THEATRE ON THE FRONTIER: WINNIPEG IN THE 1880s

Carol Budnick

The paper discusses the influence of the frontier environment on theatres in Winnipeg during the 1880s by looking at the suppression of variety theatres by the City Council and the role in the community of the Princess Opera House and its resident stock company.

L'article examine l'influence du milieu des pionniers sur le théâtre à Winnipeg pendant les années 1880 en prenant en considération la suppression des théâtres de variétés par le conseil municipal et le rôle dans la communauté du Princess Opera House et sa troupe permanente.

Between 1882 and 1884 a number of Winnipeggers decided there was money to be made by providing for the recreation of their fellow citizens. In this short period two opera houses and six variety theatres were opened, giving the town, whose principal place of amusement had been a room in the City Hall, more of the amenities of a large city. By 1885 only one of these theatres, the Princess Opera House, was still in operation. The story of the rise and fall of Winnipeg's variety theatres is revealing because it tells us what citizens in a frontier town expected of their theatres. ¹

Some of Winnipeg's short-lived variety theatres were in buildings that were not equipped for stage production. Among the former were the Britannia Music Hall, opened in November 1883 in the hotel known as the Whelan House,² and the Board of Trade Varieties, established in December 1884 in the Board of Trade Hotel.³ Since these theatres did not advertise regularly not much is known about them. The Athletic Academy flourished in the spring of 1882, closing on 31 May after one of the proprietors left for the United States with the receipts of that evening.⁴ The Theatre Comique which was opened in September 1883 and closed in May 1884, the Royal Theatre which was operated by Dan Rogers from 5 February 1884 until 31 May of the same year, and the Victoria Theatre which Dan Rogers managed from the beginning of November 1884 to the end of February 1885, were variety theatres about which more is known since they advertised in the press and became the subject of controversy when City Council attempted to close them.

The two opera houses Winnipeg acquired in the 1880s were intended to provide entertainment which could be patronized by both men and respectable women. The Standard Opera House opened on 30 April 1884 and closed after being in operation less than a month. The Princess Opera House, which was formally inaugurated on 14 May 1883, survived until 1892.

In the early 1880s Winnipeg experienced a period of unprecedented growth which hastened its transformation from a frontier town into the city Winnipeggers hoped would become the Chicago of the north. As construction on the Canadian Pacific Railway approached Winnipeg it set off a wave of speculation in real estate which reached a peak in 1881 and 1882.⁵ During these years the population tripled from 8,678 in 1880 to 25,856 ⁶ in 1882, resulting in a greatly increased audience for any commercial amusement.⁷ This was an audience in which young men were predominant, for Winnipeg, like any frontier town, had attracted a great many young men who were seeking jobs and land. In 1881 there were 1,393 males for every 1,000 females in Winnipeg,⁸ and in 1886 over half of the population was between the ages of 15 and 44.⁹ Winnipeg, like other frontier cities, had the type of population that would patronize such places of amusement as saloons, variety theatres, and brothels. Consequently Winnipeg had more than its share of such resorts.¹⁰

Most of Winnipeg's variety theatres appeared on the scene as the excitement of the real estate boom subsided. The majority of the theatres were established by men already engaged in the tavern or hotel business. Combining entertainment with the sale of liquor may have been one way of remaining competitive in a trade which had ceased to be as profitable as it had been a year before. At the height of the real estate boom, the city had swarmed with men, and money had been plentiful as fortunes were made and lost in land deals. A saloon that offered entertainment would stand out in a city that had more liquor outlets than it needed.

The variety theatres offered a vaudeville show and liquid refreshment. In the larger theatres the show consisted of the first part of a traditional minstrel show, followed by an olio or vaudeville bill, and ended with an afterpiece in which all of the performers took part. Judging from the large advertisements for the Theatre Comique, the Royal Theatre, and the Victoria Theatre which appeared in Winnipeg Siftings, these theatres presented a show which could be compared favourably, in variety and quantity of acts, with an evening at Tony Pastor's theatre in New York. Most variety theatres had a standard admission price of 25 cents and 50 cents, depending on seat location, while some theatres, like the Britannia Music Hall, had no admission fee. As an added feature many variety theatres offered patrons the opportunity to socialize with the female performers. This privilege may have been limited to the big spenders who had paid the 50-cent admission charge.¹¹

Richard Farrell opened the Theatre Comique in September 1883. When he arrived in Winnipeg about three years before, he had joined the police force, but soon resigned to establish a restaurant which did well, enabling him to save enough money to invest in the Theatre Comique. After managing the theatre for only a month financial difficulties compelled him to relinquish control of the theatre. Harry Robe ran the Theatre Comique¹² until bailiffs closed it in May 1884.¹³

