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- Newspapers: The Express, The Signal, The Courier and Enquirer, Star

Robert Henry Elton, New York illustrator and printer

Manhattan Island’’ (Philadelphia: G. W. Bromley and Co., 1897) Plate 20 Image ID: 1516788

Plate 16 Image ID: 1268304 Perris 1857 (c. 1854)


 * November 18, 1833 La Gazza Ladra
 * May 15, 1835 last performance of opera company
 * August 29, 1836 National Theatre (Willard and Flynn)
 * September 23, 1839 National Theatre burns down.
 * October 12, 1840 new house opens with Alexander Wilson as manager.
 * April 2, 1841 William Burton takes over the management of the National Theatre.
 * May 29, 1841 (Saturday) theatre burns down; Thomas Hurd and (?) Shiers suspected, but charges are eventually dropped.
 * Story of burning in The New World Journal (for June?)

"The building is on the N. W. corner of Church and Leonard-streets, and covers 99 feet front and rear, and 150 feet in depth. The stage is 40 feet wide, and 70 feet deep. A portion of the house, 20 feet wide, and 150 feet long, on Leonard-street, is appropriated for a spacious saloon, coffee rooms, dressing rooms, and refectories. Apart of the pit is set apart for balcony and orchestra seats, and the residue furnished with arm-chairs and settees. There are eight private boxes under the first tier, on the wings of the pit. All the seats in the house are unusually spacious and comfortable, and capable of fully accommodating 1,200 persons. Prices of admission — Boxes, $1; Pit, 50 cents; Gallery, 37 1/2 cents. James H. Hackett, Manager."
 * [1837] New-York As It Is, in 1837 (New York: J. Disturnell, 1837) "National Theatre (Late Italian Opera House)", pp. 224-5. Online at Google Books.


 * [1839] "A Destructive Fire" (reprinted from the New York Journal of Commerce) Vermont Phoenix (Battleboro) September 27, 1839, p. 3, col. 2


 * [1841] "Burning of the National Theatre" New-York Tribune May 31, 1841, p. 2 col. 3


 * [1841] "Fire at the National Theatre" New-York Tribune June 1, 1841, p. 2, col. 2

Ireland:

(p. 93f): The apparent interest of the public in Italian Opera, induced the formation of a stock company, who purchased ground on the northwest corner of Leonard and Church Streets, and thereon erected a large and inwardly elegant establishment, exclusively for operatic performances. The auditorium was different in arrangement from any hitherto seen in America. The second tier was composed entirely of private boxes, hung with curtains of crimson silk, and the first tier communicated with the balcony and pit, thus making the first advance toward the long-desired privilege of ladies occupying that portion of the house. The whole interior was pronounced magnificent, and, with the scenery and curtains, which were beautiful beyond all precedent, was the conjoint production of the distinguished Italian artists, Bragaldi, Albe, and Guidicini. The ground of the box fronts was white, with emblematical medallions, and octagonal panels of crim son, blue, and gold. The dome was painted with representa tions of the Muses. The sofas and pit-seats were covered with blue damask, and the floors were all carpeted. The history of the building, however, is disastrous. The opera soon broke down, and in the fall of 1836 it was opened by Flynn and Willard, for ordinary dramatic representations, after which it went into Hackett's hands, and at length into James Wallack's. During his management, it was destroyed by fire, on the 23d of September, 1839. Being rebuilt, it was leased by Alexander Wilson, tragedian, who failed to reinstate it in popular esteem, and finally by Mr. Burton, and while under his control, was again burned to the ground, on the 28th of May, 1841, and never rebuilt. Its location was always an obstacle to its success, not only on account of its distance from a prominent thoroughfare, but from the general bad repute of the neighborhood. The original proprietors, in endeavoring to avoid the exorbitant prices demanded by owners of prop erty on Broadway, fell into the error of purchasing cheaply in a situation where no lady could approach it, save in her carriage. The formation of the company to perform here was intrusted to the Chevalier Rivafinoli… The new Opera House was first opened to the public on the 18th of November, 1833, the price of admission to the boxes being $1.50, sofa-seats $2, pit $1, gallery 75 cents, and no extra charge for securing seats in advance. The opera was Rossini's Gazza Ladra…. The performers were greeted with a hearty welcome as they severally appeared, and anticipations of a long and profitable season of delight were freely indulged, both by the audience and the management.…Matrimonio Segreto, was first represented by Ravaglia, De Rosa, Orlandi, Clementina Fanti, Bordogni, and Marozzi. Gli Arabi nelle Gallie, a celebrated opera, by Pacini…the season was extended until the 21st of July. The pecuniary results were unsatisfactory.

