Astor Place Riot
Encyclopedia
The Astor Place Riot occurred on May 10, 1849 at the now-demolished Astor Opera House
in Manhattan
, New York City
and left at least 25 dead and more than 120 injured. It was the deadliest to that date of a number of civic disturbances in New York City which generally pitted immigrants and nativists against each other, or together against the upper classes who controlled the city's police
and the state militia
.
The riot marked the first time a state militia had been called out and had shot into a crowd of citizens, and it led to the creation of the first police force armed with deadly weapons, yet its genesis was a dispute between Edwin Forrest
, one of the best-known American actors of that time, and William Charles Macready
, a similarly notable English actor, which largely revolved around which of them was better than the other at acting the major roles of Shakespeare.
s were not a rare occurrence in New York.
In the early- to mid-nineteenth century, the American theater was dominated by British actors and managers. The rise of Edwin Forrest as the first American star and the fierce partisanship of his supporters was a first vestige of a home-grown American entertainment business. The riot was the culmination of eighty or more years – since the Stamp Act
riots of 1765, when an entire theater was torn apart while British actors were performing on stage – when British actors touring around America had found themselves, because of their prominence and the lack of other visiting targets, the focus of often violent anti-British anger.
The fact that both Forrest and Macready were specialists in Shakespeare can be ascribed to reputation of Shakespeare in the nineteenth century as the icon of Anglo-Saxon culture. Ralph Waldo Emerson
, for instance, wrote in his journal that beings on other planets probably called the Earth "Shakespeare." Shakespeare's plays were not just the favorites of the educated: in gold rush California
, miners whiled away the harsh winter months by sitting around campfires and acting out Shakespeare's plays from memory; his words were well-known throughout every stratum of society.
(1) A dispute between Macready, who had the reputation as the greatest British actor of his generation, and Forrest, the first real American theatrical star. Their friendship became a virulent theatrical rivalry, in part because of the poisonous Anglo-American relations of the 1840s. The question of who was the greater actor became a notorious bone of contention in the British and, particularly, the American media, which filled columns with discussions of their respective merits.
(2) A growing sense of cultural alienation from Britain among mainly working-class Americans, along with Irish immigrants; though nativist Americans were hostile to Irish immigrants, both found a common cause against the British.
(3) A class struggle between those groups, who largely supported Forrest, and the largely Anglophile upper classes, who supported Macready. The two actors became figureheads for Britain and America, and their rivalry came to encapsulate two opposing views about the future of American culture.
It was ironic
that both were famous as Shakespearean actors: in an America that had yet to establish its own theatrical traditions, the way to prove its cultural prowess was to do Shakespeare as well as the British, and even to claim that Shakespeare, had he been alive at the time, would have been, at heart at least, an American.
and loudly hissed him. For his part, Macready had announced that he thought Forrest was without "taste." The ensuing scandal followed Macready on his third and last trip to America, where at one point the carcass of half a dead sheep was thrown at him on the stage. The climate worsened when Forrest instigated divorce proceedings against his English wife for immoral conduct, and the verdict came down against Forrest on the day Macready arrived in New York for his farewell tour.
Forrest's connections with working people and the gangs of New York
were substantial: he had made his debut at the Bowery Theatre
, which had come to cater mostly to a working class audience, drawn largely from the violent immigrant-heavy Five Points
neighborhood of lower Manhattan
a few blocks to the west. Forrest's muscular frame and impassioned delivery was deemed admirably "American" by his working-class fans, especially compared to Macready's more subdued and genteel style. Wealthier theatergoers, to avoid mingling with the immigrants and the Five Points crowd, had built the Astor Place Opera House near the junction of Broadway
– where the entertainment venues catered to the upper classes – and the Bowery
– the working-class entertainment area. With its dress code of kid gloves and white vests, the very existence of the Astor Opera House was taken as a provocation by populist Americans for whom the theater was traditionally the gathering place for all classes.