The main competition for the Theatre Comique was provided by Dan Rogers, proprietor of the Royal Theatre. He was an American, who upon settling in the city in 1881, became involved in the wholesale liquor trade and operated the Hub saloon and restaurant.¹⁴ Rogers leased the old court house at 494 - 500 Main Street, which in the 1870s had served as a meeting place for the provincial legislature, and later as law courts and jail. Rogers turned it into a theatre with a gallery and six private boxes.¹⁵ The Royal Theatre, which had a seating capacity of 600,¹⁶ opened on 5 February 1884 and remained in operation until Rogers closed it on 31 May of the same year.

Since the sale of liquor made the variety theatres profitable, Dan Rogers closed the Royal Theatre when he could not obtain a liquor licence.¹⁷ At a meeting of the Board of Licence Commissioners on 8 May 1884, Harry Robe pleaded for a licence claiming he needed it to earn enough money to pay his debts. The Board told him his application would not be considered because public opinion was against granting liquor licences to theatres.¹⁸ Both the Royal Theatre and the Theatre Comique were victims of an attempt by the authorities to restrict the number of liquor licences granted in the city. New legislation which made this possible had recently been passed by the provincial and dominion governments.¹⁹

Although the profits of the variety theatres came from liquor sales, it was the show which brought patrons into the theatre. The talent used in such theatres as the Theatre Comique, the Board of Trade Varieties, and Dan Rogers' two theatres was often imported from the United States, usually Chicago.²⁰ At the Theatre Comique in January 1884 there were sixteen performers on the bill -four female vocalists, two song-and-dance men, a banjo player, a comedy team that did Irish and Dutch characters, a fire eater, and a male dancer who did a sand jig.²¹ A few months later Oscar and Sallie Kherns were among the new acts added to the bill; Sallie did Indian club swinging, and Oscar made the 'sweetest music imaginable' with the aid of 40 wine glasses.²² The comic sketch which concluded this bill was a burlesque on actors Edwin Booth, Henry Irving, and Sarah Bernhardt entitled 'The Arrival of Sarah Heart Burns.' ²³ The show at the Royal Theatre in March 1884 was described in advertising as

the most amusing entertainment in the city. A mammoth company of specialty artists appearing in a bright olio of sparkling acts ... No tiresome Dramas, no time killing first parts. The greatest show in Winnipeg.²⁴

When the Victoria Theatre opened at the beginning of November 1884, the bill was headed by a marksman, who demonstrated his skill while on a flying trapeze, and featured a lady boxer and the world's greatest one-legged clog dancer.²⁵ The large advertisements which appeared in Winnipeg Siftings for the variety theatres were proof that the managers of these theatres believed the quality of the show was important to the success of their operation.

Winnipeg newspapers were divided in their opinion of the variety theatres. In their infrequent reviews, which appeared when the theatres first opened or reopened after a period of darkness, the Winnipeg Daily Times and Winnipeg Siftings were the two newspapers which were most sympathetic, their reviews being favourable or non-committal. The Winnipeg Daily Sun and the Manitoba Free Press either usually ignored the variety theatres or were critical of them finding the shows pandered to the tastes of the worst elements of the population,²⁶ contained 'obscene allusions,' ²⁷ and 'vulgar dancing'. ²⁸

The audience for the evening show at the variety theatres was exclusively male, drawn from all social classes. In the pit, where the 25-cent seats were, the audience was made up of workingmen, some 'rough looking characters,' and several boys between the ages of twelve and fifteen.²⁹ Men holding responsible positions, merchants, lawyers, and clerks, sat in the gallery where the more expensive 50-cent seats were located.³⁰ Attendance at the variety theatres was not something to be proud of. When the Royal Theatre was opened on 5 February 1884 the theatre was crowded with many 'distinguished visitors' whose names the reporter from Winnipeg Siftings refused to mention so as not to embarrass those who did not want their visits to the variety theatres publicized.³¹

There was a strong movement in the city to suppress the variety theatres. This campaign was directed against the wine rooms in the theatres. Female performers were expected to entice theatre patrons into visiting the wine rooms, where they were required to socialize with them and encourage them to buy drinks. The women received a commission of about 20 cents on the dollar on the drinks they sold.³² As far as the chief of police was concerned, the wine rooms were the worst feature of the theatres.³³ W.F. Luxton, editor of the Manitoba Free Press, called the theatres 'shops of harlotry' where 'decent young men' and 'scores of boys' were started on the road to ruin. If civic authorities failed to act against the theatres, Luxton urged citizens to take the law into their own hands to defend their homes and the community against the theatres which he considered corruptors of youth.³⁴ Even the two newspapers which had been most tolerant of the variety theatres, Winnipeg Siftings³⁵ and the Winnipeg Daily Times,³⁶ joined in the criticism. Much of it was aimed at the Theatre Comique whose management may have been lax in keeping order in the theatre.