(p. 125f): The Italian Opera House, corner of Leonard and Church Streets, re-opened on the 10th of November, 1834, with the first performance of Bellini's opera, La Straniera…A new season commenced on the 23d of January, 1835, with L'Ingano Felice and Eduardo and Christina, by the same company. On the 6th of February, for the first time in America, was sung Rossini's fine opera, L'Assedio di Corinto….Fanti's benefit took place on the 15th of May, and the season soon after closed.

(p. 191f): The Italian company having signally failed, the Opera House was leased to Thomas Flynn and Henry E. Willard, who, rechristening it the National Theatre, first opened it for the performance of the regular drama, on the 29th of August, 1836. Mr. Flynn had visited England for recruits, and had returned with Bengough, a very excellent scene-painter— …with Wallack, Celeste and Plumer, already well known in the community. The entertainments were preceded by a poetical address, written by Jonas B. Phillips, and delivered by Mrs. Flynn. The Merchant of Venice followed…Mr. Wallack commenced his first engagement here on the 12th [of September 1836], as Rolla and Dick Dashall, followed by a series of characters, in which he was supported by Miss Clifton. He took his benefit on the 19th, as Charles Surface and Rob Roy…(p. 197) Mr. Wallack began another engagement on the 21st [of November 1836] as Richard III.…the season closed on the 6th of March, with Mr. Flynn's benefit, and last night of his management. (p. 199) Mr. Hackett next assumed the reins, and took a fair start on the 20th of March [1837], with Rip Van Winkle, The Kentuckian, and Turn Out.…(p. 200) The season ended on the 28th [of April]. The house was again opened on the 8th of May, with Wallack and Miss Cushman in Macbeth….the season, as a whole, with indifferent management, and at a period of general and great commercial distress, was an unprofitable one for all concerned.

(p.229f): The re-opening of the National Theatre, on the 4th of September, 1837, under the management of Mr. James W. Wallack, with the efficient aid of Mr. Henry Wallack in the stage department, forms a marked epoch in the history of New York theatricals. It was the first opposition to the Park that had not been quickly overcome, and though it may not have proved a profitable speculation to its projectors, it resulted in so dividing the patronage of the public and in showing what improvements could be made in the general mounting and getting up of even old standard plays, that the hitherto proudly styled Old Drury of America lost its supremacy as the leading theatre, and never again fully recovered that position. Young America took a fancy to new managers, new actors, and new stage fashions, and the glory of the poor Park gradually vanished with the once familiar faces of its old and time-honored friends, who one by one, as years advanced, retreated into the quietude of home, or, struck by the hand of the great enemy, passed away for ever. A stock company so full and effective in every depart ment had never before been gathered together in New York.…The opening play was Sheridan's comedy of The Rivals….The after piece was The Unfinished Gentleman…Oct. 31st. A benefit in aid of the popular poet and dramatist, Samuel Woodworth, who was suffering from partial loss of sight and an attack of paralysis, came off this evening…. (p. 274f): Mr. Wallack re-opened the National Theatre, on the 3d of September, 1838, with Mr. Mitchell as stage manager, vice Henry Wallack, returned to Europe.