Macready was scheduled to appear in Macbeth at the Opera House – which, unable to survive on a a full season of opera, had opened itself to less elevated entertainment, and was operating with the name "Astor Place Theatre". Forrest was scheduled to perform Macbeth on the same night, only a few blocks away at the huge Broadway Theater.
to a grinding halt by throwing at the stage rotten eggs, potatoes, apples, lemons, shoes, bottles of stinking liquid and ripped up seats. The performers persisted in the face of hissing, groans and cries of "Shame, shame!" and "Down with the codfish aristocracy!", but were forced to perform in pantomime, as they could not make themselves heard over the crowd. Meanwhile, at Forrest's May 7 performance, the audience rose and cheered when Forrest spoke Macbeth's line "What rhubarb, senna or what purgative drug will scour these English hence?"
After his disastrous performance, Macready announced his intention to leave for Britain on the next boat, but he was persuaded to stay and perform again by a petition signed by 47 well-heeled New Yorkers – including authors Herman Melville
and Washington Irving
– who informed the actor that "the good sense and respect for order prevailing in this community will sustain you on the subsequent nights of your performance." On May 10, Macready once again took the stage as Macbeth.
On the day of the riot, police chief George Washington Matsell having informed him that there was not sufficient manpower to quell a serious riot, Caleb S. Woodhull, the new Whig
mayor, called out the militia. General Charles Sandford
assembled the state's Seventh Regiment, along with mounted troops, light artillery and hussars, in Washington Square Park
, a total of 350 men, who would be added to the 100 policemen outside the theater in support of the 150 inside. Additional policemen were assigned to protect the homes in the area of the city's "uppertens", the wealthy and elite.
On the other side, similar preparations took place. Determined to embarrass the newly ensconced Whig powers, Tammany Hall
man Captain Isaiah Rynders
, a fervent backer of Forrest who had been one of those behind the mobilization against Macready on May 7, distributed handbills and posters in saloons and restaurants across the city, inviting working men and patriots to show their feelings about the British, asking "SHALL AMERICANS OR ENGLISH RULE THIS CITY?" Tickets to Macready's May 10 show were handed out, free, as well as plans for where people should deploy.
By the time the play opened at 7:30, as scheduled, up to 10,000 people filled the streets around the theater. Among those who supported Forrest cause, one of the most prominent was Ned Buntline
, a dime novelist who was Rynders' chief assistant. Buntline and his followers had set up relays to bombard the theater with stones, and fought running battles with the police. They and others inside tried, but failed, to set fire to the building; many of the anti-Macready ticket-holders having been screened and prevented from coming inside in the first place. As the theater fell in on their heads, the audience was in a state of siege; nonetheless, Macready finished the play, again in "dumb show", and only then slipped out in disguise.
Fearing they had lost control of the city, the authorities called out the troops, who arrived at 9:15, only to be jostled, attacked and injured. Finally, the soldiers lined up and, after unheard warnings, opened fire, first into the air and then several times at point blank range into the crowd. Many of those killed were innocent bystanders, and almost all of the casualties were from the working class; seven of the dead were Irish immigrants. Dozens of injured and dead were laid out in nearby saloons and shops, and the next morning mothers and wives combed the streets and morgues for their loved ones.
The New York Tribune
reported that "As one window after another cracked, the pieces of bricks and paving stones rattled in on the terraces and lobbies, the confusion increased, till the Opera House resembled a fortress besieged by an invading army rather than a place meant for the peaceful amusement of civilized community."
The next night, May 11, a meeting was called in City Hall Park which was attended by thousands, with speakers crying out for revenge against the authorities whose actions they held responsible for the fatalities. During the melee, a young boy was killed. An angry crowd headed up Broadway toward Astor Place and fought running battles with mounted troops from behind improvised barricades, but this time the authorities quickly got the upper hand.
, a judge on the New York Court of Common Pleas
, who pressed for convictions.