Winnipeg City Council reflected public opinion when it passed by-laws to rid the city of the variety theatres. But there were varying reasons for wanting the variety theatres closed. Businessmen felt they did not enhance Winnipeg's image as a good place in which to settle and do business. Critics of the theatres, for example, complained that men who were in the habit of spending money in the theatres, in some instances, used their employers' or creditors' money.³⁷ They also claimed that men who had come to the city with the means to establish themselves on a farm had instead frittered away the money in the theatres.³⁸ Winnipeg's clergymen were united in considering the variety theatres an evil influence in the City.³⁹ During 1883 and 1884 groups like the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Royal Templars of Temperance, and the Blue Ribbon Society were either established in the city or re-grouped and made an effort to win new members.⁴⁰ These societies of course wanted the variety theatres closed. The proprietors of saloons and hotels urged City Council either to suppress the variety theatres, tax them out of existence,⁴¹ or forbid them to sell liquor.⁴² Once City Council did take action against the variety theatres the writer in Winnipeg Siftings pointed out that at least half of the city's aldermen were directly involved in the liquor trade.⁴³ There was some truth in this; Stewart Mulvey, for example, the alderman who was responsible for the first by-law to be used against the variety theatres, was connected with the firm of Mulvey & Son, a brewing and beer bottling concern.

On 1 May 1884 Alderman Mulvey introduced an amendment to the by-law licensing the city's theatres. This amendment included a clause that declared it unlawful to have a place of amusement connected to a wine room, a greenroom, or other room for actors or actresses in which liquor or wine was sold or given away. Alderman Mulvey also attempted to establish standards for the morality and decency of theatrical performances with provisions such as the following clause:

It shall be unlawful for any person more than seven years of age in any public entertainment ... to make any indecent exposure of the body, or any part thereof, publicly ... or to make any indecent display of himself, or herself, offensive to the virtuous sense of the public, or to make any signs or overtures suggestive of lewd, lascivious, or licentious conduct, or an invitation to the commission of such acts.⁴⁴

In addition the by-law contained clauses prohibiting 'immodest, lewd, blasphemous or obscene language,' immoral posters, and 'immodest, lewd, lascivious' movements, made by a woman or person attired in women's clothes, which are likely to be 'offensive to womanly modesty or common decency.'

This by-law received its third and final reading on 19 May 1884. If the reaction of aldermen to the by-law, upon its second reading was any indication, there were probably many Winnipeggers who thought Alderman Mulvey's concern for the morality and purity of the stage somewhat excessive. One alderman felt the by-law would forbid the performance of Shakespeare at the Princess Opera House. Another alderman said passage of the by-law would make City Council a 'laughing-stock.' ⁴⁵ The by-law was not used immediately because the bailiff had taken possession of the Theatre Comique a week before it was passed,⁴⁶ and Dan Rogers had closed the Royal Theatre on 31 May 1884.

Variety theatres reappeared in the city towards the end of 1884. Dan Rogers opened the Victoria Theatre at 630 Main Street in the former Standard Opera House on 3 November 1884.⁴⁷ A variety theatre was also established in the Board of Trade Hotel in December. The proprietors of the variety theatres probably opened their theatres because liquor laws were no longer being enforced, since there was confusion over which level of government had the right to do so.⁴⁸

Early in 1885 civic officials decided it was time to use the Mulvey by-law against the variety theatres, At a meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners, the Commissioners were unanimous in finding the theatres a 'disgrace to the city', and Mayor Charles Hamilton announced that City Council was determined to rid the city of them.⁴⁹ As a result James Doherty of the Board of Trade Varieties and Dan Rogers of the Victoria Theatre were charged under the Mulvey by-law with keeping a wine room in a place of public amusement.

