Evening star., 1901-01-08
OLD-TiME WAS HINGTON
PAPERS READ BEFORE THE COLUM-
BIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Sketch of the Early Thenters by MIR.
A. 1. Mudd Society
Officers Elected.

OmcerS Elected.
large audience was present at the reg
ular monthly meeting of the Columbia
Historical Society, in the banquet hall OF
the Shoreham last evening, and listened to
two papers of great interest. The first was
a charming narrative by Mrs. JEANNE Tree
| Rives, of "Old-Time Washington" espe-
cially the families and houses in the local
ity known as Greeneaf's Point. In the
course Of the paper, which presented
series of delightful glimpses Of old-time
Washington, the writer at times left that
particular locality in order to describe some
scene or incident A graphic description
was given, among other things, of the
Shiloh Baptist meeting house on Virginia
avenue southwest.
The next paper was read by Mr. A. !.
Mudd on the early theaters of Washington,
which gave the results of the authors orig
inal work. From the newspapers OF the
day and from other sources he was able 10
present a connected history of the theaters
of this city from the year 1900 to 1873. The
narrative proved to be one of great interest
and was recognized the first serious at
tempt to write the history of the Wash
ington stage from the beginning of theat-
rical representations in the capital city.
Institutes Comparisons.
After remarking upon the leading position
Of Washington in the modern theatrical
world, Mr. Mudd spoke of some OF the con-
trasts as presented in the history of the
stage in the opening years of the nineteenth
century. "a different play and farce he
said was given each night of the per-
formance, and between the play and farce
was either a song or dance, often both
The performance usually took place three
times each week, and inclement weather at
times caused postponement. The prejudice
against play houses and play actors was
marked, and the newspapers, While print
ing the advertisements of the theater, re-
Trained from noticing either the play or the
players No mention of the location of the
| theater appeared in the newspapers. In
this respect the same condition now
preva..s. Although the newspapers of to-
day print columns of theatrical advertise
ments and notices of current and coming
attractions, If a stranger in Washington
should want to ascertain where our thea
ters are located ana consult the newspapers
for that purpose, he would be unable to find
any mention of the location of any one of
our seven theaters."
The author went on to say that the his
tory of the Washington stage dates from
the removal of the seat of government to
this city in the summer of 1900. COM
pany closed its season in Philadelphia May
10, and some time in June opened IAN ele
CANT little theater' in the Great Hotel
| building, erected by Samuel Bodgett -on
the south front of the square where the
old Post Office Department building now
was written by Mr.. Thomas Law.
Movement for Theater Building.
Early in the year 1893 number of prom
| inent citizens of Washington held meet
ing and called for subscriptions for the
erection of a theater building. This move
! ment met with such approval that a site
at the northeast corner of 11th and c
streets northwest was selected and a build
ing was erected on that site and the first
representation was given in it November
16, 1904 For number Of years, Mr..
Mudd stated, a company came from Phil
adephia and played in this theater for a
season extending from September, and,
| later, from June to the onening of winter.
Then the company returned to Philadel-
phia for the winter season there.
In those days the prices of admission
were for boxes, 81; pit, three-quarters of a
dollar The pit was on the first floor where
the orchestra chairs now are, and was oc
cupied by the class that today is known as
gallery gods" The doors were opened at
o'clock and the performance commenced
at I. Three representations We're given
each week. Sheridan's School for Scan
dali was presented for the first time in
this city September 26. 1905.
Mr.. Joseph Jefferson, the grandfather Of
the celebrated actor Of today, first APP
peared in this city in 1908. The theater
building was destroyed by fire in 1920 and
the ground was sold to Mr.. Lewis Carusi,
who rebuilt the structure and in 1922 OPEN
| eu IL DIS w dSulllS tOH SllS ASSSIiDlS INOOLlS
New Structure in 1921.
A new theater was erected on Louisiana
avenue between Az and 9th streets and was
! completed about August 1, 1921. This the
ater, like it's predecessor, was called the
Washington Theater. In the year 1881 the
| building, enlarged and improved, was
opened under the management of Joseph
Jefferson, the second father of the pres
| ent day actor of that name.
1t was in this theater, and in the year
| 1892, as Mr.. Jefferson records in his auto
biography, that he made his first appear
| ance on the stage, when he was a child
| four years of age. A new theater building
was erected in the year 1885 on the site of
the present National Theater, and the doors
| of the old theater were closed. AS the au-
thor stated. in concluding his narrative,
"at the end of the farce the curtain was
rung down on the last Of the early theaters
of Washington"
Society Officers Chosen.
| After a discussion Of these papers the
| annual election Of officers Of the society
suited in the choice Of the following: Presi-
| dent, John A. Kasson; vice presidents. A.
| R. Spofrord and A. B. Hagner; treasurer,
John Dudley Morgan; recording secretary,
Mary Stevens Beall; corresponding secre-
| tary, NJ. l. Weller; curator, James Frank
! lin Hood; chronicler w. B. Bryan; mana
gers, Lewis j.. Davis and J. Ormond Will
l son.
The City and Suburban Schedule.
| To the Editor of The Evening Star:
The present schedule for the running Of
| the cars from Berwyn and lexington to
| the city and return is every twenty-five
| minutes outside of "office hours" By
| such q schedule the cars are so densely
| crowded that not only do the passengers
suffer the last degree of travelling discom-
| fort but the conductors can hardly per-
| form their duties properly. If only this re-
| markable schedule were adhered to the sit
uation would be less vexatious. II only we
| could know that after long lapse of twen-
| ty-five minutes should be sure Of get
| ting a car. But supposing a car has just
| passed, save by some kindly chance due
| to fault in the service, one has to wait