(p. 314): Mr. Wallack re-opened the National Theatre on the 19th August, 1839. The company was the same as during the last season, with the addition of Mrs. Lambert…Mr. Kean was advertised to re-appear as Richard, on the 23d [of September], but on the afternoon of that day the theatre was discovered to be on fire, and in a short time was a perfect ruin, resulting in a serious loss to manager and performers, many of whom had their entire wardrobes destroyed. After a brief interval, Mr. Wallack engaged Niblo's Theatre, where he removed with his entire company, and commenced operations on the 1st of October….Circumstances… rendered it inexpedient to continue the season, and Mr. Forrest ended his engagement on the 18th of November 1839, as Macbeth, being the last night of Mr. Wallack's connection with the management of the company engaged for the late National Theatre, the members of which dispersed in various directions for new engagements.

(p. 352): Mr. Wallack having returned to Europe, Alexander Wilson, once a well-known actor in New York, became the lessee of the rebuilt National Theatre, corner of Church and Leonard Streets. On assuming the reins of management, Mr. Wilson issued the following introductory bill:"New National Opera House. — The public is respectfully informed that the above splendid edifice, erected under the direction of Edward Black, from the designs of Calvin Pollard, will open on Monday Evening, October 12th, 1840. The manager, in announcing the completion of the National Opera House, begs to assure the public that every care has been taken to combine comfort with elegance in every sense — more particularly in the space allotted to each person when sitting. The ladies' saloon and ante-room, attached to the dress circle, (where proper persons will be constantly in attendance to wait upon ladies, either on entering, during the evening, or on quitting the theatre) is painted and decorated in the Oriental style, to correspond with the designs of the interior, and furnished with ottomans, &c. The private boxes are finished in the same costly style. A bell is attached to each box, so that immediate attendance, refreshments, &c., can be obtained without quitting the box. The upper saloons are decorated and finished with the same elegance. The new proscenium drop-scene, which contains portraits of the three most celebrated danseuse in the world, Taglioni, Cerito and Fanny Elssler, designed and executed by Signor Bragaldi, forming a complete coup cPceil of Eastern magnificence. The ornamental painting and decorations of the ceiling, in terior, saloons, &c., designed and completed by Signor Guidicini. The grand act-drop, representing the ruins about Taj Mahal Agra, with the halt of the caravan, designed and executed by Mr. Lehr. The elaborate ornamental gilding by Mr. Delvecchio. Admission to boxes, $1; pit and third tier, 50 cents; gallery, 25 cents."

(p. 355) [After March 12, 1841] the theatre was again closed, and Mr. Wilson retired vanquished from a contest he was illy able to sustain. The theatre next passed into the hands of Mr. Burton, who here made his first metropolitan essay at management on the 13th of April, 1841, assisted by Mr. F. C. Wemyss as stage manager, Mr. Nexsen, from the Park, as prompter, and Mr. W. H. Russell as treasurer. The first performance was the spectacle of The Naiad Queen…Semiramis and the farce of Love, Law and Physic, on the 28th of May [1841], were the last performances within the walls of the ill-fated National Theatre, which was discovered to be on fire at daybreak the next morning, and was soon again totally consumed, with all its contents — scenery, wardrobe, library, music, and properties of every description.


 * [1872]


 * [1882] White, Richard Grant. "Opera in New York" The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine Vol. 23 Part 1 No. 5 (March 1882), pp. 701–3; and Part 2 No. 6 (April 1882), pp. 865 and 870–1