Their trial was held on 16 January 1885. It played to a large and rowdy audience eager to be entertained with information about the operation of the wine rooms.⁵⁰ In the course of the trial it was revealed that, although the by-law had been passed eight months ago, it had been signed by the ex-mayor before the trial, and charges may have been laid before the by-law was signed and sealed. In addition the lawyer for the defence tried to turn the trial into a farce by dissecting the by-law and mocking the wording in such a way as to elicit roars of laughter from the courtroom audience. The case was dismissed.⁵¹ The Winnipeg Daily Times alleged that the mayor, the former mayor, the police chief, the editor of the Manitoba Free Press and interested aldermen had knowingly bent the law by using a by-law which had not been properly signed.⁵² Winnipeg city fathers lost no time in passing a new by-law with almost identical wording. It went through three readings and was signed and sealed on the same evening.⁵³

Using the new by-law and existing liquor legislation, civic authorities began a campaign to suppress Dan Rogers' Victoria Theatre. For a month Rogers fought city hall, his battle with the authorities assuming epic proportions. For his persistence he became something of a hero to his patrons as the 'local phoenix' who kept his theatre open.⁵⁴ Since the opening of his first theatre a year previously, charges had been laid against him over 100 times.⁵⁵ He finally closed the Victoria Theatre at the end of February, 1885. Fines, court expenses, and lawyers' fees had probably made the cost of doing business in Winnipeg too high: for the months of January and February alone, Rogers' legal fees were $2,300.⁵⁶

The Standard Opera House failed to attract an audience because people who cared about propriety would not support a theatre tainted by association with the variety theatres. Richard Farrell, the first proprietor of the Theatre Comique, had opened the Standard Opera House just as it was becoming apparent that new liquor laws would affect the profitability of the variety theatres. The Standard Opera House which had a gallery and four boxes, could accommodate 1,100 people.⁵⁷ Farrell planned to run it as a legitimate theatre with a resident stock company that he had hired by writing to Marble & Harrington, a New York theatrical agency.⁵⁸ The theatre was opened on 30 April 1884 with a performance of The Streets of New York. In the following weeks Farrell gave Winnipeggers East Lynne, a double bill of To Oblige Benson and Miriam's Crime, and Ten Nights in a Barroom, at popular prices of 25 cents, 35 cents, and 50 cents. Farrell intended to present the Standard as a wholesome alternative to the variety theatres. Advertisements for the theatre stated that 'no intoxicating liquors will be sold or allowed on or near the premises, and smoking ... will be strictly prohibited.' ⁵⁹ Patrons were reminded that the Standard was a 'strictly family resort where nothing but legitimate attractions will be produced.' ⁶⁰ However, after only three weeks of operation Farrell closed because he could not attract audiences large enough to make the opera house a paying venture.⁶¹ The reluctance of people, especially women, to attend a theatre which was associated in the public mind with the Theatre Comique, was one of the reasons given for the failure of the Standard.⁶²

The Princess Opera House remained above the controversy over the variety theatres. When action against the variety theatres was contemplated aldermen rejected measures, such as an increased amusement tax, because they felt it would harm legitimate places of amusement like the Princess Opera House.⁶³ The Princess was considered an asset to the city, for such a facility meant Winnipeg was losing its character as a frontier city. Winnipeg Siftings, for example, proudly listed the Princess among the amenities it felt were beginning to make Winnipeg a desirable place to live.⁶⁴

Winnipeg's first opera house was built by local businessmen, D. Cowan and T.B. Rutledge, who was the senior member of Rutledge Bros. & Co, a firm involved in real estate investment. Their decision to build the Princess Opera House appears to have been determined by the increased population and the pattern of initial success followed by failure of the better touring companies that played in Winnipeg from 1879 to 1882.

The driving of the last spike on the Pembina Branch rail line on 3 December 1878 made it possible for touring attractions to visit Winnipeg with relative ease. Among the companies that played Winnipeg's City Hall between 1879 and 1882 were the Billy Marble Troupe, the Reno Theatrical Company, the Nathal English Opera Company, Phosa McAllister, and Katie Putnam. The companies that made the greatest impression on Winnipeggers during this period, however, were headed by E.A. McDowell⁶⁵ and Frederic Bryton, who set the standard by which other companies were judged. A visit to Winnipeg at this time was an investment which usually paid off for a good company. Frederic Bryton, who had been successful in stock in Minneapolis before coming to Winnipeg,⁶⁶ was said to have 'coined money' in Winnipeg⁶⁷ and to have made 'thousands,' little of which he took away, because he was generous and fond of good living.⁶⁸ In 1881 Bryton did three successful seasons of about a month each in Winnipeg, followed by another good season in the spring of 1882.

