An Archive of Art and Literature by the Bohemians of Antebellum New York
This multi-volume history of the New York City theater provides a wealth of information about the actors, actresses, and playwrights who were associated with Pfaff's.
His first New York appearance noted in the Herald as Sept. 27, 1849. Booth seems to have made a great impression on the New York stage.
Booth often acted with his father and other family members and memorably subsituted for his father at the last minute for a benefit performance of Richard III. Though young, he was referred to as "Master" Edwin Booth.
Booth went to California in 1852.
Odell discusses the "splendor" of Brougham's Lyceum at Broadway and Broom Street.
Clifton "secured on the New York stage a highly creditable position as a stock actress, particularly at Laura Keene's theater."
Odell mentions that the "then hihgly popular Potiphar Papers of George William Curtis" were dramatized and titled Our Best Society at Burton's (290).
Curtis lectured in Brooklyn during the 1854-1855 season at the Brooklyn Institute - the title and subject of his lecture is unknown(420). He also lectured at the Institute during the 1855-1856 season.
(Questionable whether or not this is him.) Mentioned in supporting roles on the stage (if this is him).
Odell mentions him as a lecturer and critic. He is also identified as W.H. Fry and mentioned as assisting a musical performance at the Odeon (276).
Odell also mentions Fry's Sabat Mater and that a performance of it was not given.
Wrote Taking the Chances, or, Our Cousin From the Country (a comedy) for J.H. McVicker at Burtons. The show opened March 19, 1855. Gayler adapted The Son of the Night from the Porte St. Martin, Paris for the Broadway for a May 4, 1856, performance. Gayler is described as prolific.
Listed as part of the Lyceum lecture series at Williamsburgh during the 1850-51 season (109).
Odell mentions that his play, The Coroner's Exhibition (a new farce), was performed at the last benefit of the season (for Mark Smith) on June 1, 1857.
Odell also mentions that Hall will later be the Mayor of New York.
Odell records her first appearance in New York at the Bowery during the 1852-53 season.
Odell claims that Heron "is the most famous of American Camilles" and that her interpretation of this role influenced other actresses (281). Heron's "Camille" is described as the biggest hit of the 1856-57 season at Wallack's. Odell speculates that "Miss Heron, in her heyday, must have been complete mistress of emotional effects" (534). Odell states that she presented herself in a sensational new version of Camille and that "few things so striking as her acting of the French demi-mondaine had even been seen in New York." Odell also makes the claim that she "was a genius; she made her own rules, or possibly had none, but a more moving performance than her Camille it would have been hard for 1857 to conceive of." Odell also makes note of her appearances at Wallack's in 1856-57 season (534).
Odell reprints sections of Heron's favorable reviews from the Herald and notes the number of encores she had to give. Most of Heron's review in the Tribune is also reproduced.
According to Odell, Heron's fame allowed her to produce her own version of Legouve's Medea,. Her roles during the 1856-57 season were often supported by E.A. Sothern. Odell claims that the roles Heron played that season were hugely successful and that the 1856-57 was one of of the most successful theatrical seasons to date.
Odell also discusses Heron's tempermental nature and her finding success at Wallack's. Odell mentions other actresses playing the role of Camille, but that they were not really a threat to Heron - Camille seems simply to be hugely popular at this time.
Heron also seems to have taken part in a low-ticket cost and amateur benefit in 1856-57 season given by one of the many dramatic associations. Her success made a burlesque of Camille inevitable - The Black Camille, or, the Fate of a Washerwoman.
As an actor, Odell refers to Jefferson as a "bright feature" at the National Theater in 1850-51(34). Jefferson is called an "admirable comedian." He is frequently on stage with Mrs. Jefferson during 1850-51 season. Jefferson left the National during the 1850-51 season when Lafayette Fox (Christopher Strap) came to the theater. Odell simply says that a theater couldn't expect to keep both of them (37).
Odell uses Jefferson as a source and refers to Jefferson's description of the performance of "Sir William Don" on the stage in 1850-51 season (5).
Odell also uses exerpts from Jefferson's Autobiography to discuss his 1851-52 performance of Twelfth Night. According to Jefferson, the revival at Burton's displayed performances that have not been so skillful since Shakespeare first wrote and performed the play. was Burton's first Shakespearean endeavor and was done on a highly elaborate scale (128).
Jefferson returned to the New York stage after an absence of several years in the 1856-57 season, Laura Keene's second season in her new theater(544).
The first performance of Wilkin's play, My Wife's Mirror, occurred for Laura Keene's benefit on May 10, 1856. His play, Young New York, was performed at Laura Keene's new theater.
A benefit was held for her on January 9,1852. Montes' burlesque was performed at the Bowery again in the summer of 1852 both with Lola Montes starring in the lead role and after her departure from the theater.
His My Christmas Dinner written "expresly for this theater" opened at Wallack's 12/25/1852. A Gentleman from Ireland played at Wallacks in Dec. 1854. O'Brien also adapted The Sisters from the French for Wallacks for Dec. 27,1854. This play ran until Jan. 13, 1855.
He is mentioned as the intended the leading man at Burton's new theater during the 1855-56 season (473). Also at Burton's in the 1856-57 season.
(Information here may also be for his brother, Maurice.) Strakosch served as pianist in a concert of Maretzke on Jan. 11, 1851, at Tripler Hall. He seems to have been a figure in the concert scene from 1850-56; his wife also played with him. At the Academy, in late January of 1857 (575), he conducted the opera, subsequently starting a new season of opera that February. He held concerts in Brooklyn in the 1856-57 season and also ran a series of 4 subscription concerts for which advertisments in the Star and the New York Herald stop around Jan 24 - the date of the first concert. Because of this, Odell is unsure whether the shows at the Athenaeum (scheduled for 1/24, 1/31, 2/5, 2/12 $1 admission + $0.50 for reserved seating) ever ran (601).
He wrote the words to "Greetings to America" that was composed by Benedict (?) for Jenny Lind's first American appearance on Sept. 11, 1850. Lind sang the song and Taylor received $200 for the lyrics. Odell says that the money was "offered as a prize for the best poem written under these excruciating circumstances"(86).
Taylor was also one of the lecturers at the Lyceum in 1850-51, a series that included Henry Ward Beecher, Horace Greely, Park Benjamin, and E.H. Chapin. Bayard was also a part of the 1854-55 Brooklyn Institute lecture series (420). Taylor was a lecturer at the Athenaeum in the 1855-56 season in a "special fall and winter course" that also included Emerson, J.G. Saxe, E.P. Whipple, Curtis, Beecher, Benjamin, and Oliver Wendell Holmes (507).
Taylor is mentioned as a "play carpenter" in the same manner as Gayler in Odell's discussion of Walden's style of dramatic adaptation (523).
The Vault at Pfaff's