New-York tribune., 1921-01-30
Davenport Tells
How Bramhall
Players Started

The uame "Bramhall." In connection
With the Bramhall Playhouse In East
Twenty-seventh Street, near Lexington
Avenue, has aroused considerable curl
osity among theatergoers, and In reply
to an inquiry ~ to the origin Of the
word, Butler Davenport, its builder
and director, said during a recent inter
view:
''The word 'Bramhall' 10 purely an
evolutionary step In the development
Of plans for that playhouse. After dis
posing Of four or Ave Of my own plays
80 Broadway managers, rehearsing
them from four to nine weeks and then
taking them back because at the last
minute those gentlemen either became
panicky, or, IS in one case, 1t was dis
covered the day before the opening
performance that the scenery would
not be delivered until the manager paid
sor it, returned to my home, Ave
estate has been in possession Of the
Davenport family for $50 years and
was called 'Bysmhall' after one Of the
earliest estates in England.
During the summer and spring OF
1911 and 1912 . friend assisted me in
putting up small theater seating $50
at Bramhall. on Davenport Ridge,
Stamford, Conn. This was built with
our own hands ard formally opened in
July, 1912, with my play, Depths OF
Purity When the little theater was
completed it seemed most natural
thing to call 1t 'Brsmhall Playhouse,
as the estate was so we'll known as
Bramhall After working there for
two years felt it necessary to obtain
location in New York to carry on
building resulted in my taking and
rcmodeling what is now the Brsmhall
Playhouse. sometimes facetiously re-
ferred to by one Of the newspapers as
Darkest Twenty-seventh Street.
-"Originally the building was q resi-
dence, then converted into 9 Knights
of Columbus hall, later used as .ssp-
tist church and successively as Spir-
itualist meeting Mouse, an Armenian
church and finally by A. H. Davenport,
the interior decorator, as workshop.
It was purely strange coincidence to
find the name Davenport lettered on
the brownstone steps when took pos
session Of the building. And l secured
the building by paying down $500 on
the lease, after which l had just $3.l7
lGlt With WHICH W SeoAC o1SSA oSA~s@os
"The following day began, all alone,
with kalsomine brush, a pail Of water
and putty knife. 1t took week to
scrape the old wallpaper off the walls.
Then, fortunately, I sold manuscript,
which enabled me to engage couple OF
carpenters and make some headway on
the reconstruction work. In spite OF
that the impression seemed to prevail
among certain people and newspapers
that l must be a millionaire, or that
l had inherited the property. No
millionaire ever worked harder than
did, and possibly those persistent ru-
mors may be prophecies of the future,
which l sincerely hope will be the case.
"When the altered building began to
look something like theater we
brought the name 'BramhalP from
my original toy theater near Stamford.
without the experience gained in con-
structing the latter would never have
been able to complete its New York
uamesake. And next summer I expect
to double the size of the Bramhall. as
I have recently acquired the adjoining
property and wish to embody some new
features in the enlarged theater, such
az a room where supper can be served
to theater pa. ties Of 100 to $50. re-
volving stage, indirect lighting through
French windows and other convent
ences to meet the needs Of thoroughly
representative modern repertoire COM
pany."