Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 1: Exit Milwaukee

One can imagine that Edwin Thanhouser longed for a greater challenge. The opportunity came in May 1908 when he left the Shubert Theatre, after which it was announced that the Milwaukee house was under the direction of F. Ray Comstock Note and the management of William Reed Dunroy. Later, Lee Baker and Albert Brown, who had been members of Edwin Thanhouser's stock company, assumed the management of the Shubert. At one time, they managed the Davidson and Majestic theatres as well. Years after Edwin Thanhouser left, the Shubert Theatre was demolished and the Pioneer Building was constructed on the site. Note

Enlisting some of his old Thanhouser Stock Company members, he departed for seemingly greener pastures in Chicago, a theatre center second only to New York City. His seven-year management of the Academy Theatre had been very rewarding financially. Banking his profits Edwin Thanhouser became a man of wealth, and had assets estimated to be worth six figures. From time to time he invested in the stock market. During the financial panic of 1907, he sold United States Steel Corporation stock short at the right time and made what he called "a modest killing."

With a comfortable balance in the bank, he confidently signed a lease on the Bush Temple Theatre, Note a Chicago house which had fallen on hard times but seemed to have a potential for aggressive management and a good program. For Thanhouser's newly-organized stock company, Richard Finnegan served as press representative, George T. Cooke occupied the treasurer's chair, Merle E. Smith was assistant treasurer, and William E. Mick was the advertising agent. Barry O'Neil was signed as stage director. Years later, O'Neil was to rejoin his employer as a film director.

Under the management of Edwin Thanhouser, the Bush Temple Theatre opened on August 29, 1908 with the four-part play Leah Kleschna. The cast included Thais Lawton, George Allison, Thomas MacLarnie, Arthur Falkland Buchanan, and Ralph Morgan. Reviews were excellent and box office receipts were satisfactory. The Altar of Friendship and Salomy Jane, which followed on the schedule also did well according to published reports.

Among the early listings on the Bush Temple Theatre program was The Lucky Rich, which was billed as "the first production on any stage" of the play. However, some alert theatregoer noticed that it bore a striking resemblance to The Triangle, written by Rupert Hughes and performed in New York City several years earlier. Even the names of the characters were identical! Apparently, some scriptwriter had tried to deceive Thanhouser. Embarrassed, he directed that the names of the characters be changed. Edwin Thanhouser was twice burned, for the same thing happened with another play The Devil, which the owners of the Garden Theatre in New York City said was a plagiarism.

Following the episode of The Lucky Rich, the next play on the boards was David Belasco's The Girl of the Golden West, followed through to the end of the 1908 year by My Wife, In the Bishop's Carriage, Pretty Peggy, Her Sister, The Merchant of Venice, Raffles, At Piney Ridge, Carmen, The Man from Mexico, Jane Eyre; Love, Law and Money, and A Message from Mars. Among the players seen on the stage of the Bush Temple Theatre at the time were George Allison, William J. Bauman, Arthur Buchanan, Hugh Cameron, Ethel Clayton, Willard R. Feeley, Marie Flynn, Jane Gale, D.M. Henderson, Thais Lawton, Adelaide Keim, Thomas MacLarnie, Eleanor Parker, and Raymond Walburne.

In Chicago, Edwin Thanhouser and his family stayed in a large apartment building overlooking Lincoln Park. Young Lloyd went to the Francis Parker Academy for additional kindergarten education and part of first grade. Around this time little Marie came down with a serious case of diptheria and was near death at one point before she recovered.

During the autumn of 1908, reviews concerning the various Bush Temple Theatre productions were generally favorable, and in many notices a full house was mentioned. However, it was the practice in the trade at the time, and of a later era as well, to say nothing unfavorable about the business aspects of a theatre or its productions. The plays and stage events were fair game for reviewers, but poor business was usually left unmentioned. Located outside of the central Loop area, the district with most theatres, the Bush Temple Theatre often had many empty seats during performances. By the end of 1908 Edwin Thanhouser realized that he was in the wrong place.

He opened the year 1909 with Sherlock Holmes the week of January 4th, followed by The Prince and the Pauper, The Pillars of Society, and, finally, The Little Grey Lady, intending at that point to cease producing plays. The New York Clipper, issue of January 23, 1909, carried a notice to this effect: "Manager Thanhouser is endeavoring to negotiate for a house in the downtown district wherein to place a stock company. He will retain the lease on the Bush, and it is possible that vaudeville will go in there."

This caused a storm of protest by his patrons. With renewed hope that crowds might materialize, he continued the program of plays, with The Other Girl, followed by Cinderella, the latter advertised as offering free admission to any woman who could wear the Cinderella slipper displayed in the lobby. Then followed The Eternal City, Merely Mary Ann, Fedora, Faust, The Sporting Duchess, and Pudd'nhead Wilson.

For the week of March 22, 1909 it was announced that Charley's Aunt would be performed, but at the last minute, The Boys of Company B was presented instead. Then followed The Pillars of Society, which had been dramatized in January. The performance on April 3rd marked the 350th stage appearance, counting evenings and matinees, of Thanhouser Stock Company players at the Bush Theatre. Ladies in the audience were given framed photographs of stock company players.

The week of April 5th was heralded with a promotion which had been successful in Milwaukee. Billed as "a play without a name," the production featured a prize of a $5 gold piece to the patron suggesting the most appropriate title. Next came "Mother Goose week," beginning April 12th, which offered Jack and the Beanstalk as part of the program. On April 19th, The Second Mrs. Tanqueray opened.

Around this time, Edwin Thanhouser departed from the Bush Temple Theatre. Readers of The New York Clipper, issue of April 19th, were informed that the new managers were Gerson and Anderson, under whose auspices The Prince Chap was performed.

At the time of Edwin Thanhouser's departure the nature of the entertainment business in America was changing. Stage plays were drawing smaller audiences, and motion pictures, once considered suitable primarily as fillers on a vaudeville program, were becoming important in their own right. It was a time of growth for what would later become known as the movie industry. In Chicago and in a thousand other places storefronts were being converted to motion picture theatres which by means of a brilliantly-lighted facade and music blaring into the street enticed passers by to part with a nickel to see the wonders of Niagara Falls, the ferocity of an African lion, the latest naval battleship, or even the president of the United States. Seemingly, such companies as Biograph, Vitagraph, Lubin, and Edison were turning nice profits producing films, and it was certain that the picture houses around the Chicago Loop were earning money for each month saw new ones sprouting up.

"As attendance dwindled at the Bush Temple stock company's performances, Edwin Thanhouser worried as only he could do," his son Lloyd recounted years later. "His sideburns began turning white. Some wag - probably my Uncle Lloyd Lonergan - dubbed this change 'Ed's bush temples.' But Edwin was not one to go down with his ship. To change the metaphor, he read clearly the writing on the wall - or, to be more accurate, on the screen. So he terminated his lease [in the spring of 1909] on the Bush Temple Theatre and made arrangements to enter the motion picture producing business."

Actually, Edwin Thanhouser studied two possibilities, and when he came to the East he sought to investigate two growth industries: aviation and motion pictures. After giving due consideration to the matter he realized that while he knew relatively little about either, his work in the theatre would serve him well in the latter field, so that is the one he chose. Note