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The Iroquois wasn't just another theater
To manager and co-owner
Will J.
Davis, the Iroquois was the piéce de résistance of his quarter-century career in the theater industry. The Illinois
Theater, built two years earlier, had brought increased prominence and given Davis the opportunity to prove to the
theater Syndicate
that he was a player. Syndicate financing gave him more freedom
in the design and marketing of the Iroquois than he'd had in his
previous theater involvements (Adelphi, Haverly's, Grand Opera
House, Haymarket,
Columbia and Illinois). It gave him the opportunity to
create a theater without problems he'd seen at dozens of other
theaters in his years as a road agent. Possibly he
fantasized the Iroquois would become legendary, along with it's
manager and co-founder. At age fifty-nine in an era when
the life expectancy of a man was fifty-three, Davis had reason
to consider his own legacy.
His ideas for making the Iroquois the
perfect host for audience and cast
were incorporated from the ground up, as was a name with a historical connection befitting his aspirations to a new stature as a cultured
and respectable Chicagoan. The road company advance man was in
his past. The Will Davis of 1903 collected rare books, had a gentleman's farm where he raised trotting horses and purebred dogs, was a member and officer in various fraternal
organizations and co-owned two large Chicago theaters, with
a hotel on the horizon. For a man who had not graduated from high school and was the son of a railroad
construction crew chief, Will had much of which to be proud. Did his pride turn into overconfidence? Did a sense of invincibility lead him to gamble two thousand lives while he malingered at bringing the
Iroquois up to the fire safety standards it should have met before opening? If so, he had a good sized posse. In procrastinating on revising the city's fire code, the Chicago city council also gambled, as did
members of the building and fire departments. (That said, when a
guest comes to my home they should not be dependent on building
codes and regulations to feel safe that the roof isn't going to
fall in on them. It's my responsibility to keep the
rafters in good repair or inform guests about the termites in
the attic.)
If the Iroquois Theater was the castle symbolizing Davis'
graduation to a loftier position in Chicago society, the
souvenir program book, with a lengthy article about the
history of theaters in Chicago, was its docent.
The program
Of the ninety-three pages, nineteen are devoted to the Iroquois Theater. Thirty-three pages
by Edward Freiberger,* contain an article entitled "Two-thirds of a Century in the
Theatrical History of Chicago," that focuses on a handful of performers
and theater history--including Davis who is slipped in after McVicker, Hooley and other better recognized Chicago theater
pioneers. Three pages highlight the Mr. Bluebeard production, six feature Iroquois co-owners, and their theaters, twenty-four
are advertisements promoting railroads and suppliers to theater construction.
In it we learn that Davis disapproved of naming a theater after
its owner--a nice cover for the the fact that his name-selection
authority was limited to that of a minority shareholder.
Marc Klaw, for example, a syndicate founder and principal,
chose the name for the Illinois Theater. The Haymarket was
named after the majority shareholder, Al Hayman. If Davis
harbored a notion that he could someday be persuaded to change
his mind, the Iroquois Theater fire surely snuffed out the
flame. Theaters
would eventually be named after syndicate kingpins Marc Klaw and Abraham Erlanger,
but there was no Davis Theater in Chicago in his lifetime.
Printed and bound at Rand McNally with
engravings by F. G. Jungblut & Co,† the program was tasteful and understated to the point of being un-readable. A small, lightweight font was
imprinted in grey ink on ivory-colored clay-coated paper stock. After over a century of ink fading and paper darkening, even
the half dozen copies in Davis' estate (the remains of a printrun
probably under 2,000), exhibited identical effects of aging. A soft-cover edition was produced in bulk
for wider distribution.
Here are three versions of the souvenir program text:
"The Iroquois is certainly unrivaled in perfection
among the regular amusement places of the west, and
it is doubtful if the east can boast more than one
or two houses that are its equal...a virtual temple
of beauty...
"
Chicago Tribune, November 24, 1903
Labor strikes with marble cutters and other trades
had so delayed construction that a
promotional auction for Iroquois Theater tickets at
Powers Theater originally planned for November 12
had to be delayed until November 16, 1903.
Eddie Foy , the Iroquois orchestra led by
Antonio Frosolono and the
Pony Ballet gave a brief performance at the auction while the rest of
the Mr. Bluebeard cast of 347, arriving in Chicago from St. Louis on
November 15, were idled for eight days while the
theater was completed. Painters and plasters were
still working in the Iroquois the Monday afternoon
of November 23, 1903, hours before the first
Iroquois audience walked through the front doors. In addition to tickets purchased at the auction,
tickets had been sold from the Iroquois ticket
office since November 17.
The audience was made up of prominent Chicago citizens as well as Iroquois
co-owners and its youthful architect and his
parents. A group representing Klaw and Erlanger came from
Pittsburgh to attend the premiere and celebrate the
new addition to their theater stable.
