Talk:Irving Place Theatre

Transfer

The initial content of this article is transferred from Irving Plaza as previously the two venues were thought to be the same location. In fact, as was pointed out, Irving Plaza is on the north corner and Irving Place Theatre was on the south corner. There is more unraveling to do in the history as to the exact roles of both venues. I earlier dug up a large amount of refs which I will copy below. They need to be chronologically ordered and milked for facts to add. Please feel free to contribute. Wwwhatsup (talk) 04:19, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Other refs

• [1] United anti-Nazi conference Saturday, May 5th, 1934 at 12 noon Irving Plaza Hall 15th St. and Irving Place, N.Y.

• [2] NYT Mar 4 1929, meeting defers Communist Convention.
• [3] NYT Jun 24, 1930 IP site of National Convention of Communist Party
• [4] NYT May 20, 1928 New York Working-Women's Federation formed at IP
• [5] Apr 6 1969 Striking Window-cleaners meeting.
• [6] Dec9 1935. New York State Committee of the Socialist party
• [7] Nov 9 1941. Metropolitan Folk Dance Group meets at IP.
• [8] NYT Feb 14 1918. Dir. Rudolph Christians gives up. Transition from German to Yiddish Playhouse under Morris Schwartz. date: May 1 1918.
• [9] NYT Apr 21 1909, Otto Well resigns. German stock company returns to Germany.
• [10] NYT Mar 15 1913 Dir. DR. MAURICE-BAUMFELD died of appendicitis
• [11] NYT October 1 1893 - favorable review of "GROSSSTADTLUFT"
• [12] and [13] NYT Mar 17/18 1906. Conried busted for no licence.
• [14] NYT Feb 10 1893 Amberg's Theatre change to Irving Place Theatr on May 1 1893. Dir. Mr. Conried, late of the Thalia Theatre.
• [15] NYT Feb 15 1903 Conried awarded 5 year lease of Metropolitan Opera House, beating out Damrosch.
• [16] NYT Apr 27 1909 Conried dies of stroke in Austria.
• [17] NYT Jun 27 1909 : Herr Amberg, the resident representative of the Schuberts, has closed arrangements with two well-known Berlin theatrical personages for the management of the Irving Place Theatre, in New York. The men who will try to revive and maintain Gotham's interest in the German drama are Theodor Brugarth and Karl Wilhelm. Also mentions "A. Ltiehow" as owner.
• [18] NYT Mar 25 1914. Pygmalion is performed in German prior to London premiere!!
• [19] NYT May 9 1893 - Columbia students burlesque for a week of shows.
• [20] NYT Apr 13 1919. Revival of German entertainment post WW1.
• [21] NYT Oct 29, 1911 Development of Irving Place
• [22] NYT Oct 7 1906. Conried imports talent from Europe.
• [23] NYT Oct 17 1911 - Amberg directs 'Die Fledemaus' with 'new' company.
• [24] NYT Feb 23 1902 - Prince Henry of Germany missed his own tribute when his ship was delayed by storms.
• [25] NYT Oct 7 1904. Enriched by the Met, "Conried has redecorated the auditorium in joyous cream and gold, with rich crimson walls and hangings,"
• [26] NYT Feb 5 1911 - Opera Season starring Werner Alberti directed by direction of Theodor Burgarth
• [27] NYT Sep 17 1899. Conried imports 40 person company from Germany.
• [28] NYT Jul 7 1934. Labor board demands re-instatement of IP "film employees"
• [29] NYT Mar 11 1930 Ip is sublet by/to (?) Uno Realty Company, Inc., William Meltzer, president
• [30] NYT Sep 14 1906 Conried, busy with Met, delegates management to 'council'.
