Park Theatre (Boston)

The Park Theatre (est.1879) was a playhouse in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It later became the State cinema.^[1] Located on Washington Street, near Boylston Street, the building existed until 1990.

Image of the Park Theatre (Boston)

History

In 1879 Henry E. Abbey, proprietor of Abbey's Park Theatre in New York, opened Boston's Park Theatre.^[2] Abbey was one half of the theatrical management firm Abbey and Schoeffel, along with his backer John B. Schoeffel. Schoeffel was assistant manager.^[3]

It occupied the building of the former Beethoven Hall, "reconstructed and practically rebuilt;" its 1,184-seat auditorium was "60 feet wide, 63 from the state to the doors, and 50 feet high."^[4] The architect of the rebuilt theatre was Abel C. Martin.^[5] It sat on Washington Street at the corner of Boylston Street in today's Chinatown/Theatre district.^[6]

In the 1890s it presented "farcical comedy."^[7] Managers and proprietors included Henry E. Abbey;^[8] Jack A. Crabtree;^[9][10] Lotta Crabtree;^[11] Charles Frohman, Rich & Harris;^[12] Lawrence McCarty;^[13] John B. Schoeffel (Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau);^[8][9] John Stetson Jr.;^[14] and Eugene Tompkins.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Louis Baer led the 11-piece orchestra in the 1890s.^[17]

In the 20th century the building became "Minsky's Park Burlesque," the "Hub," "Trans-Lux,"^[18][19] and then "The State" cinema.^[20] The building survived until its razing in 1990.^[21][22]

Images

• 
  Theatre manager Henry E. Abbey, 19th century
• 
  Advertisement, 1883
• 
  Interior, 1883
• 
  Detail of map of Boston, showing Park Theatre, 1886
• 
  Advertisement, 1908
• 
  Advertisement for Robin Hood film at the Park Theatre, Boston, 1922

Performances

1870s–1880s Fedora, with Fanny Davenport and Robert Mantell[23] Gunter's Prince Karl[23] Andrea[23] Gretchen[24] Fun in a Photograph Gallery[14][25] 1890s James A. Herne's Sag Harbor[26] Merchant of Venice, with Sidney Woollett[27] 1492[28] C.A. Byrne and Louis Harrison's Venus[29] Trilby[30] Lost, Strayed or Stolen[13] Dumas' Clemenceau Case.[31]

1900s Choir Invisible[26] Henry Arthur Jones' The Hypocrites[32] R.A. Barnet's Cap of Fortune and the Show Girl[33] Fay Davis Whitewashing Julia [34] 1910s The Dancing Girl[35] The Girl of the Golden West[35] Maternity, starring Alice Brady[36] The Soul of a Magdalen, starring Olga Petrova[36] 1920s On with the Dance[37] Robin Hood[38]

