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 http://www.archive.org/details/newnationaltheat01hunt 
 
11 
 
 
 PRIEST 
 
 
 
JOYCL PROCtii. 
 
 NEW NATIONAL THEATRE. 
 
W. W. RAPLEi', PROPRIETOR. 
 
New National Theater, 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C, 
 
 A RECORD OF FIFTY YEARS 
 
 BY 
 
 Alexander Hunter and J. H. Polkinhorn. 
 
 Illustrated by J. Ellsworth Clark. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. : 
 
 K. O. POLKINHORN & SON, PRINTERS, 
 
 I8S5. 
 
 ^P^t 
 
ymptWT* 
 
 cfMiPCE [!?!!< ?'*V.'N 
 
 .JUL ? 5 »2g 
 
INTROB.UCTION 
 
 . In a work of this character, primarily intended for information 
 ■and entertainment, it is obvious that elaborate criticisms on the 
 subjects presented in its pages would be inappropriate. 
 
 In preparing the work, we have not attempted to make it a ve- 
 hicle for the expression of personal views, but as far as was con- 
 sistent with the nature of the case, have confined ourselves to the 
 historical relation of facts without assuming the function of ad- 
 vocate or judge. In instances which seemed to demand a ver- 
 dict, we have endeavored to present illustrations of evidence 
 rather than exhibitions of argument. 
 
 We would be ungrateful if we failed in this connection to men- 
 tion the kindness of our friends in preparing these pages. The 
 introductory chapter on early theaters is from the pen of Dr. Frank 
 T. Howe, of this city, as is also much other interesting matter. To 
 the untiring labor of Major Alexander Hunter, the credit of the 
 entire work practically belongs. In season and out, he labored 
 assiduously, always willing to render all the assistance in his 
 power. The illustrations by Mr. J. Ellsworth Clark have been 
 secured under great difficulty. They were -taken as the build- 
 ing progressed, and the length of time required to photo-en- - 
 grave necessarily restricted him in the number selected. To Mr. 
 E. T. McNerhany, are we also indebted for valuable assistance. 
 
 J. H. P. 
 
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. 
 
 EARLY PLACES OF AMUSEMENT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Washington of to-day is a city of which its people and., 
 in fact, the whole nation is justly proud. Its broad streets and 
 avenues are covered with asphalt pavement, smooth as a floor and 
 easily kept clean; its sidewalks are bordered with trees and fringed 
 with verdant parking; its public buildings have multiplied and 
 been enlarged; and numerous statues presenting in monumental 
 brass the heroes of our country's history adorn its various 
 squares and parks. 
 
 The population of the city is fast approaching a quarter of a 
 million, and the character and standing of the new comers make 
 them desirable acquisitions. Elegant private residences and im- 
 posing business houses adorn its thoroughfares, while the great 
 number of medium-sized dwellings testify to the comfortable and 
 prosperous condition of the mass of its citizens. 
 
 "With all this material prosperity of the city has come a corres- 
 ponding intellectual development of the people. Our public 
 school system is second to none in the country; our colleges and 
 private educational institutions take the highest rank; our mu- 
 seums afford the most ample opportunity for the studies and in- 
 vestigations 'of scientists, while the Corcoran Art Gallery gives an 
 incentive to the youthful artist b}' presenting for his emulation 
 the works of the masters in painting and sculpture; our musical 
 knowledge is more generally diffused and of a higher standard 
 than that of any city of its size in the Union, and many of our 
 amateur endeavors in this respect compare favorably with the 
 representations of professional artists; our taste for the drama is 
 of the highest order and the stamp of approval of a Washington 
 audience is coming to be regarded as requisite to the success of a 
 new star or a new play. 
 
 All this refinement and culture, this elevated taste and critical 
 judgment has been the growth of nearly a century. It is eighty- 
 five years since AVashington was taken possession of as -the Capi- 
 tal of the United States and in that early period it gave little prom- 
 ise of its present beautiful appearance and intelligent population. 
 
 When Maj. L. Enfant, whose advent is chronicled in the George- 
 town Weekly Record in the year 1794, where he is called a " dis- 
 
6 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 tinguished astronomer," commenced his work of laying out the 
 capital city, he had but little to encourage him save his enthusi- 
 astic belief in the future of the young Republic, and the same is 
 probably true of Maj. Ellicott, whom the journal above quoted 
 also styled "a distinguished astronomer;" when he started to lay 
 out the ten miles square of territory, which was to constitute the 
 future District of Columbia. 
 
 STROLLING COMEDIANS. 
 
 Yet even in those early days the people living in Georgetown 
 were occasionally visited by bands of strolling players, who gave 
 performances for the entertainment of the inhabitants of that an- 
 cient burg, and among the archives of that town, which has now 
 lost its autonomy and become merged in the City of Washington, . 
 it is found that in the year 1799 there appeared in that ancient 
 burg a company of strolling comedians, under the directorship of 
 Archibald Marlborough Hamilton Sterling, for the purpose of 
 giving a series of performances. It is also stated that this mana- 
 ger with the high sounding name petitioned the town authorities 
 in behalf of himself and associates to remit the onerous tax that 
 was imposed upon theatrical representations, amounting to $6 per 
 night, and that the selectmen met and graciously consented to 
 suspend the operation of this tax while the comedians were in 
 town. It may well be imagined that the theatrical performances 
 of that period were given in a very primitive manner, for there 
 was no gas nor elaborate mechanical effects, and much of the cir- 
 cumstances attending the plot of the play and its development 
 was left to the imagination of the audience. The entertainment 
 commenced at early candle light and probably lasted the regula- 
 tion length of three or f our hours. 
 
 In searching for the early history of the drama in the District 
 there was found in the possession of Mr. L. Moxley an old poster 
 ten by twelve inches in size, which announced the last two nights 
 of the "Old American Company," when the comedies of the 
 "School for Scandal" and "Love a La Mode" would be presented. 
 Mr. Moxley stated that this poster which gave the date of the per- 
 formance as Nov. 16, 1786, came from the collection of theatrical 
 programmes made by the late Peter Force, and that Mr. Force 
 asserted that the performance took place in a theater which was 
 located on the south side of Pennsylvania avenue between Four- 
 and-a-Half and Sixth streets on the spot now occupied by Young's 
 coach factory. It is probable that the performance took place in 
 some other city, most likely Philadelphia, for Washington at 
 that date was nothing but a wilderness. 
 
 That there was in the earlydays a dearth of amusements here^ . 
 and that the deprivation was felt, is shown by a Chronicle of 
 the year 1796, which refers to the barrenness of theatricals, and 
 publishes from a London paper the announcement of the fact that* 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 7 
 
 a new play had been brought out at a Venitian theater with univer 
 sal applause, entitled 
 
 "TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA," 
 
 (altered from Shakespeare), with Sig. Buonaparte in the role of 
 First Gentleman, and Sig. Beaulien in that of Second Gentleman, 
 &c, with a triumphant entry into Milan, in which an archbishop, 
 danced a hornpipe. It was stated to be the intention of the com- 
 pany to visit London. This was the time that the great Napoleon 
 was spreading terror throughout all Europe, and it was feared 
 that his triumphant march would not be checked before he should 
 make an assault upon the British capital. 
 
 Probably the first theatrical performance that took place in 
 Washington was given in the year 1800, at the " Great Hotel," a 
 tavern of considerable proportions, which was kept by a man 
 named Blodgett, and was located on the ground now occupied by 
 the General Post Office. Whether this Blodgett was the origina- 
 tor of the celebrated Blodgett claim, which has created such a stir- 
 in the District the past few years is not known. The plays that 
 were presented on that occasion, or the actors who participated 
 cannot be ascertained, but there is authentic record that the per- 
 formance took place. 
 
 THE FI3ST THEATER. 
 
 That the early settlers were anxious for amusements is evi- 
 denced by the fact that the first theater was erected in 1804. It was 
 situated on the corner of Eleventh and C streets, on the site where 
 the Theater Comique now stands: A stock company built it, and 
 they gave it no other name than "The Theater." It lasted for 
 several years, but was at length burned down, and was it sold to 
 the elder Carusi in 1822, who reconstructed it, and named it the City 
 Assembly Rooms. Here Carusi held his dancing academy, and in 
 this hall were held many notable parties and balls, attended by 
 the best people in the District. In 1857, after the National Thea- 
 ter was burned down the second time, Caursi's saloon was remod- 
 eled into a theater, and excellent performances took place there 
 for long series of years before it became a variety hall. It was 
 called the Washington Theater, and among the many notable en- 
 gagements was one of two weeks, which took place in March, 1865, 
 at the time of President Lincoln's second inauguration, by the 
 Wallack and Davenport Combination, which introduced besides 
 these distinguished actors, Miss Rose Etynge, Harry Placide and 
 others. The first week was devoted to the new play of "How 
 She Loves Him," with Wallack as the stuttering Tom VaciJ y 
 Davenport as Capt. Gaicley, Harry Placide as Diogens, and Rose 
 Etynge as Atlanta Cruiser. The second week was given to Eng- 
 lish Comedy and " The School for Scandal," "Honeymoon" and 
 " Still Waters Run Deep" were presented. 
 
8 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 The next theater built here was erected on Louisiana avenue, 
 just east of Sixth street, and was first called " The Washington 
 Theater" and afterwards "The American Theater." It must 
 have been built some time early in the twenties, for there is a 
 record of its having been greatly enlarged and improved in 1828. 
 This theater enjoyed great popularity and success for a long se- 
 ries of years, as it had no opposition until the National was built, 
 and at the opening address of the season, during which the Na- 
 tional was completed, there was expressed a hope that the pa- 
 trons of the establishment would not run after strange gods nor 
 forsake old and tried friends for new ones. In this theater were 
 held two inauguration balls and several balls and receptions by 
 local military organizations. During the war it too, became a va- 
 riety hall, and was known as " The Canterbury." If its mass of 
 ruins could speak, they could tell many tales of struggling genius, 
 of triumph and disappointment, of joy and sorrow, of success and 
 despair. 
 
 OTHER THEATERS ERECTED. 
 
 With the American, Washington and National Theaters, the 
 greater portion of the history of the District is closely interwoven, 
 and yet there have been other theaters which it will not be out of 
 place to name in this connection. On Pennsylvania avenue, be- 
 tween Four and-a-half and Sixth streets, the locality referred to 
 by Mr. Moxley as having been designated by the late Peter Force, 
 as the one when the 1786 performance had taken place, there was 
 a theater called "The Adelphi," which, however, was not erected 
 until after the building of the three principal theaters mentioned. 
 It enjoyed- several years of prosperity, however, but succumbed 
 to its more popular rival, the National. It was destroyed by fire 
 in 1860. 
 
 Ford's Tenth-street theater is well remembered by those in mid- 
 dle life, as well for the enjoyable performances that were wit- 
 nessed there, as for the tragic event which forever closed its doors 
 as a place of amusement. The original building was a Baptist 
 church, in which the late Rev. Obediah Brown used to preach, 
 and was altered into a theater in 1858, after the National had been 
 burned the second time. After a brief existence of only about 
 a year, this new theater was destroyed by fire, and the goody- 
 good people said it was a judgment against those who had turned 
 a house of worship into a play-house. Il was rebuilt, however, 
 and had a prosperous career during the war, until the enactment 
 within its walls of the • most tragic episode in our National 
 history, viz. : the assassination of President Lincoln by John 
 Wilkes Booth. 
 
 Then there was the Oxford, which was erected on the site on 
 -which Ford's Opera House now stands, and run an active com- 
 petition with the Canterbury in the variety line. Mr. Wm. L. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 9 
 
 Wall then purchased the property, and remodeled the building, 
 which was for many years known as Wall's Opera House, and 
 was the scene of many notable performances. Laura Keene, J. 
 W. Wallack, Jr. and Edwin Forrest gave their last representa- 
 tions in this city on the stage of this Opera House, while its curtain 
 was rung down on the death scene of poor Helen Western, who 
 expired the following day at the Kirkwood House, a hotel which 
 stood on the site of the present Shepherd building, at the corner 
 of Twelfth street and Pennsylvania avenue. Fire seemed to have 
 an especial fondness for the theaters here, for. this Opera House 
 was also burned, and on its being rebuilt was re-christened Ford's, 
 taking the name of its lessee. 
 
 PUBLIC HALLS IN THE DISTRICT. 
 
 The Iron Hall, as it was once called, was* the hall over'the store 
 now occupied by Mr. Edward Droop, ISTo. 925 Pennsylvania ave- 
 nue, and is at present utilized as a photograph establishment. In 
 ante-bellum clays manj^'excellent performances took place here and 
 it was on the boards of this hall that Mr. Stuart Robson made his 
 first ambitious attempts, which by the wav were lamentable fail- 
 ures. The hall was altered by the late W. G. Metzerott, and was 
 a favorite resort for concert troupes, magicians, &c. The gifted 
 Parepa sang for the first time in Washington in Metzerott Hall 
 as did also Mrs. Seguin, or Zelda Harrison as she then was. Hel- 
 ler, the elder Hermann and other professors of the black art, drew 
 large crowds at this hall. During the days of the Territorial Gov- 
 ernment it was occupied by the legislative assembly and after the 
 experiences of its feather duster heroes, the old hall was turned 
 over to business, and has since been occupied by various photo- 
 graphers. 
 
 Forrest Hall in Georgetown is one of the old land marks of that 
 older city. The date of its birth is lost in the obscurity of the 
 diai past, and it is by no means certain that the strolling players 
 of the last century did not make this their stopping place. It has 
 probably seen within its walls every class of entertainment from a 
 glove set-to up to a S hakes perean representation, and about its 
 history cluster many interesting reminiscences. 
 
 There were two Odd Fellows' Halls, one on 7th street between 
 D and E streets, and the other on 8th street east or Isavy Yard as 
 it was then called. This latter hall was for many years occasion- 
 ally visited by dramatic and musical organizations who were 
 gladly welcomed and eagerly patronized by the Capitil Hillians. 
 for in the days before the horse-cars it wa= quite a journej* to 
 come up into the city. The hall on 7th street was for a long 
 while the principal hall in the city for the holding of concerts, 
 school exhibitions and light entertainments and dramatic repre- 
 sentations were accasionally given there. It was the home 
 of the negro minstrel, and many a distinguished knight of 
 
10 
 
 HISTOKY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 the burnt cork, made his first bow to a Washington audience 
 behind the foot-lights of Odd Fellows Hall. 
 
 Willard's Hall on F street, in the rear of Willard's Hotel, has a 
 pleasant history dating back for several years. It was there that 
 the first regular course of lectures was ever given in this city, and 
 that was in 1864, and was inquired by an association, know as the 
 Washington Lyceum composed of War Department clerks. 
 During this season E. P. Whipple, P. T. Barnum, George Yan- 
 
 denhoff, the elder, 
 and other well 
 known lecturers ap- 
 peared. The pianist 
 Gottschalk gave his 
 last concert in this 
 city at Williard's 
 Hall, being assisted 
 by Mad. Yarrien, 
 | Ed. Hoffman and 
 jj Carlo Patti, the vio- 
 f linist, a brother of 
 the great Adalina. 
 The other, halls 
 of the district are 
 comparativly of re- 
 cent date, though 
 their history so far 
 as the original in- 
 tention in their construction is completed. Carroll, Lincoln, 
 Seaton and Metropolitan Halls are things of the past. The most 
 notable event in the life of the first, was the readings of Chas. 
 Dickens during the last visit to this city. Lincoln Hall, where 
 Christine Nilsson made her first appearance in the National Capi- 
 tal, is now an Opera House at cheap prices. Seaton Hall has been 
 turned into a billiard saloon, and the Metropolitan Hall has been 
 promoted to a Dime Museum. The Masonic Temple and Congre- 
 gational Church still fulfil the intentions of their projectors. 
 
 GALLERY GAS-/IET. 
 
 MODEL HOUSE OF THE DRAMA. 
 
 This sketch has been written with a desire to place in- one brief 
 record all the. various places of amusement that have been erec- 
 ted in the District, during its life of over three-quarters of a cen- 
 tury. Improvements have been very great in architectural style,, 
 and in all the interijr appointments, both of auditorium and stage 
 since the first theater was erected in 1804, and the handsome Opera 
 House built last year by the Washington Light Infantry Corps, is 
 a fine sample of the modern home of the drama. Now, however, 
 the sixth edition of the National Theater, for this is the sixth thea- 
 ter that has been erected on this site, is presented to the people of 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL TAEATER. 11 
 
 the city of Washington in the form of a building in which the 
 very latest improvements in every department have been utilized. 
 Its awkward appearance is severely plain, but it gives the impression 
 of massiveness and solidity. Within nothing has been omitted 
 which could contribute in any degree to the comfort or convenience 
 of its patrons while the decorations and ornamentation bear evidence 
 of refined taste and skilled workmanship. The stage is spacious and 
 is fully equipped with all the latest appliances for scenic and me- 
 chanical effects. In fact it is believed to be a Model Theater in 
 every respect. 
 
 The National Theater has already enjoyed an existence of half 
 a century and it is for the purpose of grouping the most notable 
 events in its career of fifty years that the following data has been 
 obtained after much diligent and extensive research. The inci- 
 dents are arranged in chronological order, and will be found to 
 record not only the progress and developement of the drama in 
 the District during that period, but also to present interesting 
 phases in the lives of many of the greatest lights in the theatrical 
 firmament who have now gone "to that bourne from whence no 
 traveller returns." 
 
 THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 WASHINGTON IN 1833. 
 
 Fifty years ago the Nation's Capital was the most ill-conditioned 
 city on the continent. A city of magnificent distances, whose broad 
 avenues were laid out, but not builded upon, the streets unpaved 
 and full of huge holes and hog wallows, and the pavements in 
 the worst possible condition. Pennsylvania avenue was in the 
 winter and spring a vast quagmire through which vehicles toiled 
 with extreme difficulty; slush was king, aid mud monarch. 
 
 On either side of this thoroughfare were, at irregular intervals, 
 houses of all kinds, sizes and materials— many of them being 
 frame in the last stages of dilapidation. 
 
 Washington was then a dead city, with no trade, and kept 
 alive only "by the money of the Government employees. 
 
 Charles Dickens, in his American notes, writing up the town as 
 late as 1842, says: 
 
 Here is Washington, fresh in my mind and under my eye. Take the 
 worst part of the straggling outskirts of Paris, where the houses are the 
 smallest, preserving all the oddities, especially the small shops and dwel- 
 lings— Durn the whole down— build it un again in wood and plaster, widen 
 it a little, throw in a part of St. John's Wood, put green blinds outside all 
 the private houses, with a red curtain and a white one in every window, 
 plough up the roads, erect three handsome buildings in stone and marble 
 anywhere, but more entirely out of everybody's way the better, call one 
 the Post Office, one the Patent Office, and one the Treasury. Mike it 
 scorching hot in the morning, and freezing cold in the evening, with an 
 occasional tornado of wind and dust, leave a brickfield in all central places, 
 where a street may be naturally expected, and that's Washington. 
 
12 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 The town boasted of no theaters worthy of the name, though 
 there were several places of amusement. The city was small and 
 straggling, and full houses could not be hoped for except during 
 the sittings of Congress. 
 
 Yet every one acknowledged that the Capital of the United 
 States ought to have a theater worthy of the name, and several 
 patriotic citizens of the city met together and determined to form 
 a stock company, raise funds, and erect a handsome edifice.. The 
 agitation of the new theater project culminated in a meeting held 
 Sept. 17, 1834, when stock was subscribed for the enterprise, an 
 association was formed, and Messrs. Henry Randall, Richard 
 Smith, Pornelius McLean, jr., George Gibson, and William Brent 
 were appointed a board of managers to select and purchase a lot 
 of ground and erect suitable buildings for the purpose. These 
 U'entlemen occupied some little time in looking at sites which 
 were offered, but finally determined upon lots 3 and 4, in square 
 254, which were purchased by them from John Mason, the deed 
 bearing date of Oct. 16, 1834, and reciting the object for which 
 the land was bought, viz, the erection and maintaining of a thea- 
 ter. It seems that some of those, who were enthusiastic at the out- 
 set of the project failed to come to time with their subscriptions, 
 and as the building progressed more money was needed, so on 
 July 6, 1835, a deed was made by the managers to W. W. Cor- 
 coran, who had advised the selection of the site agreed upon, and 
 on the following day Mr. Corcoran reconveyed the property to the 
 trustees who were then Messrs. Henry Randall, William L. Brent, 
 Richard Smith, and B. O. Tayloe. 
 
 THE SITE CHOSEN. 
 
 The spot was chosen, after a thorough examination and research, 
 where the present stately building now stands. There was much 
 difference of opinion among the stockholders before a conclusion 
 was reached. The bulk of the city proper was grouped around 
 the Capitol, and the buildings grew fewer and smaller as they ap- 
 proached the White House, hence a minority of the stockholders 
 strongly urged the building of the theater as near the center of 
 population as possible, and chose Capitol Hill, but the majority 
 of the capitalists, led by the venerable W. W. Corcoran, Esq., saw 
 with a prophetic eye that the tide of wealth and fashion must sooner 
 or later concentrate around the President's mansion, and, so reason- 
 ing, they determined to lay the corner stone of the new temple on 
 the place selected by Mr. Corcoran, being the same that the New 
 National, just finished, occupies. Their judgment was vindicate! 
 by time, but not in their time; yet they builded for posterity better 
 than they knew. 
 
 WHY IT WAS NAMED THE NATIONAL. 
 
 In the fall of 1835 the spacious edifice was completed, and at 
 a meeting of stockholders on Novembar 3d, the subject of a fitting 
 
HISTORY' OF THE NEW NATIONAL' THEATER. 13 
 
 name was broached, and the members invited to propose a title. 
 After each one had made his speech and submitted his choice, the 
 committee unanimously decided to call this virgin theater the 
 National. The name was typical. It was to be a house of en- 
 tertainment, not so much for its own clannish citizens, as for the 
 representatives of the whole Union; therefore, when the corner 
 stone was laid it had that appropriate American word carved on 
 its granite. 
 
 THE FIRST ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The first notice concerning the National that ever appeared in 
 print was an offer of $50 for the best original poetical ^address to 
 be spoken on the opening night. Many competed, but the prize 
 was awarded to a Mr. Vose, of Baltimore. 
 
 The following description of the building is tak en from k the 
 National Intelligencer: 
 
 A DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW THE\TEE. 
 
 The lovers of the drama will he pleased to learn that this new and beau- 
 tiful theater will certainly open on Monday next. The lessees (M essrs May- 
 wood, Rowbothani and Pratt, the proprietors of the Chestnut St. Theater, 
 Philadelphia), have made the necessary arrangements for this purpose. 
 The construction of the theater is admirable, both for its commodiousness 
 and for seeing and hearing. The arrangements of the seats are very con- 
 venient, and the decorations will he elegant in every respect. The dome 
 of the theatre is finished, and is a most beautiful thing of its kind, and 
 when the house is lighted up the effect will he exceedingly brilliant. It 
 is painted of a pale cerulean blue color, and is divided into four allegori- 
 cal designs. 
 
 The first represents the Genius of the Institutions of the country, desig- 
 nated by Power and Wisdom repelling Tyranny and Superstition. The 
 second represents Truth at the Altar, from which the Spirits of War and 
 Peace have taken the Sword and Torch. The third represents the God- 
 dess of Wisdom presenting a medallion of Washington to the Genius of 
 Liberty, who returns a wreath to crown her favorite son. Fame proclaim- 
 ing Victory and Peace. The last represents Justice protecting and guid- 
 ing the Commerce and Manufactures of America. 
 
 The artist is a Mr. White, from New York. It will add to the public 
 gratification when it is discovered that the whole of the ornaments of the 
 interior are of a national character, representing either by allegorical de- 
 signs or historical illustrations important events in the history of the 
 country ; this is as it should be in a National Theater. The painting of 
 the principal scenery is entrusted to Mr. Kerr. In consequence of the 
 new plan of fitting up the theatre, it is advisable to observe that the pit is 
 done away with and the space occupied by what is termed a " parquet, - ' 
 which is connected with the lower boxes* and so fitted up that it will be 
 equally desirable for the ladies to frequent as the lower boxes. The en- 
 trance and the price to the parquet and first tier of boxes will be the same, 
 as the convenience and the gratification of the ladies have been consulted 
 on this occasion. 
 
 The second tier of boxes will be fitted up quite as handsomely as the 
 lower tier, and will be equally as commodious ; but to meet the wishes of 
 the citizens generally, and the constant play-goers, the price of admission 
 will be considerably less. This tier of boxes will have the advantage of a 
 handsome saloon being attached to it, where coffee, fruit, and confection- 
 ery will be served. The gods will be pleased to see that their comforts 
 have been duly attended to, and they will find very convenient and excel- 
 lent quarters in the usual place at the usual prices. 
 
14 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 THE FIRST PROGRAMME. 
 USTIEJW IsTATIOUAL T JB3I IE A. T IE ^/ . 
 
 Ma ywood, Rowbothau & Pratt Lessees and Managers. 
 
 i (Also of the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia.) 
 
 J. G. Pratt Business Manager. 
 
 ENGAGEMENT OF THE LONDON AND EDINBURGH DRAMATIC COMPANY. 
 
 This Evening, December 7, 1835, will he presented the following Prologue 
 
 and Prize Address by Mrs. Hughes, and Nacklen's 
 
 Celebrated Comedy of 
 
 THE MAN OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Sir Pertinax Macsycophant - Mr. Maywood 
 
 Egerton, (from the London and Philadelphia Theaters) Mr. Cline 
 
 Lord Lumbercourt Mr. Jefferson 
 
 Lidney, (his first appearance here) .Mr. Senior 
 
 Melville, (his first appearance here) Mr. Tavlor 
 
 Counsellor Plausible, (from the Chestnut Street Theater) Mr. Eberle 
 
 Sergeant Eithside Mr. Knight 
 
 Sam , (first appearance here) Mr. Thompson 
 
 John, (first appearance here) Mr. Caldwell 
 
 TompKins, (first appearance here) Mr. Weston 
 
 Lady Rodolpha Lumbercourt Mrs. Hughes 
 
 Lady Macsycophant, (her first appearance here) Mrs. Burke 
 
 Constantia Mrs. Knight 
 
 Betty Flint Mrs. Jefferson 
 
 Nanny Mrs. Baugges 
 
 The entertainment to conclude with the Musical Farce 
 
 TURN OUT. 
 
 Restive, (from the Chestnut Street Theater) Mr. Jones 
 
 Captain Summerville Mr. Taylor 
 
 (in which he will sing "The Soldier's Tear," and "Wil't 
 Thou Meet Me There, Love.") 
 
 Gregory Mr. Eberle 
 
 Dr. Truckle Mr. Jefferson 
 
 Forage Mr. Knight 
 
 Cook Mr. Caldwell 
 
 Gardener Mr. Thompson 
 
 Boy Master Burke 
 
 Marian Ramsey Mrs. Jefferson 
 
 (In which she will sing " I am Marian Ramsey.") 
 Peggy Mrs. Burke 
 
 Trices of admission : First tier of Boxes and Parquet, $1.00 ; second tier, 
 60 cents ; third tier, 50 cents ; gallery, 25 cents ; gallery for people of color, 
 25 cents. Doors to be opened at a quarter past six, and performance to 
 commence at seven o'clock precisely. Checxs not transfei'able. 
 
 OPINION OF THE PRESS. 
 
 The opening night was a great success, and encouraged the 
 stockholders with strong hopes that their money had been well 
 invested. The following notice of the opening appeared in the 
 morning paper : 
 
 The new and magnificenl aent was finely patronized on Mon- 
 
 day evening, December Ti h, 1855, by a very full house. The parquet and 
 boxes were filled with Ladies and gentlemen, and the "tout ensemble" 
 must have formed a highly gratifying "coup d'oeil " to the spirited man- 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 15 
 
 ager, precursor, it is hoped, of what he may expect throughout the sea- 
 son, providing he realizes the assurance and promises which he has made. 
 The form of the first tier of boxes is embellished with slight sketches in 
 imitation of bas-relief, and surrounded by correspondent ornaments rep- 
 resenting- brilliant events in maritime history, discovery, and naval 
 achievements. The second tier of boxes is ornamented in a similar style, 
 referring to victories, treaties, agriculture, &c. The procenium shows the 
 same colors and style of ornaments. In the arch thereof is a representa- 
 tion of the Declaration of Independence, supported on the wings of Time. 
 The curtain displays an equestrian statue of Washington, in front of rich 
 drapery, which is partly drawn aside and displays the tomb of Washing- 
 ton, Mount Vernon, &c. It is intended as a substitute for the green cur- 
 tain, and the change will doubtless be approved of. The machinery and 
 stage arrangements, all excellent of their kind, are by Mr. Varden ; and. 
 the whole was lighted by new and splendid lamps made expressly for this 
 establishment. 
 
 The first star appearing in the new theater was Miss Emma 
 Wheatley, a native born actress, of whom the papers spoke of in 
 glowing terms of praise. 
 
 JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH. 
 
 The New National had a rousing audience when Junius Brutus 
 Booth made his bow to a Washington audience as "Hamlet." Mr. 
 Booth was the living exem- 
 plification of the. axiom that 
 "the greatest actor is the one 
 who is the most perfect master 
 of all the signs of the inner 
 states- of man, and could, in 
 his own person, exhibit these 
 signs with the most vivid pow- 
 er." In person Mr. Booth was 
 short, spare, muscular, with a 
 head and face of antique 
 beauty, pale, but healthy pal- 
 lor. 
 
 His "Iago" was the finest 
 ever seen before the footlights. 
 He was a splendid devil, and 
 to "Othello" he lied like 
 truth. His magnificent voice 
 was at Will like the blast of a 
 bugle, or as sweet as a flute. 
 It is no wonder that his first 
 week in Washington was a 
 splendid ovation. 
 