Among the remarkable men in the New York to which the present corner of Varick and Charlton streets was an almost suburban spot, was Lorenzo Daponte, an Italian poet of the minor order, who had been exiled from Venice because of a satirical sonnet, had afterward been Latin secretary to the Emperor Joseph II., and a friend of Mozart, and who was the author of the libretto of Don Giovanni. He had finally come to New York, where he taught Italian, and where his charming manners and his noble beauty won him great social favor. He was much interested in the Montressor opera venture, and, after its failure, did all in his power to promote the establishment of an Italian opera in New York by subscription. He succeeded; an association was formed, land purchased, and an opera-house built, which was opened to the public in the autumn of 1833, only eight years after the first performance of Italian opera here by the Garcias. The company, known as the Rivafinoli troupe, took its name from the Cavaliere di Rivafinoli, who was its projector and mismanager. The Cav- aliere's intentions were largely beneficent; his promises and announcements were very imposing. Indeed, the affair, from beginning to end, was of an exquisiteness and a splendor such as has not since been seen in New York. The house, on the corner of Church and Leonard streets, was decorated by some of the most skillful Italian artists of the day, who were brought from Europe for this special purpose. The scenery was painted by similar hands. It was crowned by a dome, and lighted by a splendid chandelier. In this house first there was a parterre (since queerly called parquet), entered from the first balcony, so that ladies might sit in this part of the auditorium, which was not to be thought of when it was the old "pit". The seats in the parterre were mahogany chairs, upholstered in blue damask. In the first balcony the seats were mahogany sofas, upholstered in the same manner. The whole of the second balcony was occupied with private boxes, which ran from the front quite back to the vestibule, and which were upholstered alternately in crimson and in blue silk, the fronts being decorated with crimson silk curtains, caught up by gilt cords and tassels. The price of these boxes was six thousand dollars each. The house was carpeted throughout. The audience was composed of the most exquisite people in the city — "exceeding soft society". A writer in the Mirror of the day (very plainly, I think, Willis himself — who, by the way, was as innocent of any intelligent knowledge of music as if he had no ears), remarking upon the audience, said : "As we looked at the pit at the opera, we drew a comparison between it and the House of Representatives, as we recollected to have seen it, and the result was unfavorable to the latter. In orderly demeanor and true gentlemanly breeding, the pit of the opera might be a pattern to our hat-crowned locomotive guardians of the public weal". Into the sacred precincts of the second tier the general public was not admitted. That was reserved for subscribers, each of whom owned a box — it might be for one night, or it might be forever.

As to the singers who made their appearance under such splendid auspices, they were good, but not of a very high quality: Signora, or rather, as she was called, Madamigella, Fanti, soprano; Louisa Bordogni, mezzo-soprano; Madame Schneider-Maroncelli, contralto; Signor Fabj, tenor; De Rosa and Porto, bassos. In the orchestra were Boucher, an admirable violoncellist, who remained in New York as the principal performer on his charming instrument until his death, about fifteen years ago; Gambati, the first of those imposing cornet-a-piston players, who have since dominated our summer theaters and summer hotels; Casolani, the handsome contra-bassist; and Cioffi, one of the greatest trombone-players that ever lived since the time when the sackbut and psaltery were heard on the plains of Dura.*

It was on Monday, the 18th of November, 1833, that the first performance of this company — the great social and musical event of the day — took place. The opera was "La Gazza Ladra": — Fanti as Ninetta, Schneider- Maroncelli as Pippo, the tenor and bass parts distributed among the male members of the company aforesaid. It was a success socially, brilliant — quite overpowering, indeed; musically, moderate, and not in any way overpowering. The contralto had the best of it. She was a very pretty woman, with a lovely figure and a delicious voice. She was known and much esteemed as a teacher of music for many years afterward in New York. She was the wife of Piero Maroncelli, the friend and fellow-prisoner of Silvio Pellico, and her husband taught Italian and music in many of the old New York families. But of public singing, operatic or other, this company did little after its season was, with difficulty, worried through. It produced no very strong impression upon the American public, and, indeed, left no mark, in our musical experience, but that of its appearance and its extinction. Fanti had that success which is called of esteem, because those to whom it is awarded are esteemed very little; Bordogni pleased by girlish beauty (she was but seventeen years old), and — well, that was about all. There was no merit in the company to equal it to that in which Montressor, and Pedrotti, and Fornasari appeared, or even to surpass the Woods, to say nothing of the Garcias and Angrisani; and so the writers in the journals plainly told the Cavaliere de Rivafinoli. There were sixty performances of the operas of the day — Rossini operas, and Bellini operas, and the operas of all time, including the first and last performances in America of that charming composition, II Matrimoni Segreto, the greatest opera of the old Italian school. There were the usual benefit performances; and there was a benefit for Signor Daponte; and then the Rivafinoli opera troupe troops off, amid the wailing of disappointed prima-donnas, and the growling of bassos, and with an odor of explosion, and is no more heard of; and the splendid opera-house, with its dome and its chandelier, and its painted walls and carpeted floors, its damask-covered mahogany seats, and its exclusive row of private boxes awful in splendor — not to be invaded by common people except at the cost of six thousand dollars cash down, stands empty, gaping awhile, and is then put to base uses.

