The Chatham Theatre or Chatham Street Theatre was a

playhouse Playhouse () is a common term for a theatre. Playhouse, The Playhouse, Playhouse Theatre, or Playhouse Theater may also refer to: Venues and theatre companies Australia * Dunstan Playhouse, at the Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, South Au ...

on the southeast side of Chatham Street (now Park Row) in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It was located at numbers 143-9, between Roosevelt and James streets, a few blocks south of the

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighbourhood, neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City, New York. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row (Manhattan), Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th ...

. At its opening in 1839, the Chatham was a neighborhood establishment, which featured big-name actors and drama. By the mid-1840s, it had become primarily a venue for

blackface Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of portraying racial stereotypes of Afr ...

s. Frank S. Chanfrau restored some of its grandeur in 1848. The playhouse's most successful period was under the management of A. H. Purdy. He staged productions of

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (185 ...

's ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two Volume (bibliography), volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans ...

'' beginning in 1852, the success of which prompted him to advertise heavily and to create a special section where

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

patrons could sit. Following Purdy's departure in 1857, the theatre entered its final decline. It flip-flopped many times between a standard

melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...

house and a concert saloon before finally being demolished in 1862.

Early management

Thomas Flynn and Henry Willard financed the construction of the Chatham Theatre in 1839. Under Flynn's management, the playhouse opened on 11 September 1839 with a production of ''

A New Way to Pay Old Debts ''A New Way to Pay Old Debts'' (c. 1625, printed 1633) is an English Renaissance drama, the most popular play by Philip Massinger. Its central character, Sir Giles Over-reach, became one of the more popular villains on English and American sta ...

'' starring

John R. Scott Reverend John Robert Scott Sr. (1840-41 – February 18, 1929) was a religious and political leader in Florida as well as a college president. He was born into slavery in Virginia. During the Reconstruction era he became a pastor in the African ...

and

Mrs. Thomas Flynn Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard English pronunciation: ) is a commonly used English honorific for Woman, women, usually for those who are married and who do not instead use another title or rank, such as ''Doctor (titl ...

. It was essentially a neighborhood theatre at this time, and the effects of the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that began a major depression (economics), depression which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages dropped, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment rose, and pes ...

were still being felt, so the establishment lost money. Nevertheless, Flynn and Willard kept it open for another year, staging

comedies Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Gr ...

and

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

s that starred popular actors, including James Anderson,

William Rufus Blake William Rufus Blake (1805 – 22 April 1863) was a Canadian stage actor. Biography Blake was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, of Irish background, his parents being William Blake and Charlotte Herring. He was their eldest child, and was baptised on ...

Junius Brutus Booth Junius Brutus Booth (1 May 1796 – 30 November 1852) was an English-born American actor. He was the father of actor John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. His other children included Edwin Booth, one of the foremost t ...

, and

Mademoiselle Celeste (abbreviated as ''Mlle'' or ''M'') may refer to: * Mademoiselle (title), the French-language equivalent of the title "miss" Film and television * ''Mademoiselle'' (1966 film), a French-British drama directed by Tony Richardson * ''Mademoiselle ...

. The theatre finally closed in January 1840 due to differences between the two owners. Charles R. Thorne bought Willard's stake and joined Flynn as manager for two weeks in February 1840. Still, the theatre saw little success. Thorne then bought out Flynn's stake for $500. As sole manager, Flynn led the playhouse to a profitable four years, featuring popular talents such as James S. Browne, Mary Ann Duff,

Edwin Forrest Edwin Forrest (March 9, 1806December 12, 1872) was a nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actor. His feud with the British actor William Macready was the cause of the deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849. Early life Forrest was born in Phila ...

Thomas D. Rice Thomas Dartmouth Rice (May 20, 1808 – September 19, 1860) was an American performer and playwright who performed in blackface and used African American vernacular speech, song and dance to become one of the most popular minstrel show entertai ...

, John Sefton, Henry Wallack, and Bill Williams. In 1844, Thorne sold the theatre to his

stage manager Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including overseeing of the rehearsal proce ...

, a Mr. Stevens, and to A. W. Jackson, who managed for one season. During this time, the theatre was mainly a

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist enter ...

house. On 8 April 1845,

Ben De Bar Benedict DeBar (1812–1877) was a prominent American actor-manager. He is associated with operating a major theater in St. Louis, and best known for portraying the role of Falstaff. He was also connected by marriage with the Booth family of actor ...

became stage manager, but he soon partnered with

William S. Deverna William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

to lease the building. De Bar ceased active management on 5 October. M. S. Phillips was the next lessee, followed by J. Fletcher, who bought the theatre in 1847. By this time, the Chatham Theatre was performing poorly. It became a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

for a time before eventually reopening as a playhouse. Admissions were low for the time: 25¢ for the boxes, one shilling for the pit, and six pence for the gallery. The audience now consisted of the

lower classes A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, w ...