References

1. As of 1980: "The oldest playhouse in Boston still operating as a theater has seen better days. The State, now a Combat Zone flagship for porn films, opened in 1879 as the Park Theater. It was built by famous actress Lotta Crabtree who also had constructed a private tunnel from the theater to the nearby hotel where she lived. Edwin Booth and Richard Mansfield were among the great stars who played the theater as did Jeanne Eagels in her famous role of Sadie Thompson in 'Rain.' The theater did a slow slide into burlesque where Gypsy Rose Lee made her only local strips, and into second runs and down to porn." cf. George McKinnon. "A born-again Wilbur will celebrate success." Boston Globe, January 20, 1980
2. Henry E. Abbey (1845–1896). "Death of Henry E. Abbey." New York Times, October 18, 1896
3. Winsor 1881, p. 378.
4. Moses King (1881), Kings Handbook of Boston, M. King, OCLC 778544, OL 23442502M
5. "The Death of Mr. A. C. Martin," American Architect and Building News 6, no. 202 (November 8, 1879): 145.
6. no.619 Washington Street. Boston Almanac, 1880–1882. Boston Almanac and Business Directory, 1887, 1891, 1894. Boston register, 1921
7. Appleton's general guide to the United States and Canada, New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1893, OCLC 11144549, OL 24928392M
8. Winsor, Justin (1881). The memorial history of Boston, v.4. Boston: Ticknor and Company. OCLC 1838124. OL 24155402M.
9. Herndon, Richard (1892), Bacon, Edwin M. (ed.), Boston of to-day, Boston: Post Pub. Co., OCLC 4430662, OL 7162628M
10. John (Jack) Ashworth Crabtree (1854–1920), brother of Lotta Crabree. Harvard Univ. Lotta Crabtree Will Case, 1870–1928 : Finding Aid
11. Dale, Alan (1890). Familiar chats with the queens of the stage. New York: G. W. Dillingham.
12. Boston Evening Transcript, April 17, 1908
13. Eugene Tompkins, Quincy Kilby (1908), The history of the Boston Theatre, 1854–1901, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, OCLC 1384867, OL 7196562M
14. Michael Bennett Leavitt (1912), Fifty years in the theatrical management, New York: Broadway Pub. Co., OL 7252273M
15. Eugene Tompkins (1850–1909). John William Leonard, ed. Men of America: a biographical dictionary of contemporaries. New York: L. R. Hamersly & Company, 1908
16. New York Times, February 23, 1909
17. Cahn, Julius, ed. (1898). Julius Cahn's Official Theater Guide. New York: Empire Theatre Building.
18. CinemaTreasures.org. State Theatre, 617 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02111
19. Boston Athenæum Theater History, Park Theatre (1879–1990)
20. "State Theater 1," no.617 Washington St., Boston. "Downtown Boston theater loses license for 3 days." Boston Globe, July 19, 1983
21. Sweeney, Emily. Once a relic of the past, earthy art form sees a revival. Boston Globe, April 9, 2009
22. McLaughlin, Jeff. "Midtown cultural district headed for reality." Boston Globe, October 13, 1987
23. "Boston Notes." The Theatre (NY), no.5, v.1, April 19, 1886
24. Charles E. L. Wingate (1888), The playgoers' year-book, for 1888, Boston: State Pub. Co., OL 17937497M
25. The players blue book. Worcester, Mass.: Sutherland & Storms, 1901
26. John Bouvé Clapp and Edwin Francis Edget (1899), Players of the present, New York: Dunlap Society, ISBN 0-8337-0577-6, OL 4576404M, 0833705776
27. New York Times, June 20, 1897
28. New York Times, July 18, 1893
29. New York Times, September 12, 1893
30. Who's who on the stage; the dramatic reference book and biographic al dictionary of the theatre, New York: W. Browne & F. A. Austin, 1906, OCLC 1548066, OL 24156687M
31. Neil Miller (2010), Banned in Boston: the Watch and Ward Society's Crusade Against Books, Burlesque, and the Social Evil, Boston: Beacon Press, ISBN 978-0-8070-5112-2 – via Overdrive (subscription required)
32. The Billboard, November 30, 1907
33. Anne Alison Barnet. Extravaganza king: Robert Barnet and Boston musical theatre. Northeastern University Press, 2004
34. Original January 11, 1904 playbill
35. Boston Globe, January 5, 1915
36. Boston Globe, May 22, 1917
37. Boston Globe, February 10, 1920
38. Boston Globe, December 12, 1922

External links

• Detail of 1882 map of Boston showing location of Park Theatre, via Boston Public Library's Atlascope Boston tool.
• Historic New England. Sidewalk at Park Theatre, 619 Washington St., photo
• Library of Congress. Drawing of Park Theatre by Anthony F. Dumas, 1929
• Boston Athenaeum. Park Theatre Programs, 1879–1898.
• Flickr. Photo of the State theatre, 1984

42°21′9.86″N 71°3′45.35″W