The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-07
OLD.TIME VARIETY STAGE
WILLIAM BAKER RECALLS THE OLD
INDIANAPOLIS zoo.
At that Time Performers Were Glad
to Get So Week-Son;c Rem
iniscences.

visited tie vaudeville entertainment at the !
Grand Opera House last week was William |
Baker, once Familiarity known in the theat-
rical world as Billy Baker, an old-time |
variety-show actor who is now engaged in |
the fruit business near Rockledge, Fla, and |
who has been visiting relatives in Indianap-
oils for the last two weeks. II isn't often |
that Billy" gets a chance 10 spend an |
evening at the theater nowadays, and when |
he does find an opportunity to be near the |
bright glare of the footlights once again |
he fairly revels in the pleasure that the oc- |
casion affords him. He is a relative OF
Dick Baker. veteran indianapolis actor
who is still on the road. and is about as
well versed in the history of amusements
in this city as any of the Oldest inhab-
itants.
1T seems funny to me to be taking In
a polite vaudeville show here in old Indi-
anapolis' he said while talking of old
times the other night. Just to think OF
how times have changed since l last per-
formed in this town makes me feel that
must be about eco years old. Why. in the
days when L put on afterpieces at the old
Zoo on Mississippi street. or Senate avenue,
as you call IL now, variety show was only
mentioned in awed whispers among the So
cety people of the city. and If man Of
good standing wanted to enjoy an evening
of light entertainment at the little music
hall he had to go about it in a speak-easy
sort of way. OF course, some Of those
shows they used to give at the Zoo were
not exactly entertainments for ladies and
children, but 1 know that during my reign
as stage manager there was nothing of
really Objectionable nature ever permitted
And now a variety show is quite the thing
in Indianapolis. and is patronized by the
very best people.
PLAYED HERE IN 1862
1.-THE first time I played in Indianapolis
| was along in 1869. / did a song and dance
| for while with a minstrel show that was
appearing at little theater Illinois
| street, where the Young Mems Christian
Association building now stands. At that
! time there was a variety performance con-
| Quoted In little music hall on Court street,
south of the postoffice, and the perform
ances given there were so indecent that the
people of the city grew to think that all va
| riety performances were of similar ma
| ture. In fact, the words variety show be-
| came quite Objectionable in themselves to
many of the good citizens, and when the
Zoo was started up, over on the West Side,
as that part of the town was then termed,
| the management had to fight against popu-
| lar sentiment right from the start. When
the place first threw open it's doors to the
| public there was menagerie on the ground
floor and a stage and auditorium up above,
where the variety entertainments were
| given. Some people, I remember, would
come to see the animals, but would have
| Themselves
walked up the stairs to the second story
theater. Others, not so scrupulous, con-
sidered the stage entertainment the best
feature offered by the manager, and as the
interest in the animals gradually began to
wane and the enthusiasm over the perform
ance began to increase the management
\ eliminated the geological portion entirely
and the place was given up to the variety
show.
During my career as stage manager at
Prof Lawrence Kehr. and he was one of the
best violinists for the class of music de-
manded in shows of that kind that L have
ever run across in my life. He could trans
pose any piece of music at sight and not
play a single note incorrectly, and could
write out an orchestral arrangement of a
|
ments always-violin, bass, flute, cornet
clarinet, trombone and drums. Turner and
FELTON, were the house managers, and they
kept us busy, can tell you. We gave per-
formances that lasted three hours and a
half every night and played dime matinees
every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
Ours was stock company of variety peo-
pie. you understand. Every performer had
| tn ING md do
week, besides taking part in the two en-
semble acts-the opener as we called It
and which usually consisted of a singing
act of the minstrel frst-part order, and the
afterpiece, which was always a bowling
farce. The stock company was reinforced
about once a month by a couple of new
performers. Later on the Zoo became
combination house in which travelin,
| vaudeville and burlesque shows were en-
gagged for a week at time. and some o.
the best performers in the business to-day
played there during that period of Its exist
ence. L know of some vaudeville actor:
that now receive as much as 500 a weel
! who were mighty glad to get SIS in thos,
old days. And yet some Of the professional
people talk about the good old times.
5 AN ANCIENT GARDEN
> lone of my earliest recollections Of In
{ dianapolis is the Pleasure Garden which
if l remember rightly, was situated on tn
corner of Georgia and Capitol avenue
where the big Catholic buildings have beer
! erected. The garden was managed by Johl
, Hodgkins, an old restaurant keeper and ic
) | cream dealer. 1t was really beautiful
spot, crowded with great shady trees, witt
, rustic chairs and beaches under them an
g flowers blooming everywhere. There was
: good orchestra which rendered a long pro
T gramme every evening and once and awhil
a singer from one Of the variety shows wa
: engaged to assist in the entertainment.
: also recall the Apollo Garden on Ken
e lucky avenue, where you could hear som
; good music and drink some pretty ba
/ beer, and l recollect a funny little dim
1 museum on Washington street, called tn
: English Museum. managed by a woma
t who was just about as shrewd as the
= make 'em.
1T was during my longest visit in In
dianapolis that the Academy of Music wa
e opened and most of the citizens thought
q one of the greatest places Of amusement 1
= the world. w. III. Leake. whom / knee
y well. was the manager. and he gathere
: together mighty good stock company, In
GLIDING White. Hodges. Miss Annie Wait
n and a number of other actors that wer
i quite famous in those days. 1t was ther