• [31] NYT Apr 16 1938 - "Leased by Judge Thomas C. T. Crain to a client of David Berk and Julius Krumgold"
• [32] NYT Jun 11 1911 - "Manager Amberg" securing talent in Germany.
• [33] NYT Jun 24 1913 - "Rudolph Christians, the new manager" securing talent in Germany.
• [34] NYT Feb 10 1921 - Rudolph Christians dead in California
• [35] NYT May 21 1921 - Gustave Amberg dies at 77 in Hotel St. Regis.
• [36] NYT Jan 21 1962 - IP, where Ibsen plays were introduced to USA, to become S.Klein Warehouse.
• [37] [38] NYT May 2 1937 - Burlesque shows are shut by LaGuardia - IP has licence denied.
• [39] Apr 9 1933 - story on ber gardens "August L-, founder of the still surviving big German place in Fourteenth Street, was the backer of the Irving Place Theatre"
• [40] NYT Nov 7 1926 - Story on Morris Schwartsz post IP??
• [41] NYT Apr 21 1915 - Christians' companies ended their 1914/1915 seasons with a gala performance at the Met.
• [42] NYT May 16 1933. IP "leased by the Wilmac Corporation from District Attorney Thomas C. T. Grain and his two sisters, the owners" given 24 Hrs by License Commissioner James F. Geraghty to clean up shows.
• [43]
• [44] NYT Sep 9 1931 - Minsky Brothers, evicted form National Winter Garden at 2nd & Houston, moved his company to IPT aka the New National Winter Garden
• [45] NYT Dec 22 1929. IPT "plays burlesque to crowded houses but bans Passion plays and biblical impersonations, lost an official critic of its productions yesterday because Thomas C.T. Crain, part owner, is to become District Attorney on New Year's Day."
• [46] Elitestv.com Jun 28 2006 - Upright Citizens Brigade 10th Anniversary ASSSCAT show Jul 25 2006
• [47] NYT Mar 10 1919. Story on vets protesting German opera notes that IPT ran German shows til Jun 1918
• [48] NYT May 11 1934 - 12 IPT Burlesque performers, busted in May 5 1934 raid by License Commissioner Paul Moss, dismissed. Manager Abe Potal bailed for $500 on Objectionable Show Charge.
• [49] NYT Aug 7, 1940 - Robert Breen, who was once director of the Federal Theatre in Chicago, says he will be operating a cooperative company in the Fall at the IPT.
• [50] NYT Dec 6 1937 - An audience of 800 was forced to leave the IPT shortly after 6 o clock last night when two short circuits occurred
• [51] NYT Oct 26 1933 - IPT summonsed by License Commissioner Sidney Levine for indecent performances
• [52] NYT Dec 10 1942 - Film screening - "French picture, "Hatred," will start a week's engagement"
• [53] NYT May 15 1905 - Rumors of Conreid subletting IPT denied.
• [54] NYT Apr 14 1907 - Blaumfield announces "repertoire plan"
• [55] NYT Jul 14 1988 - Irving Hall to be demolished for new theatre
• [56] NYT jan 29 1907 - Conried used IPT as rehearsal space for Met.
• [57] NYT Nov 6 1932 - Story of Yiddish Art Theatre - started at IP in 1918
• [58] NYT May 8 1937 - Judge rejects appeal against IPT closure order.
• [59] NYT Apr 16 1899 "George Hemstadt and George Bleschel, who, during the year handle the financial destinies of the Irving Place Theatre"
• [60]Clayton Hamilton : "taking over of the Garden Theatre by an incorporated company entitled The Jewish Art Theatre" "The first artistic director of The Jewish Art Theatre was Emanuel Reicher" q: Is this the same as the Yiddish Art Theatre?
• [61] NYT Oct 29 1939 - "Our first production, Pereta Hersehbein's "Dos Fervorfen Winkle" at the Irving Place Theatre" - q: YAT?