S. F. Nixon and Fred Nixon Nirdlinger and
their wives were joined by Thomas Kirk Jr., manager
of the Nixon and Alvin Theaters, and railroad
attorney Charles M. Johnston.
Iroquois management promoted the premier as the
first time Mr. Bluebeard would
be performed in the United States as it had been
performed in London at Drury Lane Theater, the
reason being that only the Iroquois stage was large
enough.
Lauded in the program was the Mr.
Bluebeard choreographer
at the Iroquois,
Ned Wayburn (1874–1942),
who spent his boyhood in Chicago. Wayburn
(originally spelled as Weyburn) began his career as
a dancer and actor but by the early 1900s had become
a leading choreographer, going on to work with a
long list of greats, including the Ziegfield
Follies, Fred Astaire, Jeanette MacDonald, Mae West, Groucho Marx, June Allyson, and Barbara Stanwyck.
His book,
The Art of Stage Dancing , is available to read online.
Seventy-five Society names Chicago Tribune newspaper
reported as
in attendance at the Iroquois premier on
November 23, 1903
Mr. and Mrs. W. Vernon Booth
Mr. and Mrs. Madison B. Kennedy
Mr. and Mrs. S.M. Felton
Miss Felton
Dr. and Mrs. H. H. Brown
Mr. and Mrs. Edward A. Leicht
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Schuttler
Miss Cora Auten
Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Revell (daughter Margaret survived fire)
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick R. Babcock
Mr. and Mrs. George Plamondon
Mr. and Mrs. John H. Amberg
Mr. and Mrs. A.D. Plamondon (whose daughter Charlotte Plamondon
would in thirty-eight days survive the Iroquois fire)
Mrs. A. Plamondon
Miss Marie Plamondon
Arthur Clement
Arthur Schmidt
Will J. Davis (Iroquois manager and co-owner)
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Nixon (Iroquois co-owner)
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Nixon Jr
Mr. and Mrs. N.J. Nelson
Mr. and Mrs. James H. Channon (H. Channon wire fabricator)
Mr. and Mrs. Gustuv Fischer
Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Peters
Mr. and Mrs. T.J. O'Gara
Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Litzinger
Mr. and Mrs. John G. Shedd (VP Marshall Field department store)
Miss Laura Shedd
Miss Grace Buttolph
Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Conover
Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Trude
(mayor
Harrison's attorney)
Miss Algenia Trude
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Eckstein
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Kimbark
Miss Amberg
George Ade (journalist, friend of Iroquois manager
Will J. Davis, later a playwright)
George J. Charlton
Benjamin Marshall (Iroquois architect)
Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Marshall (Benjamin's parents)
Miss Harris of Memphis
Miss Elizabeth Walton (B. Marshall's eventual wife)
Mr. Edmond Phillips
Dr. and Mrs. J. B. Murphy
Mr. and Mrs. Harry J. Powers (Iroquois co-owner)
Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Bryson
Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Gunther (confectioner and antiquities collector)
Discrepancies and addendum
* Edward Freiberger (1857–1917 ), nicknamed Eddie,
was the drama critic at the Inter Ocean newspaper
and editor of the Saturday Evening Herald.
In 1897 Freiberger began writing History
of the Drama in Chicago for
the Dunlap Society of New York. Presumably, the
Iroquois Program is from that project. I found no
evidence that it was completed or published. In
addition to journalism, Freiberger wrote poetry (Wayside Pansies),
a book about the history of the piano, and several
comedic plays. He wrote in both English and German.
Freiberger and Iroquois manager Will J. Davis were
fellow members of the Forty Club.
† Possibly named after Frederick G. Jungblut
(1844–1895), who was secretary and treasurer of F.G.
Jungblut at the time of his death. The Canal street
company outlived the man. The first mention of a
Chicago engraver named Jungblut was in 1880.
Chicago's AH Andrews Co.
advertised in Iroquois Program
Chicago Haymarket 1st
Davis theater fire
Saving cash receipts at
Iroquois Theater
Other discussions you might find interesting
irqrails irqothertheaters
Story 2882
A note about sourcing. When this
project began, I failed to anticipate the day might come when a
more scholarly approach would be called for. When my
mistake was recognized I faced a decision: go back and spend years creating source lists for every page, or go
forward and try to cover more of the people and circumstances
involved in the disaster. Were I twenty years younger, I'd
have gone back, but in recognition that this project will end when I do, I chose to go forward.
These pages will provide enough information, it is hoped, to
provide subsequent researchers with additional information.
I would like to
hear from you if you have additional info about an Iroquois victim, or find an error,
and you're invited to visit the
comments page to share stories and observations about the Iroquois Theater fire.