 ORCHESTRA RAILING, 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1836.— MR. WARD, MANAGER. 
 
 Mr. Ward succeeded to the management of the house in Decem- 
 ber, 1836. It was during his management that the Ravel Familv 
 made their first appearance in W r ashino;ton; Burton. Yandenhofr, 
 
16 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 Hackett and Forrest also first appeared at the National when un- 
 der the management of Mr. Ward. 
 
 MISS Y. MONIER, MANAGERESS. 
 
 Miss V. Monier succeeded Mr. Ward as the lessee of the thea- 
 ter, and she was not only an actress of considerable ability, but a 
 lady of extraordinary business attainments She made a great 
 success of the theater. She billed all the European and native 
 talent, and managed the theater with wonderful ability, She was 
 •accorded a benefit at the end of each season, and was a pet and 
 favorite with the Washingtonians. 
 
 MADAME CELESTE. 
 
 March 9, 1836, Madame Celeste gave the lovers of the melo- 
 drama a wild roving play called " The French Spy ; or, the Arab 
 of the Desert." 
 
 The gallery gods were in the seventh heaven of delight when 
 Madame Celeste gave them "The Death Plank; or, the Wiz- 
 zard's Skiff," and the " Tongueless Pirate Boy." Thesentimen- 
 tal young ladies wept over the pathetic drama "The Moorish 
 Page, or, The Knight of the Bleeding Scarf." The blood and 
 thunder plays, with lurid lightning and tremulo fiddle accompani- 
 ments, must have been the rage at that time, judging from the 
 frequency with which they were placed on the stage. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1837. 
 
 For several months Miss Monier' s Stock Company filled the 
 boards with different plays, many of the sensational kind, that 
 were always followed by a farce, a favorite play being Cooper's 
 novel dramatization called the " Wept of the Wish-Ton- Wish." 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON PARKE CUSTIS, 
 
 theproprietor of Arlington, wrote a play called "Pocahontas," 
 which was produced at the National, under his personal super- 
 vision, in the year 1837, and had a very successful run. 
 
 A short time after the production of "Pocahontas," Gen. Alex- 
 ander Macomb, then commanding the armies of the United States, 
 desirous of adding to his military laurels those of a dramatist, and 
 inspired by the success attending the effort of Mr. Custis, also 
 wrote an Indian play called "Pontiac; or, the Siege of Detroit," 
 and this was also produced at the National, the United States 
 marine corps being utilized in the production. 
 
 Of those who witnessed the performance a few still survive, and 
 they describe it as a lurid and bewildering display of rapidly 
 shifting scenes, volleys of musketry, heaps of slain Indians, &c. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 17 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1838 
 
 The season of 1838, Mr. Junius Brutus Booth played the initial 
 night as "Richard III.," followed by Mr. William Burton in the 
 " Fine Old English Gentleman." 
 
 MR. WARD, MANAGER. 
 
 At the beginning of this year Miss Monier yielded up the charge 
 of the New National, and was given a glorious send-off in the 
 way of a farewell benefit. She went to Europe on a starring tour, 
 and in a couple of years returned and again took charge of the 
 theater, Mr. Ward acting as manager in her absence. 
 
 An unique entertainment must have been witnessed when Mr. 
 Porter, the Kentucky giant, eight feet seven inches in height, and 
 Major Stevens, a dwarf forty inches high, played in a drama to- 
 gether, written expressly for them, entitled " Lilliputians in Ken- 
 tucky." 
 
 J. IT. HACKETT. 
 
 On Thursday. May 3, 1838, the unrivalled Hackett made his bow 
 in the New National as "Falstaff." There have been scores of 
 Hamlets, Richards, Macbeths and Othellos, but never but one 
 " Falstaff," and Hackett was the fat rascal personified. If the 
 immortal bard could have seen this great comedian play " Fal- 
 staff," he would have said : " What I created in fancy, Hackett 
 portrays in the flesh." 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1839. — EDWIN FORREST. 
 
 The dramatic year of 1839 was ushered in by Edwin Forrest. 
 
 Forrest began his dramatic career when a mere stripling. He 
 was a conscientious, hard working student, and never neglected 
 the smallest detail. In person he was like a Roman gladiator. 
 His voice was absolute perfection, its crushing gutturality being 
 supplemented with that Italian quality of transparent, round, 
 elastic, ringing precision, which delivers the words on the silent 
 air like crystal balls on black velvet. His Jack Cade was a splendid 
 exhibition of physical brute power. His Claude Melnotte was as 
 tender as a poet' s wooing. He was a true actor, and sometimes when 
 in radiant spirits he would sit on the floor, mimic a tailor at work, 
 and convulse his friends with merriment by representing a double 
 part of two negro wood sawyers who undertook to play Damon 
 and Pythias. He used often to say : . " Its often the case that we 
 solemn tragedians off the stage are the jolliest dogs, while you 
 clowns and comedians are dyspeptic and melancholy in private." 
 
 MISS ELLEN TREE. 
 
 During this year, Miss Ellen Tree, played her Shakspearean 
 characters. She was highly spoken of. Mr. George Vandenhoff, 
 
18 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 the elder, an eminent tragedian, also trod the boards in the heavy 
 roles. . 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1840.— WARD AND WILSON, MANAGERS. 
 
 In the year 1840, Ward and Wilson, managers, received a bene- 
 fit, and the season was opened at the National by little Miss Dav- 
 enport, aged 11 years, from Drury Lane Theater, London, who 
 played Richard the Third— innocence apeing villainy, a young 
 maiden lisping like a Satyr. This precocious child filled the 
 theater nightly during her engagement. 
 
 FANNY ELSSLER.' 
 
 On Monday, July 6, 1840, the city was electrified by that grace- 
 ful goddess, Fanny Elssler, the most famous danseuse on the globe. 
 Sheliterally turned the heads of her audience by the loveliness of 
 her undraped limbs, and magnetized them by her exquisite poetry 
 of motion; the audience seemed to have been changed by her 
 Circean power into shouting lunatics, and the New National Thea- 
 ter was the scene of wild and extravagant action — men and women 
 vied with each other in cheering, gentlemen hurled their watch 
 chains and rings on the stage, and the fair sex stripped their arms 
 of their bracelets and followed suit, until the stage floor gleamed 
 with jewels at the feet of the adorable Elssler, who stood a verita- 
 ble Danae in this shower of gold. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1841. — MISS V. MONIER, MANAGERESS. 
 
 In the year 1841, Miss Monier returned from her starring tour, 
 and was received most warmly by her friends. She resumed 
 charge of the National Theater, whose prosperity seemed to wane 
 as soon as she left it. 
 
 BOOTH AND FORREST. 
 
 Booth and Forest played alternate weeks during the Christmas 
 holidays. 
 
 Mr. J. W. Wallack, Herr Cline,M'lle Jasistro, and Mr. Llewellen 
 played during the winter and spring, and the season was closed by 
 a benefit to the National's, fair manageress, Miss Monier, with 
 ''Money," its first production in Washington, and the farce of 
 " Wives as They Were, and Maids .as They Are." Miss Monier 
 ered her connection finally with the New National Theater, 
 and good luck and happy fortune seemed to have gone with her. 
 
 ' THE YEAR OF 1842 — MR, WARD, MANAGER. 
 
 Mr. Ward succeeded her, and opened the season of 1842, with 
 " Damon and Pythias," Mr. A. Adams as star. The next en- 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 19 
 
 gagement was of three nights of Mr. Hill the delineator of Yan- 
 kee character. 
 
 March 16, Miss Reynolds had a benefit, and announced that, in ad- 
 dition to the play of " The Dead Shot," that Mr. Charles Dickens 
 and wife would, on the occasion, honor the theater with their pres- 
 ence. 
 
 Next followed Signor Henrico Nano, in the startling named 
 drama, the "Baboon; or, Rival Apes." What they were rivals 
 for, and whether like the old song — "the baboon kissed the 
 monkey's sister " — the play bills don't inform us. 
 
 The season was closed with a benefit to Mr. Lennox, a stock 
 actor. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1843. — HIELD AND TUTHILL, MANAGERS. 
 
 Season of 1843. The New National Theater was opened by 
 Messrs. Hield and Tuthill, managers; the play was the " Stran- 
 ger," with Mr. Hield in the title role. After New Year Mon- 
 sieur Paul, the modern Hercules, gave a series of exhibitions of 
 strength, among which was to let four horses be hitched to him, 
 and try and pull him from a post. 
 
 Miss Palmer and Mr. Sinclair absolutely emptied the house, by 
 their lugubrious acting of that dismal drama " The Stranger." 
 They came for a week's engagement, and in two nights they closed 
 the theater; their baggage was seized by the hotel keeper, and they 
 issued a pitiful appeal to the charitable to help them out. A com- 
 munication in the city newspapers, says they ought to be thank- 
 ful to escape with their lives, after murdering the king's English 
 as they did. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1844. 
 
 The incoming year of 1844, was inaugurated by Mr. Hackett, 
 whose head must have been turned by the success he met with as 
 "Falstaff," for became out in a proclamation, several columns in 
 length, and announced that he would take the part of "King Rich- 
 ard the Third." So far so well; but when he decried Mr. Edmund 
 Keene's rendition of the hunchbacked Gloster, as being erroneous 
 and untrue, and intimated that he, Hackett, has the intuitive per- 
 ception of the part, he placed himself in an ambiguous position, 
 for ridicule is never so unsparing as when aimed at him who 
 vaunts his superiority, and fails. 
 
 The card of Mr. Hackett's may have filled the old National from 
 pit to dome on the night of January 4, 1844; but it is safe to 
 say Hackett proved to the people that a fine comedian is not 
 necessarily a great tragedian. His Richard lasted one night, and 
 Falstaff disappears from the scene of his triumphs for a long 
 time. The evening after, on the 5th of January, Mr. Booth 
 played "Iago," and it must have been a contrast between the 
 born tragic actor, and the aspiring Hackett, whose forte was to 
 
20 
 
 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 make tears of laughter roll down one's cheek, and not those of 
 grief. 
 
 Tuesday, January 24, 1844. Mr. Ward, the manager, has a fare- 
 well benefit. The play is described as an entirely original one, 
 called "Jack Nonpariel," with the inimitable Burton in the title 
 role. • The manager in his card says : 
 
 Mr, Ward presents his compliments to the Washington public, and 
 in announcing his farewell benefit, trusts the efforts he has made, to en- 
 tertain them will be remembered in his favor. He hopes that the stock- 
 holders will buy tickets and not enter upon their passes, ditto the press? 
 in fad Hi'- free list will positively be suspended. In conclusion, Mr. 
 Ward respectfully solicits, ' one and all' to flock to the Theater and give 
 . him a " bumper at parting. " 
 
 About this time the stockholders of the old National became 
 frightened. The shares were not salable, and the receipts were 
 not large enough to pay the expenses, let alone a high rate of in- 
 terest. 3Ir. Ward'sretirement, after seven years hard fight against 
 fate, brought affairs to a crisis and the stockholders hastened to 
 get rid of their shares at a sacrifice, and the National Theater 
 which cost $45,000 in its erection was reported sold for $13,500, 
 to General Van Ness, Hon. Ben. Ogle Tayloe, and Mr. Richard 
 Smith, all well known citizens of Washington. 
 
 MR. HIELD, MANAGER. 
 
 The Theater was re-opened February 11, 1844, under the man- 
 agement of Mr. Hield, who informs the public that the house has 
 
 been thoroughly scrubbed 
 and cleaned, the front of the 
 Theater newly painted; ex- 
 tra stoves placed all through 
 the house, and many new 
 lamps added, so that there 
 will be no more gloom. 
 
 The attraction on the 
 opening night was Miss Hil- 
 dieth as Julia, in the 
 ; ' Hunchback, ' ' This lady 
 is the one whom Gen. 
 Butler, then a young law- 
 yer, became enamored, 
 while she was in Cincin- 
 nati and subsequently mar- 
 ried her, when she retired 
 from the stage. 
 
 The manager soon got 
 sickof his contract.f or with- 
 in three weeks he announced 
 his farewell benefit; and on 
 Monday, March 6, 1844, the 
 event took place— the play 
 
 ,&gas* 
 
 ORCHESTRA MIRROR AND GAS-JET. 
 
 being " Douglas." The Hields seemed to be a dramatic family 
 for the manager took the part of Glenalcon; his wife the role of 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 21 
 
 Lady Randolph., and their son, "the infant phenomenon," Young 
 Norval, that " tended his flocks on the Grampian Hills." 
 
 S. M. EMERY, MANAGER. — J. W. YANDENHOFF. 
 
 The Theater was closed for ten months. In the meantime Mr. 
 S. M. Emery, of the Holiday Street Theater, Baltimore, became 
 the lessee, and Mr. Yandenhoff , of Covent Garden, London, was 
 the attraction, as "Hamlet." Mr. Yandenhoff was followed by 
 the Italian Opera Troupe from Havana, with Signora CorsinL 
 soprano, and Signor Perrozi, tenor, as the stars. 
 
 OLE BULL. 
 
 On Christmas night, 1844, the Theater was jammed with a bril- 
 liant audience to welcome Ole Bull, who played only two nights — 
 the price of admission teing raised to one dollar. The house 
 was then closed and an army of workmen were busy all Christ- 
 mas week in transforming the Theater into a circus, and making 
 the pit and stage a spacious amphitheatre. On January 4, 1844, 
 N. A. Howes' Equestrian Troupe performed, and the clown cracked 
 the same rid jokes that were dug up at Ninevah and Pompeii. 
 
 The manager, Mr. Emery, went the way of his predecessors, 
 and farewelled out of Washington, from which frequent changes, 
 we conclude that running a theater in the National Capital in 
 those days was what Mr. Mantalini would call a " demnition risky 
 business." 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1845. — WM. E. BURTON, MANAGER. 
 
 On January 10, 1845, Mr. W. E. Burton, lessee of the Phila- 
 delphia and Baltimore theaters, announces that he has leased the 
 National, which he has repainted and re- decorated, and will open 
 on January 12, with a stock company, Mr. Anderson as the star. 
 This engagement appeared to languish. The company played 
 before a beggarly array of empty benches; the people either did 
 not go, or there was bad management somewhere. The following 
 communication, that appeared in the Intelligencer, may give a 
 hint where the trouble was. If the fashion and wealth of the city 
 were not theater goers, the roughs and street arabs evidently were 
 steady patrons and paid their money, got their tickets and went 
 in for an evening enjoyment, in their own way. 
 
 "An old sitter" hits at the abuses, in a style that Artemus 
 Ward would call "sarkasum," and as a sign of the times we publish 
 it entire: 
 
22 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 theater reform. 
 
 Washington, Friday, January 17, 1845. 
 Messrs. Editors : 
 
 I "beg leave to submit through the columns of your paper the subjoined? 
 rules for the better management of the theater. 
 
 Vive la politeise, Old Sitter. 
 
 1. That no spectator be expected to sit, if he chose to stand ; it being a 
 gross infringement of the rights of an American citizen to attempt to re- 
 strict or otherwise regulate the free use of his limbs. 
 
 2. That for like return, he elevate his legs, or stick them at any angle, 
 oblique or acute, most conducive to his comfort. 
 
 3. That the good old National divertisement of chewing and spitting 
 tobacco, ad libitum, is an inalienable right of the American citizen. 
 
 4. That on a benefit night any individual may use three seats for the ac- 
 commodation of his feet, cudgel, dog or other indispensable appurtenance. 
 
 5. That no spectator, whether standing or sitting, be subjected to the 
 impertinent cry of "hats off in front." 
 
 6. That any attempt to suppress loud talking, whooping, haw-hawing, 
 swearing or the like, will not be tolerated,, as it is a most fragrant viola- 
 tion of that great safeguard of the Republic, the liberty of free speech. 
 
 7. That in the event of a set to, between two belligerents, that they be 
 allowed to have it out, undisturbed to those minions of the law, called 
 police. 
 
 8. That for the encouragement of native musical talent the standing 
 orchestra overture shall be some approved " chef d x oeuvre," of the great 
 Ethiopian masters, as "Possum Up the Gum Tree," "Sally Come Up," 
 " That Yellar Gal Smiled at Me." 
 
 9. That a copy of these regulations be affixed to the play bills. 
 
 Salve Republica, Old Sitter. 
 
 The old National, from natural and artificial causes, was not a 
 paying success. It is most probable that the true reason why the 
 audiences were not large arose from the fact that the city was 
 spread over such avast area, and the streets, all unpaved, were so 
 hard to travel, that it required real courage and laborious work 
 to go to the theater from any distance. There were no vehicles 
 then save the two horse hacks, who charged ten dollars to carry 
 a person to the theater and bring him back home, nor were 
 there any street cars. Pennsylvania avenue was lighted by oil 
 lamps; but the rest of the city was wrapped in Cimmerian dark- 
 ness. 
 
 The National Theater was like a castle in a state of siege; there 
 was only one route to reach it, all the other avenues of approach 
 were closed by muddy roads, impassable swamps — treacher- 
 ous quagmires : — over which deep darkness brooded until morning. 
 
 For some years the theater was sometimes open, but oftener 
 closed. A stock company played alternately in Philadelphia 
 and in Baltimore, and as the two latter cities patronized the drama 
 more regularly and certainly, the company of course acted where 
 they made the most money, and at last rarely came to Washing- 
 ton except during the sessions of Congress. 
 
 The route system, with its mathematical arrangement of dates, 
 and constant succession of travelling stars was not then conceived; 
 of, and the troupes generally roved at will, and Temained at* 
 towns where they had the heaviest pecuniary returns. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 23 
 
 The first fire took place on Wednesday night, March 5, 1845, 
 and the advertisement of that date shows that the attractions were 
 as follows: 
 
 The Inimitable Burletta of 
 
 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. 
 
 Sir Aldg-ate Pump • Mr. W. E. Burton 
 
 John Quill Mr. Burke 
 
 Selima..... Mrs. Burke 
 
 After which THE CONGO MELODISTS will appear as refined 
 
 gentlemen of the North. 
 
 After which the excellent comedietta of 
 
 THE SCAPE GOAT; OR, CUPID AND THE CLASSICS. 
 
 To conclude with a new farce, called the 
 
 STAGE-STRUCK NIGGER. 
 
 The account of the conflagration, which appeared in the National 
 Intelligencer, on the following day, was as follows: 
 
 THE NATIONAL THEATER BURNT. 
 
 An unusually destructive fire occurred in this city last night, 
 between eight and nine o'clock, which consumed the handsome 
 edifice, erected but a few years ago, known as the National Thea- 
 ter, besides some seven or eight dwelling-houses, situated on the 
 southeast corner of the same square, and fronting on Pennsylva- 
 nia Avenue and Thirteenth street, in addition, we believe, to sev- 
 eral stables and other "buildings which stood in the alleys that 
 pass through the square. 
 
 The fire originated in what is called the oil room, in the back 
 part of the Theater, while the performances of the evening were 
 in progress; but fortunately for the persons in attendance, who 
 composed a very large and respectable audience of both sexes, 
 the alarm was given sufficiently soon to allow them all to escape 
 from the burning building without the happening of any serious 
 accident. 
 
 The Theatre was burnt entirely out, leaving the bare walls alone 
 standing. We believe it was lately purchased from the compaay 
 who erected it, by Mr. Benjamin Ogle Taylor, of this city, whose 
 loss must be considerable, especially, if our information be correct, 
 that there was no insurance upon the property. Mr. Burton was 
 the lessee, who has also, no doubt, suffered much loss. We do 
 rot know who the other sufferers are, except that our worthy 
 fellow citizen Mr. Charles J. Nourse was one of them and Mr. 
 Louis Vivans another. 
 
 The Globe Printing Office, which occupies the lot on the west 
 side of the Theater, was saved from injury by being protected by 
 the high and thick walls of the latter building, and on account of 
 the wind blowing pretty freely at the time from the west, which 
 carried the flames in an opposite direction. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SECOND OPENING. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1850. — WILLARD AND REESIDE, MANAGERS. 
 
 JENNY LIND. 
 
 In the year 1850, the fame of Jenny Lind was on everybody's 
 tongue; with her divine voice she had the whole of Europe at 
 
 her feet, and she cross • 
 ed the Atlantic to sub- 
 jugate the New World 
 Of course it would 
 not do to let her come 
 to America without 
 visiting its Capital, 
 and giving her states- 
 men an opportunity 
 of offering her not 
 only a democratic but 
 a royal welcome But 
 there was a serious 
 barrier to her profes- 
 sional appearance, 
 there being no suit- 
 able and appropriate 
 hall for her voice in 
 the 'city. There was 
 but one Jenny Lind 
 in the world, and the 
 stigma of Washing- 
 ton, the Capital of 
 twenty million of 
 people, not having a 
 musical hall, must be 
 removed. 
 
 Two prominent 
 Washingtonians took 
 the matter in hand — 
 they were Messrs. 
 Willard and Keeside 
 who built a hall up- 
 on the ancient Na- 
 tional ruins, using, 
 the old bricks therefor. In a card to the public these gentlemen 
 lay stress upon the fact that they employ only workmen who are 
 
 
 MIRK K. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 25 
 
 natives of the city. The hall was rapidly and hurriedly built to 
 get ready for the great artist's visit during the Christmas holi- 
 days. Anticipating the immense crowd that would jam the con- 
 cert hall, the building was examined by Robert Mills, architect, 
 and pronounced safe. 
 
 The excitement upon the night of Jenny Lind's concert sur- 
 passed anything ever witnessed in Washington. Crowds stood 
 from midnight to nine in the morning in front of the theater 
 watching for the box. office to open, and it required all the police 
 force to keep order. Nothing was talked of but Jenn} r Lind; she 
 was the absorbing theme. The highest dignitaries called upon 
 her, and no empress ever held a more sovereign court than did this 
 little lady in the Republican Capital. This wonderful singer who 
 was to enthrall and delight the music lovers that were sojourning 
 at the Capital, was, by common consent, ranked as the greatest 
 soprano singer that ever lived. 
 
 She was born in Stockholm in 1820. She studied under Herr 
 
 Crelins, and made her debut with brilliant prospects, but when 
 
 she was fifteen years old she lost her voice entirely. Several 
 
 .years after it slowly returned, and she then renewed her studies 
 
 under Mad. Malibran. 
 
 In 1852 she married in Boston a young German pianist, Otto 
 Goldschmidt. 
 
 Her American tour was a series of splendid triumphs, and her 
 goodness and benevolence, rare in one so young, won the love of 
 the American public. 
 
 With the piaster scarcely dry, and the smell of paint painfully 
 apparent, the hall threw open its doors to the streaming crowd, 
 that speedily filled it from top to bottom. In a few minutes there 
 was not standing room. 
 
 The following is a copy of the play bill: 
 
26 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 Willard & Reeside Proprietors. 
 
 Jas. E. Welsh Business Manager. 
 
 GRAND OPENING NIGHT OP THE NEW NATIONAL HALL. 
 
 Engagement of the Worid-Renowned 
 
 MADEMOISELLE JENNY LIND, 
 
 Supported by a Strong Company. This evening, Monday, Dec. 16th, 1850. 
 
 PROGRAMME. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 Conductor Mr. Benedict 
 
 Overture— Zampa Harold 
 
 Scena and Aria— Sorgette Marometto 
 
 Secundo— S ignor Belletti Rossini 
 
 Scena and Aria— Casta Diva Norma 
 
 (Mademoiselle Jenny Lind.) 
 
 Thiede— Caprici de tremolo— solo violin De Berriott 
 
 (Mr. Joseph Burke.) 
 
 Trio for voice and two flutes Camp of Silesia 
 
 (Composed expressly for Mile. Lind's voice by Myenberger.) 
 
 v oice Mile. Lind 
 
 Flutes Messrs. Kyle and Siede 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Overture— Crown of Diamonds Auber 
 
 Barcarola— Sella poppa del mio brick— Sig. Belletti Ricci 
 
 Grand March— Crusaders Benedict 
 
 The Bird Song— Mile. Jenny Lind Taubert 
 
 The Tarrantulia— Sig. Belletti Rosini 
 
 Greeting to Ameriea, Prize song, written by ^Bayard Taylor 
 
 (Mile. Jenny Lind.) 
 The Herdman Echo Song Mile. Jenny Lind 
 
 Prices of Admission. 
 
 Secured Seats close to the Stage $7 00 
 
 " " middleof Hall 5 00 
 
 " " Back 4 00 
 
 Doors open at 6 p. m., Concert to commence at 8 p. m. 
 No Checks issued. 
 
 The Intelligencer the next morning had the following: 
 
 Mile. Jenny Lind's concert last night was attended by the largest, 
 most brilliant, and certainly the most gratified audience which ever as- 
 sembled at any public entertainment in this city. 
 
 We doubt if an individual in the audience had prior to her appearance 
 an adequate idea of the enchanting melody the "dulcet and harmonious 
 breadth" of the peerless songstress. 
 
 In the second concert, the President and Vice-President of the 
 United States and his Cabinet, and the members of the Supreme 
 Court attended in a body. The most extraordinary mark of hom- 
 age that this country ever witnessed before or since to an artiste. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1851. 
 
 On January 21, 1851, the National Hall was changed into a cir- 
 cus, and tiers upon tiers of hastily constructed seats were erected 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 27 
 
 along the walls, and as the crowd was enormous the pressure was 
 very great; during the exciting part of the programme, the west 
 side of the wall fell outward and carried many people with it. 
 A scene of frantic confusion ensued, that was with difficulty al- 
 layed by cooler, and calmer minds. An examination was made, 
 and no one found badly hurt, though many were almost frightened 
 out of their senses. After a while the performers commenced their 
 parts, and the programme kept on until its close. This was the 
 last performance at the National Hall. Hardly had the adorable 
 voice of Jenny Lind, and the hoarse voice of the ring master ceased 
 to reverberate through the building, before masons were at work 
 tearing the whole superstructure down, and immediately the en- 
 ergetic managers were busy re-building the theater on a grander 
 scale then ever before. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1852 — E. A. MARSHALL, MANAGER. 
 
 THE THIRD OPENING. 
 
 Early in December, 1852, the National Theater was re-built 
 
 for the third time, the following card announcing the fact: 
 
 Washington, D. C, December 10, 1852. 
 
 E. A. Marshall, lessee of the Bi-oadway, New York, and Walnut Street, 
 Philadelphia,theaters, respectfully announces to the citizens of Washing- 
 ton, that he has leased the National Theater, which has been re-built and 
 re-modelled in a magnificent manner, at an enormous outlay, and is now 
 one of the most elegant tempies of the drama in the United States. 
 
 On December 15, 1852, the house was crowded — the President 
 and his Cabinet being present to honor the occasion. Mrs. Hield, 
 who seemed always on hand, spoke the opening address, and then 
 the play bill tells the rest. 
 
 UEW ITA TIO^AL THEATER. 
 
 E. A. Marshall Lessee 
 
 (Also of the Broadway and Walnut Street Theater.) 
 
 W. M. Fleming. Stage Manager 
 
 •J. B. Bensil.... Treasurer 
 
 OPENING NIGHT, DECEMBER 15, 1852. 
 
 Great Attraction. Engagement of MISS MATILDA HERON, and her 
 
 Unrivalled Stock Company. This evening will be presented 
 
 THE HUNCHBACK, with the following cast : 
 
 Julia Miss Matilda Heron 
 
 Clifford Mr. Fleming 
 
 (Characters by the rest of the Company.) 
 
 Prices of Admission. 
 
 Private Boxes . . .$10 00 
 
 Parquet „ , 75 
 
 First Circle 75 
 
 Second Gallery 25 
 
 Colored Gallery ] 25 
 
 Pit 50 
 
 (Gentlemen are earnestly i*equested to use the spittoons and spare 
 
 the floor.) 
 
 The papers speak in glowing terms of the initial success, and 
 pays the following compliment to the lessee and manager: 
 
 If the present lessee fails to make the New National Theater the most 
 pleasant and paying institution of the city, no other man in this country 
 <?an flatter himself with the expectation of success. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 29 
 
 On December 22, 1852, the important announcement is made to 
 the Washington public, that for the first time in the history of this 
 city, they will have the opportunity of hearing the Grand Ital- 
 ian Opera in all of its completeness. 
 
 The troupe, with Madame Torronte, soprano, and Signor Vor- 
 rello, tenor, as stars, played only one night, giving Rossini's Opera 
 of "Cinderella." 
 
 THE YEAR OP 1853. 
 
 In the new year of 1853, Madame Celeste opened with a fine 
 company, and played three nights in a comedy called "Ducarge." 
 
 MISS JULIA DEAN. 
 
 The next week, January 12, Miss Julia Dean made her debut at 
 the National, and won a dazzling success in the part of Julia in the 
 play— Sheridan Knowles' ' * Hunchback. ' ' Her rendition of Julia 
 carried the house by storm, and rarely had the Old or New Na- 
 tional ever witnessed a greater triumph. 
 
 The following standing avertisement was kept in the morning 
 paper: 
 
 Notice to the National Theater patrons. We are pleased to inform the 
 public that we have made arrangements with the Union Line of Omni- 
 busses to run between Georgetown and the theater, before and after the 
 performance. Fare 25 cents each way. 
 
 LOLA MONTEZ. 
 
 The Washington people had a real sensation on February 9, 1853. 
 The lovely Lola Montez, the fairest, the frailest, the most fasci- 
 nating woman of modern times appeared at the theater as Theo- 
 dosia, in the mournful tragedy of the "Maid of Croissy." 
 
 The fair Lola had not much histrionic ability, but she jammed 
 the theater, and brought the ducats into the till. She was fond 
 of late suppers, and the first men of the times gave private enter- 
 tainments to her and a few select friends. She set the town on 
 fire with her beauty, and played havoc with the masculine hearts. 
 
 The next week the original play, " Betrothed " was brought out 
 with Mr. Couldock as the attraction, and he was followed by Miss 
 Eliza Logan, in the tragedy of " Evadne; or, the Statue." 
 
