Over a century ago, when Union Square offered the best theatres, hotels, and opera house - - the Academy of Music - - B.F. Keith renovated a 14th Street playhouse between Fourth Avenue and Broadway.
Expensively refurbished for $20,000 and reopened in September 1893, the Union Square Theatre beckoned ticket-buyers to its expansive 100-feet-wide cream and gold frontage with colored lights, stained glass, intriguing placards, and a new concept: continuous performance. Variety artists entertained for a 3-hour stretch, then the show started all over again.
• • During 1912-13, when MAE WEST was being billed as "The Nell Brinkley Girl," she was a fresh-faced brunette teenager with a reputation for fast tap dancing and acrobatic feats onstage combined with "character" [novelty] songs. Unlike others who had one act to offer the public, Mae was always trying out new approaches and buying new material.
• • In December 1912, B.F. Keith offered "Dinkelspiel's Christmas" along with "MAY WEST - singing comedienne" [see the 1912 ad]. The 14th Street theatre is long gone but here's a glimpse of what you missed if you didn't dial STuyvesant 3400 to reserve your ticket.
________________________________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
• • Photo • Mae West in 1908 • Union Square Theatre
NYC
Mae West.
No comments:
Post a Comment