mally Scott. She would also go by the name of Molly. The couple married and immigrated to the United States and raised seven children – six sons and one daughter. The Bairstow children included Arthur, William H. John, Frank, Robert and James (who predeceased him). In Chicago John Bairstow worked as a stage mechanic for various venues, including McVickers theater and the Grand Opera. He accepted the position as stage mechanic for the Auditorium in 1888 at the age of 44 years old. Bairstow lived until the age of 78, four months and 27 days, passing away in February 1923. Like many of his theatre colleagues, he is buried at Rosehill Cemetery, Notices of Bairstow’s death were also sent to Halifax newsletters.
Little is known of Bairstow’s career from his arrival in Chicago until 1882. The “Chicago Tribune” lists his name in an advertisement for McVicker’s Theatre on Jul 29, 1882, page 7. It is an ad for the commencement of the Twenty-sixth season of McVickers. The theater reopened after completing a three-month renovation with improvements. Upon reopening, articles reported that the improvements “render it the Model Theatre of the World.” The ad continued, “In point of safety, there being now twenty-three separate exits from the auditorium.” The premiere production was “Taken From Life” “By Henry Pettitt, Esq., and is the sole proprietor of Mr. Sam’l Colville; has scenic illustrateds by Mssrs L. Malmsha and J. H. Rodgers: Mechanical Effects by John Bairstow and Frank E. Langridge; New Music by Karl Meyer; Stage Direction by Mr. AlexFitz Gerlad, who has been greatly aided through the kindness of J. D. Beveridge, whose familiarity with thebusiness of the drama has extended inro two hundred representations at the Aldelphi Theatre, London.”
John Bairstow is listed again in 1884 when certificates of organization were filed by the Chicago Theatrical Mechanics’ Association of Chicago, with John Barstow, John E. William, and Frank F. Goss as the organizers and first directors (“Chicago Tribune” on May 6, 1884, page 3). A month later, Bairstow was credited as the newly elected president of the Chicago Theatrical Mechanics Association in a short Chicago Tribune” article (Chicago Tribune 23 April 1884, page 8). Sixteen charter members represented various theaters in the city. The article reported, “The society will be benevolent and protective, and the membership will be strictly confined to the skilled working employees of theatres – stage-carpenters, scene-shifters, property-men, gas-men, etc. – of whom there are a large number in the city.” The other elected officers included Jay Tripp (vice-president), Frank F. Goss (recording secretary), Alfred W. Palmer (financial secretary), and John Faust (treasurer). By 1891 McVicker’s Theatre as their stage carpenter.
By 1891, the Theatrical Mechanics Association convention was held in Chicago from July 26-28. An article in the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “This association is composed of men working on the stages of the theaters throughout the United States and Canada. There are twenty-eight lodges in this country. Each will send delegates. The committee having charge of the entertainment of the delegates is James L. Quigley, John Bairstow, Willaim Edgerty, John Dutton, Frank Gammon, and C. F. Faber” (7 July 1891, page 3). Bai
Throughout the 1880s, Bairstow also worked as a stage carpenter at the Grand Opera and McVicker’s. An article published in the “Chicago Tribune” on May 13, 1888, included a portrait of Bairstow in an article. He was pictured in the section that discussed the Theatrical Mechanics Association. The article reported, “Chicago has also a Theatrical Mechanics’ Association, which takes in all the hands about a theatre except the actors and managers. Many persons are employed in the purely mechanical department of the theatre. At McVicker’s 120 persons were behind the curtain when Irving played, their duty being to look after scenery, lights, traps, ‘drops,’ properties, etc. It required sixty to look after ‘A Run of Luck,’ and forty is the average number of men employed. Mr. John Bairstow, master carpenter at McVicker’s, has been the head of the Theatrical Mechanics’ Association since it was started, but recently has been pushed out by radical members, who wish to make the society a labor instead of a mutual aid association. The men work only a couple hours a night, and they want $9 a week instead of $6. This exorbitant demand is likely to be firmly resisted by the capitalist managers. The theatrical mechanics will likely find that they have destroyed a worthy charity in forming a worthless labor machine” (page 25).
Sadly, the digitized image at newspapers.com is less than ideal, but better than nothing!
By 1885, his son William H. followedin his father’s footsteps and was listed at the stage carpenter at Chicago’s Schiller Theatre (Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide for 1885-1886). While his son was working for the Schillaer, Bairstow rose to the top of his profession in Chicago and was appointed the future stage manager for the Chicago Auditorium, necessiatating him to travel. In 1888, Bairstow toured Europe with architect Dankmar Adler to see stage machinery at opera houses in Europe. Note: Adler also designed McVicker’s Theatre. Bairstow returned from his European tour during November and took his position as the venue neared completion.
Bairstow continued to work full-time at the Chicago Auditorium until 1905, when his son, William, took his position as stage carpenter at the venue. However, Bairstow only partially retired from the Auditorium that year at the age of 61. John Bairstow continued to come back to the Auditorium and supervise the raising of the auditorium floor for various events. In 1909, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, William H. Bairstow, master carpenter at the Auditorium theater, succeeded his father in that position, and has been at work for a dozen years. His father now receives a pension as a reward for excellent services in the well known theater.
I’ll leave you with an entertaining tale from an article “Ready for the Fair” when the Chicago Auditorium was being transformed for a Hebrew Charity Bazaar, “John Bairstow, the Auditorium stage manager, looked wild-eyed and frantic. Wherever he went a crowd of women followed him, asking about this and that, and wanting everything done at once. He dodged around to avoid them as though he were playing a game of tag, and finally went back on stage and climbed into the rigging loft.”
To be continued…