In 1882 both Bryton and McDowell presented unsuccessful seasons in a converted skating rink known as the Musical Pavilion. Lack of a proper theatre may have been partly responsible for their failure. Bryton had arrived in Winnipeg at the end of August 1882 with plans for an ambitious fall and winter season, hoping to head a resident stock company and bring touring attractions to the city.⁶⁹ On the understanding that Winnipeg would have a new theatre, Bryton had made arrangements to bring to Winnipeg the Emma Abbott Opera Company, Sol Smith Russell, and the Salisbury Troubadours. These engagements had to be cancelled.⁷⁰

The speed with which Rutledge and Cowan attempted to have the Princess built, and the architecture of the opera house itself, seem to suggest the speculative nature of their project. Construction began on 1 November 1882, and it was rushed throughout the winter with the hope of having by February a place where Winnipeggers could 'enjoy the opera in as stylish and as good a theatre as any of the people in the South or East.' ⁷¹ Architecturally the Princess expressed the transformation Winnipeg was undergoing in 1882 and 1883. In the early days of the city, and during the real estate boom, it was common for businessmen to rush to erect cheap wooden buildings in order to see a profit as soon as possible. As the boom subsided there was a movement to regularize business and to build solid brick structures for the future. From the outside the Princess was an impressive building with a veneer of white brick,⁷² mansard roof, and domed tower, embellished with iron cornices and cresting.⁷³ In having a seating capacity of 1,376 it more than doubled that of the City Hall.⁷⁴ In actual fact, however, the Princess Opera House was not much better than most frontier theatres, which often tended to be flimsy wooden firetraps, erected by men who were reluctant to invest a great deal of money in a business likely to be precarious in a new community.⁷⁵ Underneath its imposing facade, the Princess was a wooden frame building supported by piles and posts with the theatre on the second floor over three or four shops.⁷⁶

The opera house in a frontier community had a special role to play. Besides being proof that a town was progressive and had attained a certain stability, it represented high culture in the community linking it with the past and the civilization of Europe and older centres in the east.⁷⁷ The way in which the Princess Opera House was opened suggests Winnipeggers expected the Princess to fulfill this symbolic function.⁷⁸ A poem read at the formal opening by John H. Bell, a member of the provincial legislature, revealed what Winnipeggers expected of their opera house and the drama. In the poem the drama was presented as an art with a long and honourable ancestry originating in Greece, where it arose to 'smooth manners' and 'instruct;' migrating to England, Shakespeare's fatherland; and finally crossing the Atlantic to roam the wilds until it found a home in the Princess Opera House, the drama's 'first temple' in the 'Great Northwest'. The poet hoped that the opera house would never be a place where 'scullion jesting rings.' The drama's mission was to instruct and in doing so give pleasure.

But if the muse, enlightened, never strays
Far from the pleasant path of virtue's ways,
Then shall fair learning sanctify this dome,
And joy and science fix their lasting home -
The tragic muse shall high her sceptre rear -
The sternest eye shall glitter with a tear,
Mild Thalia, too shall our griefs beguile,
And from the lips of sorrow steal a smile.⁷⁹

An effort was made to inaugurate the Princess with a high-class attraction, either opera or a tragedian of repute in Shakespeare. Rutledge therefore went east to negotiate with Thomas Keene. A week after the opera house opened Keene appeared in what was described as a 'grand Shakespearean event' in which Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, Othello, and the Merchant of Venice were presented. The Hess Grand English Opera Company in a performance of Iolanthe had the honour of being the first company to play at the Princess.

If the Princess was to be a symbol of urban refinement and civilization, it was necessary to ensure that audiences behaved properly in it. Shortly after the Princess opened, local newspapers carried more than the usual number of suggestions to the people of Winnipeg as to what was appropriate behaviour in the theatre. Men were asked not to smoke,⁸⁰ not to wear their hats throughout a performance,⁸¹ not to return late after intermission,⁸² and not to dangle their feet over the balcony railings.⁸³ When prostitutes attended the theatre there were complaints in the press that their presence was an insult to the respectable women in the audience.⁸⁴ The management of the Princess, wishing to be seen as enforcing proper behaviour, announced that they would not sell prostitutes tickets for box seats⁸⁵ or for expensive reserved seats in the parquet.⁸⁶ In 1886 the manager experimented with curtaining off a special section of the Princess for the women.⁸⁷

Within two months of the opening of the Princess changes were made in the management. In the middle of the summer of 1883 it was announced that a group of Winnipeg businessmen, David Cowan, Adam Patterson, Robert Gerrie, and Charles Wallace Sharp, had applied for incorporation as the Northwest Opera House Company. The purpose of the company was to acquire and manage the Princess Opera House and to build and operate other theatres in the province. The new company was to have a capital of $100, 000 divided into 200 shares of 500 each.⁸⁸ About the same time Gerrie and Sharp purchased the Princess.⁸⁹ Gerrie was one of the city's wealthiest men, and Charles Sharp was a contractor who was a plasterer by trade.