• [62] NYT Jan 16 1938 - "It was then that he launched the Yiddish Art Theatre with a production of Peretz Hlrshbein's "An Abandoned Nook" at the Irving Place Theatre"
• [63] NYT Jan 30 1946 - Screening at IPT "Russian film, "Military Secret," and the Jewish picture, "The Light Ahead" - revival run
• [64] NYT Oct 25 1941 - YAT suspends activities. Mr Scwartz.. began in 1918.. Herschbein's "Dos Fervorfen Winkle" at the Irving Place Theatre
• [65] NYT Apr 13 1897 - Agnes Sorma appears in Ibsen's 'A Doll's House'
• [66] NYT Sep 11 1929 - Agnes Sorma dies
• [67] NYT Feb 20 1939 - Their two newest productions having passed out abruptly, the Yiddish players at the Irving Place Theatre fell back, over the weekend, on a revival of Chono Gottesfeld's comedy, "Parnusseh."
• [68] NYT Apr 1 1924 - "A{ax , owner of the Irving Place Theatre and the People's Theatre, located on the Bowery"
• [69] NYT LUDWIG SATZ "Four years sex he took over the Irving Place Theatre, where he has been appearing continuously"
• [70] NYT Feb 24 1916 - German "War Play"
• [71] Sep 11 1942 - Scorched Earth film premiere at IPT - doc. about Japan in Manchuria
• [72] NYT Dec 221908 - "THEATRE CO. IN TROUBLE. Receiver Asked for Old Managers of Irving Place Theatre."
• [73] NYT May 5 1918 - Christians' curtain sppech announcing end? (Unclear)
• [74] NYT Mar 1 1908 - Announcement that "Dr. Baumfeld of the Irving Place German Theatre" will be moving to Lenox Lyceum, Madison Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street, woth a 21 year lease.
• [75] NYT Apr 10 1907 - "New Manager of Irving Place Theatre May Build Uptown." ??
• [76] NYT Mar 9 1919 - Johann bloat, a German anarchist, made known that he would play " The Weavers " at the Irving Place Theatre, with himself in the principal part
• [77] NYT Mar 22 1914 - Pygmalion postponed.
• [78] NYT Dec 9 1939 - Paul Muni joined YAT in 1918
• [79] NYT Oct 2, 1942 - Russian film, "This Is the Enemy," (anti japanese propaganda ran for 3 weeks)
• [80] NYT Feb 26 1925 "it was announced that Mr. Gabel had added the Irving Place Theatre to the Peoples' Theatre, at Grand Street and the Bowery, which he already.."
• [81] Deseret Mar 11 1902 - Prince Henry did make it to IPT ?
• [82] NYT Apr 22 1909 - "Otto Weil, retiring manager of the Irving Place Theatre, reaffirming last night his opinion that high-class German drama in this city is doomed"
• [83] May 8, 1903 - Director S. Lautenburg of the Residenz Theater. Berlin, was here to take charge of the Irving Place Theatre
• [84] NYT Feb 13 1896 - "matinee in honor of Mme. Sarah Bernhardt was planned"
• [85] NYT Jun 17 1900 - Kaiser awards Conried Order for Excellence In German Art
• [86] NYT Mar 10 1903 - IPT busted for running Sunday shows.
• [87] NYT May 18 1910 - Conried estate worth $303,428
• [88] NYT Apr 30 1909 - "It was said last night that Otto Gorltz, the baritone, had obtained the management of the German Theatre In Irving Place, succeeding Otto XNei"
• [89] NYT Sep 18 1925 - "Central European theatre returned to Irving Place"
• [90] NYT Sep 27 1925 - "LUdwig Satz, the star of the Yiddish company recent!y at the Irving Place Theatr"
• [91] NYT Aug 4 1928 - Actress Ellen Delmour was burned about the legs late yesterday afternoon when her stockings and the fringe of her dress became ignited from a spark from the gun of Joe West, star of the burlesque show "Hooray," "