 On March 1, 1853, one of Boucicault plays was for the first 
 time put on the boards of the National Theater. The piece was 
 "London Assurance," with Miss J. Bennett as Lady Gay 
 
 Spanker. 
 
 The " Hunchback" must have been a favorite tragedy at that 
 time, for it was played for the eighth time at the National, 
 by Miss Davenport (now Mrs. Gen. Lander), her second ap- 
 pearance in Washington in that character. 
 
80 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 
 CHARLOTTE CUSHMA.N. 
 
 The gifted Miss Charlotte Cushrnan made her first appearance 
 before a Washington public on April 1st. She scored a royal 
 success in her roles of "Lady Macbeth," " Rosalind ," and 
 "Julia." 
 
 SEGULN OPERA COMPANY. 
 
 The succeeding week, for the first time, an English Opera Com- 
 pany played at the National. It was called the Seguin Opera Troupe 
 and achieved great success; their repertoire consisting of "Daughter 
 
 of the Regi- 
 ment," "Mar- 
 tha," "IlTro- 
 vatore," and 
 the "Beggar's 
 Opera." 
 
 They were 
 followed by 
 Edwin Forrest, 
 who drew bet- 
 ter houses than 
 any other tra- 
 gedian in the 
 country. 
 
 The queenly 
 Charlotte 
 Cushrnan, then 
 in the very 
 zenith of her 
 glory, played 
 her farewell engagement here preparatory to her departure 
 for Europe. Her " Ophelia " was a fine exhibition of her splendid 
 powers. The Washington Light Infantry, and the Washington 
 Continental Guards, attended the theater in full uniform in her 
 honor, and as a graceful recognition of the compliment, she 
 gave them an elegant wine supper after the performance at the 
 National Hotel. 
 
 BRESS CIRCLE RAILING AND DECORATION. 
 
 EMMA FITZPATRICK. 
 
 Miss Cushrnan was followed by Miss Emma Fitzpatrick, from 
 Drury Lane Theater, Louden, who made her debut December 20, 
 1853, as Letitia Hardy, in the " Belle's Stratagem." There was 
 also a grand corps de ballet, with Senorita Sota as the star dan- 
 
 seuse. 
 
 The succeeding week Anna Cora Mowat, the authoress, who 
 had turned actress, trod the boards in " Adrienne." This lady, a 
 short while after this engagement, married a son of "Father 
 Ritchie," the editor of the Union. 
 
HISTORY OF THE SEW NATIONAL THEATER. 31 
 
 A 
 
 The Chinese Magicians drew crowded houses by their hotch 
 potch of farce, ledgerdemain, and gymnastics. 
 
 On the evening of April 3d, 1853, a grand complimentary bene- 
 fit was tendered the popular manager, Mr. E. A. Marshall, as a 
 tribute to his enterprise during his successful management. The 
 theater on this occasion was crowded to its utmost capacity— the 
 play, as it was presented, having in its cast the leading actors of 
 his theaters in New York and Philadelphia. We present the en- 
 tire bill in full, that our readers may learn how they presented 
 plays in the " Auld Lang Syne " days before the war. 
 
 iTAlIOlTAIj THEATER. 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Mr. E. A. Marshall Sole Lessee, 
 
 (Also of the Broadway (N. Y.) and Walnut street (Philaclelphia)-Treaters.) 
 Acting and Stage Manager Mr. A. W. Fenno 
 
 Prices of Admission. 
 
 Private Boxes, $5 ; Dress Circle and Parquette, 50 cts., Children under ten 
 
 years, half price ; Reserved Seats, 75 cts. ; Orchestra Seats, 75 cts. ; 
 
 Familv Circle, 25 cts. ; Third Tier, 50 cts. ; Colored Gallery, 25 cts. 
 
 Doors open at 7 o'clock, Performance commences precisely at half-past 
 
 7 o'clock. The Box Office will he open daily, from 10 o'clock 
 
 a. m., to 4 o'clock p. m. 
 
 Mr. H. B. Matterson Treasurer 
 
 Grand Complimentary Benefit to 
 MR. E. A. MARSHALL. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE, &C. 
 
 Washington, April 7, 1853. 
 Dear Sir : Desiring to render you a tribute of respect for the enterprise 
 you have manifested in presenting the citizens of Washington and vicinity, 
 and those sojourning for a limited period here, with a series of interesting 
 and attractive dramatic performances since you assumed the manage- 
 ment of the National Theatre, the undersigned respectfully solicit the 
 privilege of tendering you a Complimentary Benefit, upon such evening 
 "before the close of the present season, as you may he plea-ed to designate. 
 Soliciting your acceptance of this evidence of our appreciation of your ex- 
 ertions we are, very respectf ully, your obedient servants, John W. For- 
 ney, John L. Smith", Chubb Brothers, Henry Polkinhorn, Geo. Gibson, R. 
 Armstrong, W. B. Chase, John F. Coyle, N. Clinch, John A. Bryant, Samuel 
 L. Harris, P. Harry Hayes, R. B. Hackney. M. A. Dexter, F. S. Shulze, J. 
 W. Arnold. Thos. Florence. C. Eames, H. A. Willard, W. H. Kennon. Daniel 
 Buck, C. W. Flint ,P. H. Brooks, C. P. Wilhelm. Chas. W. Boteler, J. Thomas, 
 Chas. H. Winder, Roger A. Pryor, James S. Holland, W. M. Overton, J. K, 
 Bailey, E. W. Abbott, Clark Mills. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 13, 1853. 
 Gentlemen : -Your favor of the 7th instant is received. I accept with 
 high gratification your generous offer of a complimentary Benefit. To 
 know that my exertions have won the approbation of gentlemen so dis- 
 tinguished by social position and intellectual attainments is an ample 
 reward for all past lal ors, and will inspire me to make fresh efforts. I 
 
32 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 would suggest Monday the 18th instant., as the time, if that will be agree- 
 able to yourselves. 
 
 With grateful acknowledgemnts, 
 
 I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant, 
 
 E. A. Marshall. 
 To Col. J. W. Forney, Chubb Brothers, H. Polkinhorn, 
 
 George Gibson, R. Armstrong and others, Washington. 
 
 On which occasion will be presented a fashionable and sterling enter- 
 tainment ; the whole of The National Company and Orchestra, having 
 volunteered, also Mr. Richings, Miss Richings, Mr. McKeon, and Mrs. 
 Duffield, of the. Walnut street Theatre. 
 
 On Monday evening, April 18th, the performance to commence with R. B. 
 Sheridan's sterling Comedy, in 5 acts, called the 
 
 SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL, 
 
 With the following unrivalled cast: 
 
 Sir Peter Teazle • Mr. P..Kichings 
 
 Sir Oliver Surface - Cunningham 
 
 Joseph Surface Foster 
 
 Charles Surface Fenno 
 
 Crabtree Jordan 
 
 Sir Benjamin Backbite Wheatleigh 
 
 Rowley McKeon 
 
 Moses Dewalden 
 
 Trip Tilling 
 
 Snake Mr. Terry 
 
 Careless Day 
 
 Joseph's Servant ° Francis 
 
 Eady Sneerwell's Servant ,...:.. .Haymer 
 
 Lady Teazle Mrs. Duffield 
 
 Maria Cunningham 
 
 Mrs. Candor Gladstone 
 
 Lady Sneerwell : France 
 
 Maid ...Terry 
 
 LA POLONAISE BY MISS ANNIE WALTERS. 
 
 To conclude" with the Musical Farce, in 2 acts, of a 
 
 ROLAND FOR AN OLIVER. 
 
 Alfred Highflyer Mr. P. Richings 
 
 Sir Mark Chase Cunningham 
 
 Mr. Selborne Day 
 
 Game-keepers • ■ Haymer I. Francis 
 
 Fixture .Mrs. H. V. Jordan 
 
 Maria Darlington - .Miss C. Richings 
 
 Mrs. Selborne Mrs. Thorpe 
 
 Mrs. Fixture France 
 
 Miss Richings will sing the Ifollowing songs— ' l MY HAPPY HOME," 
 variations from " LES DIAM ANS DE LA COURONNE," and dance a new 
 WALTZ by Gustave Blesner, of Philadelphia. 
 
 On Weduesday evening next, April the 20th, Professor Anderson, The 
 renowned Wizard of the North, will commence an engagement for six 
 nights only. 
 
 No money taken at the Doors. Tickets to be purchased at the Box Office. 
 
 Notice.— Arrangements have been made with the Union Line of omni- 
 busses to runjoetween Georgetown and the Theatre before and after the 
 performance. " Fare 12)4 cents. 
 
 An Efficient Police will be in constant attendance to preserve strict order. 
 
HISTOEY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 33 
 
 Wednesday April 20, 1853, Prof. Anderson, the great Wizard, 
 showed his powers for the first time in Washington. r ■ 
 
 The theater was closed a week and then opened by Donizetti s 
 acting dogs, monkeys, and goats. This drew the children in 
 flocks, and all the schools gave half holiday to let the scholars at- 
 tend in a mass. One afternoon Mr. Donizetti gave a matinee to 
 the orphan asylums of the city free of charge. 
 
 THE RAVEL FAMILY. 
 
 The Ravel Family then played four consecutive weeks, and 
 were followed by a few plays by stock performers, when the 
 theater closed for the summer. 
 
 JULIAN CONCERTS. 
 
 The Julian Concerts awoke an extraordinary degree of enthu- 
 siasm among our people, and such a conglomeration of musical 
 genius was rarely gathered together. The prices were greatly ad- 
 vanced; notwithstanding the house was packed to the very ut- 
 most limit. The Intelligencer said the morning after: 
 
 When the hour— half-past seven— arrived, from two to three thousand 
 citizens were gathered in boxes and parquet. When the orchestra, led by 
 Count Julian, played a medley of American airs, the enthusiasm of the 
 house was raised to the highest pitch, and when the national anthem Hail 
 Columbia was performed in a manner unequaled before, the vast audi- 
 ence was lifted to their feet, and the triumph recorded in three tremen- 
 dous cheers. 
 
 The next week Mile Yrca Mathias, the celebrated Russian Dan- 
 seuse with her corps de ballet, drew fine houses. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1854. 
 
 The season of 1854 was opened brilliantly by the Grand Italian 
 Opera Company, with Rose de Yries in the leading role. 
 
 GRISI AND MARIO. 
 
 Just about this time the music loving, art enjoying public in 
 Washington were on the tip toe of expectation, for their ears 
 were soon to be ravished by the clearest, most passionate soprano, 
 and the grandest tenor on earth combined— that of Grisi and 
 Mario— who were singing together in opera; such an event in the 
 world of music was so rare, that no one who loved the " concord 
 of sweet tones " would willinglv forego. 
 
 Gialitto Grisi was the greatest Italian dramatic singer since the 
 days of Malibran. She made her debut in 1832, in the role of 
 " Semiramide." The regular beauty of her features, the truth, 
 flexibility, and compass of her voice, made her a wonderful suc- 
 cess from the first. The great Composer Bellini wrote the opera, 
 "II Puritani" | especially for her. She was universally quoted 
 as a type of what the lovers of Italian opera call "passion" in a 
 singer. 
 
34 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 Her favorite role was "Norma," and she became so identified 
 with the part as to be often called " The Diva." 
 
 Mario's tenor voice was the most enthralling ever heard. OweB 
 Meredith has immortalized it in verse in his '■' Aux Italiens." 
 
 Of all the operas that Verdi wrote 
 
 The Tbest to my taste is the "Trovatore," 
 And Mario can soothe with a tenor note 
 
 The souls in Purgatory. 
 
 The moon in the tower slept soft and low, 
 And who has not thrilled in the strangest way 
 
 As we heard him sing, while the gas ourned low, 
 ''Non il scordar di me. ' 
 
 For weeks their advent was talked of, and when it was known 
 that they would only sing one night, and the opera was "Norma;" 
 with Grisi as the Diva and Mario as Pollione, and Signor Arditi, 
 musical director, the rush for seats was maddening; the manager 
 was besieged in his house; the proudest statesmen of the land 
 deigned to sue for a small spot in the theater, even to place a camp 
 stool. The scale of prices was no bar. The lower boxes sold, 
 for the one performance, for $75; the upper ones for $50; orches- 
 tra seats were $10; the parquet $7.50; the balcony and peanut gal- 
 lery $5; probably had the manager had the conscience to have in- 
 creased these stupendous prices fourfold, such was the intense de- 
 sire to hear these transcendent singers, that the public would have 
 paid the price ungrudgingly. The lucky possessors of tickets 
 were cajoled and implored on all sides to sell. It was a common 
 thing to buy in a ticket for one, two, or even five hundred dollars. 
 A Virginian named Warrick, from Richmond, an old " Forty - 
 Niner," who had just returned from the mines of California with 
 the sale of a rich placer, and his pockets lined with " pay-rock," 
 promised several of his friends to take them to the opera, and ac- 
 tually paid a member of Congress $1,000 for his private box. 
 
 The National never seemed nearer Heaven than it did on the 
 night of January 6, 1854, when those two divine voices blended 
 in a glorious harmony ; it was simply perfection, and when the en- 
 thralled audience filed out the lighted theater into the dark night, 
 it seemed as if they had just awoke from a seraphic dream, with 
 the celestial supernatural melody still ringing in their ears. Of all 
 the triumphs of art, there was no greater than this. 
 
 The great Forrest played three continuous weeks, commencing 
 February 6. His repertoire consisted of "Hamlet, ' ' the"Gladiator," 
 "JackCade," "Claude Melnolte," and "Macbeth." Hewasfinely 
 supported and of course, actor and manager alike, reaped a golden 
 harvest. He was followed by Mrs. Farren in the play of "The 
 Stranger." Then Miss Ince brought out that everlasting play, 
 "The Hunchback," and made a most tearful Julia. 
 
 Mrs. Macready came March 20th, and drew fair audiences to 
 witness her "MegMerriles." 
 
HISTORY- OF THE KEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 35 
 
 BOILER ROOM. 
 
 MISS AGNES ROBERTSON. 
 
 Pretty, piquant Agnes Eobertson, who afterwards married Dion 
 Boucicault, tripped across the stage in her dashing, charming way 
 as Milly the "Maid with. her Milking Pail," withTher short skirts 
 and neat ankles; it was worth the price of admission just to see her 
 sparkling face. 
 
 The summer being very near, Count Julian gave three concerts, 
 and the theater was closed until autumn. 
 
 MATILDA HERRON. 
 
 The fall season of 1854 was opened by Matilda Herron, one of the 
 greatest emotional actresses of her time, and the pioneer in that 
 particular line of acting. She had just returned from London and 
 Paris where her progress was unparaJleled in the European suc- 
 cess of any American .actress that had preceded her. Her role 
 was "Camille," with Mr. W. H. Briggs of Holiday Street Theater 
 as Armand. She met with an ovation that would have satisfied 
 the soul of the most exacting artist. 
 
36 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 KUNKLE AND FORD, MANAGERS. 
 
 In the meanwhile there had been an entire change of control 
 of the National. George Kunkle became manager and John T. 
 Ford, of the Holliday Street Theater, Baltimore, treasurer. _ The 
 theater property became more valuable every year. The tide of 
 population was steadily moving up town; the streets were well 
 paved and the wealth of the city was congregating in its near vi- 
 cinity. 
 
 Mr. James W. Wallack played one night as "Macbeth," 
 
 supported by Mrs. Melinda Jones. Mr. Wallack certainly had a 
 
 good advertising agent who billed him well, as the following 
 
 specimen will show: 
 
 In France the Emperor, forgetting the cares of state, and dashing the 
 glittering show of pomp and royalty aside, was wont to go to the theater 
 to enjoy the intellectual repast furnished by the gifted Wallack and Jones. 
 
 The manager placed on the boards, the Nightingale Troupe, as 
 he called them; and he speaks of their musical and terpsichorean 
 portraiture of life among the negroes of the south — we conclude 
 they were blacked up — or, as the gallery Gods would say, the per- 
 formance was " horse opera." 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1855. 
 
 In January the Rousset Sisters, with their coryphees, tripped 
 their fantastic toes, much to the edification of the young bloods 
 and old bachelors of the Metropolis. 
 
 J. A. KEENAN, MANAGER. 
 
 George Kunkle here retires from the management and J. A. 
 Keenan takes his place. 
 
 A play, to please the southern audience, is now put on the stage 
 as an offset to Harriet Beacher Stowe's creation. It is called "Uncle 
 Tom as He is; or, True Southern Life." 
 
 J. E. MURDOCK. 
 
 On Washington's birthday, Mr. J. E. Murdoch trod the stage 
 of the National for the first time; he appeared as "Hamlet," and, 
 just to think of it, Mr. Joseph Jefferson, the popular comedian, 
 will chant the dismal, doleful history of "Villekins and his Dinah," 
 as originally sung by him with uproarious applause in Baltimore. 
 
 After Murdock comes the Patomime, for the first time, of "The 
 Red Gnome; or, the Spirit of the Silver Fountain." The next 
 night was "Cinderella; or, the Little Glass Slipper." The papers 
 tell us that the children went wild over this performance. The 
 National was then closed until autumn. 
 
 HENRY C. JARRETT, MANAGER. 
 
 Another entire change of management: this time Mr. Henry C. 
 Jarrett, who afterwards became a famous New York manager, 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 37 
 
 i 
 
 and who was then the owner of the Museum of Baltimore, be- 
 came the lessee of the National with Mr. Joseph Jefferson as stage 
 manager. 
 
 They opened the theater with Mr. J. R. Scott, in the poem 
 dramatized, called "The Lady of the Lake." 
 
 The circus then became the attraction at the National, the par- 
 quette and orchestra being planked so. as to allow a saw dust ring 
 to be formed. 
 
 October 26, pretty and versatile Agnes Robertson again played 
 to a delighted audience. Among the charms of the vaudeville is the 
 great transformation scene of a cat changed into a woman, in which 
 Miss Robertson, Mr. Joseph Jefferson, Mr. J. B. Howe, and Mr. 
 Ellis appeared. 
 
 Doubtless a good many of the audience well knew, from their 
 personal observation, that such a transformation was madeoftener 
 off the stage than on. 
 
 In October, Matilda Herron again delights and thrills the audi- 
 ence by the rendition of "Camille." 
 
 She was followed by a dashing Frenchwoman in the sensational 
 play of "Jack Shepherd, the Highwayman," in four acts and 
 forty-two tableaux. It was estimated that every boot black and 
 street Arab in Washington witnessed this drama. They not only 
 filled their own gallery, but overflowed into the circle, balcony 
 and parquet; their applause was deafening. One philanthropic 
 gentleman of Washington made the boys a present of one hundred 
 tickets and he never had to pay for a "shine" afterwards, so long as 
 he lived in Washington. 
 
 JOHN E. OWENS. 
 
 Mr. John E. Owens, on November 11, 1855, started off well as 
 Dromio in the "Comedy of Errors," and played the balance of 
 the week to fair audiences. Then Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams 
 stepped before the National's footlights. They played "Irish 
 Assurance," and "Limerick Boy." 
 
 The succeeding week, Mr. J. W. Wallack gave "Macbeth," 
 and Mr. Joe Jefferson a farce called "An Affair of Honor." Mr. 
 and Mrs. Williams then .returned and played another week. 
 
 A southern actor 'next came and gave the old English comedy 
 of the "Heir at Law," and following^him was Miss Eliza Logan in 
 the dramatized "Lucretia Borgia." 
 
 E. L. DAVENPORT. 
 
 Mr. Edwin L. Davenport made his first appearance in Wash- 
 ington in Christmas week, in "Richard the III." Mr. Jefferson 
 playing a farce, "Slasher and Crasher." 
 
 Succeeding him was James E. Murdoch as "Hamlet." 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1856. 
 
 The new year the National was brilliantly inaugurated by the 
 production of 'The School for Scandal," with a caste of extraor- 
 
38 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 dinary merit. Sir Peter Teazle was Mr. Henry Placide, Charles 
 Surface, Mr. James E. Murdoch; Joseph Surface, Mr. J. W. 
 Wallack, Jr.; Careless, Mr. A. H. Davenport; Moses, Mr. Joseph 
 Jefferson; Sir Benjamin Backbite, Mr. J. M. Davidson; Snake, 
 Mr. Edwin Adams; Lady Teazle, Miss Lizzie Weston; and Mrs. 
 Candour, Miss Kate Howe. There never were so many distin- 
 guished players ever combined together in a comedy, at least in 
 Washington, and for a week "standing room only" was placarded 
 in the lobby. 
 
 MAX MARETZEK. 
 
 Max Maretzek for the first time appeared in Washington with 
 his Italian Opera Troupe, with Madame de Baroness Anna De 
 Lagrange. The opera " II Trovatore" was given two nights to 
 a large and cultivated audience. 
 
 F. S. CHANFRAU AND M.'LLE ALBERTINE. 
 
 On January 16, Chanfrau and Miss Albertine played in comedy, 
 "The First Night" and "Black Eyed Susan," being the at- 
 traction. They were succeeded by Mr. Koothroyd Flairclough, 
 who portrayed the "Moor of Venice." On their heels came 
 Susan and Kate Denin, who, being ambitious, they struck high, 
 Miss Susan essaying the role of the noble Dane who loved 
 Ophelia, and Romeo who was beloved by the fairest of the House 
 of the Capulets. It is said no woman can play "Hamlet," and 
 the blue eyed Susan was probably no exception to the rule. 
 
 The "J^aid Queen," a spectacular drama, came next, and it had 
 the honor of ushering in a day performance. It seems singular 
 that twenty years should elapse before the custom of matinees 
 was inaugurated in this theater; but enterprise or reform was an 
 innovation that the theater was the last to yield to, and it seems a 
 real blindness on the part of the manager that the idea never 
 •crossed their minds; it would have saved many of the directors of 
 this theater from their utter failure. Certainly no lessee of the 
 present day would rent a theater if he had to do without the mati- 
 nee, which is the more profitable, generally, than any night per- 
 formance. 
 
 KUNKLE & CO. , MANAGERS. 
 
 Another change of the officers is announced in March, 1856. 
 Kunkel & Co.. became the lessees, Mr. Joseph Jefferson retired, 
 and John T. Ford came to be manager. They had the super- 
 vision of the Holiday Street Theater at Baltimore and the Mar- 
 shall Theater at Richmond, Virginia, at this date. 
 
 MAGGIE MITCHELL. 
 
 They opened with Miss Maggie Mitchell, who made her first 
 bow before the Washington public in a play called "The Little 
 Treasure." 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 39 
 
 Then came in succession Miss Agnes Robertson, Pyne and Har- 
 rison's English Opera Troupe, Mr. Jas. Wallack, in the "Iron 
 Mask;" Mr. J. H. Hackett, in "Henry IV.;" Mrs. Farren, in 
 "Jane Shore." And the summer season ended with a benefit to 
 the lessee, Mr. George Kunkel, in the drama of "The Washington 
 Firemen." 
 
 The fall season was opened September 8th, by Miss Laura 
 Keene, in "Camille." 
 
 PARODI. 
 
 Maurice Strakosh now appeared upon the scene for the first 
 time with the famous Parodi. She studied in Faris under the 
 tuition of Pasta, and at the close, Pasta embraced her pupil and 
 addressed her in these words: 
 
 My child, God has endowed you with a noble voice. I have done for you 
 all I can do. You are ready to appear before the world. Go, my child, and 
 my blessing go with you. I shall live to behold in you the first singer in 
 Europe. 
 
 Her success was immense, and she came to America crowned 
 with honors; her progress every where was a continued ovation. 
 She was supported by Signor Tierieni, the great tenor, and Count 
 Paul Julien. Her engagement lasted a week, her repertoire being 
 "La Semiramide," "II Frugallo," "La Favorita," "Don Gio- 
 vana," and "La Nozze de Figaro." She crowded the houses at 
 triple prices. 
 
 EDWIN BOOTH. 
 
 Mr. Edwin Booth next appeared for the first time at the National 
 as "King Richard the III.," with Mrs. Germon as the Dutchess 
 of York. This lady soon became a great favorite with the Wash- 
 ingtonians, and they in a measure adopted her, and she was always 
 sure of a warm welcome whenever she appeared. 
 
 A great deal of interest was manifested by the Washington pub- 
 lic to witness Edwin Booth's debut.. His father, Junius Brutus, 
 was the central figure — the sun. as it were, of the English stage — 
 around whom revolved many luminaries. 
 
 Among the opponents of hereditary genius, it was said that his 
 son could not inherit his father's gift. A mother may transmit to 
 her offspring her mental qualities, but a father never. 
 
 These doubters came to the theater prepared to score a knock- 
 down proof of the truth of thtir theory, and the young Edwin had 
 a trying ordeal in appearing before an audience who remembered 
 the superb acting of Junius Brutus Booth, in "Richard the 
 Third" peculiarly, one of his masterly creations. Before the play 
 was half over young Edwin conquered critics, doubters, and 
 habitues alike. As great as was his illustrious father, the son 
 stood his peer every inch. Not only he, but his ill- starred brother 
 John Wilkes, inherited in a great degree his father's gifts. 
 
 Edwin Booth is the pride and ornament of the American stage, 
 he stands in his Aulelean majesty the finest Anglo Saxon artist 
 alive. In person he is ideally handsome and has the glowering 
 
40 HISTOKY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 luminous eyes, the speaking face, the changeful voice, vast in vol- 
 ume, and of marvellous flexibility and range. As a tragedian he 
 compares to Edmund Kean. He is the only Hamlet in the world; 
 as Claude Melnotte he is entrancing and fascinating beyond what 
 words can tell, he gives to love-language numberless shades, gentle, 
 naive, tender, tragic grace. 
 
 His Richelieu is nature's self ; he never oversteps the bounds; no 
 measured and artificial cadences; no unnatural pauses; no affecta- 
 tion, but the great Cardinal, albeit but a weak old man, rises in 
 his majesty, and shows us at last the secret of his mighty power, 
 which made him the master of France, against all " steel, poison, 
 malice, domestic and foreign levy." 
 
 Kcnkel & Co Lessees 
 
 John T. Fobd Manager 
 
 (Also of Holiday St. Theater, Balto., Richmond, Va., Theatre, and Ports- 
 mouth, Va., Theatre.) 
 
 Stage Manager Mb. I. B. Phillips 
 
 John Wells Treascrer- 
 
 Prioes of Admission. 
 
 Dress Circle and Parquette ,. .50 cts. 
 
 Procenium Boxes $8 and f 10 00 
 
 Orchestra Chairs #1 00 
 
 Reserved Seats - 75 cts. 
 
 Private Boxes... *5 00 
 
 Family Circle 25 cts. 
 
 Colored Boxes 50 cts. 
 
 Colored Gallery 25 cts. , 
 
 THIRD SHAKESPEAREAN EVENING. 
 
 Fifth Appearance and Benefit of the eminent Young Tragedian, 
 
 MR. EDWIN BOOTH, . 
 
 Who for the first time presents his name to a Washington Audience as 
 
 a Beneficiary. 
 
 Friday evening, November 21, 1853, will be presented Shakespeare's great 
 
 Play entitled the 
 
 MERCHANT OF VENICE. 
 
 Shylock Mr. Edwin Booth 
 
 Antonio •. Mr. H. A. Langdon 
 
 Gratiano W. H. Briggs 
 
 Lorenzo T. Shirley 
 
 Bassanio - . W. H. Bokee 
 
 Old Gobbo W. Ellis 
 
 Launcelot Mr. Jos. Parker 
 
 Portia Mrs. Phillips 
 
 Nerissa Miss Josephine Parker 
 
 Jessica Miss Ellen Morant 
 
 Fancy Dance Miss Ella Warren: 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 41 
 
 After which the delightful Shakespearean Comedy of 
 
 TAMING THE SHREW! 
 1 A J1 x Mb. E. Booth 
 
 Peteuchio "/.'.".. Mr. Jos. Parker 
 
 g rumi ° .' .'.".Mr. W. H. Bokee 
 
 Baptista Mr.Church 
 
 Brondello Mr. Van Osten 
 
 Hortensio . M Hig-ht 
 
 Music Master ".i'/.Mr. Germon 
 
 £ e ^ ro ' ....Mr. Phillips 
 
 KeVme^sttimej::::::::^^ 
 
 C^rtfs* ..'.'.'.'.'..WW'.'.'. ''.'.'..... '- '■ '""''.'"". V.V."." .".'.'.".' 'Mrs. Germon 
 
 On to-morrow (Saturday) evening, MR. BOOTH'S FAREWELL! When 
 he will appear as Sib Edward Mob nap, m Colman Great P^yotiu.1!. 
 IRON CHEST ! " and in the glorious Comedy of LITTLE TODDLEKIiNte. 
 
 In active preparation the gorgeous Fairy Spectacular Drama, entitled 
 
 THE NAIAD QUEEN; 
 
 OR, THE NYMPHS OF THE RHINE ! _ 
 
 With entirely new and magnificient scenery, by the celebrated. Artist, 
 Chas. S. Getz, Esq. Elaborate and Intricate Machinery, by Messrs Gar- 
 diner & Smith. Splendid Costumes, by Mrs. Whalen, Glenn, Williams and 
 others. During the piece, Grand Marches by sixteen Lovely Girls, arrayed. ( 
 in costly and beautiful Armors, as Female Warriors. Doors open at t>/4, 
 the curtain will rise at 1% o'clock. 
 
 MISS FANNY MORANT, MANAGERESS. 
 
 Still another change of managers. The Intelligencer of the 
 date of December 29, 1856, presents the card of Miss Fannie Mor- 
 ant, informing the public that she has become the lessee and 
 directress of the National Theater. 
 
 Miss Morant was not only an actress of fine talent, but a thorough 
 business woman withal. She evidently intended to stay, for she 
 changed the title of the house to Fanny Morant' s National Thea- 
 ter, and led off as Peg Woffington, in "Masks and Faces." 
 
