Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 772 – Joe Sheehan and the Wieting Opera House, 1911

 In 1911, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “I did a good ‘Mme. Butterfly’ set for Joe Sheehan.” 

Joe Sheehan was the star of the Sheehan Opera Company of Chicago, also known as the Sheehan English Opera Company. While I was looking for information pertaining to the company and show, I happened upon an interesting blog by Mary Lois – “Finding Myself in Hoboken.” Unbelievably, one entry included a gentleman’s reminiscences about his wife’s grandfather, Joe Sheehan. Posted on May 29, 2008, it provides some basic information about Sheehan from an interesting and familial perspective. Slezak had been sent Lois a series of emails since he discovered her blog. Lois commented, “He likes to remember what Hoboken was like in the late 1940’s and through the 1950’s, and he describes it vividly” (https://myselfinhoboken.blogspot.com/2008/05/).

She included the following sample:

“My wife’s dad – what a nice guy he was…played with the big bands during the war. (His dad was an opera singer from Dublin who toured Europe with the Carl Rosa opera company..he came to America in 1900…and started his own opera company, Joseph Sheehan Opera Company …you can look him up on the computer. In them days he was the greatest tenor English opera singer in the world. After he retired from that he worked for RKO Radio studios in NYC…and later it became NBC studios…he lived on Garden Street just across the street from me) My wife’s both grandmothers lived across the street from me when I was a kid. I have a picture of me and my wife in the same picture – she was 5. I was 9, not knowing I would marry her some day and spend the rest of my life with her. I got lucky and always had good luck…with every thing I did in life.”

In advertisements, Sheehan was billed as America’s Greatest Tenor and Famous Opera Star” (The Akron Beacon, 5 April 1913, page 8). He toured the company, starring in a series of operas that appeared in not only large metropolitan areas, but also many small towns.

As I was examining the various performance venues where Sheehan appeared, one jumped out – the Wieting Theatre in Toledo, Iowa. His performance is mentioned on their current website (https://wieting.tamatoledo.com/theOpening). The history page noted, “The new curtains of the Wieting Opera House parted for the first time at 8 o’ clock on the evening of Sept. 12, 1912. A capacity “house,” all dressed for the gala occasion (especially those in the box seats), had paid $1.50, $2.00 or $2.50 per ticket to see the Sheehan English Opera Company’s presentation of “Il Trovatore.” The show featured Joseph F. Sheehan, “America’s Greatest Tenor” and a supporting cast of more than one hundred.”

Until two years ago, I was unaware of Toledo, Iowa. A scenery evaluation brought me to the small town during the spring on 2017 to examine their front curtain and present some information about the painted aesthetic for early-twentieth-century stages.  At the time the Wieting Theatre was well ino the process of renovating their entire stage area. I stayed at the home of the executive director and learned quite a bit about how the history of the Wieting theatre, and its two sister theaters in Syracuse and Worcester, New York.  These three memorial theaters have an intereting history in their own right.  

The theaters are connected to Dr. P. G. Wieting and Helen “Ella” Wilder. The couple was married on December 5th 1866, and initially lived in Worcester, New York. Only staying in the area a short while, heir second homes was located in Toledo Iowa by 1867. Dr. Wieting was successful dentist in Toledo, but also was involved in many other business ventures. In 1878 Dr. Wieting and Helen’s father started the Toledo City Bank. Though the Wietings eventually returned to the East Dr. Wieting continued to be involved with the Toledo bank until his passing in 1906. 

To honor her husband after his death, Mrs. Wieting donated theatres to the communities of Worcester, New York, and Toledo, Iowa. These theatres were intended to carry on the name of her late husband while enriching the communities.  The Wietings were also responsible for the construction of a previous Wieting Opera House in Syracuse, New York. Although there had been a series of Weiting Opera Houses in Syracuse since 1852, Mrs. Wieting was responsible for the third and final building. The first Wieting Opera House was donated to Syracuse by 19^th century physician and medical lecturer John M. Wieting, M.D. (1817-1888).

Attached are a few images of the front curtain from Toledo, Iowa.

To be continued…