• [92] NYT Sep 17 1925 - German Ambassador will attend re-opening of IPT as German Playhouse
• [93] Sep 23 1932 - CITY NOT A CENSOR, BURLESQUES ARGUE;
• [94] NYT Apr 29 1937 - CHURCHES DEMAND END OF BURLESQUE
• [95] NYT oct 15 1933 - "Abraham Potal, in behalf of the Irving Place, also denied any Immorality 'or nudity."
• [96] NYT May 18 1926 - ACADEMY OF MUSIC CLOSED FOREVER; History of Seventy-two Years …
• [97] NYT Oct 8 1938 - As its first production. the recently organized Yiddish Dramatic Players presented last night
• [98] April 20 1930 - "CRAIN ACTS ON OWN SHOW.; Seeks Curb on Barker Calling Burlesque in His Theatre "Hot." Play "Whirl of Mirth" "owned by the --and his sisters,"
• [99] NYT Apr 5 1939 - The Irving Place Theatre, formerly devoted to burlesque, has been leased by Clemente Gaiglio, Italian-American showman, and will reopen on Monday as a" (cinema?)
• [100] NYT Nov 27 1937 - Moss ""still considering" the question of granting licenses to burlesque theatres now operating without permits"
• [101] NYT Sep 18 1931 - Mady Christians acted as a child at IPT
• [102] NYT Aug 16 1921 - New incorporations: Irving Place Theatre Co., " H. Urbach, W. Meltzer; attorney,
• [103] NYT MAy 23 1928 - Irving Place Theatre Co., Inc.-S. Schweitzer.
• [104] NYT Sep 10 1926 - "Yiddish stage under the management of Max R. Wilner, owner of the Irving Place Jewish Art Theatre"
• [105] NYT Jun 30 1927 - Four players and the manager arrested for "indecent play"
• [106] NYT Jan 2 1928 - Tammany Hall sold to Con Ed
• [107] Apr 11 1939 - Cinema opens April 10 1939 with "II Grande Appello" ("The Last Roll-Call") made in Ethiopia by Mario Camerini
• [108] Ruth Ben-Ghiat - "II Grande Appello" = Italian gov. funded fascist propaganda
• [109] NYT Dec 111937 - Moss denies licence
• [110] Emelise Aleandri - Clemente Giglio died in 1943 and 'Cimema Giglio" was taken over by son Sandrino
• [111] NYT Jul 16 1943 - Clemente Giglio obit
• [112] NYT Jan 21 1943 - "pro-Hitler" in fact pro-lesbian 1931 [Mädchen in Uniform (1931 film)|Mädchen in Uniform]
• [113] NYT Apr 18 1940 dispute between IPT managementand the Actors Ensemble caused show cancellation
• [114] [115] [116] [117] [118] [119] May Russian and French Films..
• [120] NYT Nov 19 1944 Mady Christian recalls her career.
• [121] NYT Mar 7 1940 - 'Merely Players' Oscar Wilde Play for Easter week
• [122] NYT Feb 16 1940 - "othello' formal opening postponed
• [123] NYT Feb 28 1940 - The non-Equity group known as "Merely Players" plans to open "Lysistrata"
• [124] NYT Aug 12 1942 - Pease Elliman, inc., have been appointed agents for the Irving Place Theatre
• [125] CRAIN SISTERS BENEFIT; Sister-in-Law of Tammany Man Also Named in Will (presumably Crain dead)
• [126] NYT Feb 25 1940 - "Show That Defies Unions Takes In $74 in a Week" - Outside the New Irving Place Theatre, at Fifteenth Street, the actors have posted a sign that reads: "We are a young cooperative group, pro-labor to a man, " After giving "Othello" for a week despite picket lines established by A.F. of L. theatrical unions, a group of youthful actors checked up on their box-office receipts yesterday and discovered that they had taken in $74"
• [127] Reading Eagle Oct 13 1941 - Gypsy Rose Lee's book "The G-String Murders' is set in IPT
• [128] NYT Feb 12 1945 - Art Exhibition by Ukrainian Futurist David Burliuk
• [129] NYT Apr 15 1942 - "Thirty-five Russian war posters, recently arrived from the Soviet :Union, are being shown in the lobby of the Irving Place Theatre"
• [130] - "With the assistance of Joseph Green, operator of the Irving Place picture house, Mr. Ben-Ami will install a producing group there, named after the theatre"
• [131] The Spokesman-Review Sep 1 1940 story about former 'golden girl' Rozelle Roland, who becam a Baroness, but Baron is now a POW.
• [132] NYT Sep 1 1957 - ".. a pioneer of special, film programs, stimulated business at the Irving Place Theatre by creating a French and Russian festival honoring our allies. ..."
• [133] Palm Beach Daily News Feb 12, 1956 - Gypsy Rose Lee became toast od IPT, later became fetured player in Ziegfeld Follies
• [134] NYT Sep 5 1927 - fifth annual convention of the Workers' (Communist) Party at Irving Plaza
• [135] NYT Dec 30, 1927 - League for Industrial Democracy dinner
• [136] NYT Nov 13 1927 third annual conference of the International Labor Defense
• [137] NYT Jan 16, 1928 All-America Anti-Imperialist League - Socrates Sandino, swarthy 29-year old Brooklyn mechanic and brother of the Nicaraguan rebel, General Augusto Calderon Sandino, told more than 1,000 persons his brother is a patriot.
• [138] NYT Nov 28 1929 - Jewish Socialist Federation
• [139] NYT Jun 9 29 - the Socialist Labor Party nominated Olive M. Johnson for Mayor
• [140] NYT Sep 15 1929 League of Zionist Revisionists
• [141] NYT July 15 1929 - Communist Party of America nominate a Jew "William Weinstone" for Mayor and "Otto Hall, a Negro" for Controller
• [142] NYT May 6 1929 - NATIONAL SOCCER BODY IS FORMED BY WORKERS;
• [143] NYT Jul 29 1931 Last night the cutters' union met at Irving Plaza Hall and endorsed the strike vote taken at a meeting of 1,30U shop chairmen Monday night.
• [144] NYT Sep 23 1937 - on strike for two weeks, was unanimously rejected by the strikers at a meeting held last night in Irving Plaza Hall
• [145] NYT Aug 29 1930 The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union strike meeting
• [146] NYT Mar 6 1934 DENTAL AIDES PLAN STRIKE; Technicians Demand Recognition of …
• [147] NYT Jun 9 1933 - LEATHER WORKERS STRIKE.; Union Names Committee of 75 to Picket …
• [148] NYT Mar 31, 1930 - Yiddish Culture Society Convention
• [149] NYT May 31 1935 -City Action Committee Against the High Cost of Living and the United Council of Working Class Women held a Meat boycott
• [150] NYT Nov 16 1931 -FASCISM FOES RIOT AT PROTEST RALLY; Fists Fly and Chairs Are Tossed About of Meeting of 600 to Oppose Grandi Visit. REDS RETREAT FROM HALL Row Begins When Floor Is Denied Man in Free-Speech Discussion
• [151] NYT Mar 10 1934 - LABOR BOARD SEEKS TAXI STRIKE PEACE
• [152] NYT Oct 21 1934 Direct Action Committee for the Defense of the Spanish Revolution
• [153] NYT Aug 12 1930 - cops used IP as staging post in Aug 1 'Red Riot' in Union Square.
• [154] NYT Dec 7, 1937 - LIQUOR STORES GET THREAT OF STRIKE; Clerks' Union Ready to Call …
• [155] NYT Oct 15 1946 - Barbers to Widen Strike
• [156] Dec 17 1944 - School Custodians
• [157] Nov 9 1945 Plumbers
• [158] NYT Nov 21 1943 500 YARN DYERS VOTE TO STRIKE TOMORROW;
• [159] NYT Oct 13 1945 MILK UNIONS HALT ALL NEGOTIATIONS
• [160] NYT Sep 11 1945 UTILITY STRIKE PROPOSED; Consolidated Edison Group to Seek Vote
• [161] NYT Mar 6 1941 - Tunnel Workers

