Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 1: New Arrangements

The presentation of The Phoenix at the Academy from November 27th through December 3rd marked the seventh anniversary of Edwin Thanhouser's management of the theatre.

In late 1905, the direction of the Academy was taken over by Lee Shubert's Shubert Theatrical Corporation, a New York conglomerate which controlled a large number of houses. It was announced that the Academy would be closed briefly for repairs, the Thanhouser Stock Company would be disbanded, and that the house would be reopened in 1906 as the Shubert Theatre. Edwin Thanhouser was hired as manager, but this time his function was to supervise business arrangements concerning the booking of various road shows, itinerant vaudeville acts, and traveling stock companies which played on the stage of the theatre.

The Shubert Theatre opened for business on Sunday, February 11, 1906, with Henry E. Dixey starring in The Man on the Box, a stage adaptation of a popular novel of the time. From February 22nd to the 24th, Arnold Daly presented You Never Can Tell. From that point onward the Shubert Theatre was open on an intermittent basis. In summer of 1906 the building was dark until the autumn season opened on August 26th with Henry Woodruff in Brown of Harvard, followed by Eddie Foy in The Girl and the Earl from September 9th to the 15th, after which, from October 9th to the 13th, Mrs. Fiske appeared on stage in The New York Idea.

Edwin Thanhouser became restless in his new position, for the opportunity for creativity was largely lost. Now he was a business manager, whose main responsibility was taking care of details. The thrill of directing his own players was gone. He looked around for another opportunity, and found it in the Star Theatre, Note which had fallen on hard times. It was announced in February 1907 that Thanhouser would take over the Star around May 1st, remodel the building and reopen it as the Garrick with a company of stock players.

In the meantime, he continued to manage the Shubert, which continued to be open on an intermittent basis for traveling productions. A number of players from the Thanhouser Stock Company, now out of work, joined Albert Brown's Company of stock players, which opened at the competing Davidson Theatre in Milwaukee on April 14th with a dramatization of George Barr McCutcheon's novel, Graustark. The Brown stock company did well, but one can surmise that Edwin Thanhouser, who had no connection with it, missed being with his old friends.

Trouble developed with Thanhouser's arrangements for the Star, and the project was taken over by Richard Kann, who followed the earlier plan, and with backing from several out-of-state associates, opened the Star, renamed the Garrick, with a new in-house stock company on May 20th.

Meanwhile in late April, under the management of Edwin Thanhouser, the Shubert played host to Etienne Girardot's performance in Charley's Aunt, followed by a return engagement of Mrs. Fiske in The New York Idea. Later, the Lew Fields company was seen in About Town. The policy of featuring occasional productions staged by road companies did not work, and in late May 1907 it was announced that the Shubert would close its doors, possibly to reopen in the autumn as a vaudeville house.

Affairs weren't going well at Richard Kann's new Garrick Theatre enterprise either, and Milwaukee theatregoers were informed that the doors would close permanently on June 20th because of an inarguable reason: "lack of receipts." Edwin Thanhouser sensed an opportunity and told the press that he would consider taking over the theatre once it had closed and reopening it with his own stock company.

The next month or two saw a state of flux in Edwin Thanhouser's affairs. The Shubert remained closed, but in August it was announced that in the following month it would be reopened, with the name changed to the Empire Theatre, apparently without the involvement of Thanhouser. Nor would Thanhouser be involved in the Garrick, for it was scheduled to be reopened by others, under the name of the Gaiety (or Gayety) Theatre, a burlesque house.

The various complications were sorted out, Edwin Thanhouser negotiated a new arrangement with the Shubert interests, and on September 1, 1907, with the Shubert Theatre name still on the marquee, Edwin Thanhouser's old house reopened with Klaw & Erlanger's advanced vaudeville program on the bill. All was in good order the press proclaimed, and from then through the remainder of the year trade papers stated that the theatre did well with a succession of jugglers, comedians, animal acts, magicians, and other vaudeville attractions. It is apparent that there was trouble at the box office, enthusiastic press notices notwithstanding. The Shubert Theatre faded from prominence in the trade papers early in 1908, and for weeks at a time there was little on it. Occasional attractions were mentioned, such as a lecture by Frank R. Roberson, on "The East Coast of South Africa," presented on February 23, and a lecture, "Norway, Land of the Midnight Snow," on March 1, but the show-after-show, week-after-week momentum was gone.

In the meantime, Gertrude Homan Thanhouser was busy with her two children. The summers of 1906 and 1907 were spent at Green Lake, Wisconsin. During the 1906-1907 school year, young Lloyd attended kindergarten at the German-English Academy.