 SECOND DESTRUCTION OF THE THEATER BY FIRE. 
 
 January 12, 1856, saw another year dawn upon the theatre, and 
 Mr. John E. Owens and Mrs. Melinda Jones celel rated it by ap- 
 pearing in the comedy of "Self," followed by the farce of 
 "A Kiss in the Dark." As the curtain fell upon the unthinking 
 multitude indulging in uproarious merriment, none could have 
 guessed that it would never rise again. The players, fagged out, 
 hastily donned their daily costume, washed the paint and powder 
 from their faces, and hurried to their hotel, never stopping to 
 cast a glance behind at the building:, which they would 
 never see again. The silence of night fell, the lights were out, 
 and on the stage no living footsteps would ever fall. It may be the 
 shades of tragedy stalked solemnly along, bidding adieu to the 
 scenes of its many triumphs, and comedy might have passed 
 across the silent boards, for once, its bright face grave, and its 
 laughing eyes heavy with tears. 
 
 The old National's day had come; its hour had struck, and the 
 incendiary's torch was lighted. 
 
42 
 
 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 At three o'clock it was set on fire, and in a few hours nothing 
 but its bare walls remained. No lives were lost, no one was hurt; 
 indeed throughout all the reverses of fortune the National has been 
 the especial pet of the Goddess of Fortune. Fate could destroy it, 
 but its good luck ever remained. During all of its existence for 
 over a half a century, no person was ever killed or injured with- 
 
 
 BOX OFFICE.— LOBBY VIEW. 
 
HISTOKY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 43 
 
 in its walls. Once inside its doors, every life was a charmed one, 
 neither flood or fire could harm it. There is no theater in America 
 with such a record. . ._ , 
 
 -The fire this time," said Mr. Moxley, "began in the property 
 room, wbich was upstairs, and I was in the theater when it 
 caught. I shall not forget the excitement. A New York party 
 was about to produce a spectacle called 'Olympic Devils^ and we 
 were getting up the scenery and properties for the piece 
 
 The following card appeared in the Intelligencer, February U, 
 
 1856: 
 
 Tim »«tm«x and actresses, sufferers l>v the fire on Friday evening, appeal in 
 thPT ^cmei4eScvto the generosity of the public, asking a favorable re- 
 sponse to tiflir ^iVvitation on Tuesday evening at Odd Fellows' Hah, when 
 In Attractive entertainment will be given, and a good opportunity for 
 ?enderingnTaterial aid and comfort to many who were m a moment rendered 
 destitute of their all. 
 
 For six years the dismantled walls of the National was all that 
 remained to mark its site. For a couple of years after its destruc- 
 tion there was a financial depression that swept over the country, 
 and retarded all works of improvements, especially upon those 
 buildings that were not indispensable. No profession feels hard 
 times" so severely as the dramatic, and when people are forced to 
 economize they always commence with dispensing with their 
 
 amusements. . . .-. , T .. , 
 
 Another fact miltitated against the erection of the National. 
 The Presidential election was rapidly approaching, and the sec- 
 tional bitterness that was smouldering between the north and 
 south threatened soon to break out in open flame. In that case, 
 capitalists feared that Washington would be the bone of conten- 
 tion between the two contestants, and it would suiter the late oi a 
 conquered city. In other words the National Capital was too close 
 to the border of the Slave States to be secure and safe, and the 
 prope-ty owners were very near a panic, and never was real estate 
 and houses so cheap as during the three years preceding the civil 
 war In 1859, '60, and '61, building operations were almost at 
 a stand still, every one was uncertain of the Capital s future, and 
 so, anion "■ the thousands of eligible building situations in the city 
 that remained unimproved, the National was one of them.. 
 
 At the threshold of the civil war, people were two much excited 
 to attend a mimic representation, when the curtain was slowly 
 rolling up on a stage that was a continent, whose actors were a 
 nation, and the scenes and tableaux were sieges and battles, tear- 
 fully realistic. The first year of conflict, the Capital was in con- 
 stant clanger of conquest, and the booming of the Southern can- 
 non at Mirason's Hill, but a few miles away, sounded a warning- 
 menace that prevented any building enterprise m the city. 
 
 Another year passed; all was changed, events succeeded each 
 other so rapidly in the war period that impossibilities became facts. 
 A mighty army protected the National Capital, an army whom 
 the people looked upon as invincible; money was so plentiful that 
 
44 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 it floated everywhere, and now that Washington was safe, and 
 the headquarters of a mighty Nation engaged in war, and filled 
 with the civil and military agents of the Government, all flush of 
 funds, the city jumped upwards in population and wealth like 
 the towns of a rich mining camp. The artizan's trowel and ham- 
 mer were heard all day long and far into the evening. Eeal estate 
 made the fortunes of those who early invested in it; and trebled 
 in value in a few months. In these war times the craving for ex- 
 citement became chronic, the people and the soldiers wanted to be 
 amused, the horrors around them demanded an antidote, and con- 
 sequently the houses of amusement were packed. 
 
 In the mean time the property had passed through various 
 hands, and a portion of the grpund now occupied by the theater 
 buildings had been sold to Allison Nailor. The board of mana- 
 gers had changed in several respects, and among those who par- 
 ticipated on one side or the other in the various deeds of trust 
 were Thomas J. Semmes, W. D. Davidge, J. B. H. Smith, Wm. 
 H. Winder, A. Hyde, Thomas R Sutor, James A. and John T. 
 Lenman. A decree of sale was made by the equity court June 13, 
 1856, and W. D. Davidge and Charles Wallach were made trus- 
 tees. No sale was made, however, at the time, and on the 
 breaking out of the war Mr. Wallach went south, Mr. John F. 
 Ennis was substituted in his place as trustee, and in 1863, Messrs. 
 Davidge and Ennis sold the entire property to W. E. Spaulding 
 and W. W. Rapley for $35,100. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE FOURTH OPENING. — LEONARD GROVER, MANAGER. 
 
 So it was that the National was re-built on a larger, more com- 
 modious and expensive scale than ever before. It was finished in 
 the spring of 1862. 
 
 The following appears in the Evening Star, under date of April 
 23,1862: 
 
 GROVER'S THEATER. 
 
 The old National Theater is again destined to shine in all its former 
 glory. Mr. W. E. Spaulding has erected the New National, without re- 
 gard to cost, upon the site of the old building, and has leased it for a tei'm 
 of years to the popular and energetic manager, Mr. Leonard Grover . 
 This building as completed has a capacity for about two thousand people. 
 The ceiling and walls are elegantly frescoed and the boxes neatly and taste- 
 fully painted and panelled. The scenery is from the pencil of Getz. To 
 sum it all up, Mr. Spaulding has erected the largest, most comfortable, 
 and most eligibly located theater in the city. 
 
 PROGRAMME GROVER'S THEATER (Old National.) 
 
 Leonard Grover Sole Lessee and Manager 
 
 GRAND OPENING NIGHT AND INAUGURAL PERFORMANCE. 
 
 This evening, April 22, 1862. 
 
 THE SERIOUS FAMILY. 
 
 AND THE FARCE J. J., OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT. 
 
 As played by the most brilliant comedy combination that has ever ap- 
 peared on the American stage. Inaugural overture by the entire Marine 
 band of thirty-two performers, who have generously offered their'services 
 for the new theater's initial performance. Miss Lettie Parker, Miss 
 Sophia Gimber, Mrs. J. Germon, Miss Julia Nelson, Mrs. Hand, Mrs. J. S. 
 Edwards, Miss Bramaire, Miss Williams, and a large and beautiful corps 
 de ballet have volunteered their services for the occasion; also Messrs. 
 Daniel Setchel. E. L. Tilton, R. S. Meldrum, H. B. Phillips, J. S. Edwards, 
 J. Seymour, J. M. Ward, William Baker, L. Martin, N. G. Hill, and a com- 
 plete corps of auxiliaries have offered their services. The Marine band 
 will, between the acts, perform grand balcony concerts. 
 
 Prices of Admission. 
 
 Orchestra boxes '. . ..$10 00 
 
 Orchestra Chairs 1 50 
 
 Orchestra Circle 1 00 
 
 Dress Circle 75 
 
 Gallery , 25 
 
 The Star says of this entertainment: 
 
 Mr. Grover opened the house with an elegant and popular combination 
 of artistic dramatique. Mjss Hough did well. We need not allude to the 
 genius of Mrs. Germon ; her talent in comic parts is too well known to 
 speak of here. She received several encores. The opening night was a 
 grand success. 
 
46 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATEE. 
 
 MAD. ELENA D'ANGRI. 
 
 On Monday, May 5, 1862, came L. M. Gottschalk, pianist, in 
 conjunction with Grau's Italian Opera Troupe, with Madame 
 Elena D' Angri, soprano, and Signor Brignoli, the renowned tenor. 
 ** La Favorita " was produced, with the result, of course, of a full 
 house. 
 
 ANNIE LOUISE KELLOGG. 
 
 On May 30, 1862, Miss Annie Louise Kellogg stepped for the 
 first time before the footlights of the National, in the opera of 
 " Lucia di Lammermor." 
 
 This opera closed the season, which was the most prosperous 
 one the theater had ever known. 
 
 MR. AND MRS. W. J. FLORENCE. 
 
 September 15, 1862, Mr. and Mrs. Florence in "Born to Good 
 Luck." This ran a week, and was followed by "Damon and 
 Pythias," with Mr. E. L. Davenport as the star. 
 
 LUCILLE WESTERN. 
 
 Miss Lucille Western commenced an engagement without a pre- 
 cedent in the history of the National; her " Camille" took the city 
 by storm, and she played to good houses for six consecutive 
 weeks. 
 
 YANKEE ROBINSON. 
 
 The end of the year 1862 was marked by the first appearance of 
 Yankee Robinson, in a new military comic drama called "The 
 Times of '76 ; or, The Days That Tried Mens' Souls. " This piece, 
 full of patriotic songs and sentiments, was a great favorite with 
 the soldiers, and many a gallant fellow spent a week in the guard 
 house for " running the blockade" to witness it. 
 
 The Old National did a rushing business, and the managers and 
 actors in these " piping days of peace," often look back regret- 
 fully upon the flush times of the war, when everybody had money 
 in their pockets, and spent it freely. Those days when it took a 
 heavy detachment of local police to keep in order the long line of 
 soldiery and citizens, who jammed the streets, waiting for the 
 theater doors to open. 
 
 THE YEAR OP 1863. — ANNIE PROVOST 
 
 On January 5, 1863, Miss Annie Provost made her first dramatic 
 debut in Washington, in Charles Reade's comedy of "Nell 
 Gwynne," and concluded with a neat afterpiece written by Mana- 
 ger Grover, called "Cape May Diamonds." 
 
 Barney Williams and wife, and Laura Keene's "Comedy Con- 
 gress," followed each with a week's engagement, and on March 
 16th, E. L. Davenport and J. W. Wallack joined forces and 
 
HISTOKY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 47 
 
 started with a very strong company. Emily Mestayer and Ada 
 Parker being also in the company. They played Shakespearean 
 roles only. 
 
 In April the theater had Misses Susan Denin and Annette Ince, . 
 playing "Romeo and Juliet," the latter well portrayed, but with 
 Romeo personated by a woman the love scenes rather languished. 
 Romeo's duel with the fiery Tybalt was a remarkable performance. 
 His deadly thrusts consisted 
 of a series of feminine pokes, 
 more suggestive of the house- 
 maid's routing a lazy dog 
 from the hearth rug with the 
 broom handle, than the keen 
 rapier seeking the foeman's 
 heart. 
 
 JOHN WILKES BOOTH. 
 
 On Saturday April 11, 1863, 
 the announcement is made 
 that the distinguished young 
 actor, John Wilkes Booth, 
 will make his first appearance 
 in Washington as "King 
 Richard the III." 
 
 A very large and fashion- 
 able audience greeted him, 
 and, a singular coincidence, 
 President Lincoln and Sena- 
 tor Oliver P. Morton occu- 
 pied a private box. As the 
 great Lincoln sat there, 
 heartily applauding the 
 young actor, how little he 
 imagined that he beheld his 
 fate, and the delicate hand 
 that handed the signet ring 
 in play to the Governor of the Tower, was destined to hold the fatal 
 weapon that was to end his own life at a time when he had climbed 
 the very pinnacle of human greatness. 
 
 Mr. J. Wilkes Booth played but one engagement in this house, 
 the occasion referred to. After considerable trouble and research 
 we were enabled to procure the play bill of that engagement, and 
 here reproduce it: 
 
 ORCHESTRA CIRCLE GAS FIXTURE. 
 
48 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 2<3-ATIOITAL T H IE .A- T ^ E 
 
 Leonard Groyer Sole Lessee and Manager. 
 
 Firstlappearance of the distinguished young actor, 
 
 J. WILKES BOOTH 
 
 INI'HIS CELEBRATED CHARACTER OF DUKE OP GLOSTER, 
 
 Afterwards Richard III. 
 Saturday evening April 11, Shakespeare's Tragedy, 
 
 RICHARD III; 
 
 CR, THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH FIELD. 
 
 Richard III J. Wilkes Booth 
 
 Richmond E. H. Brink 
 
 King Henry Willi am Bailey 
 
 Buckingham S. K. Chester 
 
 Norfolk C. Williams 
 
 Prince of Wales Mrs. Edwards 
 
 Duke of York >.Miss Susie Parker 
 
 Stanley ■ Mr. Stevens 
 
 Catesly J. Edwards 
 
 Lord Mayor. J. Parker 
 
 Ratcliffe . ...W. Barron 
 
 Oxford — Mr. Acker 
 
 Blunt Mr. Kil oourn 
 
 Lieut of Tower H. Wyoroy 
 
 ,Tirrell Mr. Hillyard 
 
 Queen^Elizaheth Miss Alice Grey 
 
 Lady Anne , Miss Effie Germon 
 
 Duchess of York Mrs. Muzzy 
 
 Several troupes of no great celebrity played at the National, 
 and the season was ended on July 8th by a benefit to the attaches 
 of the theater— Miss Susan Denin, Mr. C. B. Bishop, and Miss 
 Jennie Gourley. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE FIFTH OPENING. 
 
 For nearly a year the proprietors, Messrs. Spaulding and Rapley, 
 had a large force at work on the National, .and they spent thous- 
 ands of dollars in its renovation. 
 
 The following card appears in the daily papers: 
 
 Washington, Sept. 24, 1864. 
 Since the close of the summer season, the proprietors of this building, 
 Messrs. Spaulding and Rapley, have been making alterations and improve- 
 ments, nearly amounting to the reconstruction of the edifice. Mr. Grover 
 remains lessee of the New National. The work of the proprietors was 
 done under the immediate supervision of those excellent builders Messrs. 
 Entwisle and Barron. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1864. — MAD. PONISI. 
 
 The National, newly renovated, decorated, painted^and lighted, 
 threw open its spacious doors on the opening night, September 5, 
 1864, with the William Warren Combination which played for two 
 weeks and was followed by the European tragedienne Madame 
 Ponisi, as the Marquise de Pompadour, in the five act play of 
 "Narcisse." E. L. Davenport played in October with a strong 
 troupe, the drama being the ''Iron Mask," and the next month 
 Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Wallack gave the tragedy of the "Gamester." 
 
 The first of December found the Ravel^ Troupe delighting their 
 audiences by their wonderful feats of skill. 
 
 Christmas week was a gala one at the National. A spectacular 
 play called "The Relief of Lucknow," in which there was enough 
 burnt powder, blue lights and sulphur to suit even the soldiers 
 who had just come from the front. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1865- — AVONIA JONES. 
 
 The opening of the year 1865 was marked by the advent of no 
 less a person than the celebrated Miss Avonia Jones in the part of 
 "Leah the Forsaken." This Miss Jones was the daughter of Count 
 Johannes Jones, the eccentric actor, and this was her last engage- 
 ment in this city. At her benefit she presented "Romeo and 
 Juliet." J. Wilkes Booth playing Romeo to her Juliet. 
 
 Vestvali, or the Magnificent, as she was called, or called herself, 
 gave a week in running one tragical play called "The Jewish 
 Mother." 
 
 All of this fog of mediocrity was cleared away by the brilliant 
 sun of Booth, who opened in the latter part of March, finely sup- 
 ported by such fine stock actors and actresses as Messrs. J. J. 
 
50 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 Prior, Charles Barron, Miss Alice Placide, and Miss Shelton, 
 "Hamlet" was given magnificently, both in acting and in mount- 
 ing 
 
 Grover's Grand German Opera, in "Faust," came next with 
 twenty-three artists, and a large and thoroughly drilled chorus. 
 
 Then followed successively Davenport, in "Othello;" Mary 
 Probst, in the "Hunchback;" Charlotte Thompson, as "Little 
 Barefoot;" George Kunkel, as "Uncle Tom and his Cabin." The 
 latter gave matinees, with the price fixed at 30 cents to any 
 and all parts of the house. 
 
 The last play in this season, was Miss Kate Vance, who, with 
 her educated horse Don Juan, appeared in a play called "Mazeppa; 
 or, the Wild Horse of Tartary." 
 
 President Lincoln had the offer of a box during this engagement, 
 and on the evening of his assassination he had almost determined 
 to accept ; t, and given up the idea of going to Ford's. Unhappy 
 decision; had he gone to the National, he would perchance be 
 alive to-day, the most beloved of all Americans. 
 
 The following card was issued by the managers on the occasion of 
 the assassination: 
 
 The manager deems it proper to announce that in view of the terrible 
 calamity which has befallen our country in the untimely death of our be- 
 loved President, he considers it meet and proper that the National shall 
 remain closed until the general grief which overshadows our community 
 shall have subsided. Therefore we close the theater indefinitely. 
 
 WILLIAM H. CRANE. 
 
 The Holman Opera Troupe opened the fall season; among them 
 was a young comedian, William H. Crane, who afterwards achieved 
 fame and fortune in conjunction with Stuart Robson. 
 
 James E. Murdoch began the period by playing Hover, in "Wild 
 Oats." Mrs. D. P. Bowers, succeeded him with a fair play, 
 called "Loves Sacrifice," in which the heroiness gives up a brown 
 stone front, a cottage by the sea, a pair of bays and an opera box, 
 all for love, and marries the poor young man. We rarely indeed 
 see this loves sacrifice, except on the boards by gaslight. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1866. 
 
 Maggie Mitchell, like the theater rejuvenated, repainted, and as 
 bright as a dollar, opened January 8th, with a three weeks en- 
 gagement, playing "Fanchon," the "Cricket" and "Little Bare- 
 foot" alternately. 
 
 MR. AND MRS. CHARLES KEAN. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams played for several weeks to over- 
 flowing houses, and were followed by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean 
 who performed the latter part of March in "Henry the VIII." 
 The play was finely mounted and well acted. The prices during 
 Mr. Kean's performances were doubled. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 51 
 
 In May the announcement is made that the talented young 
 "Washingtonian, J. Newton Gotthold, will make his first appear- 
 ance in this city as "Othello." His name was a good one, but he 
 never got hold of Washington's public patronage, for he did not 
 appear in this theater again. 
 
 In the month of May. Holman's Juvenile Opera Troupe played 
 Cinderella— chiefly to nurses and children. Cotton and Murphy 's 
 minstrel show held out for a week. 
 
 JOHN T. FORD, MANAGER. 
 LOTTA. 
 
 On June the first, Mr. John T. Ford took temporary charge of 
 the National, and brought out that champagne-cocktail of the pro- 
 fession, Miss Lotta, who turned the heads and even the hearts of 
 the Washingtonians. She was assisted by Mr. Theodore Hamil- 
 ton, his first appearance here. He had been a soldier in Lee's 
 army, and no doubt enjoyed the mimic splendor of the stage, 
 and sweet music of the orchestra, better than standing a lonely 
 vigil on picket duty in a blinding rain, or being chased by a 
 score of blue coats through fen and fallow. Mr. Hamilton was 
 for years a most popular actor with the Washingtonians. 
 
 In July, Lubin Brothers, necromancers and scientific illusionists, 
 illustrated their proficiency in the dark art. This engagement 
 closed the theater. 
 
 SPAULDING & RAPLEY, MANAGERS. 
 
 The fall and winter season of 1866, was inaugurated first by a 
 card to the public stating that Grover's National Theater would 
 resume its former name of the "National," with Spaulding and 
 Hapley as proprietors, and J. R. Spackman as stage manager. 
 
 In October Mrs. F. W. Lander played Pauline, in the "Lady of 
 Lyons." 
 
 The latter part of the month F. S. Chanfrau made his second ap- 
 pearance in Washington, in the original production of "Sam," 
 his success was marvellous, and he struck a new and unique vein, 
 full of true pathos and humor, and the people responded to those 
 touches of nature, and thronged the theater. 
 
 The ever popular Opera Troupe, Richings, wound up the last 
 month of October. 
 
 Tragedy succeeded the opera, and Mr. J. W. Wallack, as 
 "Hamlet" "still unpacked his heart with words!" 
 
 JOSEPH JEFFERSON. ■ 
 
 November brought Mr. Jefferson to the National— not now as in 
 the past, a combined manager, treasurer, doorkeeper or anything, 
 now ready to play any part to fill up anj* needed chink. Instead 
 he came a conquerer, he had climbed from the bottom to the 
 eminence of the first comedian of America. His "Bob Acres," 
 and "Caleb Plummer," crowded the theater. 
 
52 
 
 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 I! 1 ''!'.'.' 
 
 BISTORT. 
 
 In December the lovers of the drama had a real treat in store 
 
 for them, the 
 greatest living 
 actress was 
 soon to grace 
 and honor the 
 stage of the 
 National with 
 her presence. 
 Ristori's repe- 
 toire was 
 "Medea," 
 "Mary, Queen 
 of Scotts," 
 "Queen Eliza- 
 beth," and 
 "Marie An- 
 toinette." Her 
 tine physique, 
 noble carriage, 
 wonderful 
 facial expres- 
 sion, made her 
 great in posing 
 and panto- 
 mime. Her 
 versatility was 
 wonderful. In 
 her several 
 death scenes 
 she acted all 
 differently. 
 Her dramatic 
 passion at 
 times was sub- 
 lime. In the 
 second act of 
 "Medea" (her 
 favorite role), 
 after the scene 
 with Jason, 
 she falls upon 
 a seat frantic 
 with anger and 
 grief; her sobs 
 were so heart 
 
 rendering, her agony so unutterably pitiable that their was literally 
 
 not a dry eye in the theater. 
 
 ORCHESTRA RAIL AND PILLAR. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 53 
 
 Ristori has been compared often to Rachel. They frequently 
 •played against each other in Paris. Guizot admirably described 
 the two. Rachel is the beau ideal of an aristocratic tragic actress 
 and Ristori the beau ideal democratic actress. 
 
 The National was squeezed tight with a most enthusiastic audi- 
 ence. Ristori' s engagement was a magnificent ovation from first 
 to last, and those who were so fortunate as to see her, knew that 
 she might possibly be equalled, but the world could not produce 
 her superior. Her ' 'Marie Antoinette' ' was sublime and infinitely 
 touching; her '-Mary, Queen of Scots," was perfection itself. One 
 could understand that sovereignty of beauty which swayed pen's 
 wills, and the Circean power that made them die for the frail, but 
 surpassingly fascinating queen. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1867. 
 
 • The new year of 1867 found Mr. Jefferson recalled to Washing- 
 ton, and on New Year's night he gave to the public of this city— 
 for the first time— that immortal creation, "Rip Van Winkle. ' ' A 
 greater, more tender, more lovable character never enthralled an 
 audience, or melted them in tears. Of course every seat was filled, 
 and every foot of ground in the aisles occupied. 
 
 Certainly the winter of 1866-7 was the most brilliant ever wit- 
 nessed in Washington. Wallack, Davenport, Lotta, Vestvali, 
 Mrs. Lander, Chanfrau,The Richings' Opera, Jefferson, the great 
 Ristori, and Max Maretzeks' Grand Italian Opera. 
 
 In February, Mrs. F. W. Lander, appeared as "Adrienne the 
 Actress," for two weeks. 
 
 Edwin Forrest appeared for ten nights. 
 
 Age had only enhanced his talents; for as years past had brought 
 the philosophic mind, they tempered and refined the animal 
 fierceness, strained out the crudity and excess, and a true imagi- 
 native portraiture took the place of sensational realizing. He 
 played the role for the first time here of "Richelieu," with Miss 
 Lillie as Julie D'Mortimer. 
 
 JOHN BROUGHAM. 
 
 March 4, 1867, Mr. John Brougham, the poet-author and play- 
 right— as well as comedian— makes his first appearance as Dr. 
 Savage, in his own original comedy, in four acts, entitled, "Play- 
 ing with Fire." . 
 
 After him came John E. Owens, with an engagement of six 
 nights, the play being "Dot; or, The Cricket on the Hearth.'* 
 
 Miss Rachel Johnson then appeared as Lady Isabel, in "East 
 Lynne." She was supported by Mr. B. Macauley. 
 
 JULIA DALY. 
 
 In April, Miss Julia Daly, who had won a national reputation 
 as a comic actress, made a hit in the play of "Our Female Ameri- 
 can Cousin." She drew fair sized audiences throughout the 
 week. 
 
54 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 Mr. Wallack followed in an entirely new play entitled, " A.. 
 Dangerous Game." 
 
 Miss Lucille Western scored a splendid success as Lady Isabel, 
 in "East Lynne." All other stars " paled their ineffectual fires ' : 
 before her. She was the original wedded maid and widowed wife 
 of the great novel and play — the others only copies. 
 
 J. S. CLARKE. 
 
 J. S. Clarke, the capital comedian, scored an undiminished suc- 
 cess in "Toodles," and as Major Wellington De Boots, in "Every- 
 body's Friend." 
 
 The Richings' Grand Opera followed with a very strong troupe. 
 Win, Castle, the sweetest American tenor that ever sang; S. G. 
 Campbell, the baritone so rich and full, whose Beppo in "Fra 
 Diavolo " can never be forgotten; H. C. Peakes, and little Mrs. 
 Zelda Seguin, with her pretty face and exquisite contralto. 
 
 They played a week to full houses, and by a general request 
 they extended their time six nights more— a compliment that the 
 Washington public — the most critical on earth — rarely give to any 
 one. 
 
 The fall opening, September 16, 1867, was commenced by the 
 Richings' Opera Troupe, with a three weeks' engagement. They 
 met with deserved success. 
 
 October 8th found Chanfrau as "Sam," playing a two weeks' 
 engagement. He also gave his unequalled imitations of Booth, 
 Keene, Williams, and his "take-off" of Bob Brierly, in the 
 "Ticket-of-Leave-Man," brought down the house. 
 
 Ristori, the sublime, in "Elizabeth" and "Marie Antoinette," 
 and none but a woman of transcendent genius could faithfully 
 portray her queens — the very antipodes of each other. 
 
 Maggie Mitchell followed in "Fanchon," and after her came 
 the burly-rolling tub-of-intestines, honest Jack Falstaff, with the 
 "only" Hackett in the title role. 
 
 Edwin Forrest played a two weeks engagement in his famous 
 and familiar roles. He brought out "Matamoras," this appear- 
 ance. 
 
 Full houses greeted John Brougham during his two weeks stay 
 at the National. David Copperfield dramatized, with Brougham 
 as the immortal Micawber. Also "A Gentleman from Ireland." 
 
 THE YEAH OF 1868. — THE AGE OF OPERA BOUFFE. 
 
 Tragedy, comedy, farce, and the opera had alternately amused, 
 interested or excited the people, and now there was a new depart- 
 ure, and a new era in music. The majestic statue of art was 
 to be adorned with the Jester's cap and bells, and the Bacchante 
 was to be crowned with the laurel of Melpomone, and the oak of 
 Thalia. 
 
• HISTOEY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. o5 
 
 W L. Bateman, with his Parisian Opera Bouffe, opened Jan- 
 nary, 1868, at the National, with Offenbach's, "Grand Duchess/' 
 The novelty drew crowds, and the capricious fancy of the public 
 was completely captivated, and "Opera Bouffe" was now the 
 furore and rage for a Ions time. 
 
 February, Mikado's Japanese Troupe gave entertainments well 
 worth seeing. . 
 
 The three months of March, April and May, 1868, passed with 
 three celebrities at the National. Maggie Mitchell, in "Little 
 Barefoot;" Joe Jefferson, as "Rip Vau Winkle," and three fare- 
 well performances of Madame Adelaide Ristori, before her de- ' 
 parture for Europe. When the curtain fell on her last night per- 
 formance, it did not rise again until the regular autunan season. 
 
 When the curtain, gliding up on the night of September 7th, it 
 showed the glittering spectacle and enchantments of the "Black 
 Crook," its first appearance in Washington, and the public curi- 
 osity was so great, that nearly every desirable seat was bought up 
 at the box office before night. 
 
 Offenbach's Comic Opera then held undisputed sway for. some 
 weeks. 
 
 Christmas week was one of delight to those who loved pure 
 opera. Max Maretzek, with Madame La Grange and corps of 
 artists gave the Italian and German Opera with fine effect, and 
 the old year died with its lasts moments soothed by the exquisite 
 tones of La Grange and Signer Brignpli, that mingling in dulcet 
 harmony formed a fitting requiem to old '68. 
 
 THE YEA.lt OP 1869. 
 
 The year 1869, was inaugurated by the advent of the Chapman 
 Sisters, in the musical burlesque of "Cinderella." Another brace 
 of talented sisters, appears and drew only moderately well, they 
 were styled the Zavistowski Sisters, and rendered "Ixion, or the 
 Man at the Wheel," and the romantic drama of "The Dumb Girl 
 of Genoa." 
 
 Joe Jefferson then appears, with "Rip Van Winkle." which he 
 used to say he was sick and tired to death of, that the monotony 
 was maddening, but as the public never wearied of it, he kept on 
 in a ding dong here-we-go-style, purely as a matter of business, 
 and piled up the ducats. 
 
