The herald., 1898-11-27

theater IN San francisco mas furnlsneu TN
news of the week in theatrical circles. Th
Baldwin has been SO long recognized as th
leading temple of amusement in the bay city
and of course on the coast, that only to hav'
played there has lent to each and ever,
player sort of halo of distinction. 1t wa
the leading hgh-priced house, with prices
"never changing unless in an upward di
rection. As tretrap, the building il
which the theater was located bore an un
enviable distinction, attested by the fac
that so small an amount of insurance coult
possibly be secured upon it. Its destruction
by fire has been predicted from the first, anc
the present catastrophe simply emphasize
the judgment of the men who run the in
surance business and sell indemnity seeing
that so small an amount could be placed
upon the big building. | have it on good
authority that not over fifty thousand dol
lars of insurance was written upon the build
ing in San Francisco, and the insurance Sc
cured in eastern states may possibly have
amounted to hundred thousand dollars
more, which is pitiful proportion on prop
erty that cost over two millions.
But aside from the financial point of view
and Mr.. Baldwin's private business. which
just now is very publicly and impertinently
discussed, the fact remains that home of
the drama, around which many interesting
associations naturally cling, has been swept
away in night
The Examiner furnishes a synopsis of the
history of the theatcr from which Gull the
following:
The Baldwin theater has a notable his
tory, for many of the famous names of the
American stage a re prominent in the chap
ters.
1t was opened on March G. 1876. by Thomas
Mcguire, who conducted the old Metropol-
itan theater on Montgomery avenue-then
a more central street than it is today.
Barry Sullivan i'm Richard III was the
opening attraction, and in Sullivan's sup
port was Louis James.
On Monday, March 6, 1876 the Examiner
contained the following notice:
Baldwin's Academy of Music.-This new
theater will be opened tonight with Barry
Sullivan in Shakespeare's Richard Ill"
There has been considerable difference Of
opinion in the east in regard to this gentle
mans talent
The Examiners notice of the opening
published on Tuesday morning. March 7th.
pointed out the danger that the theater
was liable to destruction by fire. Here are
some extracts:
Baldwin's Academy of Music was form
ally opened TO the public last evening and
as usual on these occasions, the place was
crowded in every portion Of the auditorium,
notwiths landing the inclemency Of the
weather. We have already described this
building and praised its beauties and at
fractions, but there are few faults which
We must point out to our readers. Some of
them particularly in regard 20 the absence
of precautions against fire.
When such building. composed almost
entirely of wood. built to accommodate be-
tween 2O00 and 5000 persons a one time. is
allowed to be constructed without regard
70 safety in case of fire we deem it our
duty to expose its true state, without re-
gard 10 personal feelings. Last
evening II took nearly three-quarters of
an hour to empty it. Further comment is
Empty Baldwins Academy Of Music is
the finest theater in the United States, but
nIled, ID It Is inferior both to he California
builder strove in every way to spend dol
lars upon the ornamentation of the inte-
rior, rather than consulting the beautiful
d ana tasteful adornments of the building
This squandering of riches without regard
to taste gives the whole place a Disagree
able taint of shoddyism . g.
The decorations of the prose enium boxes
every shade and color of the rainbow is
represented thereon. The uphols tering is
OF a heavy crimson velvet and damask of
so rich a quality as to completely spoil the
effect of the toilets of the occupants.
Much stress was laid upon the fire dan
ger. which was afterward lessened by new
means of exit After some years the
costly proscenium boxes were ordered out
by the fire marshal
John Mccullough the famous tragedian
was manager of the old California theater
when the Baldwin was opened, and he
eventually succeeded Mcguire as manager
of the new theater Charles Coghlan
played on the opening night of McCul-
louSh's management. The tragedian re-
tanned control a short time Then Baldwin
ran the theater, with two or three different
managers.
Al Hayman secured his lease in 1882, six
years after the opening of the theater and
he retained it until last year The name
was then changed to the Baldwin the
ater.' Robert Eberle manager of "Se-
cret Service" which was burned out at the
Baldwin, was manager under Hayman
for time.
II was at the Baldwin that Al Hayman
made his great start in the theatrical
world. Soon after his opening of the the
ater he brought Emma Abbott to San
Francisco, and for five or six weeks the
whole house was sold out. During the
Hayman management Booth and Barrett
Bernhardt, Modjeska and Judic were
among the great players that performed in
the Baldwin.
Friedlander, Gottlob e. Co succeeded
Hayman in 1897. and two weeks ago a new
change made the firm Gottlob Marx & Co.
the members being J. j. Gottlob. Melville
Marx and Joseph Gottlob.
a complete collection Of the programs
from the opening of the theater to the
present time, with autographs and photo
graphs of nearly all the actors and ac-
tresses, was destroyed by the fire. Ralph
Pinkus, the press representative of the
firm, had these relics, together with scrap
books and many manuscripts from the
Mcguire, Mccullough and Hayman man
agements The collection was highly
valued
The advance agent of travelling theat-
rlcal attraction Is perennial source of en-
joyment to a mind so constituted that it can
ignore the petty annoyances of life. Not
that advance agents are annoying; on the
contrary, they are almost without exception
very pleasant, agreeable men, with extraor-
dinary abilities in the way of fraternizing
and securing the desired notices for their
particular attraction.
Here and there may be found one who
sliscalculates his distance, or, in other
words reclons too readily that he has n