Meteors that blaze and burst into darkness, rockets that rush up in dazzling splendor and come slowly down again mere smoking sticks, prismatic bubbles that vanish into air, and leave behind but a drop of suds, — only these commonplaces of simile furnish an illustration of the course of Italian opera in New York in the years 1834 and 1835. It vanished utterly, not to appear again until ten years had passed, and then in a guise humbly contrasting with its former splendor. In 1836 the Opera-house became an ordinary theater; but even as a theater its prospects were clouded. A year would not have elapsed before the lease of such a beautiful house to a new manager but for a cause which had operated somewhat, perhaps, against the success of the Rivafinoli venture, and which would be much more likely to operate in case of an ordinary theater, or one used for English opera. This adverse circumstance was that at this time Church street was in worse repute than any other street in New York west of the Five Points. But as almost all ladies who went to the Italian opera went in carriages, while a large proportion of those who went to English opera and to ordinary dramatic performances went on foot, this disadvantage of situation was of more importance after the going out of the Cavaliere Rivafinoli than before. The Opera-house passed into the hands of James W. Wallack, a very popular actor, the father of Mr. John Lester Wallack, but soon, with a notable consistency, passed out of them — in smoke. It was burned in 1839, having in its brief existence of six years brought misfortune upon all who had any connection with it. We shall hereafter turn to it, or rather to a new house built upon its site, to find the lyric drama established there in notable prosperity.…

…But at the New National Opera-house, as it was called, there was, in the autumn and winter of this year, a combination of the best elements of the Seguin and Inverarity companies — Mrs. Seguin, soprano, Miss Poole, contralto, Mr. Horncastle, tenor, Mr. Giubilei, baritone,— flinging from his name an Italian aroma around the troupe, — and Mr. Seguin, bass, with a regular ballet; and there was great success, as, indeed, there should have been, and the performance of La Gazza Ladra and La Cenerentola and other of Rossini's operas in English, and triumphant success in the performance of Don Giovanni, which was given every evening for some weeks; and, although the music of "Non mi dir" was not sung as Jenny Lind or even as Parepa sang it, or that of "Batti batti" as Malibran or as Alboni sang it, it was sung intelligently and conscientiously by artists of respectable abilities, and was enjoyed by audiences to whom the only attraction was the music. Let who will say that this was not a more reasonable scheme of opera, and more adapted to cultivate a genuine and elevated taste for music, than that adopted by the patrons of the Rivafinoli enterprise, with their six-thousand-dollar boxes.

It may be also here remarked that this scale of prices was monstrous, and would hardly have been tolerated in London. The rise in the price of admission to the opera in that city was very great at the end of the last century and the beginning of this; but it attained nothing like the extravagance of New York. Lord Mount Edgecumbe is my authority (and there could be no better) for saying that, in the last quarter of the last century, the price of subscription to a box at the Italian opera, London, was twenty guineas a seat for fifty representations — two dollars a night; and this when there were but thirty-six private boxes in the house. These, and the balcony and pit, were filled only by the highest classes of society — always, of course, in full evening dress; and it was the custom after the performance for the company of the pit and boxes to repair to the coffee-room attached to the theater, and there to sup, making this a reunion of the best society in London, private parties rarely being given on opera nights. When the number of performances was increased to sixty, the price of seats in private boxes rose to thirty guineas — being still, it will be seen, only two dollars and a half. It was Catalani who made the opera a luxury only to be enjoyed by a few rich people, or else by a great crowd in an enormous house, thus doing great injury to singers and to music. She suddenly doubled her demands, and the price of a whole box went up from one hundred and eighty to three hundred guineas. But three hundred guineas is only fifteen hundred dollars, and that is only one- quarter of six thousand dollars. * The trombone is a modified form of the ancient sackbut.