The plans of the Northwest Opera House Company reflected Winnipeg's situation as a new settlement far from the routes touring companies usually took. As was common for managers in small centres, Sharp and Gerrie planned to use an amalgam of stock and touring combinations to compensate for their inability to book the number of touring attractions they needed to keep their theatre open.⁹⁰ In the summer of 1884, in an interview with a reporter from the Winnipeg Daily Times, Gerrie stated that he wanted to find a good resident stock company for the Princess which would be sent to tour the towns around Winnipeg while touring combinations played at the Princess. In addition, Gerrie hoped to build theatres in Brandon and Portage la Prairie so that companies visiting the Princess could be offered time in these centres. He anticipated that this would make it more worthwhile for touring companies to make the detour up to Winnipeg from the United States, and therefore make it easier to persuade the managers of these companies to accept a lower guarantee or a smaller share of the receipts.⁹¹ The plan described by Gerrie was typical of the sort of enterprise the men of Winnipeg's aggressive business community would conceive as they expanded their operations out into the city's hinterland.⁹²

The Northwest Opera House Company did not prove an immediately profitable venture. Except for Charles Sharp, all of gentlemen who had formed the Company faded from the scene. Sharp managed the Princess from July 1883 to the end of the season of 1888 when his friend and partner W.H. Seach took over, abandoning the grocery business and his trade as a plasterer to do so. Sharp had made the money to invest in the Princess by clever real estate deals during the boom. By 1886 he was reported to be considerably poorer.⁹³ A downturn in the economy and an inability to obtain enough attractions were the reason for his difficulties. Sharp was probably able to cope, because in addition to managing the Princess, he continued to work as a contractor. In 1885 he built and managed a roller skating rink when that activity was all the rage.

It was not until 1887 that Sharp tried to carry out some of the original plans of the Northwest Opera House Company. He did so after acting as advance agent for a tour by the A.R. Wilber Company along the CPR to the west coast, the success of which in the summer of 1887 prompted him to try to engage a resident company for the Princess which he could take on tour.⁹⁴ To head this company he hired Frank G. Campbell who had visited Winnipeg as Bryton's stage manager.

With the arrival of the Campbell Company, Sharp was able to give Winnipeggers continuous amusement, and there were no long periods when the Princess was dark. The Campbell Company went on tour whenever a touring combination appeared at the Princess, making at least ten visits into the area around Winnipeg between 1888 and May 1890, with Brandon and Portage la Prairie their usual destinations. Campbell appears to have been a good and versatile actor who also had an interest in scenic effects and took great pains with them. In his first and most successful season he presented such plays as Hazel Kirke, The Sea of Ice, The Streets of New York, The Ticket-of-Leave Man, and Rip Van Winkle. The highlight of his 1887/1888 season was a production of The Colleen Bawn for which the stage of the Princess was flooded with 2,000 cubic feet of water.⁹⁵

The Princess Opera House was an important part of the life of the community. It received regular coverage in all of the city's newspapers and the press supported the efforts of the management to bring in good attractions, often urging readers to show their appreciation by buying tickets. All papers did this including the labour paper, The Industrial News. When the Grismer-Davis Dramatic Company appeared at the opera house in October 1886, the editor hoped the management would reduce the price of all gallery seats to 25 cents so that workers could demonstrate their support of the opera house and enjoy a good show.⁹⁶ No paper was more zealous in its support than Winnipeg Siftings which had been founded in 1883 to cover 'gentlemanly sports and amusements, humour, society, dramatic, and local news.' ⁹⁷ By 1885 it had a regular column devoted to local musical and dramatic events which went under such titles as 'The Passing Show,' 'The Critic,' and 'Footlight Flashes'.