The city's elite were unanimous in their praise of the authorities for taking a hard-line against the rioters. Publisher James Watson Webb
wrote:
According to Nigel Cliff in The Shakespeare Riots, the riots furthered the process of class alienation and segregation in New York City and America; as part of that process, the entertainment world separated into "respectable" and "working-class" orbits. As professional actors gravitated to respectable theaters and vaudeville houses responded by mounting skits on "serious" Shakespeare, Shakespeare was gradually removed from popular culture into a new category of highbrow entertainment. Though Forrest's reputation was badly damaged, his heroic style of acting can be seen in the matinee idols of early Hollywood and performers such as John Barrymore
.
Astor Opera House did not survive its reputation as the "Massacre Opera House" at "DisAster Place," as burlesques and minstrel shows called it. It began another season, but soon gave up the ghost, the building eventually going to the New York Mercantile Library. The elite's need for an opera house was met with the opening of the Academy of Music
, farther uptown at 15th Street and Irving Place, away from the working-class precincts and the rowdyness of the Bowery. Nevertheless, the creators of that theater learned at least one lesson from the riot and the demise of the Astor Opera House: the new venue was less strictly divided by class than the old one had been.
Astor Opera House
__notoc__The Astor Opera House, also known as the Astor Place Opera House and later the Astor Place Theatre, was an opera house in Manhattan, New York City, located on Lafayette Street between Astor Place and East 8th Street...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and left at least 25 dead and more than 120 injured. It was the deadliest to that date of a number of civic disturbances in New York City which generally pitted immigrants and nativists against each other, or together against the upper classes who controlled the city's police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
and the state militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
.
The riot marked the first time a state militia had been called out and had shot into a crowd of citizens, and it led to the creation of the first police force armed with deadly weapons, yet its genesis was a dispute between Edwin Forrest
Edwin Forrest
Edwin Forrest was an American actor.-Early life:Forrest was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of Scottish and German descent. His father died and he was brought up by his mother, a German woman of humble origins. He was educated at the common schools in Philadelphia, and early evinced a taste...
, one of the best-known American actors of that time, and William Charles Macready
William Charles Macready
-Life:He was born in London, and educated at Rugby.It was his intention to go up to Oxford, but in 1809 the embarrassed affairs of his father, the lessee of several provincial theatres, called him to share the responsibilities of theatrical management. On 7 June 1810 he made a successful first...
, a similarly notable English actor, which largely revolved around which of them was better than the other at acting the major roles of Shakespeare.
Background
In the first half of the nineteenth century theater as entertainment was a mass phenomenon, and theaters were the main gathering places in most towns and cities. As a result, star actors amassed an immensely loyal following, comparable to modern celebrities or sports stars. At the same time, audiences had always treated theaters as places to make their feelings known, not just towards the actors, but towards their fellow theatergoers of different classes or political persuasions, and theater riotRiot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...
s were not a rare occurrence in New York.
In the early- to mid-nineteenth century, the American theater was dominated by British actors and managers. The rise of Edwin Forrest as the first American star and the fierce partisanship of his supporters was a first vestige of a home-grown American entertainment business. The riot was the culmination of eighty or more years – since the Stamp Act
Stamp Act
A stamp act is any legislation that requires a tax to be paid on the transfer of certain documents. Those that pay the tax receive an official stamp on their documents, making them legal documents. The taxes raised under a stamp act are called stamp duty. This system of taxation was first devised...
riots of 1765, when an entire theater was torn apart while British actors were performing on stage – when British actors touring around America had found themselves, because of their prominence and the lack of other visiting targets, the focus of often violent anti-British anger.
The fact that both Forrest and Macready were specialists in Shakespeare can be ascribed to reputation of Shakespeare in the nineteenth century as the icon of Anglo-Saxon culture. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
, for instance, wrote in his journal that beings on other planets probably called the Earth "Shakespeare." Shakespeare's plays were not just the favorites of the educated: in gold rush California
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
, miners whiled away the harsh winter months by sitting around campfires and acting out Shakespeare's plays from memory; his words were well-known throughout every stratum of society.
