Globe Theatre, Boston (1871)

The Globe Theatre (est.1871) was a playhouse in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. It was located at 598 Washington Street,[1] near the corner of Essex Street.[2] Arthur Cheney oversaw the Globe until 1876.[3][4] From 1871-1873 it occupied the former theatre of John H. Selwyn.[4] After a fire in May 1873, the Globe re-opened on the same site in December 1874.[5] Architect B.F. Dwight designed the new building.[6] From 1877-1893 John Stetson served as proprietor;[7][8] some regarded him as "a theatrical producer with a reputation for illiteracy in his day such as Samuel Goldwyn has achieved" in the 1960s.[9] The theatre burned down in January 1894.[10]

Not to be confused with Globe Theatre, Boston (1903).

Programme for performance of H.A. Rendle's "Chesney Wold," 1873

Detail of 1886 map of Boston, showing Globe Theatre

Seating chart, 1883

Horatio J. Homer, Boston's first African-American police officer, worked as a janitor at the Globe Theatre before being hired by the Boston Police Department.[1]

Performances

1870s

• H.A. Rendle's Chesney Wold, with Madame Janauschek[11]
• Fox's Humpty Dumpty[12]
• Augustin Daly's Pique, with Miss Jeffries-Lewis[13]
• E.A. Sothern as Lord Dundreary[13]
• "Sea of Ice" with Miss Maud Granger as Ocarita and Mr. George Boniface as Carlos, Monday, January 28, 1878 [14]
• Eliza Weathersby's Froliques[15]
• Miss Kate Claxton in Two Orphans

1880s

• "Rice's new extravaganza combination in the opera comique Calino"[16]
• Othello, starring Salvini[17]
• L.R. Shewell's Debt of Honor[17]
• Oscar Wilde lecture June 2, 1882[18]
• Oedipus[9]
• 14 Days, with Charles Wyndham[19]
• We, Us & Co., with Mestayer-Vaughn[20]
• Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado, with Helen Lamont and Signor Brocolini[21]
• As in a Looking-Glass, with Mrs. Langtry[22]
• The Hanlons in "Fantasma"[22]
• Princess Ida[23]
• Ibsen's A Doll's House, with Beatrice Cameron[24]
• The Oolah (1889)[25]

1890s

• The Lion Tamer, with Francis Wilson[26]
• Ali Baba, with American Extravaganza Co.[27]
• The Crust of Society[28]
• Prince Karl, with Richard Mansfield[29]
• Hanlon Brothers' "mechanical fairy spectacle Superba"[30]
• La Cigale, with Lillian Russell [31]

References

1. Neal, Anthony W. (February 4, 2016). "Sergeant Horatio J. Homer: Boston's first black police officer". The Bay State Banner. p. 1. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
2. The Globe occupied the site on Washington Street opposite the Park Theatre, on the block between Essex Street and Hayward Place: no.364 Washington Street, 1871-ca.1876 (Boston Almanac. 1871, 1875) later re-numbered as no.598 Washington Street, ca.1877-ca.1894 (Boston Almanac. 1877, 1881, 1887, 1891, 1894)
3. Boston Daily Globe, July 17, 1872; Boston Evening Transcript, Sept. 9, 1876
4. Richard Herndon and Edwin Bacon, eds. (1892), Boston of to-day: a glance at its history and characteristics. With biographical sketches and portraits of many of its professional and business men, Boston: Post Pub. Co., OCLC 4430662, OL 7162628MCS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
5. "Chronicle of events." Boston Almanac. 1875
6. Benjamin Franklin Dwight (d.1893). American Architect and Building News, Oct. 14, 1893
7. Boston Daily Globe, May 26, 1878; 22 Sept., 1880; Boston Evening Transcript, March 2, 1883; Dec. 3, 1887. Boston Globe, January 22, 1893
8. John Stetson (d.1896). New York Times, April 19, 1896
9. Doris M. Alexander. "Oedipus in Victorian New York." American Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Autumn, 1960)
10. Boston Daily Globe, January 3, 1894
11. Boston Daily Globe, March 7, 1873
12. Boston Daily Globe, July 17, 1873
13. Boston Evening Transcript, Sept. 9, 1876
14. Globe Theatre Programme
15. Boston Daily Globe, May 26, 1878
16. Boston Daily Globe, 22 Sept., 1880
17. Boston Daily Globe, January 9, 1881
18. Oscar Wilde In America
19. Boston Evening Transcript, March 2, 1883
20. Boston Daily Globe, May 17, 1885
21. Boston Daily Globe, May 22, 1887
22. Boston Daily Globe, Dec. 3, 1887
23. Charles E. L. Wingate (1888), The playgoers' year-book, for 1888, Boston: State Pub. Co., OL 17937497M
24. Donald Pizer. "The Radical Drama in Boston 1889-1891." New England Quarterly, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Sep., 1958)
25. (21 December 1889). Massachusetts, New York Clipper (it played a month in Boston)
26. Boston Globe, January 22, 1893
27. Boston Globe, March 5, 1893
28. Boston Globe, April 4, 1893
29. Boston Globe, Sept. 21 1893
30. Boston Daily Globe, December 29, 1893
31. Lillian Russell Opera Comique Co. in La Cigale: An Original Opera Comique

External links

• NYPL. Globe Theatre Company, Boston (fl. 1870)
• Boston Athenæum Theater History, Globe Theatre, Boston