 In April the Hanlon Brothers in their astonishing gymnastic 
 feats. 
 
 In the beginning of May, Dan Bryant's Ministrel Troupe made 
 a decided hit. They gave operas entire, with Dan as the soprano. 
 A morning paper says the performance was " II Trovatore," 
 which would have astonished Verdi if he had heard it. 
 
 The lovers of the Shakespearean drama, who turn up ^ their 
 noses at the opera bouffe, sniff at the minstrels, and religiously 
 keep away from the spectacular which did the bare legged ballet, 
 now hasten to the theater to see Mrs. Scott Siddons make her 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER, 
 
 debut as Rosalind, in "As You Like It." The critics say Mrs. 
 Siddons was handsome, graceful and pleasing as Rosalind, but her 
 acting was occasionally marred by mannerisms. 
 
 OnMay 27th the theater was closed for the summer by a bene- 
 fit to the attaches of the National. Messrs. Joseph Sessford, Par- 
 ker, Buckingham, Vesey and Jamison. They weie made happy 
 by a first-class house. 
 
 The National was opened on September 11th by Leffing wells 
 Burlesque Combination, the play being the "Gushing Clormda. 
 
 The ever warmly welcomed Richings' Opera Troupe came next 
 with the usual result. 
 
 This seemed a flush year for minstrel shows, for another turns 
 up called Newcomb's Burlesque Artists, with Joe Emmet, the 
 Dutch delineator, as an attraction. The papers spoke highly of 
 the ir performance. 
 
 In November, Mile. Rita Sangalli and her troupe was billed to 
 play the fairy burlesque called "Flick-Flock." The papers the 
 next morning remark: 
 
 It was a disastrous and complete failure and mortifying break-down, 
 owing to the non-arrival of the music from Baltimore in time for re- 
 hearsal. 
 
 ROSE AND HARRY WATKINS. 
 
 In November, Rose and Harry Watkins played a dramatization 
 of Ouidas famous novel, "Under Two Flags," and Rose Watkins' 
 rendition of the sparkling, bewitching, little devil, Cigarette, was 
 perfection herself. The house was crowded. 
 
 Maurice Grau now comes with his Grand German Opera, with 
 a whole hott of artists with jaw cracking names. The critic of 
 the Chronicle said the next morning: 
 
 " The Magic Flute performance last night did not strike us very favor- 
 ably in consequence of the lack of ensemble." 
 
 If you have tears prepare to shed them now, for here comes 
 Lucille Western to unlock the founts, or, as Sam Weller would 
 say, turn the water-works on. Her conception of Lady Isabel was 
 good, but her Madame Vine in "East Lynne," was the saddest, 
 most sorrowful rendition of human grief and despair that was 
 seen on the boards of the National for along time. "East Lynne" 
 ran for two weeks. 
 
 The closing year of 1869, found Mr. and Mrs. Claude Hamilton 
 in the melodrama, "The Murder by the Roadside Inn." 
 
 THE YEAR OY 1870. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Florence opened the year of 1870 by the "Colleen 
 Bawn." 
 
 MISS BATEMAN. 
 
 Engagement for six nights of the celebrated American trage- 
 dienne, Miss Batem.an, is what meets our eye on the bill boards on 
 the streets. She played the character of Mary Warner, in the play 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 57 
 
 of that title, supported by Mr. George Jordan. President Grant 
 and wife, Generals Porter and Sherman, were present, ihe an- 
 nouncement that General Sherman was present is superfluous, tol- 
 as regularly as the week came around he proceeded to the Na- 
 tional, his long ungainly form, whimsical face, and shrewd eyes 
 was familiar to 
 the habitues of 
 the pit. He was 
 always demo- 
 cratic to the core, 
 hated boxes, de 
 spised form, and 
 went to en joy the 
 play as one of 
 the people, not 
 as a big general 
 with a noisy 
 staff. General 
 Grant was so fre- 
 quent a visitor 
 to the theater, 
 that his presence 
 never excited re- 
 mark, and rarely 
 produced a local 
 notice in the 
 paperk 
 
 Another Bur- 
 lesque Opera 
 Company, Lin- 
 gard's, in the 
 "Captain of the 
 Watch." They 
 werewell re- 
 ceived. 
 
 A rush to the 
 box office, and a 
 double price for 
 a seat marks the 
 advent of Max 
 Maretzek's 
 Grand Italian 
 Opera Company. 
 Brial, Lumley, 
 
 Lefranc, & c . 
 
 The criticism by the press on "Trovatore," is that Signor Lefranc 
 has a voice of rare purity and power, but that the Prima Donna 
 Madame Brial' s voice lacks freshness, and appears worn and 
 strained. No mention is made of the lesser lights. 
 
 PRESS CIRCLE STAIRWAY. 
 
58 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 The "Horse Opera," for the twentieth time. Burnt cork seems 
 to he king, and any man in the Union who can sing a song or pick 
 the banjo, straightway joins a minstrel show. The years 1869 
 and '70, were prolific of these combinations, the public taste set 
 that way, 2md"lllfaut que le publiqueS "amuse." Kelly & Leons' 
 combination of burnt corkers, gave a burlesque entitled, "Matri- 
 mony." 
 
 February 7th. E. L Davenport, for a week, roles "Hamlet" 
 and "A New Way to Pay Old Debts." Maggie Mitchell, in the 
 "Pearl of Savoy," for two weeks to only moderate houses. 
 
 The spring of 1870 was marked by the return of many of the 
 old favorites. Mrs. D. P. Bowers, in "Lady Audley's. Secret;" 
 John Owens, as "Solon Shingle;" Jefferson, as "Rip;" Lotta, in 
 the "Little Detective;" John Brougham, in the "Red Light;" 
 Mrs. Bowers, in "Marie Stuart," and E. L. Davenport, in "The 
 Soldier of. Fortune," followed each other consecutively, to good, 
 bad and indifferent houses as the case may be. 
 
 The close of the spring season was marked by two benefits. The 
 first was a grand complimentary testimonial to manager Spauld- 
 ing, on which occasion, Mr. E. L. Davenport, Miss Annette Ince, 
 and Frank Mordant volunteered their services. The comedy was 
 "Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady." 
 
 The night after was another benefit, this time to that popular 
 artiste, Mrs. G. C. Germon, on which occasion the lovely actress, 
 Miss Effie Germon appeared in the role of Jessie Brown, or the 
 "Relief of Lucknow." A big crowd assembled, and Mrs. Ger- 
 mon' s friends gave her a fine send o3!, 
 
 JOE K. EMEETT. 
 
 On September 23, 1870, Joe Emmet appeared for the first time 
 before the footlights of the National in the role that he had made 
 so famous, as Fritz, in our "German Cousin." 
 
 W. E. SPAULDING, MANAGER. 
 
 Mr. William E. Spaulding announces that he is the sole mana- 
 ger of the National. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Florence in "Handy Andy." 
 
 And then Oliver Doul Byron was heralded as bringing a show 
 worth paying a dollar to witness. It was a real lurid drama called 
 "Across the Continent," and the blue and red lights were in con- 
 stant demand. People Outside the theater thought a battle was 
 going on inside, judging from the rattle of the musketry and 
 shouts of the combatants. 
 
 Lucille Western in the "weeping business" again, old role, 
 succeeded by the Ravel Family; and next pretty Miss Lotta, and 
 Mrs. and Mr. Barney Williams, played through November, and 
 the following two weeks were Mrs. Lander and Rose Watkins, the 
 former in "Queen Elizabeth," the latter in "Under Two Flass." 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 59 
 
 CHARLES FECHTER. 
 
 The world renowned actor, Charles Fechter, mile his ri rst ap- 
 pearance at the National December 16, 1371, as Claude Melnotte, 
 with Caroline Leclerque as -Pauline. He scored a splendid suc- 
 cess. 
 
 There was no performance for two weeks afterwards in conse- 
 quence of the extensive arrangements for bringing out the new 
 Christmas pantomime of "See-Saw; or, The old Woman that lived 
 in the Shoe," which had been in preparation for several months 
 past. New scenery, new costumes, new calcium lights, a large 
 chorus, not only showed the tact and enterprise of Mr. Spaulding, 
 the owner, but of Mr. Parker, stage manager, as well. 
 
 "The Old Woman that Lived in the Shoe" had a run of several 
 nights and a matinee. Nearly every child in Washington saw 
 this scene from wonderland, and it set every infantile tongue gab- 
 bling like mad, and how many hours of sleep the "innocents" lost 
 in consequence, only the tired nurses could tell. It played its 
 final performance on New Year's night. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1871. — MRS. SCOTT SIDDONS. 
 
 The following well know stars, gleamed at the National, and 
 then disappeared for a time: Fechter, as "Hamlet," drew crowded 
 houses, and his delineation of the Dane, drew unmeasured praise 
 from press and people. Mrs. Scott Siddons acted as "Romeo," 
 who, by the way, is responsible for many a woman donning that 
 portion of the masculine attire known as pants ani breech e s. 
 
 LYDIA THOMPSON. 
 
 Mrs. Bowers, in "Lady Audley's Secret," and Lydia Thompson 
 with her troupe of bare limbed blondes literally set the town on 
 fire, great throngs packed the National. "Lurline" a burlesque, 
 was received, as the bills would say with rapturous applause. The 
 fair kicker Lydia made her engagement a huge success. 
 
 MARIE SEEBACH. 
 
 Madame Marie Seebach announces herself as the greatest living- 
 tragedienne, and played "'Mary Stuart" and "Addrienne Lecour- 
 reur" for a week, but the memory of Ristori and Matilda Heron 
 in those roles was so fresh and vivid in people's minds that the 
 Madame suffered by the contrast. 
 
 Leonora Cavender, played a week to poor houses, in a play 
 called the "Ups and Downs of City Life." People did not require 
 to pay a dollar to see ups and downs, they had them free of 
 charge. 
 
 Another sensational play is put upon the boards, called "Neck 
 and Neck," by E. T. Stetson, a youth hitherto unknown to fame. 
 This drama had a very realistic gallows and railroad scene, and 
 people fond of thrills could shiver down to their boot heels at the 
 narrow escapes. 
 
60 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 Chanfrau appears with a new play called "Kit;" it attracted 
 overwhelming crowds, and the ''Arkansas Traveller" rose to de- 
 served eminence at last. 
 
 April 10th, Joe Jefferson still playing "Old Rip" to new people 
 and old friends. 
 
 FRANK MAYO. 
 
 Succeeding him was Frank Mayo, in the "Streets of New York," 
 and on April 24, 1871, the season was closed by one weeks en- 
 gagement of Carncross and Dixie's Minstrels. They were an 
 Ethiopian success. 
 
 J. G. SAVILLE, MANAGER. 
 
 On Friday, August 16th, the theater threw open its doors 
 for the benefit of the Washington Monument Fund, under the 
 auspices of the Washington Literary Association, "The Ticket-of- 
 Leave-Man" was played. As it was" in the middle of the dog days, 
 with the thermometer at 89° in the night time, the result was 
 that the theater had held larger audiences in its days. 
 
 Florence played one week at the opening in September 23, 1872, 
 and was greeted by a large and enthusiastic audience. 
 
 October 1st, Miss Susan Denin and Signorini Antonnini, in the 
 "Palace of Truth." A morning paper speaking in a Pickwickian 
 sense says: 
 
 Frank and blunt people who wish to see what results from telling the 
 truth all the time should go and pay attention. Politicians are in no need 
 of the lesson. 
 
 Mrs. Bowers, in her role of "AmyRobsart," followed by the 
 Holman Opera Troupe, in the ' Grand Duchess," which the press 
 says was well performed, though the Prima Donna, Sallie Holman, 
 was not equal to her part. 
 
 October 28, Mr. J. G. Saville, as Elliott Gray, in Lester Wal- 
 laces play of "Rosed ale." Both the actor and the play met with 
 only indifferent success. 
 
 Kate Putnam then came in the "Old Curiosity Shop," and made 
 a very favorable impression. 
 
 MAY SAVILLE. 
 
 Following them was Joe Proctor and May Saville, in "The Red 
 Pocket Book," a sensational play in the truest meanino- of the 
 word. 
 
 November 25th, the Fifth Avenue Combination, Mr. Geo C 
 Boniface and Miss Georgia Langley, in "Divorce." It didnot meet 
 with the success it deserved. It may possibly have recalled un- 
 pleasant memories to some people. 
 
 LESTER WALLACK. 
 
 Lester Wallack came with "Central Park," not the reservation 
 but a play, and starred it for a week, and then left denouncing the 
 want of taste of tbe Washington public. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATOIXAL THEATER. 61 
 
 "After Dark," by a stock company, then a play called "Fee Fo 
 Fe Fum," by Prof. Davis's Educated Dogs, which attracted more 
 custom than many dramas performed by bipeds. 
 
 DION BOUCICAULT. 
 
 Dion Boucicault and Miss Agnes Robertson, in that humorous 
 and pathetic comedy, "Arrah NaPogue." They were greeted by 
 magnificent houses. 
 
 The fall season brought many well-known stock actors, but no 
 stars of the first magnitude. Lester Wallack, in "Rosedale;" 
 Charles Matthews, in "Married for Money;" Mrs. Chanfrau, in 
 "Christie Johnson;" Manager Saville, in "Saratoga," and he 
 proved himself a very fair comedian, full of vim, and an actor of 
 great magnetism. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1872. 
 
 January, 1872, brought the Grand German Opera with the tenor 
 Wachtel as the attraction. The house was well filled with a criti- 
 cal and cultivated audience, and the universal verdict was one of 
 utter disappointment, and the manager left Washington a wiser 
 and a madder man. He found that he could not impose on the 
 natives by employing a fair tenor and a collection cf broken down 
 singers with unpronounciable names, who tried to palm off discord 
 as scientific German music. 
 
 Maggie Mitchell, Emmet and Lingard, in their usual roles, 
 came in their turn. 
 
 CHRISTINE NILLSON. 
 
 The advent of the season was the arrival of Maurice Strackosh's 
 Grand Italian Opera, with the renowned Mad. Christine Nillson, 
 and Sign or Brignoli, tenor. Double prices, and a brilliant and ap- 
 preciative audience. A press notice says: 
 
 Madame Christine Nillson as Lucia fully sustained her high reputa- 
 tion and awoke genuine enthusiasm. She was lost in her part, and seemed 
 olilivious of the presence of her audience, with one excusable exception. 
 When the charms of her music seemed to soothe the savage breasts of the 
 attaches of the Japanese Embassy sitters, in the front row, her singing 
 put them all in a profound slumber. This seemed to he too ridiculous to 
 escape the attention of the conscientious artist, and she had great diffi- 
 culty to keep from giving away to uncontrollable mirth, and proceed with 
 her part. 
 
 Monsieur Capoul won golden opinions from the audience, and 
 received several encores. 
 
 Next came the Oates' Opera Company, which was good; and 
 then Lydia Thompson with her blondes, which was better, and 
 the seats were all sold. 
 
 EMMA SOLDENE. 
 
 After them came Emma Soldene's Opera Bouffe Company, 
 which was the best of all, and not even standing room was to be 
 had. 
 
62 HiSTOEY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 Mrs. John Wood made a hit with her London Comedy Com- 
 pany, in refined burlesque. 
 
 The theater was closed June 26, 1872, by Skiff and Gaylord's 
 minstrels. 
 
 JANAUSCHEK. 
 
 The year of 1872 and '73, was opened by Janauschek, in "Mary 
 smart. This actress was in her prime, and neither age or bodily 
 infirmity had come to diminish her great powers. She had in- 
 tense passion and massive force of mind. Janauschek was given 
 to artistic exaggeration, but her stateliness and pomp carried her 
 through when lesser woman would be swamped. A brilliant and 
 critical audience greeted her, and she achieved a genuine triumph 
 Her engagement lasted a week. i 
 
 m'lle aimee. 
 
 DrirnT S^S ** $?"* °1 the 0pera Bouffe, M'lle Aimee, in her 
 prime, full of deviltry and grace. The piece was "Barbe Bleue " 
 and as many got in the theater as could wed-e themselves ir S P 
 
 S rS$LZ° f ^ T T he °P era Bouffe is a FfenchTvention and 
 nobody but a French woman with her native abandon dash vi 
 
 p^VT* 7 ith *?* enou ^ h w ^kedness to make it pitman " 
 OnPrpV 1 ff StlCe> Ai i nee Was made for the Pera Bouffe and 
 semWe WM made f ° r her ' and S0 !t was a narmonizedTn 
 
 THE YEAR OP 1873. 
 THIRD DESTRUCTION OF THE THEATRE BY FIRE. 
 
 Alice Oates now appears with her Comic fWra "RrmfrV n~ 
 pany, and though the much married Alice does fine y fo -In Ame?!' 
 XKS'Z* *<* ac « ta g ™«™ i» comparison wUhAimee't A,' 
 dettfn// C6 S . hee S Vanished - and ^e curtain rang down i't was 
 tnfhffi n rV° ? se a « ain - for the old National now fell a nTev 
 a? 1 i^n flend ? WaS 5 urned the next morning Januly 28 1873 y 
 
 fi ro %i,„ y ^^uiiiy, iuarjiana, but a few moments beforp thA 
 
 capa^ofXut t a w h o n ?hZsand eT 7hf,Sse C e' £* ?%'£%* 
 wardrobe helped in a ta^^&ftJ&SET*. Wh ° Se 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 63 
 
 W. W. RAPLEY, OWNER OF THE NATIONAL. 
 
 Many men of medium nerve would have been daunted by such 
 a calamity occurring twice., and losing thousands of dollars each 
 time by the untoward event; but Mr. Rapley' s acts proved that he 
 was a man of no ordinary mould. Difficulties and misfortunes 
 only, seemed to bring out his determined indomitable will, that 
 burned the brighter when the hour was the darkest. Like Mar- 
 shall Ney, his genius never shone in its brilliancy until the 
 enemies' guns sounded in his ears, and once on the battle-field he 
 was in his true element. Mr. Rapley lost not a moment in weak 
 repining against fate, or railing at fortune — he might have grit 
 his teeth a little harder— but before the ruins actually had cooled 
 he was rebuilding the theater, and if ever a house literally arose 
 from its ashes, the National was that one. It was burned January 
 28, 1873, and by September the mason's work was done. In No- 
 vember the carpenters and decorators gathered their tools up and 
 left. The painters and upholsterers took their places, and in the 
 incredible space of a little over four months the spacious building 
 threw open its doors to the public on December 1, 1873. It' reads 
 like the doings of the genii, conjured up by Aladdin rubbing his 
 wonderful lamp. 
 
 Mr. Rapley showed in his invincible determination not to yield 
 to adverse fate, that characteristic, essentially American quality, 
 called pluck, a quality which can surmount all difficulties and 
 accomplish well nigh the impossible. 
 
 W. W. Rapley, the owner of the National Theater, and the man 
 to whose indomitable pluck the rapid erection of the present 
 splendid edifice is wholly due, was born in Baltimore, Md., on the 
 22d of February, 1828. After receiving a common school educa- 
 tion, he learned the trade of a blacksmith and coach-trimmer, and 
 became an expert workman; so much so that he came to Wash- 
 ington and aided in the completion of the dome of the capitol, 
 and assisted to place it in position. He remained in this city and 
 first started in business for himself in the old first ward, having a 
 shop on Pennsylvania Avenue near Eighteenth street. His close 
 atteniion to business and promptness in the performance of his 
 work, soon brought him plenty of custom, while his absence of 
 bad habits and strict economy enabled him to lay by a handsome 
 sum. He then purchased the steamer Guy, one of the ferry-boats 
 running between here and Alexandria, and commanded her himself. 
 As a steamboat captain he became very popular, and as he car- 
 ried to his new occupation the same characteristics which had 
 brought him success before, he was soon enabled to purchase 
 another boat, and at one time was the owner of three steamers 
 plying upon the Potomac. 
 
 His purchase of the National Theater property was the result 
 of accident. He had some surplus money lying idle which he 
 had intended to invest in real estate, but at the commencement of 
 
64 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 the war there was a perfect panic in that kind of investment here 
 and every one was afraid to risk money, not knowing what 
 might be the fate of the capital city. When the theater property 
 was to be sold, Mr. Kapley saw that there was money in the ven- 
 ture, so in connection with- Mr. W. E. Spaulding, he made the 
 purchase in 1862, and has been identified with the career of the 
 National since that date. 
 
 After the fire in 1873, the interest of Mr. Spaulding was pur- 
 chased by Mr. Rapley, who has from that period been the sole 
 owner of the property. 
 
 Mr. Rapley has amassed quite a fortune, which has been judici- 
 uously invested. His residence is in Montgomery county, Md., 
 where he has a farm comprising 400 acres of as good land as there 
 is in the State. The house is as elaborately furnished and ap- 
 pointed as any city residence, and here he dispenses the most gen- 
 erous hospitality. Some years ago he started in the stove busi- 
 ness, in which enterprise he has been quite successful. 
 
 In person, Mr. Rapley is rather below the medium height, 
 but with a compactly built figure, and a countenance every 
 lineament of which shows the energy and determination of his char- 
 acter. Modest and retiring in disposition, he is one of the most 
 genial of men to his friends, while his business sagacity, cool and 
 correct judgment, and his honorable andupright dealings have 
 won for him an enviable position in the community. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SIXTH OPENING OF THE NEW NATIONAL. 
 
 Extracts from a morning paper: 
 
 Washington, Dec. 1, 1873. 
 
 The announcement that the New National Theater has been completely 
 ■rebuilt, and that the inaugural entertainment will be given this evening* 
 will be hailed with pleasure by the Washington theater-goers. 
 
 About the beginning of the war Messrs. Rapley and Spaulding erected 
 a new building on the site of the Old National, but on the 28th of January 
 last, this was destroyed, and Mr. Rapley began the erection of another 
 theater, which should be superior in every respect to any of its predeces- 
 sors, and is pronounced by all to be one of the finest places of amusement 
 in the country. 
 
 The opening night was a gala occasion, and was a brilliant send 
 off. President Grant and Governor Shepherd occupied a box to- 
 gether, and many of the public men of note were present, The 
 queenly Mrs. Sprague, nee Miss Kate Chase, occupied a box op- 
 posite the President, and looked regal, in her blue violet and dia- 
 monds. Everything passed off well, and many were the toasts 
 drank that night to the success of Washington's favorite theater. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1874. 
 
 The prima donna, Kellogg, started the winter season joyously 
 along, and this young Yankee but a few years before, poor and 
 friendless, with no capital except her own determined will, a flex- 
 ible sweet voice, and staunch heart, started to climb that hill 
 which, like the mountain in the Arabian Nights, on whose top 
 the key to the magician's treasure hung, and he who would look 
 back was changed into a stone, so the young New Englander 
 climbed when thousands failed, and her success was due more to 
 her singleness of purpose than anything else. 
 
 Her engagement commenced January 6th, lasting one week; 
 was a gratifying success, every desirable seat being sold before 
 the doors opened. Lucia was her role, and she gave perfect satis- 
 faction. 
 
 Frank Mayo came before a Washington audience for his initial 
 performance in his famous play of "Davy Crockett." The plot 
 of an accomplished and fashionable woman falling madly in love 
 with an ignorant, but handsome and gallant backwoodsman is 
 not improbable, for love knows no law, and since Parthenia tamed 
 Ingomar, the story is always the same. Mayo's conception of the 
 character was excellent, and his delineation very fine indeed. His 
 engagement proved a prosperous one. ■ 
 
Q() HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 Dion Bourcicault followed with a play called, "Used Up," but 
 his Sir Charles Coldstream was not equal to his Irish characters^ 
 and he played before very slim houses. 
 
 .Washington is the heart of the Nation; everybody from every- 
 where journeys here, sooner or later; all roads "leads to Rome," 
 so all routes center here, and thus, when a play that is damned 
 anywhere else, the intelligence reaches this city and people save 
 their money when they hear a drama or comedy is not up to the 
 mark. 
 
 SOTHERN. 
 
 The inimitable Sothern, as "Lord Dundreary," made his debut 
 for the first time at the National, and crowds nocked to see him. 
 He became the fashion, and drinks, advertising cards, witicisms,. 
 a "la Sothern," was heard on every side. 
 
 Mrs. Bowers, next in "Lady Audley's Secret." Mr. Edwin 
 Adams, in "Enoch Arden," successively played to light houses. 
 
 Fox and Denier' s pantomime had better business, and their 
 "Humpty Dumpty," was an enjoyable piece of farcical extrava- 
 ganza as was ever witnessed on the boards of the theater. 
 
 SALVINI. 
 
 The monarch of tempestuous passion now stepped before the 
 footlights for the first time, and Tomaso Salvini gave to delighted 
 and breathless audiences the truest rendition of "Ingomar" they 
 had ever'seen. 
 
 Salvini was the incarnation of intense dramatic power. His act- 
 ing was a rare and beautiful combination of contrasting elements 
 conceived by his bright intellect. He aimed at faultless perfec- 
 tion in the minutest details as well as in the lofty grandeurs and 
 comprehensiveness of the general design; he trusted to obtain this 
 by hard work. He once wrote to a young friend of his who had 
 just entered the dramatic profession: 
 
 A"bove all study, study, study, all the genius in the world will not help 
 you along with any art, unless you "become a hard student. "It has taken 
 me years to master a single part." 
 
 He had a noble bearing and voice of rare beauty , and elocution such 
 as one only hears once in a life time. Beneath his brow full and 
 overreaching, lay great tragic force. Actions are generally more 
 eloquent than words, yet his tones were in sweetness and reson- 
 ance indescribable. In the three great elements of musical expres- 
 sion, tone, timbre and rhythm, Salvini is the greatest. 
 
 He charmed and enthralled his audiences, and scored, as he al- 
 ways did an intellectual conquest. 
 
 This grand tragedian in the great play of "Ingomar," was fol- 
 lowed by "Uncle Tom's Cabin." A ninety cent fiddle scratching 
 John Brown after a grand cathedral organ performing one of 
 Mozart's creations. "Uncle Tom's Cabin," that play with its 
 mawkish sentimentality and pathos, which the housemaids cry 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 67 
 
 over, and the Africans applaud, was never allowed on the boards, 
 of the National but once again. 
 
 The theater was closed for the summer by Miss Kate Mayhew x 
 in "With the Tide/' The season had been a prosperous one con- 
 sidering the great financial panic. 
 
 The fall season of 1874 was opened by Janauschek as "Mary 
 Stuart." Then came Lucille Western in "EastLynne." followed 
 by Ella Wesner in a society play called "Mixed." 
 
 Aimee filled the theater, as she always had the knack of doing 
 some decade of years ago. The opera was "La fille de Madame^ 
 Angot," and it was dashingly played. 
 
 ADELAIDE NEILSON. 
 
 And now comes the fairest of all fair women who had ever trod! 
 the boards of the National — Adelaide Neilson. She came sur- 
 rounded by her own rosy cloud of love, and the maddening witch- 
 ery that possessed her, taking the senses by storm, and making 
 men' 8 hearts throb and their pulses beat with ecstacy. Her 
 Juliet was the loveliest ever beheld on earth, and in the balcony 
 scene, when the moonlight gleams on her perfect face, and kisses 
 her Lorelei hair she made a vision that enraptured the eye. 
 Rising from the gutter, yet she was the beau ideai of a proud, 
 patrician. She seemed to show her lineage in her every look, her 
 every tone, her every gesture. She could exclaim with Cleo- 
 patra : 
 
 And here's my bluest veins to kiss, a hand that kings have lipped, and 
 trembled kissing-. 
 
 Her Violia was the daintiest creature imaginable. As Perdita 
 she appeared as sweet as Tennyson's Lillian: 
 
 '" So innocent, arch, cunning, simple, 
 With the baby roses in her cheek." 
 
 Her acting was full of tenderness an 1 passion, though it lacked 
 force; but her grace, beauty, and softness on the stage, will never 
 be forgotten. 
 
 '' The fairness of her face no tongue can tell ; 
 Fairer than the.daughters of all human race." 
 
 Her end is well-known; taken suddenly ill near Paris a few 
 years ago when riding out, she died in agony on the sofa at a low 
 roadside inn. 
 
 In November, J. K. Emmet, as "Fritz," and a full house ir* 
 consequence. 
 
 The Lingard Comedy Company to thin houses; Rose and Harry 
 Watkins in "Trodden Down," and the manager did not count up 
 his* receipts that night with much pleasure or profit. 
 
 Christmas week, Janauschek for the first time in the new play 
 of •'Chesney Wold," a dramatization of Dickens' Bleak House. 
 Her rendition of Lady Dedlock and the Frenchwoman was as fine 
 a piece of acdng as could be seen on the English stage. 
 
68 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1875 . 
 
 On January 20th, the Emma Soldene English Opera Troupe 
 played a week's engagement and made a famous hit. The house 
 was crowded with as many as could possibly get in, and "Madame 
 L'Archi due" was given with a dash and abandon that caused a 
 round of encores. "Emma Soldene was a decided winning card, 
 and she had selected her troupe with rare judgment, 
 
 Baker and Farron drew only moderate houses, and February 
 15, 1875, Katie Putman as "Little Nell," and the "Marchioness," 
 played to a small, but appreciative audience. 
 
 On February 22, Strakosh Italian Opera, in "Lohengrin." This 
 opera, while it pleased people of high musical culture, did not^take 
 with the masses, and hence it did not pay in this city, at least. 
 
 Frank Mayo followed in his old role of "Davy Crockett;" suc- 
 ceeding came Florence, Duprez and Benedict's Minstrels in their 
 olios. Each drawing but indifferently well. Kellogg appeared 
 April 19, to a full house, and gave "Ernani," with fine effect. 
 
 Great people generally keep close together, and Ristori follows 
 Kellogg. The queen of tragedy gave a wonderful personation of 
 the "Virgin Queen," she with a woman's heart and man's mind. 
 
