The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-11-26
THINGS THEATRICAL
E. w. Herrick Tells of Plays
and Playhouses Of
1878.

lis of 1878 hadn't gone far beyond the
and Humpty Dumpty stage.
The Legitimate" had rough shedding.
and the days Of standard opera COM
panies hadn't yet come. There were
two amusement houses in the city, the
Academy Of Music and the Pence OPP
the latter then running with
a stock company, managed by John
one of the popular comedians
Of that time. who liked Minneapolis
and concluded to go into business here
for himself for awhile. The Academy
played the standard attractions, or
such of them as were willing to come
into the new northwest. and was man
aged by p. w. Herrick, who has
been for SO many years since that
time a wealthy and influential citizen
and a prominent figure on the higher
levels of municipal activity that none
except the older residents, associate
him with the active management and
part ownership of the first high-grade
playhouse the city ever had.
The evening of the day of The
urnal's first appearance the
Academy was dark. There had beenI
a booking for that night, but it was
cancelled The three nights follow
ing Billy Emerson appeared at the |
head of his minstrel organization, and |
scale Of prices was rs, SO and rs cents, |
and the Academy had seats for 1,4OO
people. Emerson played to a $3.50 |
house the first night, had a s1O0 mat
inee, and the second night played to
$3.50. That was big business for those
times. Nothing drew like minstrel |
performance, unless it was a Humpty |
Dumpty show. Mr.. Herrick booked at |
fractions of this sort literally, for they
Booth. Lawrence Barrett, Mary Ander-
times lost thru his efforts to develop
locally taste for the better things.
ocin 11Hy 1,oJ L. TIL
attraction" said Mr.. Herrick to T e
ur n a man, "but too frequently
they lost us money. We played Edwin
bolt, Alice Oates and people Of that
son, Joseph Jefferson, Charlotte
Thompson, Carey, Kellogg, Emma Alb
bott, Alice Cakes and people of that
KIND, but 1T was always for one
night stand, with a guarantee. But
minstrel performance always filled the
house, and could run for two and three
nights, and sometimes longer, at a
stretch.
1.-THE twin cities were then far away
from the beaten paths of travel, and
the theatrical folks didn't know us.
Some who did know us were afraid of
us, and it wasn't easy work to inspire
confidence and secure the consent Of
the better companies to come here. In
those days we always made our book
ings in connection with st. Paul, which
"e,o Ihe !dlSeL dllu the more metro
politan city of the two, and yet our
combined efforts did not always give
us the attractions which we sought.
When we had people like Booth,
Barrett, Jefferson or Mary Anderson
the prices went UP to $1.50 for the
best seats, but the rule was rs cents,
and we usually did better business
with a company that would play for
so cents. Mary Anderson was here
in the spring of 1873, for one night
This was her first appearance in the
northwest. A good many of our at
fractions were panoramas, illustrated
lectures and low comedies. In this
best low comedian ever heard in
those times, who always filled the
house.
"Of course, the theaters were not
open every night. The Academy did
we'll If it was open one-half or even
one-third the time. More than this
invariably was a surfeit. For years
we did all our booking from Mime
apolls by correspondence. In the
later years, and by 1878, went reg
ularly to New York and made up the
list of attractions there, as is done at
the present time. We played on a
percentage basis, as now, the better
the poorer. To a man like Joseph
Jefferson we gave IS per cent of the
gross receipts, keeping for ourselves
! Is per cent. From this point the per-
centages scaled down, until with GER
tain companies we divided the receipts
| equally.
I Il presume that MINNEAPOLIS had as
good taste for the better things in
amusements as other cities of its size
ana environment, but many a time I
was almost discouraged when, after
some hlgh-grade attraction, T figured
up my losses. Still, I did not change
my policy. 1t was always my ambi-
/ tieh -te-eflng as many good attrac-
tlons mere as could, no matter wheth-
er tost-or made money, and in the
END that policy paid we'll, for during
tine last years of the old Academy our
business was on a paying basis and
the good attractions made as much
money as those of lower type.
Il began my theatrical experience in
about 1871, when the Academy was
built. closed it in 1888, when the
Syndicate block was finished. The
Academy was two flights of stairs
from the streets and J realized by the
early eighties that the time was rap
idly coming when the public would
floor. Besides which, the corner of
Washington and Hennepin avenues
was too valuable to be devoted to the
atrical purposes. I had something to
90 with inducing the owners of the
Syndicate block to provide for first
class theater at the Sixth street end
of the block. and agreed to close my
| house and turn over my business to
them as soon as their house was ready
to be opened. The burning of the
academy, on Christmas,D Day, 1884, was
AMER the block had ceased to be used
as a theater.
Shortly after 1878 we had the Bos-
tonians and other high grade opera
companies to play i'll Minneapolis, but
before that time companies of that
class appeared here very seldom. The
northwest had no satisfactory outlet
to the south, except by way Of Cedar
Rapids to Omaha, and there were no
cities and towns to the north or the
west of u.s. It was not until after sew
eral years of patient effort that the
better dramatic companies put us on
their books without guarantees. We
were on the very edge of civilization
at that time, west and north of us was
almost wilderness, and we were shut
out from the south because Of made
quate railroad connections I have
often been surprised that we made as
good a showing as we did
Aside from the Academy and the
Pence, there was not a theater in the
city. We were then too small for the
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