Genesis
The roots of the riot were multifold, but had three main strands:(1) A dispute between Macready, who had the reputation as the greatest British actor of his generation, and Forrest, the first real American theatrical star. Their friendship became a virulent theatrical rivalry, in part because of the poisonous Anglo-American relations of the 1840s. The question of who was the greater actor became a notorious bone of contention in the British and, particularly, the American media, which filled columns with discussions of their respective merits.
(2) A growing sense of cultural alienation from Britain among mainly working-class Americans, along with Irish immigrants; though nativist Americans were hostile to Irish immigrants, both found a common cause against the British.
(3) A class struggle between those groups, who largely supported Forrest, and the largely Anglophile upper classes, who supported Macready. The two actors became figureheads for Britain and America, and their rivalry came to encapsulate two opposing views about the future of American culture.
It was ironic
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
that both were famous as Shakespearean actors: in an America that had yet to establish its own theatrical traditions, the way to prove its cultural prowess was to do Shakespeare as well as the British, and even to claim that Shakespeare, had he been alive at the time, would have been, at heart at least, an American.
Proximate causes
Macready and Forrest had each toured each other's country twice before the riot broke out. On Macready's second visit to America, Forrest had taken to pursuing him around the country and appearing in the same plays to challenge him. Given the tenor of the time, most newspapers supported the "home-grown" star Forrest. On Forrest's second visit to London, he was less popular than on his first trip, and he could only explain it to himself by deciding that Macready had maneuvered against him. He went to a performance of Macready playing HamletHamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
and loudly hissed him. For his part, Macready had announced that he thought Forrest was without "taste." The ensuing scandal followed Macready on his third and last trip to America, where at one point the carcass of half a dead sheep was thrown at him on the stage. The climate worsened when Forrest instigated divorce proceedings against his English wife for immoral conduct, and the verdict came down against Forrest on the day Macready arrived in New York for his farewell tour.
Forrest's connections with working people and the gangs of New York
Gangs of New York
Gangs of New York is a 2002 historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. It was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan. The film was inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 nonfiction book, The Gangs of New...
were substantial: he had made his debut at the Bowery Theatre
Bowery Theatre
The Bowery Theatre was a playhouse in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Bowery saw its most successful period under the populist, pro-American management of Thomas Hamblin in the 1830s and 1840s...
, which had come to cater mostly to a working class audience, drawn largely from the violent immigrant-heavy Five Points
Five Points, Manhattan
Five Points was a neighborhood in central lower Manhattan in New York City. The neighborhood was generally defined as being bound by Centre Street in the west, The Bowery in the east, Canal Street in the north and Park Row in the south...
neighborhood of lower Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
a few blocks to the west. Forrest's muscular frame and impassioned delivery was deemed admirably "American" by his working-class fans, especially compared to Macready's more subdued and genteel style. Wealthier theatergoers, to avoid mingling with the immigrants and the Five Points crowd, had built the Astor Place Opera House near the junction of Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
– where the entertainment venues catered to the upper classes – and the Bowery
Bowery
Bowery may refer to:Streets:* The Bowery, a thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York City* Bowery Street is a street on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.In popular culture:* Bowery Amphitheatre, a building on the Bowery in New York City...
– the working-class entertainment area. With its dress code of kid gloves and white vests, the very existence of the Astor Opera House was taken as a provocation by populist Americans for whom the theater was traditionally the gathering place for all classes.
Macready was scheduled to appear in Macbeth at the Opera House – which, unable to survive on a a full season of opera, had opened itself to less elevated entertainment, and was operating with the name "Astor Place Theatre". Forrest was scheduled to perform Macbeth on the same night, only a few blocks away at the huge Broadway Theater.
The riot
On May 7, 1849, three nights before the riot, Forrest's supporters bought hundreds of tickets to the top level of the Astor Opera House, and brought Macready's performance of MacbethMacbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
to a grinding halt by throwing at the stage rotten eggs, potatoes, apples, lemons, shoes, bottles of stinking liquid and ripped up seats. The performers persisted in the face of hissing, groans and cries of "Shame, shame!" and "Down with the codfish aristocracy!", but were forced to perform in pantomime, as they could not make themselves heard over the crowd. Meanwhile, at Forrest's May 7 performance, the audience rose and cheered when Forrest spoke Macbeth's line "What rhubarb, senna or what purgative drug will scour these English hence?"