 On May 3d, the Swiss Bell Ringers gave a week's entertainment 
 to good audiences. 
 
 June 21, the theater closed with a benefit to Harold Forsberg. 
 
 JOHN T. FORD, MANAGER. 
 
 On September 1, 1875, John T. Ford took supreme control of 
 the National. 
 
 JOHN M'CULLOUGH. 
 
 John McCullough, here makes his debut in the National, as 
 "Hamlet." He was rather too robust and fiery for the portraiture 
 of the philosophical Dane, but still his great genius illumined 
 the part, and made it a creditable one. 
 
 John McCullough made many friends in Washington, and he 
 afterwards used to say that- he would rather play in this city than 
 any place in the Union. 
 
 GEORGE RIGNOLD. 
 
 After the genial Mac, as his friends called him, came George 
 Rignold, and like Hotspur, he played havoc with female hearts. 
 In "Henry the Fifth," which was magnificently mounted, he 
 looked "every inch a king." and a more superb specimen of gal- 
 lant manhood in its prime, was never seen before the footlights. 
 His "Once more to the breach, dear friends; once more for St. 
 George and England," at the siege of Harfleur, was the knightli- 
 est picture that was ever witnessed on the American stage. The 
 theater was jammed, and Rignold was the idol of the hour, and 
 the fancy of the fickle populace. 
 
 The Yokes family next in their entertaining extravaganza of 
 "The Belles of the Kitchen. ' ' 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 69 
 
 Then Mrs. D. P. Bowers in "Lady Audley's Secret," and the 
 week after Mr. Barry Sullivan as "Richelieu," followed by G. H. 
 McDermott, in a new and nonsensical comedy of "Brought to 
 Book." 
 
 JOHN T. RAYMOND. 
 
 The Christmas holidays were marked by the advent, for the 
 first time, of Raymond's new charactei, which he has rendered 
 immortal as "Col. Mulberry Sellers." This piece took the town 
 by storm, and the manager waxed more rotund than ever with 
 satisfaction. For a week Raymond kept the town in a roar of 
 laughter, and his dried, shrewd face so often seen in the hotel lob- 
 bies, was Sir Mulberry Sellers itself. He had played the part so 
 often that the mannerisms stick to him. He was socially a man 
 of much bonhomie, and whenever he strolled out in the day, a 
 crowd of boon companions always surrounded him. Raymond 
 fairly earned his title of the first comedian of America. 
 
 THE YEAR OP 1876. 
 
 Another sensation that made a Lit. and jammed the house, 
 Georgia Langley and Dolly Pike, as the "Two Orphans." 
 
 This play was one of the most powerful ones ever written, full 
 of incident and abounding in pathos. It won the popular heart 
 at once, and the theater watched the denouement of the plot with 
 breathless interest, and when the curtain would fall it would be 
 on an audience hushed into silence by the life scenes they had seen 
 portrayed. 
 
 CL4.RA MORRIS. 
 
 • And now, hats off, for there steps out before the footlights a 
 slight girlish form that is the greatest emotional actress that the 
 New World ever gave to art. A slight swaying figure, a face so 
 wonderfully full of nobility, that the emotions coutd be read there. 
 A magnetism that conquered everything. A passion so intense 
 and contageous as to thrill a vast body of people like electric 
 shocks. On the 7th of February, 1876, the audience were moved 
 and touched as they never were 1 efore when they -saw Clara 
 Morris as "Camille." 
 
 Her acting was a revelation of the highest point that art can 
 reach. Her dramatic force and power was seen in the quivering 
 play of her hands, the piteous trembling of her lip, the anguished 
 face, the eyes so unutterably sad, and the voice full of unshed 
 tears. Her scornful taunts to her brother, every word of which 
 was a heart string broken. When in the first act of Camille, where 
 she would rush forward and cry aloud, with a bursting heart, 
 "Respect me — and in this house," she made the breast of every 
 man throb with the truest sympathy, and when she parts from her 
 lover, whom she never meant to see again in this world, her an- 
 guish and self torture was so heartending that none could look 
 upon Clara Morris save through blinding tears. Her unutterable 
 
■70 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 despair was painful to witness: one forgot the theater, the actress, 
 everything, as the struggle sjoes on over a laboring soul, and when 
 she dies, people gasps over the death bed scene in sadden horror, 
 as if they had witnessed the demise of one they knew and loved, 
 A press criticism the next morning says: 
 
 Clara Morris shows in "Camille" how thoroughly she identifies herself 
 for the time with the character she takes. The suffused eyes, streaming 
 •cheeks, and momentarily changing color of the face, shows that sue leeis 
 with all the intensity of reality the emotions she depicts. 
 
 Little Miss Lotta, in anew play called -'Zip/' and the arch- 
 ness, freshness and fun of this charming actress, carried all be- 
 fore her, and she never acted with more spirit than she did be- 
 neath the roof of the National, a theater she had helped so much 
 to build. 
 
 March 20th, Florence in the "Mighty Dollar," and a great suc- 
 cess the play proved. Sothern, as Lord Dundreary, and a laugh- 
 ing, joyous audience. 
 
 BARRETT, BANGS, DAVENPORT, LEVICK. 
 
 Then followed one of the strongest combinations and star cast, 
 and finely mounted plays, any theater ever witnessed. The play 
 "Julius Caesar," with Milnes Levick in the title role. Lawrence 
 Barrett, as Cassius; E. L. Davenport, Brutus; Frank C. Bangs, 
 as Mark Anthony. This was a fine gathering of stars, and the 
 rendition of the play was well worthy of the galaxy of talent. The 
 house rang with applause, and though the prices were doubled, 
 the theater was filled from gallery to pit. It was a masterly ren- 
 dition bv masterly actors. 
 
 MARY ANDERSON. 
 
 And now comes the Southern girl from the blue grass 
 "region of Kentucky, Mary Anderson, for the first time in the Na- 
 tional, in the play of "Evadne," Her freshness, beauty, and 
 high histronic genius, captivated the audience at the outset. Her 
 voice was full, rich and vibrant; her figure tall and stately. She 
 spoke like an angel and moved like a goddess. Those who saw 
 her predicted a brilliant future for her. 
 
 Monday, September 4th, 1876, the theater was formally opened 
 for the fall campaign by Haverly and his minstrels. 
 
 The young comedienne Kitty Blanchard and Nellie Cummings, 
 and our Mrs. Germon in the fairy spectacle of the "Naiad Queen." 
 An incident in the performance was the presence in uniform of 
 the Washington Military and their visitors — several crack rifle 
 teams They came by invitation, and added much to the attrac- 
 tions of the theater. 
 
 STUART ROBSON. 
 
 The first of October saw Stuart Robson for the first time at 
 the National, in Brete Hart's new play written, for Robson, enti- 
 tled, "Two Men of Sandy Bar," with the star as Col. Starbottle. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 71 
 
 Both the actor and play met with a warm welcome and commend- 
 ation from a large and critical audience. 
 
 October 16th. Maggie Mitchell as "Fnachon. A week aftei, 
 Genevieve Rogers as "Maude Muller." Miss Rogers showed her- 
 self to be an actress of very fair abilities, never rising to greatness, 
 but never sinking below mediocrity. 
 
 BEN. DE BAB. 
 
 Mr Ben DeBar next as "Falstaff." With the memory of the 
 inimitable Hackett fresh in the minds of many of the habitues ol 
 the National, Mr. DeBar was too heavily handicapped and coldly 
 criticized to make a striking success. 
 
 It was evident that the mantle of the dead actor had not fallen 
 upon him. Yet the rendition was undoubtedly a fine one, and in 
 -one or two scenes his strong acting brought down the house. _ 
 
 The week after, Mr. Gk F. Rowe, in "Brass," an appropriate 
 
 title that night. , , . 
 
 Christmas eve, the Soldene Comic Opera Troupe had good busi- 
 ness. 
 
 KATE CLAXTON. 
 
 Christmas night, Kate Claxton in her great role of the "Two 
 Orphans " Bonnie Kate always started a fire, or the fire followed 
 her wherever she went, in the hotel, taverns, and even a church 
 caught fire when she was praying. So of course, her usual luck 
 followed her. During the snow scene a fight between two hood- 
 lums took place in the gallery, which attracted much notice and 
 -caused great commotion, a shout of fight! fight! fight! soon 
 changed in to the fearful cry of fire, and the audience with the 
 memory of the dreadful Brooklyn disaster fresh in their minds, 
 ;and knowing that Kate Claxton '.brought fire as naturally as an 
 owl flying in the day time signifies rain, broke for the door, ine 
 ushers kept their coolness, threw wide the portals, and then the 
 orchestra struck up a jovial air, which soon brought the panic to 
 an end, and the people returned, to their seats, many heartily 
 ashamed of the frenzied endeavors to escape a purely imaginary 
 
 danger. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1877. 
 
 Mary Anderson opened the New Year of 1877 with a two weeks' 
 engagement, her repertoire being "Juliet," //Parthema Paul- 
 ine ""Lady Macbeth," and "MegMerriles." Her youthful roles 
 were her strong ones; her vivid freshness and beauty making her 
 the realism of the love lorne a ad love born maidens, but her Meg- 
 Merriles' were an utter failure, and the press condemned it so un- 
 mistakably that she never again tried the role. Her Lady Mac- 
 beth" also awoke a stoyn of criticisms, and she was glad to give 
 vthat up also. 
 
72 
 
 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATEE. 
 
 FRANK BANGS AND AGNES BOOTH. 
 
 The greatest spectacular play ever seen at the National was 
 brought on January 22, 1877. It cast into the shade even Kiralfy's 
 "Black Crook," and "Around the World." It was Byron's play 
 
 of " Sardanapalus, " 
 with F. C. Bangs, 
 Agnes Booth, and 
 Louis Aldrich as the 
 attractions. . The play 
 was magnificently 
 mounted, and its corps 
 de ballet was immense. 
 For two weeks the 
 . theater was filled to its 
 utmost capacity, and 
 it could have run a 
 month longer to full 
 houses. 
 
 Boucicault achieved 
 a triumph as Con, in 
 the " Shaugraun." It 
 was a wonderful power- 
 that made a rather de- 
 bilitated man of fifty- 
 four assume the char- 
 acter of a young Irish 
 lad, and carry it off 
 successfully. 
 
 Boucicault was such 
 a great favorite with 
 the journalists at large, 
 and newspaper row in 
 particular, that the 
 newspaper men and 
 correspondent formed 
 a club and named it 
 in his honor — " The 
 Shaugraun Club." It 
 was designed to be like 
 the celebrated " Kit- 
 Kat Club" of London, 
 but jealousies and riv- 
 alries among the mem- 
 bers soon dissolved it. 
 John T. Raymond now brings out a new play called, " There's 
 Millions In It," and it drew well, of course. 
 
 For six nights John Owens held the boards witli the "Heir at 
 Law," "Our Boys" and "Solon Shingle," to only moderate au- 
 diences. 
 
 GALLERY SUPPORT. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 73 
 
 HENRY J. MONTAGUE. 
 
 The 1st of March witnessed the advent of a young English actor 
 that won an astonishing popularity among the people. He was 
 strikingly like Charles Mathews, only more graceful, and comely, 
 his name was Henry J. Montague, and he gave brilliant promise 
 of being the first comedian of the English stage. He captivated 
 the audiences of the National for a week in a play called "1 alse 
 Shame." Even the critics were won by his natural genial acting 
 and ceased to fire at him those cruel envenomed shafts that had 
 made so many proud actors cower, and which had abated many 
 a haughty crest. _ . 
 
 On April 10, E. L. Davenport, in a drama called Daniel 
 Druce." It did not prove a paying card. 
 
 ROBSON AND CRANE. 
 
 Those two princes of good fellows, Stuart Robson and William 
 Crane, now dramatically married, and in indissolvable bonds, 
 were as one. They were in sporting parlance a good pair to draw 
 to They proved themselves the best couple of stars that ever 
 made their bow before the footlights or counted up their heavy 
 cash receipts after the performance. The play "Our Boarding 
 House," now so familiar to the theater goers was just brought 
 out then, and it was something new and novel, and the old Na- 
 tional's walls echoed with roars of genuine merriment 
 
 Another unique innovation and a character, appears before the 
 footlights that was never seen before; a being that was to furnish 
 in the" future much of the funny part of the comedy of the day. 
 The stage had its typical Yankee— with the knife and the stick 
 which he whittled; its stous Dutchman with rotund form and im- 
 mense pipe; its Southerner with wide slouching hat, pants stutted 
 in the boots, and the revolver and bowie knife close to the hand; 
 the Irishman with the battered beaver, shillalah under his arm, a 
 pipe between his teeth, and ready to dance or fight, it did not 
 make a difference; but the "Celestial" was thought too devoid of 
 humor to be worth while to work him up. But the genius of 
 Brete Harte it found a rich mine in John Chinamen and Charles 1 . 
 Parsloe's rendition of "Ah Sin" showed that the Chinese have as 
 much wit and humor in them as any other nationality. Not only the 
 noveltv, but the fine acting of Mr. Parsloe met with a prosperity 
 that amazed even the managers, authors and actors themselves. 
 The Washington press criticisms of this play were very nattering, 
 but for some^reason it was shortly afterwards abandoned. 
 
 On June 4th the National was closed for the season by the San 
 Francisco Minstrels. ^ 
 
 The fall season was commenced by the Park Theater Company 
 in a vapid nonsensical jumble of words called 'Baby. lhe 
 critics riddled it, but the audience were too polite to hiss. 
 
74 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 GEORGE S. KNIGHT. 
 
 September 10th, George Knight in his German character sketch 
 in a play called "Otto." He was assisted by the Worrell Sisters, 
 and they gave a very enjoyable performance to large houses. 
 
 MAUDE GRANGER. 
 
 After them came Maude Granger, supported by Louis James, 
 in "Camille." The statuesque Maude made by far the most beau- 
 tiful Mile Gautier that the audience had ever seen, for she had a 
 figure that Rubens would have loved to paint— a Byron describe 
 —large, full, sensuous. On a pose in a tableau Miss Granger was 
 a success, but as an actress in such a character as "Camille," she 
 was an insolvent in the dramatic bank, and more people went to 
 see her out of curiosity than with a desire to be entertained. 
 
 ANNIE WARREN STORY. 
 
 With Miss Florence Carey as the leading lady in the play 
 of the Danicheff s was a young Washington maiden, Miss Annie 
 Story who made her debut as the Princess, and fully satisfied the ex- 
 pectations of her friends. A press criticism says of 'her; 
 
 The most interesting- event of the evening was the debut of Miss Anna . 
 Story, who sustained the role of the Princess to the full satisfaction of a 
 critical audience. 
 
 Then follows Lydia Thompson with her troupe of blondes, in 
 "Robinson Crusoe," which drew a large crowd, if not a critical 
 audience, yet a very encoring one. 
 
 John McCullough, the first week in December, to a brlliant 
 audience, in his various roles. He was at his zenith of fame, and 
 the highest in the land always welcomed him. His engagement 
 proved a most profitable one. 
 
 LOUISE POMEROY. 
 
 Another star of the first magnitude and hailing from Clara 
 
 Morris' native town, now gave a week's engagement in her Shak- 
 
 Speraean roles. A born tragedienne, a real actress, was Louise^Pom- 
 
 eroy, and her Rosalind, in "As You Like It," was the finest ever 
 
 seen in this country. Tall, graceful, with just such eyes as an 
 
 actress should have, a wealth of yellow hair, and superb voice, 
 
 she made a great success. Her playing was slightly marred by 
 
 mannerism, which a longer practice would cure. Her dramatic 
 
 powers were acknowledged by the press as being of the highest 
 
 order, and her success was such that she was engaged at a high 
 
 figure for a southern tour. Miss Annie Sto^ accompanied her. 
 
 Then Joe Jefferson, as the ever welcome "Rip Van Winkle.''' 
 
 Aimee sparkled for a week in the Opera Bouffe, which ended 
 
 the year of '77. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1878. — LAWRENCE BARRETT. 
 
 A fine opening in January was made by Lawrence Barrett, in 
 "Richelieu" and "Hamlet." 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 75 
 
 Miss Kellogg and Annie Louise Carey, in Italian and English 
 Opera, to enormous. houses. 
 
 January 21, Miss Maggie Moore and Mr. J. C. Williamson in a 
 play called, "Struck Oil." They did not strike it— at least not in 
 the National. 
 
 Sothern in the "Crushed Tragedian," amused and delighted the 
 city for a week. No man on earth but Sothern could make any- 
 thing of the "Crushed, "but in his hands it was inimitable, and to 
 him it was a veritable bonanza. 
 
 MADAME MOJESKA. 
 
 Madame Mojeska now appears to subdue and charm, and her 
 "Camille" was the wonder of the times; not so emotional as others 
 before her, but for consummate acting, exquisite grace, and mar- 
 vellous truth to nature, she was matchless; and the critics, the 
 audience and playrights praised her acting as simply imcompara- 
 ble. One of the morning papers thus speaks of her: 
 
 Taller than Mary Anderson, with a lithe and slender form, her every 
 movement and pose is easy, graceful, and artistic. Her voice is clear, de- 
 lightfully modulated, so that without acting it would faithfully express 
 the varied emotions which, by the perfection of the art, seem real and not 
 simulated. There are some who, notwithstanding the New York critics, 
 will still prefer the 'Camille' of Clara Morris, hut it is unfair to compare 
 these two great artists at all, as their methods are so essentially differ- 
 ent. 
 
 During the months of February, March and April, 1878, the old 
 favorites of the theater— Maggie Mitchell, Dion Boucicault, John 
 T. Raymond, Lotta, Fanny Davenport, John McCullough— ap- 
 peared respectively. Carn cross' Minstrels in May, and in June, J. 
 Remington Fairlamb, in "Valerie." 
 
 JOHN W. ALBAUGH, MANAGER. 
 
 The season opens September 2, 1878, with Mr. Albaugh of the 
 Holliday street Theatre, Baltimore, as lessee and manager. 
 
 SAMUEL G. KIN3LEY 
 
 This season opens September 2, 1878, with John W. Albaugh as 
 lessee and manager, and Samuel G. Kinsley as business manager. 
 Mr. Albaugh acting as general supervisor over both of his thea- 
 ters in Baltimore and Washington, and Mr. Kinsley devoting all 
 of his time to the National. 
 
 Samuel G. Kinsley now appears on the scene as connected with 
 the theater, and his name is henceforth linked with the 
 National, and for nearly a decade of years its great success, next 
 to the enterprise of its owner, Mr. Rapley, is due to his untiring 
 energy, rare forethought and delicate tact which meets and 
 conquers all difficulties. As the business manager is the soul 
 of the newspaper, so is he the mainspring of the theatrical clock, 
 and to his finely tempered qualities more than any other cause is 
 due the great prosperity and popularity of the theater. 
 
76 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 Samuel G. Kinsley started his theatrical life as the advance 
 agent for Edwin Forrest. Then he- filled the same position for 
 Jokn S. Clarke, Lydia Thompson, the great Hermann and the 
 beautiful Adelaide Neilson. He was next business manager 
 of the famous Lucille Western, and he made her a win- 
 ning card by his finesse. Then he took E. A. Sothern and man- 
 aged so as to make him The rage. Next Mr. Joe Jefferson en- 
 gaged him, and placed his future in his hands, leaving all the de- 
 tails to him, and only following his guidance. 
 
 Under Mr. Kinsley's care these artists realized handsome for- 
 tunes. 
 
 All the ripe judgment and trained experience that Mr. Kins- 
 ley had gained by years of hard work was brought to bear, 
 and so on the public saw that the business of the National 
 was to be conducted on an enduring basis, and not as a 
 make shift for a season by a manager who would probably be 
 forced to throw up his contract at the end of the year. 
 
 But it is the personal character of the man that has impressed 
 the citizens of Washington so strongly for his honesty, truthful- 
 ness and trustworthiness that has had much to do with the success 
 of the theater, and he has conquered that mysterious unseen 
 power called public opinion which makes or mars many a public 
 enterprise. 
 
 The attraction the first night was Duprez and Benedict's Min- 
 
 strels 
 
 w. P. CODY. 
 
 They were succeeded -by the Minzelle Sisters, in the "Ice 
 Witch," and in turn followed by W. F. Cody, in a blood and 
 thunder border play called "Lost and Won," in which the typical 
 Forty-Niner uttered heroic sentiments, that caused the young 
 girls to applaud, and kept up a lively fusillade with the revolver, 
 killing bandits and Indians at every fire, and made the gallery 
 gods hoarse with yells of delight. 
 
 Mr. F. C. Bangs, rises from his staturesque pose of "Sardanapa- 
 lus," and tries the role of Philip Falconbridge, in "King John." 
 He was a better voluptuous Assyrian than the bold rollicking Brit- 
 ain. He was too heavy for the part, yet at times he rose far above 
 mediocrity. 
 
 EMMA ABBOTT. 
 
 ^ September 30, John E. Owens, in "Our Boys," October 1st, Mrs 
 Southworth's novel dramatized called the "Hidden Hand "' by a 
 local stock company. October 1878, Emma Abbott for the first 
 time at the National with the Hess English Opera Company, which 
 was designed to replace Kellogg. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 1 i 
 
 Robert Heller, the magician, in a week's engagement. 
 
 November 28th, Kiralfy Brothers in their grand spectacular ex- 
 hibition of Jules Verne's novel, "A Trip to the Moon," It was a 
 magnificent display and well patronized, as it deserved to be. 
 
 Little Miss Lotta played her pranks for a week in a new com- 
 edy written for her called "La Cigale." Of course she drew well. 
 Lotta and a crowded house was a natural sequence. If she was 
 advertised to play alone, she could draw a large audience and 
 charm them, simply by the aid of musicians, girlish, gladsome 
 gaiety, her jovial banjo, and a captivating song or two. 
 
 Christmas week was a superb bill of fare. One that would cater 
 to the taste of the most fastidious dramatic gourmand. Kellogg 
 returns to the National, bringing with her Anna Louise Cary, and 
 the famous Italian songstress, Mile. Litta. For a week these ar- 
 tists held the vast audiences enthralled by their glorious voices. 
 Mignon was the favorite opera, as all three took part in it, and 
 the old National rarely witnessed more real enthusiasm over real 
 
 V And what discordant discord is that which follows the divine 
 tones of the chantresses, why it is Haverly's Horse Opera. The 
 heavenly cadence of Litta' s voice in Con nais tu le pays has already 
 ceased to echo through the edifice; that it is broken by a rasping 
 howl of a negro minstrel shouting "Whoa, Emma." 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1879. 
 
 The empress of her art, Helena Mod jeska, with her whole reper- 
 toire of "Camille," "Frou Frou," "East Lynne," "Adriene," and 
 "Juliet " for two weeks, from the middle of January to February. 
 Beauty,' fashion and money gathered to hear her, and nignt after 
 night she charmed every one by her superb renditions. Ihere 
 was no sameness in her acting; every emotion had its glance and 
 gestures, and she could have been understood when playing bet ore 
 a deaf and dumb asylum. - 
 
 Lawrence Barrett again in heroic roles supported by the talented 
 young actor T. W. Keene. McK'ee Rankin and Kitty Blanchard 
 made a great hit with their new play, "The Danites." Every- 
 body thronged to see it, and the box office showed fat receipts. 
 
 Not so with Mr. B. McCauley, as "Uncle Daniel." A reaction 
 took place, and the tide went out and the theater goers paid a 
 penance of several weeks for their untoward dissipation during 
 the winter, when the stars trod the boards. 
 
 Denman Thompson, as "Joshua Witcomb." Dion Boucicault 
 as Conn, in "The Shaughraun." The dramatic tide rose again to 
 its flood whenRobson and Crane gave the "Comedy of ^Errors. 
 
 Joe Jeff erson, as "Rip," and fighting "Bob Acres, attracted 
 the usual multitude. *nnv * a 
 
 On April 16, the city went wild over a new opera of b-ilbert and 
 Sullivan, it was the immortal "Pinafore." There was never in 
 
78 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 the annals of the stage such a wonderful and marvellous success, 
 since Gay's great production of the "Beggars Opera" took Lon- 
 don by storm, and made Rich, the manager of the Old Drury Lane 
 Theater, one of the wealthiest men in England. George Selwin 
 • wittily observed that the "Beggars Opera" made Gay-Kich, and 
 Rich-Gay. 
 
 "Pinafore" was music that the public could understand and 
 enjoy; the music sparkled, laughed and flashed and exhilarated 
 one like a deep draught of Roderer wine. It was the opera by 
 the people, for the people, of the people, and they claimed it 
 and adopted "Pinafore" as -theirs. It knew no section, from 
 cultivated New England to the wild west and far south, it was 
 heard, caught up, and appropriated. Everybody went, and Pina- 
 fore troupes were going through every hamlet and cross-roads of 
 the land reaping rich harvests. At a New York theater it run for 
 one hundred nights without a break to crowded houses. One 
 touch of melody makes the world akin, and it was the one opera 
 where all met on equal ground, and the clapping of the kid gloves 
 that covered slender hands, the thump of the claquer's stick, and 
 the shrill yelp of the gallery gods, all mingled together in a 
 heavily and spontaneous tribute to the music of "Pinafore." 
 
 English opera gave way to the Italian, and Emma Abbott with 
 Hess Company gave a week of very enjoyable entertainment. 
 
 Here comes the ladies and gentlemen of color, the sons and 
 daughters of Africa, in "Pinafore." They did quite well. 
 
 The National was opened for the fall season on September 15, 
 .1879, by the greatest of all magicians "the one, the only Her- 
 mann," who performed such astounding legerdemain as to make 
 many of his auditors believe that he was really in league with the 
 devii. 
 
 Next the fair Adah Richmond and her Comic Opera Company 
 in "Fatinitza," to such an audience as a player loves to look upon. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. John "W". Albaugh in "Van, the Virginian," fol- 
 lowed by Rice's Surprise Party, which was succeeded in time by 
 The Tourists in the Pullman Palace Car. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Florence in the "Mighty Dollar." Maggie Mit- 
 chell in her roles. Henry Sargeant in "Contempt of Court. " 
 Emma Abbott again. John McCullough and his repertoire of he- 
 roic plays. McKee Rankin in the " Danites," The popular 
 "Pinafore" again, this time by the best troupe on the road — 
 "Haverly's Chicago Church Choir Co." Rice's Combination in 
 "Evangeline. Christmas week, Kate Claxton in the "Double 
 Marriage," and the "Two Orphans." 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1880. 
 
 Mr. Sothern opened the new year by his piece de resistance of 
 
 the "American Cousin." 
 January 19, Lotta, in "Musette," and the "Little Detective." 
 On the 26th, Miss Fanny Davenport, for a week, in "Pique," 
 
 "As You Like It," and "Cymbeline," to poor business. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 79 
 
 Joe Emmett followed in "Fritz in Ireland," that proved very- 
 popular. 
 
 "Fun on the Bristol," by Henry Jarrett's company did not pan 
 out well in this city. 
 
 Miss Ada Cavendish for a week in Shakespearean roles. 
 
 "The Tourists," again, followed by Miss Mary Anderson, who 
 scored a triumph in her "Evadne." 
 
 Oliver Doud Byron, in "Across the Continent," and Louis 
 Aldrich, in "My Partner," to moderate houses. 
 
 "The Bankers Daughter," a new play, met with success. 
 
 Lawrence Barrett, for a week, in "Richelieu," "David Gar- 
 rick," and "Hamlet." 
 
 April 12, Carncross Minstrels. 
 
 April 19, Emma Abbott and her Opera Company. She was fol- 
 lowed by Maurice Grau's French Opera Company, which played 
 to a theater well rilled. 
 
 "Rices' Surprise Party" for the fourth time, and then Miss 
 Annie Graham, a novice, in a play called "Upper Crust," to a 
 scant audience. 
 
 It will be noticed that a good many unknown actresses appear 
 in a theater and then disappear, and are heard of no more. Few 
 know of the amount of steady, persistent labor it requhes to make 
 even a respectable actress. A young woman who has the art of 
 mimicry and some talent, imagines she is a born artist. She pro- 
 vides herself with a gorgeous wardrobe, places herself in the 
 hands of an agent, gives money freely, takes a few lessons in 
 elocution that invariably gives her a stilted declamatory and arti- 
 ficial style; learns her part, arid then rushes on the boards to find 
 disappointment and wounded feelings, and mortified vanity. 
 
 Madam Mars was the "Louise de Liquerolles of Legouve," yet, 
 before the curtain of the Theater Francais rose upon the piece, 
 she had had sixty- eight rehearsals. Fanny Kemble wore a court 
 costume and train in her house for a whole year so as to get ac- 
 customed to it. Ristori studied the part of "Marie Antoinette'' 
 three years before she dared to act it before the footlights. The 
 great Rachael retired to her country seat and remained three 
 months alone, to study the last act of "Adrienne Lecouvre." All 
 the great stars only won their proud eminence by intense and 
 long continued work. 
 
 The close of the summer season was marked by Abbey's Comic 
 Opera Company, in "Humpty Dumpty." 
 
 September 13, Jarrett's Opera Company, with "Cinderella or 
 the Little Glass Slipper." ' 'A Golden Game," by Shannon and 
 Edeson to a thin audience. Hermann, the Magician, followed 
 "The Tourists." Next Maggie Mitchell, then Rice's Surprise 
 Company, and lastly by Maude Granger, in "Two Nights in 
 Rome." 
 
 November 8, E. E. Rice's Bijou Comic Opera Company, in the 
 "Spectre Knight." 
 
80 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 Miss Ada Cavendish, in a play, below mediocrity, called "The 
 Soul of an Actress." 
 
 "The Pirates of Penzance," made the first hit of the season, 
 and an old time crowd filled the National. 
 
