In 1911, Sosman & Moses secured $25,350.00 in contracts for the Brewers’ show at the Chicago Coliseum. The companies created a series of exhibit booths for various breweries at the show. Thomas G. Moses recorded that one of the clients was a Brewing Company in Dubuque, Iowa. The unnamed brewery was likely the Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company.
The organization of the Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company primarily resulted from a prohibitory state law in Iowa that proceeded national legislation. Details of the company’s origin are quite fascinating, so here is a brief summary. In 1892 an estimated fifty heirs from the four original Dubuque brewers wanted to sell their interests. Unfortunately, they were unable to do so because local and state legislation governing brewery property made the business almost unsalable. To enable the legal sale of brewery interests, the men owning the greats shares established the Dubuque Malting Company. This entity took over the property from the heirs and simply paid them a rental fee. Now despite Iowa’s prohibition law, brewing continued – go figure. Production continued to such an extent that an estimated 50,000 barrels of beer were still produced annually.
Their plan was to ensure that Dubuque Malting Company would always continued to legally operate, despite any future legislation. They would simply manufacture and sell brewers’ supplies, as well as all kinds of grain products. Also, if any prohibition laws were then repealed, the managers could quickly return to the brewing business again. In Iowa, prohibition closed the brewery part of the on December 31, 1915. Iowa became one of thirty-two states that became “dry” prior to the law being put into effect nationally in 1919. For more history about the Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company, visit http://www.encyclopediadubuque.org/index.php?title=DUBUQUE_BREWING_AND_MALTING_COMPANY
Returning to the Brewer’s Show of 1911, Moses recorded a trip to Iowa. Of the work in Dubuque, Moses wrote, “I made a trip to Dubuque, Iowa, to close a contract with a Brewing Company and did so. We went out for a drive. Gathered in Jake Rosenthal of the Majestic Theatre. On crossing the river, we ran into a team. The driver was not hurt but his horses got to rearing and upset the wagon, which was loaded with dynamite. Nothing exploded. Rosenthal stood aside and said, ‘What a lucky JEW I am.’”
Jake Rosenthal was a veteran showman, having been connected with theaters in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Omaha before settling in Dubuque. He managed one of the first two theaters on the Orpheum circuit and was noted as introducing vaudeville of the Orpheum circuit type in Omaha and Los Angeles (The Courier, 10 Feb 1938, page 12). In Dubuque, Rosenthal managed the Majestic Theatre for twenty years, as well as the outdoor Airdome before relocating to Waterloo to manage the Iowa Theatre in 1929 (The Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, 10 Sept 1934, page 14).
Rosenthal was credited with giving a start to many famous performers, including Harry Houdini and Elsie Janis “on their upward climb” (The Daily Times, Davenport, Iowa, 22 Sept, 1936, page 11). Rosenthal was also known as being the one to give Fred Astaire his start on the legitimate stage (The Des Moines Register, 24 Sept. 1936, page 13).
In Rosenthal’s private life, he was affiliated with the Benevolent Order of Protected Elks, the Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World, the Showmen’s League of America, and many Masonic orders, including the Shrine. Rosenthal passed away in 1936 at the age of 65 years old, his death caused by a coronary obstruction.
His funeral was conducted at the Waterloo Masonic temple by Rabbi Harold Gordon, pastor of the Sons of Jacob synagogue, Waterloo (The Courier, 23 Sept. 1936, page 2). On September 23, 1936, “The Courier” reported, “Scores of telegrams of condolence were received from persons associated with the theatrical world, and other friends. Wires were sent by Morgan C. Ames, Chicago, president of the Orpheum circuit; Doc Banford, general manager of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film exchange, St. Louis, Mo.; Mrs. Louis Murphy, widow of the late Senator Murphy, Dubuque; John P. Mulgrew, Dubuque, author and playwright, and Charles and Mary Brown, owners of the theatres in Iowa City.”
To be continued…