Winnipeggers were able to make a clear distinction between the variety theatres and the opera house. The variety theatres were suppressed because they represented a frontier culture that many felt had no place in the city Winnipeg was becoming. Winnipeggers would have to wait almost 20 years before anyone would again risk opening a vaudeville theatre, and then it would be family vaudeville cleansed of all objectionable features. Town-boosting publications written to sell Winnipeg and the Northwest to potential investors and settlers made clear what was considered appropriate entertainment. In 1886 one such publication stated that 'it is a matter for congratulation that the lower class of amusements such as variety theatres, dancing halls, etc., are conspicuous by their entire absence.'⁹⁸ To convey the idea that Winnipeg was a progressive community where cultured people could enjoy the same pleasures and pastimes they had enjoyed in their old homes in the east, the same publication gave a prominent place to the Princess Opera House among the many leisure activities which could be enjoyed in Winnipeg. It also listed some of the more important attractions that had played there, including the Emma Abbott Opera Company, Rhea, John T. Raymond, Milton Nobles, John Dillon, Janauschek, Callender's Minstrels, Sol Smith Russell, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Rev. T. De Witt Talmadge, the John A. Stevens Dramatic Company, and the Fay Templeton Opera Company.⁹⁹ Until it was destroyed by fire in 1892, the Princess Opera House continued to be the home for such touring attractions and Winnipeg's only opera house and chief place of public amusement.