, who on holidays "used to talk, shout, and scream so that the actors went through their parts in dumb show . . . ." Frank S. Chanfrau and W. Olgivie Ewen became joint lessees on 28 February 1848 with Chanfrau as manager. They renamed the building Chanfrau's National Theatre and tried to reclaim some of the theatre's lost prestige. This lasted until 8 July 1850.

Purdy's tenure

A. H. Purdy A is the first letter of the Latin and English alphabet. A may also refer to: Science and technology Quantities and units * ''a'', a measure for the attraction between particles in the Van der Waals equation * ''A'' value, a measure of s ...

took over operations in 1850 for what would prove the theatre's most successful period. He renamed the building Purdy's National Theatre. He renovated in April 1852, reopening on 19 April. On 23 August 1852, Purdy produced the first non-comedic stage adaptation of

's ''

'' in the United States. This version, written by

Charles Western Taylor Charles Western Taylor ( – April 11, 1874), often billed as C. W. Taylor, was an american actor and dramatist in the mid-19th century. He is best known today for writing one of the first stage adaptations of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. Biography Ta ...

, ran for 11 nights but saw little success. Most of the 1853 season was devoted to a much more successful dramatization of Stowe's novel. The production ran almost non-stop from 18 July 1853 to 19 April 1854, when performances were cut back to three nights weekly until 13 May. The play proved so popular with

audiences that Purdy created a special black-only section of the theatre on 15 August. No unaccompanied women were allowed there, and the entrance was separate from the main doors. Purdy expanded the section on 29 October. Despite the great success of the ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' production, Purdy still lost money from

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

too heavily and by splurging on too many gifts for

Cordelia Howard Cordelia Howard ( – ) was a child actress on the American stage. Her most famous role was as Little Eva in the stage adaptation of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin.'' One commentator wrote "The name of Little Cordelia has become synonymous with that of Li ...

, the young actress who was starring in the drama. Despite this one overzealous blunder, Purdy had a flair for advertising. On 1 September 1856, he began his sixth season at the Chatham by erecting a statue of

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

atop the playhouse while the New York Brass Band played and fireworks were launched. Purdy left during the

Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 was a financial crisis in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission ...

Later management

The theatre then entered a long period of decline. The new owners redecorated before the 1858-9 season. Early on 10 July 1859, part of the theatre caught fire, apparently from gunfire

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...

from the play the night before; the building suffered $500 in damages. The building was remodeled once again in November 1859 and reopened on 14 November as the Chatham Amphitheatre. Circuses provided the main attraction. On 6 March 1860, J. Howard Rogers and Joseph C. Foster leased the building. They opened on 8 March as the National Concert Saloon. The emphasis now was on

alcoholic beverages Drinks containing alcohol are typically divided into three classes—beers, wines, and spirits—with alcohol content typically between 3% and 50%. Drinks with less than 0.5% are sometimes considered non-alcoholic. Many societies have a di ...

served by attractive waitresses. Admission prices were 12¢ for boxes and 6¢ for the pit. On 3 July, Charles J. Waters took over management and reopened as the National Theatre, a standard

playhouse. George Beane replaced Waters on 6 October and restored the concert saloon theme. This lasted until December, when he gave it over to a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

troupe. Fox and Curran took over in 1861. They spent a great deal of money to restore the theatre, then reopened on 16 November as the National Music Hall. They failed to turn a profit, and George Lea, manager of the

Melodeon Melodeon may refer to: *Melodeon (accordion), a type of button accordion *Melodeon (organ) The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reed aerophone, free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal ...

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

and

Hooley's Theatre Richard Martin Hooley (April 13, 1822 – September 8, 1893) was an American theatre manager, minstrelsy manager, and one of the earliest theatre managers in Chicago. Hooley was born in Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland, and educated in Manchester b ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

gained control in December. He made the most of his three establishments by using the same actors at all three venues. They would first perform at the Melodeon, then travel to the Chatham, to finish up the night at Hooley's.Brown 337 In October 1862, the Chatham Theater was demolished. Part of it survived and was rented to shopkeepers.

Notes

* Brown, T. Allston (1903)
''A History of the New York Stage: From the First Performance in 1732 to 1901, Vol. 1.''
New York City: Dodd, Mead and Company. Online at Google Books. * Henderson, Mary C. (2004). ''The City and the Theatre''. New York City: Back Stage Books. * Lawrence, Vera Brodsky (1988). ''Strong on Music: The New York Music Scene in the Days of George Templeton Strong. Volume I: Resonances, 1838-1849.'' The University of Chicago Press. * Perris, William (1853). ''Maps of the City of New York, Vol. 3.'' New York City: Perris & Browne
Plate 12.
Online at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Digital ID 1270009.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 40.717, -73.995, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title Demolished theatres in New York City Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Former theatres in Manhattan Theatres completed in 1839 1839 establishments in New York (state) Buildings and structures demolished in 1862