 * [1893] :

Lorenzo Da Ponte, who had come from Italy with a considerable literary reputation, became greatly interested in promoting musical culture, and determined to give Italian opera a permanent home in New-York. He was successful in attracting wealthy men, and an opera-house, far superior to any theater the city had yet seen, was erected on the corner of Church and Leonard streets. The building was decorated by Italian artists brought over for the purpose, and the upholstery, scenery, and other stage appoint- ments were all of the best. The company, under the management of the Cavaliere di Rivafinoli and Da Ponte, was selected with great care, including Signoras Clementina and Rosina Fanti, sopranos, and Si- gnora Louisa Bordogni, mezzo-soprano; Mme. Schneider-Maroncelfi, contralto; Signors Fabi and Ravaglia, tenors; and Signors Di Rosa and Porto, basses. The orchestra, led by Halma, was excellent, com- prising, among many other good players, Boucher, violoncellist; Gam- bati, cornet-a-pistons; and Cioffi, trombone: all admirable performers.

During the season of six months were produced "La Gazza Ladra," "II Barbiere," M La Donna del Lago," "II Turco in Italia," "La Cene- rentola," "Matilda di Ciabrano," "Gli Arabi nelli Gallie," "II Matri- monio Segreto," and "La Casa da Vendere"; but notwithstanding the combined excellencies of house, appointments, and company, the enterprise proved a failure. In 1834, the company, under the man- agement of Porto and Sacchi, gave a few representations, and again in 1835; but New -York was not yet sufficiently metropolitan to support so costly a plaything, and in 1836 Da Ponte's beautiful opera-house became the National Theater. In 1839 the building was burned to the ground, but it was speedily rebuilt and reopened October 12,1840, with an original opera entitled "Ahmed al KameL the Pilgrim of Love," music by Charles E. Horn, libretto by Henry J. Finn, founded on a story in Irving's "Tales of the Alhambra," which ran seven nights.1 Horn, a Londoner of German parentage, resident in New- York from 1833, was a musician of considerable abihty, pupil of Rauzzini, and author of many operas and adaptations, of two orato- rios, and of numerous songs, ballads, glees, etc He appeared with suc- cess in several operas, especially as Caspar in "Der Freischiitz," and in 1840 kept a music-store at 367 Broadway, but returned in 1843 to London and became musical director of the Princess's Theatre. He came back in 1847, and conducted in 1847-48 the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston, where he died in 1849. New-York is greatly indebted to him both for amusement and for musical instruction. The National Theater was again destroyed by fire, May 29,1841, and Italian opera lay dormant until the opening of Palmo's Opera House in 1843.

She was succeeded in popular favor by the Seguin Company, an English troupe, which appeared at the National Theater, where Da Ponte had failed, in Rooke's "Amilie, or the Love Test." Miss Jane Shirreff, the original Amilie at Covent Garden in 1836, though of little repute as a singer, was young, fresh, and of captivating manners, and was the most admired of any Eng- lish prima donna on our stage between the days of Mrs. Wood and Louisa Pyne. She sang also the parts of Susanna, Zerlina, and Amina, and of Madeline in the "Postillion of Lonjumeau." Edward l In ft letter to the "Mirror,'' Horn aaya: "A new grand opera, haa never been tried in thla oountry, with the exception, I beliere, of one by Mloab Hawkins, called the ' Saw Mm.'"


 * [1902] Wilson, Rufus Rockwell New York: Old & New Vol. 2 Third Edition (Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1909; copyright 1902)

"A familiar ﬁgure in the New York of seventy years ago was Lorenzo Daponte, an Italian poetaster, whose satirical verse had caused his exile from Venice, and who later became a teacher of languages in America. Daponte had taken a lively interest in the attempt to make Richmond Hill a home of song, and when it failed resolved to establish an Italian opera in New York by subscription. His efforts proved successful, and in November, 1833, the Italian Opera House, located at the southwest corner of Leonard and Church Streets, was opened to the public by a company which bore the name of its manager, the Cavaliere di Riva ﬁnoli. Daponte’s venture, however, was born under an evil star. None of the members of the Rivaﬁnoli troupe was a singer of high quality, and the close of the ﬁrst season witnessed also the closing of the Italian Opera-House as a home of opera. It became the National Theatre in 1836, and for a time had the elder Wallack for its manager, but was burned in 1846, and its site is now occupied by a row of business buildings."