THEATRE ON THE FRONTIER: WINNIPEG IN THE 1880s

Carol Budnick

1 DAVID SPECTOR, 'From Frivolty to Purposefulness: Theatrical Development in Late Nineteenth Century Winnipeg,' Canadian Drama, IV (Spring 1978), pp 40-51. In this article Spector has discussed the impact of the frontier on theatre, but he has exaggerated Winnipeggers' willingness to tolerate the variety theatres and lapses of taste and bad acting at the Princess Opera House. He has also suggested that Winnipeggers' attitude to the theatre changed in the late 1880s, the upper classes tending to take control of the theatre, finding it a justification for the existing social order. Further research, I anticipate, will show that in Winnipeg, during the period 1880 to 1914, theatre was generally popular entertainment which appealed to a cross section of the population.
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2 Winnipeg Daily Sun 19 November 1883
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3 Winnipeg Daily Times 20 December 1884
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4 Manitoba Free Press 31 May 1882; 1 June 1882
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5 ALAN ARTIBISE Winnipeg: a Social History of Urban Growth, 1874-1914 Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1975, pp 73-74
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6 RANDOLPH R. ROSTECKI, 'The Growth of Winnipeg, 1870-1886' unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Manitoba, 1980, p 119
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7 See the following for a description of the connection between the rate of settlement and the development of theatre on the American frontier: DOUGLAS McDERMOTT, 'The Development of Theatre on the American Frontier, 1750-1890,' Theatre Survey XIX (May 1978), pp 63-78; HAROLD E. BRIGGS and ERNESTINE BENNETT BRIGGS, 'The Early Theatre on the Northern Plains,' Mississippi Valley Historical Review XXXVII (September 1950), pp 231-264.
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8 ALAN ARTIBISE, Winnipeg: an Illustrated History Toronto: James Lorimer & Co., 1977, Appendix, Table 11, p 199
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9 Ibid. Appendix, Table X, p 205
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10 JOY COOPER, 'Red Lights of Winnipeg,' Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba Transactions, Series III, no 27 (1970-1971), p 62; Winnipeg Siftings 9 February 1884
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11 Winnipeg Daily Times 2 February 1885
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12 Winnipeg Siftings 13 October 1883
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13 Winnipeg Daily Sun 9 May 1884
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14 Ibid. 26 February 1885
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15 Winnipeg Siftings 26 January 1884
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16 Winnipeg Daily Times 8 May 1884
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17 Winnipeg Daily Sun 2 June 1884; 26 February 1885
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18 Ibid. 9 May 1884
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19 Canada, Laws, Statutes, The Liquor License Act, 1883, 46 Vic., ch 30; Manitoba, Laws, Statutes, An Act Respecting Liquor Licenses, 1884, 47 Vic., ch 32
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20 Winnipeg Daily Sun 21 May 1884; Winnipeg Daily Times 10 December 1884; Winnipeg Siftings 25 August 1888
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21 Winnipeg Daily Times 10 January 1884
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22 Winnipeg Siftings 12 April 1884; 26 April 1884
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23 Ibid. 12 April 1884
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24 Ibid. 29 March 1884
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25 Ibid. 1 November 1884
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26 Manitoba Free Press 3 May 1884
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27 Ibid.
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28 Winnipeg Daily Sun 21 May 1884
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29 Winnipeg Daily Times 2 February 1885
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30 Winnipeg Daily Sun 21 May 1884
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31 Winnipeg Siftings 8 February 1884
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32 Ibid.
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33 Winnipeg Daily Sun 21 January 1885
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34 Manitoba Free Press 8 January 1885
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35 Winnipeg Siftings 9 February 1884
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36 Winnipeg Daily Times 7 February 1884
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37 Manitoba Free Press 3 May 1884
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38 Ibid. 7 May 1884
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39 Winnipeg Daily Sun 9 May 1884
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40 JOHN H. THOMPSON 'The Prohibition Question in Manitoba, 1892-1928' unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Manitoba, 1969, p 8
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41 Winnipeg Daily Sun 5 February 1884
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42 Ibid. 22 April 1884
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43 Winnipeg Siftings 26 April 1884
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44 Winnipeg Daily Sun 13 May 1884
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45 Ibid. 6 May 1884
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46 Ibid. 13 May 1884
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47 Winnipeg Siftings 25 October 1884; 1 November 1884
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48 Winnipeg Daily Times 11 December 1884
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49 Winnipeg Daily Sun 13 January 1885
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50 Ibid. 16 January 1885
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51 Winnipeg Daily Times 20 January 1885
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52 Ibid. 16 January 1885
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53 Winnipeg, City Council, Minutes, 26 January 1885
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54 Winnipeg Daily Sun 26 February 1885
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55 Ibid.
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56 Ibid.
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57 Winnipeg Siftings 19 April 1884
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58 Winnipeg Daily Sun 22 May 1884
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59 Winnipeg Daily Times 30 April 1884
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60 Ibid.
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61 Winnipeg Daily Sun 22 May 1884
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62 Winnipeg Siftings 24 May 1884
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63 Winnipeg Daily Sun 12 February 1884
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64 Winnipeg Siftings 20 April 1883
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65 KATHLEEN D.J. FRASER, 'Theatre Management in the Nineteenth Century: Eugene A. McDowell in Canada 1874-1891,' Theatre History in Canada/Histoire Du Théâtre au Canada I (Spring 1980), p 53
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66 DONALD Z. WOODS, 'A History of the Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota From its Beginnings to 1883' unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota, 1950, pp 237-240
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67 Winnipeg Siftings 17 October 1886
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68 Ibid. 20 November 1886. Bryton's admission prices were comparable or less than those of other companies playing the City Hall.
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69 Winnipeg Daily Times 25 August 1882
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70 Manitoba Free Press 5 January 1883
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71 Winnipeg Daily Times 3 November 1882
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72 CHARLES WHEELER, 'Some Personal and Theatrical Reminiscences,' Town Topics, 17 December 1910, p 6
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73 Winnipeg Daily Times 3 November 1882
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74 Manitoba Free Press 14 May 1883
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75 ALFRED L. BERNHEIM, The Business of the Theatre: an Economic History of the American Theatre, 1750-1932 2nd printing, New York: Benjamin Blom, 1964, p 20
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76 WHEELER op. cit. 6
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77 RONALD L. DAVIS, 'Sopranos and Six Guns: the Frontier Opera House as a Cultural Symbol,' American West, VII (1970), p 11
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78 WHEELER op. cit. The opening of the Princess Opera House was described by Wheeler as a rather disorderly affair at which many of the members of the audience were the worse for drink. Contemporary accounts in the local newspapers do not mention unseemly behaviour by members of the audience.
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79 Manitoba Free Press 15 May 1883
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80 Winnipeg Siftings 2 June 1883; 11 October 1884
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81 Ibid. 19 May 1883; 26 May 1883
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82 Ibid. 26 May 1883; 30 June 1883
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83 Ibid. 16 June 1883; 30 June 1883
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84 Winnipeg Daily Times 25 May 1883
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85 Ibid. 26 May 1883
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86 Winnipeg Siftings 12 December 1885
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87 Ibid. 13 November 1886
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88 The Commercial 31 July 1883 927
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89 Manitoba Free Press 25 July 1883
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90 BERNHEIM, op. cit. 29
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91 Winnipeg Daily Times 18 July 1884
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92 For a description of Winnipeg's business leaders see J.M.S. CARELESS 'The Development of the Winnipeg Business Community, 1870-1890, Royal Society of Canada Transactions, series IV, VIII (1970), p 5.
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93 Winnipeg Siftings 27 March 1886
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94 Manitoba Sun 23 August 1887
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95 Ibid. 19 March 1888
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96 Industrial News 16 October 1886
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97 Winnipeg Siftings 23 April 1883
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98 Manitoba Sun New Year's Illustrated, Winnipeg, 1886, p 2
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99 Ibid. p 4. See also British Association For the Advancement of Science, Souvenir of the City of Winnipeg Winnipeg, 1884, p 36.
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