 Lotta again, and as the little actress peeped through the curtain 
 just before its rise, she had no cause to complain of a thin house. 
 -December 13, Chanfrau, in "Kit," to a good business. 
 
 Christmas week, Kiralfy Bros., in the spectacular drama of 
 "Around the World in Eighty Days," to an immense audience. 
 
 The old year died when^Robson and Crane were holding the 
 boards, in "Sharps and Flats." 
 
 A singular incident occured at this theater at one of the 
 engagements of these favorites — Robson and Crane. A drunken 
 man went to the National to see "Sharps and Flats." This son of 
 Bacchus paid his twenty-five cents, climbed the steps to the peanut 
 gallery, gave his ticket to the doorkeeper, ambled in and found a 
 seat in an obscure corner, and .lulled by the strains of the orchestra, 
 dropped into a profound slumber. The roars of laughter at Rob- 
 son's falsetto and Crane's deep baritone only served to stir phan- 
 tasies in his brain, and after the curtain fell, the noise of the 
 audience leaving the house, only lulled him into deeper sleep. 
 The doors were locked and black darkness took the place of the 
 dazzling light, and away after midnight the imbiber of mixed and 
 straight drinks awoke with a consuming thirst and parched tongue, 
 and in his soddened brain their flamed no idea of who he was, 
 or where he was, his only thought was that he must have a drink; 
 so impelled, he got up and stumbled around loose; he reached the 
 enclosure of the gallery, climbed over it and fell headlong from 
 the fourth tier clear down to the pit. 
 
 There is an old and true saying which saith that a special Prov- 
 idence watches over sailors, children and drunken men. Any 
 sober person would have been killed outright or horribly mangled, 
 but this son of inebriety, though he fell without a break, and 
 smashed four of the orchestra chairs to kindling wood, yet did 
 not get a bruise. He scrambled up, got out of a window, and the 
 next morning came back looking for his hat. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1881. 
 
 Kate Claxton opened the new year with a play called the "Snow 
 Flower." 
 
 John McCullough next in his old repertoire. 
 
 January 24, Emmett in "Fritz," succeeded by Mary Anderson 
 in her favorite roles. As she passed off the stage Joe Jefferson 
 came on with his two best characters, "Rip" and "Bob Acres." 
 
 February 14, Nat C. Goodwin in "Hobbies." 
 
 A week of music with Emma Abbott in the various operas. 
 
 Lawrence Barrett in his old plays, and the Pullman Car Tour- 
 ists by the New York Stock Company. Carncross and Dixies' 
 Minstrels followed. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 81 
 
 SARAH BERNHARDT. 
 
 Friday, April 8th, was the event of the season, and the public 
 who had heard of the fame of Sarah Bernhardt, now had a chance 
 to see the most famous actress, on the globe. 
 
 This great artist, like Rachoel, had climbed to the top from the 
 very bottom, and she had only herself to thank for her success. 
 In Paris she struggled for years to obtain the merest pittance to 
 keep body and soul together, and at times she was so poverty- 
 stricken, so ill used, so unappreciated, that she meditated suicide, 
 and once actually took several ounces of laudanum, and her life 
 was saved only by the prompt treatment of a physician. She fre- 
 quently declared that she suffered a hundred deaths before fame 
 and fortune came to her. Yet she struggled on, animated with 
 the knowledge that she had talent, and the world must sooner or 
 later acknowledge it. At last, like the immortal Siddons, her 
 transcendent genius burst through the dark clouds in a blinding 
 flash, and in a few brief weeks the scorned stock actress stood ac- 
 knowledged as the one on whom the mantle of Rachsel had fallen. 
 All Paris bowed in homage before her, and in the supreme hour 
 of triumph with the emotional Parisians at her feet, all of hard- 
 ships must have been atoned for. 
 
 After conquering Europe she came to the New World, and her 
 progress was like that of a victorious Roman general with his 
 banner blazoned with: "Io Triumphe." 
 
 When the curtain drew up in the play of "Frou Frou," all eyes 
 watched intently for her coming, and they saw a lithesome figure 
 glide upon the stage with the grace of a leopard, the soft inde- 
 scribable undulative motion was so peculiarly her own, that it was 
 never witnessed on the boards before. But her acting was the 
 most perfect of the French school, which is the most perfect in 
 the world. Her actions, gestures and glances were the perfection 
 of histrionic power, blending the emotional strength of tragic art. 
 Moremelo-dramatic, more passionate style has been witnessed on 
 the stage of the National Theater; bin never such consummate 
 acting. As powerful as was her rendition in "Frou Fiou," it 
 was not until she played "Camille," that her matchless talents 
 displayed itself. Her life, so much like that unfortunate woman's, 
 her temptations, her trials in the same city among the same people 
 so identified her with the part, that she was literally "Caaaille" 
 herself. Her acting was subdued, yet effecuve and not until the 
 climax was reached did the stormy power that lay hid in that 
 slight frame burst out, then, indeed, did she ascend to the very 
 zenith of passion. The death scene while not so powerful as other 
 stars, yet was incomparably more realistic acting. It was a death 
 bed scene, but a peaceful one, that came as a welcome relief to a 
 long suffering woman, and not the torturing struggling death that 
 overtook her as a retribution. 
 A press notice says of her appearance at the National: 
 
82 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 The audience last night at the National Theater, despite the trel le pr 
 wasnol only immense, but was of thehighesl quality, alniosl everj 
 of prominence in society, or pul lie or professional in-' was there. Mam 
 were there who had not I een in the theater for years. Madame Bernhardt 
 won more and more upon her audience, and she was called out i»y the wild- 
 ly enthusiasl ic people again and again.* 
 
 April 11, John T. Raymond, in a new play called "Fresh, the 
 American." The verdict of the Washington public was agaii 
 this coined}', it had rather too much Raymond in it. 
 
 The Acme Olivette Company to crowded housi This oew 
 opera was a success from the jump. It had many of the "1*1 
 Washington favorites in it. Carleton of the Ritchi ind K< 
 
 loggTroupe;H. C. Peakes and Fanny Wentworth. 
 
 R. G. ENGEB80LL. 
 
 Sunday, May 8, Boblngersoll delivered his lecture called "The 
 
 Great Infidel and the Devil." While the famous Free Thinker 
 advocated pulling down the old creeds, he did not sa\ or hint 
 what he would erect in their places. This lecture Closed the 
 theater for the season with a strong smell of brimstone in the air. 
 
 The National, newly papered, painted and frescoed was opened 
 September v . 1881, by Barlow and Wilson's burnt cork artists. 
 
 Miss Jennie Lee. next, as Joe, in "Bleak Bouse," to an e 
 ingly small audience. 
 
 Miss Alice Harrison, in "Photos," to a few listless people. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Knight, in "Baron Rudolph," to a -until but at 
 tentive audience. 
 
 £am Hague's British Operatic Minstrels must have though! the 
 cholera or some kind of pestilence was raging in Washington 
 judging from the funeral solemnity that rested on the faces of 
 about a score of people who sat scattered about almosl losl in t he- 
 vast depth of the building 
 
 But Kiralfy and brother brought the crowd with their splendid 
 spectacular play of Michael Strogoff. 
 
 October 17, Mr. and Mrs Goodwin in "Camille; or, the (tacked 
 Heart," and thereby hangs a tale. They had heavily bilL 
 the city, and their posters were gorgeous affairs. Busini 
 business, and the proprietors of a new 7 glue who were just stall- 
 ing a patent sticking fluid on -the market, pasted their pla< 
 under the cracked hearts, with the words: "Let Camille u 
 Blank's prepared glue." 
 
 THOMAS W. KEENE.' 
 
 The next week Mr. Thos. W. Keene in Shakespearean plays. 
 
 Emma Abbott follows with her opera company. 
 
 Hermann with his latest sensation "The Automaton Wonders," 
 to a ffoocl sized audience. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Florence in their specialties. 
 
 Mary Anderson, much improved every way, now gave a series 
 of renditions of "Juliet," "Parthenia," "Evadne," and the "Lady 
 of Lyons." 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 83 
 
 Fanny Davenport followed her in Shakespearean heroines. 
 
 Pretty, piquant Miss Lotta as "Bob," by far her best charac- 
 ter. 
 
 The Yokes Family gave a week's enjoyable entertainment with 
 their plays, the "Belles of the Kitchen," "Joe," and <c Fun in a 
 Fog." 
 
 THE YEAH OF 1882. 
 
 January 2d, "Joshua Whitcomb," by Mr. Denman Thomp- 
 son. 
 
 Robson and Crane came next with "Our Bachelors," and 
 "Sharps and Plats." 
 
 Lawrence Barrett in his old roles. 
 
 January 23d, Colville's sensational spectacular drama, "The 
 World." 
 
 John Mcl'ullough, and Joe Emmett to large houses in their re- 
 spective parts. 
 
 February 24th, the Grand Italian Opera for three nights, "Car- 
 men," "Aida," and "Lohengrin," given to large and fashionable 
 audiences. 
 
 The genial John Raymond follows in "Fresh," and the inimi- 
 table "Col. .Mulberry Sellers." 
 
 Maggie Mitchell next in the "Little Savage." 
 
 Joe Jefferson in his two roles that people never seemed to tire 
 of. 
 
 ADA GRAY. 
 
 April 24, for a week, Miss Ada Gray in " East Lynne." Her 
 engagement was an utter failure; there were not fifty people in 
 the house, and those not of the melting kind. They sat as glum 
 as if they were at a funeral waiting for the corpse to be brought 
 in. 
 
 May 8, Miss Emily Rigl made a hit in the play of "Her Atone- 
 ment." 
 
 MARGARET LARNER AND R. L. DOWNING. 
 
 Miss Margaret Larner, assisted by R. L. Downing, in the "Prin- 
 cess of Bagdad." 
 
 No young actor has attained a more enviable reputation than 
 Mr. Downing. Commencing at the very foot of the ladder he has 
 by earnest and persevering work reached a round where the top is 
 in sight. For years he struggled hard in subordinate positions, 
 but finally in the support of Mary Anderson he had an opportun- 
 ity to develop the ability that was in him, and hislngomar, Huon 
 and Cololona compared favorably with the greatest of his prede- 
 cessors. His seasons with Joe Jefferson gave him an experience 
 in comedy, and his Captain Absolute and John Perrybingle were 
 successful efforts. If his development fulfils the promise of his 
 early career it will not be many years before R. L. Downing will 
 fill the void in the roll of tragedians made by the retirement of 
 John McCullcugh. 
 
84 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATEE. 
 
 There have been given on the boards of the National many- 
 amateur operas, the performances having always been presented 
 for some worthy charity. Among the operas thus produced may- 
 be mentioned "Martha," "Pinafore," "Pirates of Penzance," 
 and "Cox and Box," but perhaps the most notable was the 
 • "Chimes of Normandy," which was performed by the following 
 cast: 
 
 THE CHIMES OF NORMANDY. 
 May. 29, 1882. BENEFIT OF SAMUEL G. KINSLEY. 
 
 Serolette , Miss Eva Mills 
 
 Germaine Mrs. E. B. True 
 
 Manette Mrs. Hamilton Adams 
 
 Jearmie Mrs. D. McLeod 
 
 Gertrude Mrs. J. W. Cross 
 
 Susannah Miss Iola Williams 
 
 Henri Mr. John Pugh 
 
 Robert More Mr. J. F. Rule 
 
 Gaspard . Mr. E. B. Hay 
 
 Bailliff Mr. Lewis SeiDOld 
 
 Notary Mr. H. A. Forsman 
 
 Attentats S^VSf, 
 
 Barlow and Wilson's Minstrels opened the autumn campaign 
 of September 4, 1882. 
 
 McKee Rankin, followed by a play called "49." 
 
 Bartley Campbell's "Galley Slave," was brought out for the 
 first time by a New York Company, and scored an unqualified 
 success. 
 
 Kiralfy Bros, to jammed houses and enthusiastic audiences with 
 the old but welcome "Black Crook." It showed that the Wash- 
 ington people never get tired of a spectacular play when well 
 mounted and with a fine "corps de ballet." It is only the cheap 
 imitations they kick so against. 
 
 October 9, Bartley Campbell's "White Slave," to a fine and 
 applauding audience. 
 
 Collier's "Lights O' London," did a rushing business for a 
 week. 
 
 Brooks and Dickson's Dramatic Company, in "The World." 
 followed by N. C. Goodwin and E. F. Thome, in the "Black 
 Flag." 
 
 The great tragedienne Modjeska, again trod the boards of the 
 National, in "As You Like It," and "Frou Frou." The society 
 people turned out en masse, and she furnished a topic of conver- 
 sation among the haut ton for a nine days period. 
 
 Joe Jefferson, as "Rip" and "Bob." 
 
 Then Thomas W. Keene, in "Richard" and "Hamlet," who 
 played during the Christmas holidays to good houses. 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1883. 
 
 Miss Mary Anderson opened the new year with her various 
 roles. Her success was acknowledged by every one of the thea- 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER, 85 
 
 ter habitues, and a Washington audience is certainly the coolest, 
 most fastidious one in the Union, like Iago they are "nothing, if 
 not critical." 
 
 Little Miss Lotta, again c ias "Bob," in breeches. 
 
 January 15, Robson an Crane, in a laughable play called 
 "Forbidden Fruits." 
 
 February 26, Lawrence Barrett appeared with a new tragedy, 
 by Hon. George Boker, called "Francesca da Rimini," a realiza- 
 tion of Dante's celebrated story. Barrett had played in the Na- 
 tional for years in various heroic roles, with distinguished 
 success, but on that February night the Washington play 
 goers were destined to be astonished, as they were never aston- 
 ished before. The troupe supporting Barrett was an exception- 
 ally strong one. F. C. Moseby took the part of Guido Da Polenta, 
 the head of the Ghebelins; Louis James, as Pepe, the Jester; B. 
 G. Rogers, as Malatestan, Lord of Rimini; Francesca, by the beau- 
 tiful Marie Wainwright, and Ritta, by Ada Plunkett. 
 
 The acting of Barrett was natural and easy in the two first acts; 
 he rose in passion in the third, but in the fourth scene, in the in- 
 terior of the celebrated Cathedral at Rimini, when the marriage 
 of Guido's daughter takes place, he ascended to the very acme of 
 passionate acting. He was superb. Such intensity, such rage, 
 horror and hatred; such delineation of a storm tossed soul, the 
 stage of the old theater never witnessed before. The audience 
 were amazed. Could that be Barrett? Impossible. In the last act 
 and scene he was appalling, when he came into the chamber 
 armed with the dagger, disordered in mind, driven on to seek a 
 blind vengeance for treachery that the gods themselves could not 
 pardon; he was a ghastly spectacle; his complexion pallid, his 
 voice inarticulate, his eyes like burning coals of fire. He stops 
 short, irresolute; his countenance changes, then over the face steals 
 the horrible repulsive remembrance; it hardens, becomes fixed; the 
 rigid hand clutches the poniard, the other seeks the heart and 
 trembles at finding it, for the memory of many years rushes over 
 him and rises like a veil of tears between his vengeance and the 
 woman he loved. The right pla had found the right man at last, 
 and the tumultuous applause showed Barrett that he had attained 
 the proud position of one of the greatest tragedians that the new 
 world had ever produced. Among the great debuts of great actors, 
 his can be counted, and "Da Rimini," will always hereafter be in- 
 separably connected with the name of Lawrence Barrett. 
 
 Barrett's great faculties have in this play full sway; he renders 
 hate so terribly, irony so frightfully, disdain so contemptuously, 
 devotion so entrancing, love so inexpressibly sweet; while the 
 whole house rivet their eyes, hold their breath, as their hearts 
 throb under the mystic influence. Francesca, the daughter of 
 Guido, Lord of Ravenna, was given by her father in marriage to 
 Lanciotto, Lord of Rimini, a man hideously deformed. Afraid 
 of disgusting his bride, Lanciotto resolved to woo by proxy, and 
 •sent as his representative his brother Paolo, who was the hand- 
 
86 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 somest and most accomplished cavalier in Italy. He won the 
 bride's heart, and, forgetful of his "brother's trust mined her, and 
 Lanciottafinding"out_the betrayal, in his maddening rage, put both 
 of them to death. 
 
 Madame Janauschek follows as "Marie Antoinette." 
 
 April 2, John T. Raymond in a new play called "In Paradise." 
 It was a weak production, and the press damned it with faint 
 praise. 
 
 Maggie Mitchell again in same old roles. 
 
 April 16, Miss Catherine Lewis caused a sensation, altogether of 
 a pleasant kind, in "Olivette," and she proved one of the best pay- 
 ing cards of the season. 
 
 Herman d with his diabolistic tricks came after her. • 
 
 The season was closed by a regular rousing outpouring of Mr. 
 Sam Kinsley's numerous friends who attended his benefit, the 
 Washington Operatic Association giving "Pinafore" in unsur- 
 passed style, with Miss Eva Mills as Josephine. 
 
 The minstrels as usual opened the fall season. 
 
 September 10, 1883, "East Lynne" again. 
 
 Mr. John Jack as "King Henry the Fourth." If the English 
 monarch looked and acted like Mr. Jack, it is no wonder his sub- 
 jects rebelled. 
 
 Miss Kate Claxton follows in the "Sea of Ice." 
 
 October 1, Bartley Campbell's play of "Siberia," was brought 
 out in fine style, and has become the most popular of all his pro- 
 ductions. 
 
 The Hess Opera Company next. Miss Abbie Carrington made 
 a most favorable impression in the role of "Martha." 
 
 The "Romany Rye" did a large business for a week, and they 
 were followed by Ihe "Silver King" to small houses. 
 
 Raymond and Maggie Mitchell in their respective parts. 
 
 December'10, Lawrence Barrett to a "crush" in "Da Rimini." 
 
 Mr. James O'Neil came after in "Monte Cristo." 
 
 "In the Ranks," by a travelling company, was presented, finely 
 mounted, and well played, and met with deserved success. 
 
 THE YEAR OP 1884. 
 
 Joe Jefferson in his old roles. He gave one rendition of Caleb 
 Plummer, in the "Cricket on the Hearth," which many think is 
 his strongest character. Full audiences greeted him. 
 
 Jan. 21, 1884, John McCaul's Opera Company, in the "Queen's 
 Lace Handkerchief." The music of f Lis production is light and 
 frothy- the sceres poor and ineffective. The business was light 
 and the audience critical and undemonstrating. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Florence in their old characters. 
 
 Mr. John McCullough now makes his last . appearance on the 
 boards of the National Theater, which he has graced so long. 
 His friends were shocked at the change a few months had made. 
 His great vitality had left him, his fire was dimmed, his passion, 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 87 
 
 subdued, and he played aimlessly. His Virginias was * tftiaUer 
 
 exhibition of his failing powers He was a wreck, but a magBifi 
 cent one still. As the curtain fell on the night of the 24th oi 
 February, 
 1884, upon the 
 battle scene of 
 "Richard the 
 Third," many 
 of the audi- 
 ence thought 
 then that they 
 were taking 
 their last look 
 at him. 
 
 Poor John 
 McCullough — 
 a born actor — 
 a good friend 
 and princely 
 gentleman. 
 His loss will 
 long be felt ; 
 his epitaph 
 should be like 
 that of Sir 
 Launcelot of 
 Greeves. 
 
 John Mc- 
 Cullough 
 probably en- 
 joyed more 
 personal pop- 
 ularity than 
 any acter who 
 ever trod the 
 American 
 stage. Genial 
 in disposition, 
 easy and af- 
 able in man- 
 ner, he had a 
 wealth of good 
 fellowship, 
 which made 
 him a most de- 
 lightful COm- 1 RIVATE BOX DECORATION. 
 
 panion, and 
 
 won the esteem of all with whom he came in contact. \V ithout gen- 
 ius butwith great talent, and possessing the advantages of a classi- 
 
68 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 cal face and magnificent physique, his acting, though traditional 
 and imitative, being modeled on that of his precepter Edwin For- 
 rest, was conscientious and earnest, and his splendid stsge pres- 
 ence was sufficient compensation to the masses for his deficient 
 mentality. No critic wished to say harsh things about John, for 
 -he was such a jolly good fellow; and it was only when his defects 
 were painfully apparent, as in "Hamlet;" that he received anything 
 but the kindest treatment. Poor John, noble, manly, generous 
 to a fault, his present unfortunate condition is due to his super- 
 abundance of animal spirits and his excessive good fellowship. 
 
 It so happened that the first publication of the mental impair- 
 ment of McCullough was made by the writer in a daily newspaper 
 in this city. Immediately there came an emphatic denial from 
 his manager, which was published, and it was hoped that the in- 
 formation received as to the tragedian's condition was incorrect. 
 
 But when the actor visited this city the next winter, the truth 
 of his mental decadence was evident to all. The writer visited 
 him in his dressing room and was shocked at the great change in 
 the man He appeared moody and preoccupied, and repeated him- 
 self over and over again in conversation. Once he tried to bright- 
 en up and be his old self, but the attempt was a dismal failure 
 and the expression of his face settled back into the dull, leaden, 
 far away look it had worn before. As I came out to the front of 
 the theater I said to his agent; "That man will never play another 
 season. It is a crime to let him play now." 
 
 His present sad state is sincerely regretted, not only by those who 
 knew him personally and who loved him, but by thousands who 
 only were acquainted with him over the footlights. With shat- 
 tered intellect, and with his glorious form enfeebled and shrunk, 
 the time is not far distant when he must shuffle off this mortal 
 coil and go to "that bourne from whence no traveler returns." 
 
 The following is the cast of the last performance of McCullough 
 in this city. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 89 
 
 NJLIIOITAL THEATER. 
 
 The eminent Tragedian Mr. 
 
 JOHN McCULLOUCH, 
 
 Supported by a Fowerful Company, under the Management of 
 
 Wm. M Conner. 
 Saturday evening, February U, Shakespeare's Tragedy, in 5 Acts, entitled 
 
 RICHARD III. 
 
 Ri L chm ond L0STER, afterwards Kiu ^ Ri <*ard in John~M^m~o^ 
 
 Henry IV .7 '. '.'.'. '/.". '.*. V/.V. J °4 ei i h ^aworth 
 
 Buckingham V H< A T - L , an J" d . on 
 
 Prince of Wales .! WW";;.';. vSStr^ e 
 
 Duke of York ... " vStA" 16 
 
 Catsby -Frank Thropp 
 
 Stenley ^ix ' 5 arto £ 
 
 Tressel " J " H ^ fe £? wel J 
 
 Norfolk ■**• fet . u art 
 
 Radcliff .'.'.'.*.'." .'.'.'.'.' Edward Spencer 
 
 jS^^r...::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;^^ 
 
 Tvrrel Edward W llson 
 
 Oxford .'."*." William Haworth 
 
 Blount."."..'..*.'.'.';.". '•"■ Robert Prichard 
 
 Officer '" w b -^ horpe 
 
 o^nEjizabeth.:::;:-;;;:::;;;-";'.;;;.;.':^^^ 
 
 please lemam seated and avoid an interruption of the performance. 
 cr^ded a hLses. Mr ' HeMy Abb6y ' S Ita " an °P e ''^Compa ny ^ 
 
 HENKY HIVING AND MISS ELLEN TERRY. 
 
 w^M- 6 ™* 0f rr March the g re at English actor Henry Irving, 
 with Miss Ellen Terry, stepped before the footlights and faced an 
 audience any actor on earth would be proud to meet. The play 
 was Louis XI.,' and living's peculiar mannerism, while it 
 dimmed his great talent, yet could not obscure it. But for Miss 
 tTw™ T i the ™ wer . e not words strong enough to express the 
 pieasuie and satisfaction that her exquisite acting gave Her 
 W ella 1 an , d Portia were incomparable, and the enthusiasm so 
 long corked up by witnessing indifferent plays, now burst out in 
 laplurous applause at her splendid renditions, 
 princely eDgagement was a § reat success; their receipts were 
 
 M^f U ^ ganger followed in a play called "Claire and the Forge 
 JfJ J As tar as 8n exhibition of expensive toilettes worn bv 
 miss Maude wtre concerned, the play was a success. Only a few 
 people were brave enough to sit the drama out. 
 March 14, Emmett in his favorite characters 
 
90 HISTORY OF T\IE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 Dion Boucicau't in his threadbare play, "The Shaugraun," fol- 
 lowed by M. B. Curtis as "Sam'l of Posen." 
 
 Edwin Thome in the blood curdling and crimson current chil- 
 ling play of "The Black Flag." 
 
 April 21, Emma Abbott's Opera Company, in which Signor 
 Tagliapetra scored a great success. 
 
 ' RAPLEY AND KINSLEY, MANAGERS. 
 
 The National opened September 8, with Rapley and Kinsley, 
 lessees and managers. Thatcher, Primrose and West's Minstrels 
 led off the ball, followed by Miss Lizzie May Ulmer, Mr. Frank 
 Mayo, Janauschek, M'lle Aimee respectively, in their usual roles, 
 with no new features. 
 
 Shook and Collier combination on November 3, in "Storm Beat- 
 en." 
 
 Then came the Milan Opera Company, with all good artists. 
 
 November 17, the Madison Square Company, in Conway's play 
 of "Called Back," to a big business. 
 
 Agnes Booth next, in the "Wages of Sin." 
 
 "The Shadows of a Great City," proved a strong card and drew 
 fine audiences. 
 
 Joe Jeff erson for the hundredth time in same ancient characters. 
 
 "The Pavements of Paris," to small houses. 
 
 Christmas week, "The Private Secretary," to a huge audience. 
 This play was a pronounced success from the start and grew steadily 
 in popular favor. 
 
 The end of the old year, "Young Mrs. Winthrop." 
 
 THE YEAR OF 1885. 
 
 The opening of 1885, was marked by Florence, in his "Mishty 
 Dollar." 
 
 January 12, the beautiful and accomplished M'lle Rhea, in an en- 
 gagement to standing room only, the play was Howard Carroll's 
 "American Countess." 
 
 "May Blossom" by the Madison Square Company to very poor 
 houses. 
 
 A real sensation was Mestayer's "We, Us & Co." a jumble of 
 odds and ends, yet irresistibly funny, and drew the people to the 
 theater in crowds. 
 
 February 2, Fanny Davenport as "Fedora." 
 
 February 9, Louis Aldrich in "My Partner" to a few small 
 houses. 
 
 On Thursday, January 19, "The Elks," a Washington organi- 
 zation, had a benefit at the theater in which the city St. Cecelia 
 Quartette took part. 
 
 The last play that was performed on the boards of the old 
 National was "Victor Durand," by Wallack's New York Com- 
 pany. About three hours after the end of the performance, Feb- 
 ruary 27, 1885, the National caught fire from some unexplained 
 cause and was soon in ruins. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 91 
 
 A most striking and wonderful coincidence about those disas- 
 ters, was the fact that each destruction of the theater occurred 
 just about, or a little previous, to the time of the inauguration of 
 a President, namely: Polk, Buchanan, Grant and Cleveland, in 
 the years 1845, 1857, 1873, and 1885. 
 
 The Victor Durand Company lost all of their wardrobe. Agnes 
 Elliott's was valued at $2,500; Louise Dillon's $1,000; M.Gothold's 
 $500; Rollin Buckstone's, $1,500; and Mr. Brunestein's, the man- 
 ager of the company, at least $12,000. 
 
 Mr. Rapley's actual loss was many thousands of dollars, and 
 the prospective damage cannot well be estimated in dollars and 
 cents. Just at the busiest season of the year, and at a time when 
 the installation of a new President brought tens of thousands of 
 strangers to the city that would have jammed his theater and paid 
 royal dividends, he lost his theater; and as he stood at the smold- 
 ering ruins he must have felt like giving up in utter despair. But 
 the same feeling that nerved Stanley to penetrate through the 
 dark continent, and Swain to force his way across the Isthmus of 
 Darian, impelled Mr. Rapley, for the second time, to rebuild the 
 theater, and to take a bond of fate. 
 
 He deserves the sincere thanks and cordial recognition of the 
 citizens of the capitol city, and he will receive them unstinted, 
 and a most liberal patronage. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW THEATER. 
 
 The New National is one of the finest buildings in the Union. 
 All that mechanics and the arts could furnish have been lavishly 
 used, and Mr. "W. W. Rapley can gaze with a lofty feeling of pride 
 upon the completion of his work. 
 
 The devices for the safety of the audience in any conceivable 
 emergency are so complete that no accident could happen. 
 
 The building was commenced on the last day of April, 1885, 
 because May 1st fell on Friday, and there is no man, be he Guelph or 
 Gueberline, who would not prefer to start in a new enterprise, or 
 depart on a long voyage on any other time in the week but hang- 
 man's day. 
 
 By the first of September the builders finished their portion of 
 the work, and then the decoraters took a hand, and in five weeks 
 the interior was completed. 
 
 The entrance to the dress circle is twenty- eight feet wide, and is 
 reached through the lobby, handsomely and tastefully decorated. 
 
 The size of the auditoriums are 16 by 80, and will seat fully 
 nineteen hundred people. Before and behind the scenes is divided 
 by an asbestos fire proof stage curtain that would effectually, in 
 a case of fire, prevent its spread towards the front of the house. 
 
 The lobby is tiled with alternate diamonds of white and black 
 marble, on each side of which are ladies' and gentlemen's waiting 
 rooms, where refreshments are served in the best style. - 
 
 The lobby is separated from the theater by massive mahogany 
 folding doors. The stage is both spacious, wide and deep, and as 
 the floor rises with a strong elevation rearward, the view to the 
 stage is perfect from all parts of the house. The chairs in the 
 house are twenty-( ne inches between the arms. Thus giving 
 an easy seat even to a two hundred and fifty pounds avoirdupois; 
 there is wide spaces between the rows so that the late comer 
 will not cause inconvenience. The floor of the orchestra is laid 
 with heavy Wilton carpet. 
 
 The theater is brilliantly lighted. A splendid chandelier, 
 hanging from the center of the roof, contains one hundred 
 burners, with attachments for lighting by electricity, and also for 
 incandescent lights. 
 