 * [1903] Brown, Thomas Allston. A History of the New York Stage, Vol. 1. (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1903) "The National Theatre", pp. 240-57

The playhouse known as the National Theatre was situated at the southwest [sic; northwest] corner of Leonard and Church Streets. (p. 240)

At the conclusion of the season, the theatre was leased by Henry Willard and Thomas Flynn, who opened it as the National Theatre, Aug. 29, 1836 (an address by Jonas B. Phillips being spoken by Mrs. Thomas Flynn), with The Merchant of Venice: Shylock, Junius B. Booth…(p. 241)

This theatre was sold at auction in November, 1836, for $75,000, and purchased by Mr. Mauran, a merchant of this city, and James H. Hackett, and they leased it to James W. Wallack.…the season closed March 6, 1837, when Willard & Flynn retired from the management. The theatre reopened March 20, with J. H. Hackett in Rip Van Winkle (p. 243)…The season closed May 24, with a benefit to Hackett.…J. W. Wallack began his next season Sept. 4, 1837, with The Rivals and The Day after the Wedding. (p. 244)

Charles Kean was announced to open Sept. 23 as Richard III, but the theatre was destroyed by fire Monday afternoon, Sept. 23, 1839. The blaze was first discovered at 4.30 o'clock, in a private entrance leading under the stage from the main pit entrance, on Leonard Street. The theatre was the joint property of Messrs. Washington, Coster, and Mauran. The fire originated in the gas-room beneath the stage. The gas-man left a lighted candle in there and the gas escaping, and the door being closed, the result was an explosion. James W. Wallack immediately engaged Niblo's Garden, and for a short but unprofitable season gave dramatic performances there, closing Nov. 18. (p. 254)…In October a new house was built, and opened Oct. 12, 1840, under Alexander Wilson's management, with the comedietta Perfection, a pas de deux, and an opera founded on Irving's Tales of the Alhambra. Bad times soon brought its first season to a termination, and ended Mr. Wilson's connection with the place. W. E. Burton became the next manager, and opened April 2, 1841, with The Naiad Queen. F. C. Wemyss was stage manager. Charlotte Cushman played the Queen, and commanded the female warriors. (pp. 254-5)

An attempt was made to destroy this theatre by fire, May 28, 1841. It was discovered about six o'clock in the evening. Fire was found in eight different places, and under such circumstances as to leave no doubt that the whole was a wicked attempt to destroy this beautiful edifice. A second and successful attempt was made May 29, 1841. At the close of the performance of May 28 Mr. Burton, with Mr. Wemyss and Russell remained on the premises until about half-past three a.m., and made a thorough search through every part of the house, and it appeared perfectly safe. Mr. Russell then retired to his room in the theatre, and went to bed. He rose after six o'clock, went to the stage door in the rear of the building, and stood in conversation with the private watchman of the establishment. While thus occupied, something was seen to fall from one of the upper rooms, and in a very few moments flames were issued from several different parts of the building. The alarm was instantly given, but so rapid was the progress of the fire that it was with difficulty Mr. Russell rescued his wife. The whole building was destroyed in less than one hour, except part of the front wall and the side wall on Leonard Street. Mr. Burton was a severe sufferer by this calamity. All his private wardrobe had been brought here from Philadelphia only two days before. He also lost all the dresses and scenery made for The Naiad Queen and Semiramis, besides other valuable property in the shape of books, MSS., music, etc. Many of the performers were severe losers, particularly Miss Cushman, who lost a large part of her valuable wardrobe. (p. 257)


 * [1910]


 * [1993; 2001] PRESTON