After his disastrous performance, Macready announced his intention to leave for Britain on the next boat, but he was persuaded to stay and perform again by a petition signed by 47 well-heeled New Yorkers – including authors Herman Melville
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
and Washington Irving
Washington Irving
Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
– who informed the actor that "the good sense and respect for order prevailing in this community will sustain you on the subsequent nights of your performance." On May 10, Macready once again took the stage as Macbeth.
On the day of the riot, police chief George Washington Matsell having informed him that there was not sufficient manpower to quell a serious riot, Caleb S. Woodhull, the new Whig
Whig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
mayor, called out the militia. General Charles Sandford
Charles Sandford
Charles Walter Sandford was an Australian politician.Born in the state of Victoria, he received a primary education before becoming a railway worker. He served in the military from 1914 to 1918, and returned as an official with the Australian Railways Union...
assembled the state's Seventh Regiment, along with mounted troops, light artillery and hussars, in Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park is one of the best-known of New York City's 1,900 public parks. At 9.75 acres , it is a landmark in the Manhattan neighborhood of Greenwich Village, as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity...
, a total of 350 men, who would be added to the 100 policemen outside the theater in support of the 150 inside. Additional policemen were assigned to protect the homes in the area of the city's "uppertens", the wealthy and elite.
On the other side, similar preparations took place. Determined to embarrass the newly ensconced Whig powers, Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
man Captain Isaiah Rynders
Isaiah Rynders
Captain Isaiah Rynders was an American businessman, sportsman, underworld figure and political organizer for Tammany Hall...
, a fervent backer of Forrest who had been one of those behind the mobilization against Macready on May 7, distributed handbills and posters in saloons and restaurants across the city, inviting working men and patriots to show their feelings about the British, asking "SHALL AMERICANS OR ENGLISH RULE THIS CITY?" Tickets to Macready's May 10 show were handed out, free, as well as plans for where people should deploy.
By the time the play opened at 7:30, as scheduled, up to 10,000 people filled the streets around the theater. Among those who supported Forrest cause, one of the most prominent was Ned Buntline
Ned Buntline
Ned Buntline , was a pseudonym of Edward Zane Carroll Judson , an American publisher, journalist, writer and publicist best known for his dime novels and the Colt Buntline Special he is alleged to have commissioned from Colt's Manufacturing Company.-Naval and military experience:Edward Judson was...
, a dime novelist who was Rynders' chief assistant. Buntline and his followers had set up relays to bombard the theater with stones, and fought running battles with the police. They and others inside tried, but failed, to set fire to the building; many of the anti-Macready ticket-holders having been screened and prevented from coming inside in the first place. As the theater fell in on their heads, the audience was in a state of siege; nonetheless, Macready finished the play, again in "dumb show", and only then slipped out in disguise.
Fearing they had lost control of the city, the authorities called out the troops, who arrived at 9:15, only to be jostled, attacked and injured. Finally, the soldiers lined up and, after unheard warnings, opened fire, first into the air and then several times at point blank range into the crowd. Many of those killed were innocent bystanders, and almost all of the casualties were from the working class; seven of the dead were Irish immigrants. Dozens of injured and dead were laid out in nearby saloons and shops, and the next morning mothers and wives combed the streets and morgues for their loved ones.
The New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
reported that "As one window after another cracked, the pieces of bricks and paving stones rattled in on the terraces and lobbies, the confusion increased, till the Opera House resembled a fortress besieged by an invading army rather than a place meant for the peaceful amusement of civilized community."
The next night, May 11, a meeting was called in City Hall Park which was attended by thousands, with speakers crying out for revenge against the authorities whose actions they held responsible for the fatalities. During the melee, a young boy was killed. An angry crowd headed up Broadway toward Astor Place and fought running battles with mounted troops from behind improvised barricades, but this time the authorities quickly got the upper hand.