 The green room is fourteen feet square and superbly furnished. 
 There are twenty-four dressing rooms beside a large trunk 
 room for baggage. There are three rooms for the stars, eleven 
 feet square. 
 
 The whole interior of the theater is finished in bright 
 cherry, embossed with gilt, and the ceiling elegantly and taste- 
 fully frescoed 
 
 The building is heated with steam throughout. 
 The theater in its appurtenances cost a small margin over 
 two hundred thousand dollars. 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 93 
 
 And as the eye.gaze roves around, taking in all the details of 
 beauty, style and comfort, we can surely afford to congratulate the 
 liberal owner of the theater, who presents to the citizens of the 
 country a theater which is not only a thing of pride to the Wash- 
 ington citizens, but also an ornament to the Capital of the mighti- 
 est nation on the globe. 
 
 MR. W. H. RAPLEY, MANAGEB. 
 
 Mr. W. H. Rapley, who is now the sole manager of the Na- 
 tional Theater, is in the prime of manhood, being twenty- eight 
 years of age. He was born in the District, and educated first at 
 Hanover in Germany, and then, on his return to this country, he 
 was appointed to a cadetship at West Point. After a residence at 
 the Military Academy for two years, he came to the conclusion 
 that there was not a sufficient fortune for an officer of the army 
 in time of peace, so he resigned, and returning here assumed 
 the management of his father's stove business. For five years he 
 was also treasurer of the Theater, and last year assumed the 
 management of the house, associating' with him Mr. Sam'l G. 
 Kinsley, who had long been the business manager for the former 
 lessee. 
 
 Mr. Rapley possesses a splendid physique, being over six feet 
 in height, hansomely proportioned, and weighing about 220 lbs. 
 He has a frank, manly countenance, and is justly popular on ac- 
 count of his obliging nature and affable temperament. He in- 
 herited much of his father's business sagacity, and is fully con- 
 versant with all the details of theatrical management. A success- 
 ful managerial career may be predicted for him. 
 
 WHERE THE THEATER STANDS. 
 
 The site of the National Theater of the present day is simply 
 unrivalled; there is no spot of ground in Washington that contains 
 such varied advantages as this favored temple of histronic art, 
 situated close enough to attract the multitude that throng Penn- 
 sylvania avenue, yet far enough off to be away from the surging 
 crowds that often jam the streets. It is the very center of the city 
 proper; surrounded by the business crafts and commerce on one 
 arc, and by the fashion and money on the other half of the circle, 
 it attracts alike the sturdy artizan, as well as the "average man" 
 with no occupation in life except to cut coupons off of his 
 bonds. It is within walking distance of all the high grade hotels; 
 it is the confluence of several lines of horse cars, that either pass 
 the door, or a few steps away from the main track in the avenue 
 that connect with every line in the District, and ribbons the streets 
 with its steel rails, and thus citizens from the most remote parts 
 of the city can reach their homes after the performance without 
 trouble or delay. The street where the theater stands that unites 
 with Pennsylvania avenue at 14th street, some fifty yards from the 
 National, seems to have been laid out especially for a theater, as 
 there is but little traffic in this side street, and it is a most fitting 
 place for the waiting equipages in the night time, free from any 
 
94 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL Tfl 
 
 agons, omnibusses, i r herdics, who take the.pul Iks avenue I 
 
 preference. , . , , 
 
 The reason why the National Is pular with the 
 
 Washington is patent to all who think for a moment on t: 
 iect It is a link that binds the Washingtoniana to the .tram 
 past. It is the oldest place of amusement In th< 
 greatest artists of the world have trod its boards. It I 
 and a temple without traditions, lacks lU 
 
 a place that the forefathers of the present generatiou went when 
 they were young, and they have handed down many kindly senti- 
 ments and oral reports of the palmy time when the old and new 
 world sent its most brilliant talent to the Nation's Capit 
 is no great actor of the modern era whose aame Is not In ibly 
 
 connected with the National Theater; an I Is that the pu 
 
 love the immortal part of it, the soul as it were, that BUF 
 and hallows the Bpot, even though the bod) Is burned, 
 structure arises ami opens wide it- doors loan appreciative publl< 
 It may not he the same boards, the same ime l> 
 
 where Forrest, (ushman, Booth the kings and queen "t" the 
 divine art held the people in BpeechlesB awe. or boist< at 
 
 the one -pot on earth i- the -aim-, and neither Are oor \\ in 
 
 obliterate it nor erase it- •_: 1< »ii<>u> memories. It Is historic ground, 
 sacred to tin- memory <>t" Thalia, Terpsichore and Melpomene. 
 
 The National Theater, either in Its old form or in a nev 
 will endure as long a- Washington Is a Capital. Like the 
 arena of the Seven Hill'd City, it will at future relic of 
 
 the Nations greatness 
 
 TIMES I HANOI 
 
 Fifty years is not Ion.-- in the history of a city or a th< 
 what a difference in the New National from the flrsl buildii 
 erected in 1835. They had lamps then for light. Gas did i 
 come until years later, and, s >tch Bettie Cameron in speak 
 
 ing of it: ,"'lf it's not enchantment, It's much like it. in 
 being fashed with wicks, you just turn a bit t thing and 
 
 out spouts a light, like sour milk out of s barrel. I wish th< 
 muckle luck o' it, but it will be awhile afore my gude man catch 
 
 me darning his stocking wi' a witch taper at chimney P. 
 "What would Miss Betta say about the electric li. 
 The theater habitue of 1835 would open his ey 
 
 wonder, could he see the revolvi] : to day, an 
 
 the arrival of the train and departure of t 
 of the spectacular plays would make him 
 nificence. 
 
H'lSTOm "1 rHE NEW NATIONAL THEATER, 
 
 
 Thouffh a Frenchwoman, Madamoiselle has spent several years in 
 
 Lmerica, and in a measure we have adopted her Certainly she 
 
 will find nowhere in the wide world more sincere friends and loyal 
 
 admirers than in this country. 
 
 A brilliant genius enclosed in an adorable fair, as bylvia says: 
 
 I- - ie qo1 passing fair. 
 Rhea, as •■Juliet," is lovely; fche has thesweetDess of the violet, 
 the nurity of the lily and the grace and tenderness of a child. Her 
 acting is natural-never stilted: and the human emotions are pre- 
 lined by her genius and trained art, with the same fidelity that 
 the camera portrays a scene or landscape. In her tender roles she 
 appears probably at her best- 
 Each look, each motion waked 
 A new torn grace. 
 
96 BTSTORY OF THE NEW NATION \l. PHI \ 
 
 Tii vv PUTURB 
 
 The stage is just inside the charmed portals who 
 genius and labor. And never in the annals of the stage are Buch 
 princely guerdons held outto those who dare to pass it. In no 
 other profession of life is recompense and requital bo liberal as 
 the dram uic art gives to its votaries. The demand for g 
 far exceed the supply; and millions of people are ready to 
 the true artist with all the encouragement and aid within their 
 power. The dramatic instinct is inherent in man. Theloveof g 
 acting is a part of his being, and now that the high< r civill I 
 has recognized the actor as the peer of tb itesl man on earth, 
 
 and the art of portraying the passions of humanity as the mosl 
 elegant and refined of all others, bo the being who is gifted by 
 
 . I with these trail-, will find fame and fortune, and lei Ufl hope 
 happiness, before the footlights. 
 
 In the coming theater, whose curtain is rolled up 
 the first time, what a history now in the WOmb of time, '""re 
 
 it. On these boards who Ie destined to play upon men — 
 
 ]'r. >in tin' l"\v 
 
 Perchance a supe— or soubrette — who knowe Like Kean he 
 may now Bleep on a di ;» for lack of wh [thai to pay hi- 
 
 lodgin Like Neilson -he may he wan leriiiL r about tin' 
 crying with hunger. And the New N I will '»•• tfa 
 
 where her transi ins will bl ize out in all Its d iz 
 
 splendor. 
 
 •Hi'- nil unki i-l, 
 
 the mantle 
 An< 1 walk in - 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 97 
 
 ZtsT-EW ISTATIOI^AL T IHI IE .A. T IE IR, . 
 
 mm el Q. Kinsley B, -ink-- Mwvuer 
 
 Monday Evening, October 5th, 1835, tor one week only. 
 Tip- Distinguished Emotional Actress, 
 
 K 11 K A 
 
 And her Unrivalled Company, under tin' management of Mr. J. W. 
 
 Morrissey, will appear in a grand production of the new 
 
 Romantic Comedy-drama by Barron ami Bates, au- 
 
 th< >ra of •' a M' tral Crime," enl it I 
 
 LA l> V A - ll L E V . 
 
 Produced with m; •■ \ni> magnificeni scenery, - i-ebb stage effects, 
 ggrjeoi'S cos - , and the following distbibution of < •; k \< pebs: 
 
 Lai i Rhea 
 
 Ladj Norman Miss Ella Wren 
 
 Margarel Vernon M — Mae Clark 
 
 Mr-. Walters Miss Julia Wheeler 
 
 •tha Miss Annie Mackay 
 
 Lord Neil Norman Mr. A . ll. Forrest 
 
 Major Drummond Mr. J. T. Sullivan 
 
 Jacob Mr. R G.Wilson 
 
 Dr. Burgle Mr. C. T. Vincent 
 
 Eudson Mr. Boyd Putman 
 
 Marcellus Mr. Percy Si 
 
 Ai 1' I. Faciiiati.'ii. 
 
 ACT II.— Adoration. 
 
 act III.— Revelation. 
 
 ACT IV Expiration. 
 
 Business Manager I. W. McKinney 
 
 Stage Manager A. C. Hilsdorf 
 
 the ak .rv. KM'. 
 
 Margaret Vernon, by the death of an uncle, falls heir to Ashley Mam >r, 
 a v;i>; possession in England. The terms "t" the will provided that if the 
 son of Sir Robert Ashley, who was sent to India at an early age, died un- 
 married ami childless, Margaret, a niece of Sir Robert, would i come the 
 legal heir. Charles, the son, died in India as a bachelor, and Margaret was 
 installed as mistress of Ashley Hall. By her acts of charity and benevo- 
 lent i by her self-abnegat ion ami good will toward tin' poor, and through 
 hersweel and amiable nature, she endears herself to all with whom sjie 
 comes in contact. Lady Norman, a wealthy neighbor, becomes her bosom 
 friend. Her son, Lord Neil Norman,a young 1 man of artistic and literary 
 attainments, is a frequent visitorto Ashley Manor. Margaret falls desper- 
 ately but silently in love with him, which is not returned by Neil, though 
 by his gentle attentions, she is led to believe him not indifferent to her. 
 Mr. Hudson, the family lawyer, appears ujumthe scene, and conveys to 
 Margarel t he painful news That her Cousin Charles did marry in India, and 
 left a widow and child, who at that moment wei*e in the village. Although 
 overwhelmed ' y the intelligence, Margaret acceptsthe issue with womanly 
 dignity and spirit, and invites the new heirs to Ashley Manor. Lady Ash- 
 ley now enters, and after formal preliminaries, takes possession of the 
 estate, at the same time imploring Margaret to remain and continue her 
 duty of supervision. Margaret consents, after a struggle with herself, 
 solely because by remaining she will still be near Lord Neil. At this crisis, 
 Neil enters, his eye meets that of Lady Ashley, and they both become trans- 
 fixed with a passionate adoration of each other, which, later on,developes 
 into the most uncompromising love. While Margaret feels keenly her 
 position, she still remains at the manor, because the love her people bear 
 
98 bis 
 
 her will nol permit her I W '• ' »'' 
 
 Lady A.shlej is at it- N ' ' 
 
 his appearance Ladj Ashley turns 
 condition! Major Drnmmond denoui 
 nor tin' w< 'man who ma 
 dian bungalow, and was -till In Ii 
 death i if Bir R> »t>erl , 1 
 flicts with I.' »rd N< irman's h 
 
 ing under the hum nation oil '' 
 
 lover, Lady Ashley loses her r< 
 die^ in Neil's arms. 
 
 ADDR1 5H 
 
 \i TBI 
 
 OPENING OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEA1 
 
 VfASHINOTOS D • . 
 
 Mi 
 
 Writt. D by i 
 
 Bp >k< n bj Mise Ji ia Win 
 
 Here wh( re i d) 
 
 Disaster came with fli 
 
 With cruel band its r 
 
 And Havi 
 
 Behold a Phoenix from * 
 
 Behold the dr una's i odld ) 
 
 Aladdin'a palsy lit. 
 
 Arose to prove the 
 
 A Bummi i - e niml 
 
 To shelter fairies in palatial bomi 
 
 Our builders, chary equally of 
 
 Present this palace to admirii 
 
 While yet the waste of ashi ild 
 
 They have wroughl mar-. 1 ; 
 
 So swift, so sure has been their v -kill. 
 
 So strong has Fate been held to do their will. 
 
 That here, to-night, in this resplendent fai 
 
 The smiling Muses arc "At Borne In. 
 
 Now it were well to beed the - 
 
 Cull rich memories fr< storehouse v 
 
 See how the Drama. Servant ;r Truth, 
 
 Has solaced age, and safely guided youth; 
 In ancient Greece, in grandest da] 
 Conserving morals, purifying hon 
 Then came Eclipse— tb ro 3 drear 
 
HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 99 
 
 Mi- I hrama, hashed the voice of oonsr; 
 Wrapt in Buch darkness thai it could be felt, 
 i at the Btrange shrines <>f dumb idols knelt: 
 
 1 • -it- w.Tr the glories of the ancient days, 
 
 Hom< : m i : - 1 Virgil do more sang their lays; 
 Plato unknown. Bethlehem's -tar not come. 
 The world in gloom was Superstition's home. 
 When anxious man had long Bought light in vain, 
 Aj 'he parched mead< urn for fruiting rain; 
 
 When light came, and the Btar of Promise rose, 
 I i shine as the Bun from the Zenith glows, 
 First born of hope, the Drama came to serve 
 With tireless brain, stout heart, and lasting nerve, 
 Man's full advancement to the highest plane; 
 To raise him from depths where hail dormant lain 
 Hi- better self — 1<> place him without stain 
 
 Whin- all the so* log j ields not chair, hut grain. 
 
 Shakesp< an- to fair faith, and to Hope gave voice, 
 
 B ide all mankind in truer life rejoice; 
 
 Taught how from prompting of the heart within 
 
 < »in of nature makes the whole world kin; 
 
 I ' ■ .-. but was Virtue's Slave 
 
 W Itu -• in p ! isb put h arranl knave; 
 
 sated } this of oun 
 
 1 im*e t.. \p: ii uent Bhowers; 
 
 lormant into rragranl bloom, 
 With light serene dispelling wii ter's gloom. 
 A- ■ - ' morning rend the Bhroud of niirht, 
 Thus did he ■'how the drama's magic might; 
 Thu>- From the mind took o imbing pall; 
 
 Thus led a groping race from out all thrall. 
 Was Faithful to weal of both (hutch and state, 
 Made Nice od Virtue obedient wait. 
 
 beneath this new and spacious dome, 
 V itles the drama in it- splendid home, 
 
 Sere will it- lessons in the coming years. 
 Move throngs to laughter, or compel to tears; 
 Heir will the key note* of all passions sweep, 
 A.8 the wilil winds the hosom of the deep. 
 Here be bond maiden to eternal truth, 
 Her.- \y - ife beacon to the tempted youth; 
 Here surely guide us in the oleasant path 
 That leads aside from sin. and shame, and wrath; 
 Here modest purity on all entail: 
 Here kindly hush misfortune's croning wail; 
 H( ' drawn the poison from sin's serpent tooth; 
 Here uphold Charity, and Love, and Truth; 
 Here '1" the work that Go,] gives man to do; 
 
100 HISTORY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 
 
 Cast down the false, ever uphold the true; 
 Here purify, and here make bright, and clean, 
 As a fair river with its shimmering sheen. 
 
 Here paint all Nice in colors to repel, 
 
 Here with the virtues in full concord dwell; 
 
 Here grey griefs throttle and all joys enhance, 
 
 Here with quick fancy's quaint conceits entrance; 
 
 Here give to dust that "is a little gilt" 
 
 Satires bright blade, and blade unto the hilt, 
 
 Here always "aim at folly as it flies," 
 
 Here build for wrong a lasting Bridge of Sighs ; 
 
 Here faithful mirror hold to nature up, 
 
 Here take the bitter dregs from sorrow's cup; 
 
 Here budding childhood and old age delight, 
 
 Here giye fair visions to expectant sight. 
 
 This is our task— this we shall strive to do- 
 Offer our patrons all that's bright and new; 
 No laggards, we, biding behind our day, 
 To vex the night with some trite, worthless play. 
 What in the new is good here will be found, 
 Yet sometimes will we roam familiar ground. 
 Our aim be always to instruct, delight, 
 To lead from darkness into blithesome light. 
 Bidding hearty welcome to this vast throng, 
 With drama bright, and subtle charm of song, 
 We promise pleasures always royal cheer 
 To all who are, or ever may be, here. 
 
 BUILDERS AND CONTRACTORS. 
 
 A.. B. MtrLLETT Architect for the Front 
 
 -J. B. McElfatrick & Sons, of N. Y. & St. Louis, Architect for 
 the Theater, 
 
 Samuel S. Hunt - Superintendent 
 
 Gade & Meyer Contractors for Brick Work 
 
 ; Childs & Sons Bricks 
 
 J. Veihmeyer Stone 
 
 E. N. Gray & Co .Iron 
 
 Geo. A. Shehan Lumber 
 
 Dan'l Smith & Son Sash, Doors and Blinds 
 
 W. E. Spaulding & Co Painting 
 
 A. A. Praell. . . . •. Wood Carver Interior Decoration 
 
 Mme. M. E. Bingaman Drapery for Boxes 
 
 L. Baessell & Son Frescoing 
 
 Jos. Thomas Stairs and Lobby Finish 
 
 .Emmick & Quartley , Lobby Decorators 
 
HISTOEY OF THE NEW NATIONAL THEATER. 101 
 
 C. B. Demorest Chairs 
 
 Jas. Lockhead Plumbing and Steam -Fitting 
 
 Cassidt & Son Gas Fixtures 
 
 Smith, Bridge & Co: Electric Appliances 
 
 Whittier & Co Boilers and Elevator 
 
 Henry E. Hoyt Drop Curtain 
 
 Chalmers Spence Co Asbestos Fire Proof Curtain 
 
 J. F. Manning & Co Tiles 
 
 McLaughling & Co Concrete and Pavement 
 
 Whi te & Overman ..... Galvanized Iron Cornices 
 
 Miquel Aleo Mirrors 
 
 Julius Lansburgh Carpets 
 
 Cheeney & Hewlitt Interior Iron work 
 
 Einbigler & Adler. Brass and Nickle work 
 
 L. H. Schneider & Sons ...Hardware 
 
 John Humphrey Superintendent of Plasterers 
 
 roster of officials. 
 
 The full Roster of officials and employes both in front of the 
 house and behind the curtain, is as follows: 
 
 W. H. Rapley Sole Manager 
 
 Samuel G. Kinsley Business Manager 
 
 Chas. A. Shaw Ticket' Agent 
 
 Hank Schlosberg Messenger 
 
 Chris Arth .Leader of Orchestra 
 
 W. H. Romaine Main Doorkeeper 
 
 James Jamison Dress Circle Doorkeeper 
 
 John RiORDaN ... Gallery Doorkeeper 
 
 R. E. Vennerman. Special Officer 
 
 ushers. 
 
 James Craerin, Walter Bradford, 
 
 J. Barratt Spauldtng, A. B. Griffith, 
 
 Zeff Schlosberg, Henry Wallace. 
 
 Henry A. Sauter Master Machinist 
 
 John G. Buss Scenic Artist 
 
 John E. Williams Master of Properties 
 
 Walter Lockhead Gas Engineer 
 
 Alfred Specht Master of Supernumeraries 
 
 Albert Johnson Engineer 
 
 Margaret Russell lanitr ess 
 
tAWING I POINTING MATERIA 
 
 OF EVERY DESCRIPTION 
 
 For ARTISTS, 
 
 ENGINEERS and 
 
 DRAUGHTSMEN, 
 
 FINE BRUSHES FOR OIL AND WATER COLORS. 
 ARTISTS' FINE OIL COLORS IN TUBES, 
 
 ARTISTS' FINE WATER COLORS, 
 ARTISTS PREPARED CANVASS, 
 
 DRAWING PAPERS, ALL KINDS, 
 
 CHARCOAL & CRAYON DRAWING MATERIALS, 
 
 DECORATIVE PLA.OQUBS ANTD PANELS, 
 
 SUPPLIES FOR CHINA PAINTING, 
 
 MATHEMATICAL DRAWING INSTRUMENTS, 
 
 ARCHITECTS' AND ENGINEERS' SUPPLIES, 
 
 BLUE PROCESS PAPER. 
 
 FRED. A. SCHMIDT, 
 
 B04 . N. W. 
 
 All Kinds of Literary Work at the Shortest Notice. 
 
 Descriptive Pamphlets of Railroads, Summer 
 
 Resorts, Winter Sanatoriums, Hotels, and at- 
 tractive Advertisements a specialty. 
 
 Address — 
 
 ALEX. HUNTER. 
 
 828 13th Street. N. W., 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
STRICTLY ONE PRICE. 
 
 LANSBURGH & BRO., 
 
 42i), 422, 424 and 426 Seventh Street, 
 
 Tlie Largest Dry Goods House Sontn of Philadelphia. 
 
 
 
 
 
 if""!! 
 
 1H 
 
 ^c-^ 
 
 Silks, Velvets, Dress Goods, Mourning Goods, Under- 
 wear of every description. Cloaks of our own manufacture. 
 
W. Wiivte. B> overman. 
 
 Whyte & Overman, 
 
 Qalvai}i%ed Ifor} Coi^ide^ 
 Window Cans, Dormer Windows, Ornamental Zinc Worlf, 
 
 AND ALL KINDS OF .CHUPvCH TRIMMINGS, 
 
 For Durability and Cheapness superior to Wood or Stone. 
 Specimens of our Work can be seen on all principal Buildings in 
 the City. 
 
 Office, Corner- Thirteenth and C Sis., N. W., 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 The U.S. Medical Institute. 
 
 Office and Reception Parlors, No. 922 F 
 St., bet. 9th and 10th, N. W., "Washing- 
 ton, D. C. 
 
 W. W. HEBBARD, A. M., M, D., LL D., 
 
 President and Surgeon. 
 
 H. 0. CANDEE, M. D., V. D., 
 
 Vice-President and Actuary 
 
 We employ the best health resources of nature, scientifically applied, 
 through Vital Nervaura, Electricity. Vegetahle Remedy, Pood and Drink 
 Cure, Water, Air. Heat, Light, Ozone, Electric Vapor Baths, &c. 
 
 WE TREAT ALL DISEASES. 
 
 P. S.— Our Great POOD AND DRINK CURE is one of the most wonder- 
 ful hfe-givmg restoratives that has ever been presented to the afflicted 
 public heretofore in the world. Good in all cases of deMlity. 
 
 Lectures illustrated on all Diseases— Acute or Chronic, by the Faculty 
 of the Institution. Religious Service every afternoon by Drs. Hebbard 
 and Candee at 2 o'clock, at Grand Army Hall, corner of L and 7th Sts. 
 
 CONSULTATION FREE, 
 
THE ELLIS MUSICAL EMPORIUM 
 
 /~\NE of the most complete musical establishments in 
 ^^ this country is that of the well known linn of John 
 F. Ellis & Co., No. 937 Pennsylvania avenue. 
 
 The building itself is one of the handsomest and best 
 appointed Musical Establishments in tbe United Stat 
 being four stories, with imposing Iron front, and runnil 
 through from Pennsylvania avenue to ]) street The 
 first floor, which, like all the others, ia capacious, well 
 lighted and airy, is devoted to the sheet music and small 
 musical instruments— including automatic Instruments, 
 such as tournaphones, aurephom inettes, organic 
 
 harmonettes, etc. Tin- Btock of music i- Vi PV large and 
 complete, consisting ol American and Foreign music 
 standard and classic On tin ad floor is the piano 
 
 salesroom, handsomely decorated and si i with avi 
 large assortment of square and upright piano, and 01 
 Prominent among them, and in fact the Instrument bi 
 known to the public ie the Weber piano, an Instrument 
 Which as legarda tone, durability and appearance i^ amo] 
 the foremost in the world. Messrs. Ellia & I ontrol 
 their sale in Washington City and the District <•( Colum 
 bia, and Alexandria and the counties of Loudon and 
 Fauquier, Virginia. They Bell a!-, other reliable pi 
 The Mason & Hamlin organ, of which they control tin 
 agency, ia of the • relative excellence as th< R 
 
 piano. They also sell other first, Q8< On the 
 
 third floor are kept pianos and organa for rent. The 
 fourth floor is uaed for - an 1 as a ..pair shop. An 
 
 elevator runs from the D street front to the fourth floi 
 and a telephone is on the premises. The stock and build- 
 ing—free and unencumbered, worth over one hundred 
 thousand dollars— is the property of Mrs. John P. Blli 
 The business is managed by Mr. Charles B. Bayly, with 
 a large corps of competent and courteous assistants. 
 
J. L0R1NG WHITTWGTON, 
 
 122 1 Pennsylvania Avenue. 
 
 Bookseller, Stationer § Engraver. 
 
 Card Engraving and Wedding Invitations given special 
 attention. The latest styles of Fine Stationery con- 
 stantly on hand. 
 
 JAMESTOCKHEAD, 
 
 Plumber, Gas and Steam - Fitter, 
 
 A.GENT FOB THE 
 
 Inive.Mil Copper-Lined Tank and Cascade Wak-Closet, 
 
 1404 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N.W., 
 
 WASHINGTON. D. C. 
 
 CHR. XANDER, 
 
 qoc) 7th Street, N. W. 
 
 "WIHSriE CELLARS. 
 
 • 
 
 An experience of 18 years enables me to manufacture 
 Wines of excellent merit. Having lately built for this 
 purpose, I respectfully invite an inspection of my mode of 
 making Wines. Liquors of the finest brands at whole- 
 sale only. 
 
 CHR. XANDER, 
 
 909 SEVENTH STREET, N. W. 
 
SAM'L C. PALMER, 
 poda AVator Manufacturer, 
 
 for 
 
 THE VVM. MASSEY Bl 
 
 Philadelphia Ale, Porter and Brown Stout, 
 
 AND 
 
 SCHLITZ'S MILWAUKEE LAGER, 
 
 Depot, 1224 29th Street, Wesl Washington, D. C. 
 
 TELEPHONE No. 161. 
 
 R. H. G HAH AM. 
 
 Carriage Manufacturer, 
 
 410 TO 416 EIGHTH STREET. N. W„ 
 
 J. W. CORNWALL, Manager. 
 
 ALWAYS ON HAND 
 
 Coupes, Victorias, Barouches. Extension Tops, Cab- 
 roi lets, Two and Four Seat Rockaways, Top and no 
 Top Pony Phaetons,. Buggies, Light Wagons, &c. 
 
 REPAIRING- AT LOWEST RATES. 
 
 CARRIAGES TAKEN ON STORAGE. 
 
Rupture Positively Cured, 
 
 While the Patient follows his regular occupation. 
 
 
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 Dr. C. W. H. BURNHAM, 
 
 GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT. 
 1 tie Greal si Truss Expert in the World.) 
 
 TRIUMPH TRUSS COMPANY. 
 
 Incorporated under the laws of the state of New York. Prin- 
 cipal offices, laboratories and factories, No. 440 Seventh x\ve., 
 New York, and 
 
 NATIONAL TRUSS ROOMS, 
 
 (Rooms 1 2 and 6) St, Mart Hotel, Cor, Pa, Aye, and 7th St., 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C 
 
 Under the patronage of the leading Physicians and Surgeons of 
 the World. 
 
 We do not claim we can cure every case of Rupture, Varioco- 
 cele, &c, but we can give Relief in all Cases, and Guarantee 
 a cure in all cases where a cure is promised and will pay 
 
 E^~$1,000 for a Rupture we FAIL to Cure.^^S 
 
 We have on hand and make to order over 300 styles of Trusses, 
 Braces, Female Supporters, &c. Prices astonishingly low. Trial 
 free at office. 
 
 Call or stnd stamp for circular and be cured. 
 
Mrs. Alice Swain Hunter 
 
 WILT. TAKE 
 
 A LIMITED NUMBER OF PUPILS 
 
 FOR 
 
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 For Terms and other particulars, address her at her residence, 
 No. 828 18th STREET, N. W., 
 
 T^ASHIITSTOIT, ID. C. 
 
 NAEHR'S 
 
 EESTAUEANT, 
 
 1343 Penn. Ave.. N. W, 
 
 WASHINGTON, D C 
 
 The Strathmore Arms, 
 
 Mrs. MARY S. LOCKWOOD. 
 
 Has been thoroughly renovated, repaired and refur- 
 nished. Will be formally reopened on November i, 1885. 
 
 No. 808, 810, 812 Twelfth Street, N. W., 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
MB -3$ 
 
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 K. O. POLKINHOUN'. 
 
 J. 1' .1NHORN. 
 
 ESTABLISHED 1350. 
 
 R. 0. POLKINHORN^gQN, 
 
 
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 632 and 634 D Street, R. W, 
 
 WASHIN3T0N, D. e. 
 
 Kacilifics refnqir)q jrorr) visthnq cards fo rrja'rriirjofh posters. 
 
 cDpecierl loW 3 lo Y^ec' Lorrjpetrr'es. 
 
 Wpife for iSsiinjctl'cs. 
 
 !i!Hi!ll!l]l!ll]|||l!illliiilli!!lirillll!!llll!!lll!!ll!!i!llllllllinill!ll!lllli 
 

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