Theaters
Belles Are Ringing
Submitted by larry on Tue, 2007-03-06 13:01.
March 6, 2007
San Francisco (VIA Associated Press)
The Irish of San Francisco are furious over a play at the Davis Theater called “The Belle of Avenue A,” which features a character named Mrs. McCluskey who drinks a glass of beer in the first act.
“Three times, about 40 people charged the stage and the actors and actresses feared they were about to be attacked,” The Times says.
“Indignant because the woman’s part in the first act called for the drinking of a glass of beer, two score men, members of the Irish societies of this city, charged the stage and for half an hour refused to allow the play to go on.”
The riot was reported to the police and the protesters were eventually thrown out of the theater.
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Bonus shot:
Los Angeles, before the days of Google Earth, at the junction of Main Street, Spring Street and 9th Street, 1873.
Fire Threatens Orpheum
Submitted by larry on Sun, 2006-10-15 09:31.
Oct. 15, 1907
Los Angeles
On a rainy night in Los Angeles, a fire broke out in the four-story brick office building at 235 S. Spring St. housing the Orpheum Theater and the Elks Hall, which was engulfed in panic as visitors at a Japanese festival rushed for the exits. The second-floor hallways were so jammed that members of the Elks Club rushed to the rear of the building to use the fire escapes.
At Orpheum, on the floor above the Elks Club, veteran actress Minnie Seligman calmly made the smoke and the sound of fire engines part of her skit. Rushing offstage for a moment, she returned covered with soot and announced:
A Theater Rises on Broadway
Submitted by larry on Fri, 2006-06-02 09:49.
June 2, 1907
Los Angeles
The Hamburger Department Store announces plans for a theater just south of its new building on South Broadway at 8th Street, designed by the architecture firm of Edelman and Barnett.
According to plans, the horseshoe-shaped theater is to seat 1,600 people, with a balcony and a gallery. The stage is to be 40 feet by 80 feet, with a proscenium 36 feet wide and 32 feet high.