Consequences
As a result of the riot, 22-31 rioters were killed and 48 were wounded, and 50-70 policeman were injured. Of the militia, 141 were injured by the various missiles. Three judges presided over a related trial, including Charles Patrick DalyCharles Patrick Daly
Charles Patrick Daly was a member of the New York State Assembly, Chief Justice of the New York Court of Common Pleas, president of the American Geographical Society, and an author of several books.-Early years:...
, a judge on the New York Court of Common Pleas
New York Court of Common Pleas
The New York Court of Common Pleas was a state court in New York. Established in New Netherland in 1686, the Court remained in existence in the Province of New York and, after the American Revolution, in the U.S...
, who pressed for convictions.
The city's elite were unanimous in their praise of the authorities for taking a hard-line against the rioters. Publisher James Watson Webb
James Watson Webb
General James Watson Webb was a United States diplomat, newspaper publisher and a New York politician in the Whig and Republican parties.-Biography:...
wrote:
The promptness of the authorities in calling out the armed forces and the unwavering steadiness with which the citizens obeyed the order to fire on the assembled mob, was an excellent advertisement to the Capitalists of the old world, that they might send their property to New York and rely upon the certainty that it would be safe from the clutches of red republicanism, or chartists, or communionists of any description.
According to Nigel Cliff in The Shakespeare Riots, the riots furthered the process of class alienation and segregation in New York City and America; as part of that process, the entertainment world separated into "respectable" and "working-class" orbits. As professional actors gravitated to respectable theaters and vaudeville houses responded by mounting skits on "serious" Shakespeare, Shakespeare was gradually removed from popular culture into a new category of highbrow entertainment. Though Forrest's reputation was badly damaged, his heroic style of acting can be seen in the matinee idols of early Hollywood and performers such as John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
.
Astor Opera House did not survive its reputation as the "Massacre Opera House" at "DisAster Place," as burlesques and minstrel shows called it. It began another season, but soon gave up the ghost, the building eventually going to the New York Mercantile Library. The elite's need for an opera house was met with the opening of the Academy of Music
Academy of Music (Manhattan)
The Academy of Music was a New York City opera house, located at East 14th Street and Irving Place in Manhattan. The 4,000-seat hall opened on October 2, 1854. The New York Times review declared it to be an acoustical "triumph", but "In every other aspect .....
, farther uptown at 15th Street and Irving Place, away from the working-class precincts and the rowdyness of the Bowery. Nevertheless, the creators of that theater learned at least one lesson from the riot and the demise of the Astor Opera House: the new venue was less strictly divided by class than the old one had been.
In popular culture
- The riot is a key turning point in the plot of Anya SetonAnya SetonAnya Seton was the pen name of Ann Seton, an American author of historical romances.-Biography:...
's novel DragonwyckDragonwyck (novel)Dragonwyck is a novel, written by the American author Anya Seton which was first published in 1944.It is a fictional story of the life of Miranda Wells and her marriage to Nicholas Van Ryn, set against an historical background of the Patroon system, Anti-Rent Wars, the Astor Place Riots, and...
(1944). - The Interpretation of MurderThe Interpretation of MurderThe Interpretation of Murder, published in 2006, is Jed Rubenfeld's first novel. The book is written in the first person perspective of Dr. Stratham Younger, supposedly an American psychoanalyst...
(2006) by Jed Rubenfield contains a discussion with Sigmund FreudSigmund FreudSigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
about the Astor Place Riot in which he suggests that theater goers rioted over whether HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
should be a feminine or masculine character. - Richard NelsonRichard Nelson (playwright)Richard Nelson is an American playwright and librettist. He wrote the books for the musicals James Joyce's The Dead and the Broadway version of Chess.-Personal life:Nelson was born in Chicago, Illinois....
's play Two Shakespearian Actors deals mainly with the event surrounding and leading up to the riot. - The riot is also mentioned in Drood (2009) by Dan SimmonsDan SimmonsDan Simmons is an American author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, known as the Hyperion Cantos, and for his Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle....