Herald Square Theatre

The Herald Square Theatre was a Broadway theatre in Manhattan, New York City, built in 1883 and closed in 1914. The site is now a highrise designed by H. Craig Severance.[1]

"New Park Theatre" redirects here. For the earlier theater of the same name, see Abbey's Park Theatre.
Herald Square Theatre
Herald Square Theatre in 1907
Former names(New) Park Theatre (1883–1894)
Address1331 Broadway
New York City
United States
TypeBroadway
Capacity1150
Construction
Opened1883
Closed1914 (1914)
Demolished1915
Years active1883–1914
ArchitectRose & Stone

History

The Park Theatre opened in 1883 (also known as the New Park Theatre) on the partly demolished site of the Great New York Aquarium (1876–1881),[1] which is unrelated to the later New York Aquarium. Actor Charles E. Evans, retiring from the stage with cash in hand from the long-running success of A Parlor Match, refurbished the prior Harrigan's Park Theatre as the Herald Square Theatre in 1894.[2] It stood at 1331 Broadway, designed by architects Rose & Stone, with about 1150 seats and with its interior furnished by the interior of the nearby Booth's Theatre, which was being demolished. Lee Shubert took over the lease of the theatre in 1900, making it the first Broadway theatre owned by The Shubert Organization.

Partially destroyed by fire and rebuilt, in 1911 it became "the first New York theatre to be converted into a silent movie house", but it was demolished only three years later, as the Garment District expanded, and the Broadway theater district migrated north of 40th Street.[3][4]

The theatre offered a variety of entertainment, from plays, like Shaw's Arms and the Man (1894), to Edwardian musical comedies, like The Girl from Kay's (1903–1904) and The Girl Behind the Counter (1907–1908), to operetta, like Reginald De Koven and Harry B. Smith's Rob Roy.[5] It saw the first performance of the George M. Cohan song "You're a Grand Old Flag" in 1906, and it was also where William Randolph Hearst first saw and met his wife Millicent Willson during her appearance as a "bicycle girl" in 1897.

Selected performances
The Park Theatre, on a map published in 1890

References
  1. Miller, Tom (2016-12-19). "The Lost Great New York Aquarium - Herald Square". Daytonian in Manhattan. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  2. Who's who on the stage, p. 90 (1906)
  3. Herald Square Theatre at the Internet Broadway Database
  4. (10 July 1914). The Real Estate Field, The New York Times ("The property, on which is the Herald Square Theatre, has a Broadway frontage of 211.5 feet, 207 feet on Thirty-fifth Street and eight-one feet on Thirty-sixth Street.")
  5. Traubner, Richard (2003). Operetta: A Theatrical History, rev. ed. New York: Routledge. p. 342. ISBN 9780203509029.
  6. "An Arabian Girl and 40 Thieves – Broadway Musical – Original | IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  7. Brown, Thomas Allston. A History of the New York Stage, Vol. III (1903)
  8. "Internet Broadway Database". Retrieved 2 January 2020.
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