Bangoreans turned out in droves for theater

Bangor was a theater town much as it was a lumber town, a little Broadway in the Great North Woods. Of course, the lumber paid for the theaters. When plays wore out on the Great White Way, the Queen City provided new audiences just as Portland and Lewiston did.

On certain evenings in the right season of the year, you were as apt to see Ethel Barrymore or Fay Templeton making their way across Main Street between those two great “houses,” the Opera House and the Bangor House, as you were to see a contingent of red-shirted wood choppers staggering down Exchange Street.

A century ago, the major theater in town was the Bangor Opera House. That’s the Old Bangor Opera House, not to be confused with the New Bangor Opera House, which was built on the same spot on Main Street after the old one burned in 1914. The new opera house, or what remains of it, is still there today.

Both Bangor newspapers were full of theater news, local and national. Both papers employed knowledgeable critics with high standards. One of these anonymous critics provided an excellent snapshot of the theater season on May 28, 1907, in the Bangor Daily News. The Bangor Opera House had just closed for the summer.

Theatricals that season could be divided into four categories, according to the writer. They were “the strictly first-class, which came originally from Broadway theaters; the better class of ‘road shows;’ the cheaper class of road shows; and the 10, 20 and 30.”

The first two categories – Broadway and the better class of roadshows – had featured Ethel Barrymore in “Capt. Jinks of the Horse Marines” and her uncle John Drew in “His House in Order.” Rockland native Maxine Elliott, who was famed for her great beauty as well as a liaison with J.P. Morgan, had graced the stage in “Her Great Match.”

Shakespeare was popular. Madame Modjeska performed in “Macbeth” and Viola Allen in “Cymbeline.” Two Bernard Shaw plays, “Man and Superman” and “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” also appealed to sophisticated Bangoreans. Meanwhile, musical comedies such as “Piff Paff Pouf” and “The Isle of Bong Bong” helped brighten up the long winter for many, as did Dockstader’s Minstrels.

But the biggest hit of all – the biggest moneymaker at the box office – was neither Shakespeare nor Shaw, Barrymore nor Elliott. It was Fritzi Scheff in “Mlle. Modiste” an operetta by Victor Herbert. In fact, the event was the greatest box office draw in the history of the theater, manager Frank A. Owen told the Bangor Daily News’ writer after the show.

The less said of the other two categories of theater fare the better, apparently. “Of the third group – the cheaper one-night stands – the veil of charity should be drawn quickly,” said our kindhearted critic. “They transcended human belief in badness, but fortunately they were few in number. It is a much-discussed question whether the booby prize should be awarded to ‘Peck’s Bad Boy,’ ‘Uncle Josh Spruceby’ or ‘Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl,’ although most people will be inclined to give it to the latter.”

Even less was to be said about the “10, 20 and 30 companies,” an expression apparently having to do with their low prices. These were repertory companies, which performed several plays, including matinees and evening shows, over several days. For the most part, they were “very coarse and cheap” with a couple of exceptions that rose above the usual “blood-and-thunder plays.”

Bangor’s newspaper critics fumed that the city was not being treated as well as Portland or Lewiston in either the number of high-quality plays that were being sent here or the number of nights they were allowed to perform. The writer listed several shows Bangoreans had missed that season including Maude Adams in “Peter Pan.” Some popular shows stayed for only one night, playing to packed houses. Such decisions were made in New York City by a booking agent. Sound familiar?

The writer made no mention of some of the other miscellaneous entertainments that occasionally appeared at the Opera House including moving pictures, hypnotists, comedians, mediums and at least one magnetic healer. Movies were getting more popular and one recently had been controversial. “The Unwritten Law” consisted of scenes “representing” incidents and places from the sensational murder of architect Stanford White and the subsequent trial of Harry K. Thaw. A matinee was canceled after a preview on April 11 by the mayor, the chief of police and other officials. Bangor young people didn’t need to see that kind of thing. Adults, however, packed two evening showings.

Movies and vaudeville would play a bigger role in Bangor entertainment in the years to come. Rumors had been circulating for months that the Queen City was about to get a new theater and possibly two. The latest press reports said John R. Graham, the local trolley magnate, had signed a contract with the Keith syndicate to start a movie theater in his new block on Central Street. People would be able to enter the theater in the morning and watch movies until late at night on one ticket! There were also rumors of plans for “a high-class vaudeville theater.”

The Bangor Opera House, then in its 25th year, was planning major renovations including increased seating before opening in the fall. Other theaters with names like the Nickel, the Gaiety, the Graphic and the Gem would soon be opening. Would Bangor remain a theater town, showing some of the best Broadway fare? No one could predict what would happen.

Wayne E. Reilly can be reached at wreilly@bangordailynews.net.