DusanEsence comments copied over from Talk:Irving Plaza

The old Irving Place German Theatre or Amberg´s Theatre had address 11 Irving Place or 118 E. 15th Street. So that it was located on the opposite corner of E. 15th Street and Irving Place – now there are Zeckendorf Towers. See: Cinematreasures

In history: "Built in 1888", "a Yiddish theatre, a burlesque house (ecdysiast Gypsy Rose Lee stripped here)", Amberg's German Theatre, all the paragraphs about years 1893 – 1939 are concerning the house 11 Irving Place or 118 E. 15th Street, not the Irving Plaza.

Later history of the house 11 Irving Place or 118 E. 15th Street:

The whole block was rebuilt to the warehouse S. Klein in 1962. In 1985 was the block demolished and replaced by the Zeckendorf Towers.

Dusan Hübl, Prague, Czech Republic, contact: [email protected] — Preceding unsigned comment added by DusanEsence (talk • contribs) 1:57 pm, 10 February 2011, Thursday (5 months, 17 days ago) (UTC−5) --DusanEsence (talk) 9:15 am, 14 February 2011, Monday (5 months, 14 days ago) (UTC−5)

and, later

Other photos of theatre: [162], [163]. You can see change of name from "Burlesk" to "Follies" (Berenice Abbott) between 1937 and 1938 - Fiorello La Guardia. And for Your inspiration: Czech Wiki. ) --DusanEsence (talk) 11:32 am, 17 February 2011, Thursday (5 months, 13 days ago) (UTC−5)

Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide

In the 1897-98 edition of Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide, the Irving Place Theatre is described as “…the most prominent German theatre that the city boasts of, where the best German company in the United States can be seen.” The admission prices ranged from 35 cents to $1.50, with boxes selling for $10 and $15. The capacity was 1,528 (1,128 seats plus 400 standing spaces, or “admissions” as the Guide calls them.) The breakdown was: Orchestra: 540, Balcony: 251, Gallery: 279, Boxes: 58. The proscenium opening was 42 feet wide x 29 feet high. The stage was 36 feet deep. The theatre was on the ground floor and there were 14 to 28 members in the house orchestra. (Source: Comment from [164]) Wwwhatsup (talk) 20:40, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

the 1901 version is on archive.org [165]. Wwwhatsup (talk) 19:54, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Theatre vs. Theater

While in its later days the 're' spelling was definitely used, it appears that this wasn't always the case. For example in the program at right from 1900.

The photo I added to the article, which most probably (but not definitely) dates from around the turn of the century has the "re" spelling on the building's facade, as do the ones from 1895 in the MCNY collection [166], although because of the lack of contrast it's a bit harder to see. The "er" spelling on the handbill can be easily explained as a printer's error at a time when they weren't so fastidious about following the copy verbatim. Beyond My Ken (talk) 19:26, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Incidentally, if I had any lingering doubts about where the IPT was located, and whether it was the same space as Irving Plaza, they would be alleviated by the early real estate maps of the area in the NYPL digital collection, such as this one, which clearly shows the IPT on the northeast southwest corner of Irving and 15th (and the Academy of Music on the northwesteast corner of Irving and 14th). Beyond My Ken (talk) 19:33, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Um, you mean south-west, surely? Koegel uses the 'er' spelling consistently. We could at least go ahead and set up a redirect I think. Wwwhatsup (talk) 19:45, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Yes, I did screw up those directions (I'm slightly dyslexic that way.)

Re: "er" and "re" I've done the redirect. Most of the legit theatres in NYC use the "re" spelling, just as most movie theaters in the city use "er". Working in the theatre (I'm a stage manager), I noticed the difference. Beyond My Ken (talk) 20:39, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

John Koegel book

The repro at right comes from Music in German immigrant theater: New York City, 1840-1940 By John Koegel which has two entire chapters, complete with annotations, dedicated to the history of the IPT, from Amberg to demolishment. Koegel has obviously done a lot of the legwork, and gone through the NYT and local museum archives. The main effort here is probably thus going to be to concatenate his findings while avoiding WP:copyvio. Wwwhatsup (talk) 19:09, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

External links

All the links are broken, Spiel (talk) 17:36, 6 September 2022 (UTC)