The Manhattan Theatre, directly across from Greeley Square at Sixth Avenue and 33rd Street, was located at 102 West 33rd Street, in New York, NY. It was a 1100-seat theatre which opened in 1875 as the Eagle Variety Theatre, and later re-named the Standard Theatre in 1878. All but destroyed by a fire in 1883, it was re-built in a more modern style and re-opened in December, 1884. In 1898, the Standard was re-furbished by architect Howard Constable and re-named the Manhattan.

Early history

During its first two decades of existence, the theatre played host to many of the finest plays and works of musical theatre of the times, including several of the authorized American premieres of the Gilbert and Sullivan

Gilbert and Sullivan

Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...

 operas in the 1880s, often starring Geraldine Ulmar

Geraldine Ulmar

Geraldine Ulmar was an American singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.-Life and career:...

, Fred Billington

Fred Billington

Fred Billington was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company...

, George Thorne

George Thorne

George Thorne, was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the comic baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, especially on tour and in the original New York City productions...

 and Courtice Pounds

Courtice Pounds

Charles Courtice Pounds , better known by the stage name Courtice Pounds, was an English singer and actor known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and his later roles in Shakespeare plays and Edwardian musical comedies.As a young member...

. Other Notable performers on its stage in these years included Marie Fedor

Marie Fedor

Marie Fedor was a stage actress from Boston, Massachusettswho performed in theater at the beginning of the 20th century.Fedor spent most of her early life in Paris, France with her mother. She developed both musical and artistic tastes there. She...

, Emily Stevens and Tyrone Power, Sr.

Tyrone Power, Sr.

Frederick Tyrone Edmond Power was an English-born American stage and screen actor, who acted under the name Tyrone Power.-Early life:Power was born in London in 1869, the son of Harold Littledale Power and Ethel Lavenu...

  Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience

Patience (opera)

Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride, is a comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. First performed at the Opera Comique, London, on 23 April 1881, it moved to the 1,292-seat Savoy Theatre on 10 October 1881, where it was the first theatrical production in the...

was the theatre's biggest money spinner of the 1880s, running for 177 performances in 1891–92 and earning $100,000. Charlie's Aunt opened at the theatre in 1893.

In 1898, William Brady and Florenz Ziegfeld

Florenz Ziegfeld

Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , , was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat...

 took over the theatre, renaming it the Manhattan Theatre. Possibly the Theatre's biggest coup was the world premiere of Way Down East

Way Down East

Way Down East is a silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. It is the best known of four film adaptations of the melodramatic 19th century play Way Down East by Lottie Blair Parker...

, the melodramatic stage play written by Charlotte Blair Parker

Charlotte Blair Parker

Charlotte Blair Parker was a noted playwright and aspiring actress in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. She began her theatrical career as an actress, eventually playing opposite John Edward McCullough, Mary Anderson, and Dion Boucicault...

, which proved to be one of the biggest American stage success of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Opening on February 7, 1898, the play ran for 152 performances, ending in June, 1898. Among other early productions was Lover's Lane, a 1901 production on rural life, that starred Lillian Lee

Lillian Lee (actor)

Lillian Lee was a stage actress in New York City beginning in the early 1880s. She was in the cast of the original Ziegfeld Follies in 1907.-Acting career:...

 in the role of Mrs. Jennings.

Fiske years

The Manhattan Theatre became a frequent venue for the theatrical performances of Minnie Maddern Fiske

Mrs. Fiske

Minnie Maddern Fiske , born as Marie Augusta Davey, but often billed simply as Mrs. Fiske, was one of the leading American actresses of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. She also spearheaded the fight against the Theatrical Syndicate for the sake of artistic freedom...

, one of the most famous actresses of the 1890s and early 1900s, renowned for her performances in Ibsen’s plays. Mrs. Fiske also co-managed and directed plays for the Manhattan Theatre. Among Mrs. Fiske's many performances was the leading role in Miranda of the Balcony, a play written by Anne Crawford Flexner, based on the novel by A.E.W. Mason. Produced at the Manhattan Theatre on September 24, 1901, it starred Mrs. Fiske, J.E. Dodson, Emily Stevens, Max Figman, Frank McCormack, Bessie Harris and Mary Maddern. It was directed by Mrs. Fiske and Max Figman. The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

review of the opening said: "The opening of the Manhattan Theatre under the management of Harrison Grey Fiske

Harrison Grey Fiske

Harrison Grey Fiske was an American journalist, playwright and Broadway producer who fought against the "Theatrical Syndicate" that formed around the turn of the twentieth century.-Early Life:...

 was effected last night, and a new drama entitled "Miranda of the Balcony" was performed for the first time on any stage. The occasion was one which may possibly prove to be significant. The new manager defines his policy in the programme, and the definition is attractive."

Under Harrison Grey Fiske's management (assisted quite regularly by Mrs. Fiske), the Manhattan Theatre enjoyed its most productive years. Starting with Miranda of the Balcony, it produced many great dramas. In Miranda of the Balcony, Emily Stevens had the part of Lady Ethel Mickleham, while Mrs. Fiske played Miranda Warriner, a role for which she was praised for her interpretation of the principal character. In November, 1901, the company of Mrs. Fiske staged The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch at the Manhattan Theatre. The author of the play is either Constance Cary Harrison

Constance Cary Harrison

Constance Cary Harrison , was a prolific American writer. She was also known as Constance Cary, Constance C. Harrison, and Mrs. Burton Harrison, as well as her nom de plume, "Refugitta." She was married to Burton Harrison, a lawyer and American democratic politician...

 or David Belasco

David Belasco

David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director and playwright.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, where his Sephardic Jewish parents had moved from London, England, during the Gold Rush, he began working in a San Francisco theatre doing a variety of routine jobs,...

. The theme of the work has to do with a woman who becomes a social outcast because of marital problems. Emily Stevens played the role of Gladys Lorimer.

In May, 1902, Mrs. Fiske put on a revival of Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Tess of the d'Urbervilles or just Tess, is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British...

 at the theatre. Emily Stevens was among the players in a recreation of this production of Mrs. Fiske first staged in 1897. Stevens became a permanent member of the company of Mrs. Fiske in 1904, following three seasons on stage. Emily Stevens acted the role of Miriam for all 105 performances of Mary of Magdala in 1904. In that same production, which was written by William Winter, Tyrone Power, Sr. played the role of Judas Iscariot

Judas Iscariot

Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...

. Conflicting records claim that this production was staged either in November, 1902 or in 1904.

The Manhattan Theatre presented Becky Sharp in September, 1904. Based on Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery, the comedy in four acts, was written by Langdon Mitchell. Mrs. Fiske and the Manhattan Company brought it before audiences with Stevens and George Arliss

George Arliss

George Arliss was an English actor, author and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award.-Life and career:...

 as cast principals. A revival of Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...

 was staged in November, 1904 with Mrs. Fiske in the title role and Emily Stevens as Berta. The Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

 work played for one week in 1903 with near capacity attendance for each performance. Leah Kleschna was written especially for Mrs. Fiske by C.M.S. McClellan (Hugh Morton). The Manhattan Theatre presented the play about the daughter of a thief in December, 1904. The production marked the first original role Fiske had depicted in two years. Stevens, George Arliss, John Mason, and Marie Fedor

Marie Fedor

Marie Fedor was a stage actress from Boston, Massachusettswho performed in theater at the beginning of the 20th century.Fedor spent most of her early life in Paris, France with her mother. She developed both musical and artistic tastes there. She...

 were among the players. In 1905, the Manhattan Theatre produced The Proud Laird, a comedy by Charles Cartwright and Cosmo Hamilton

Cosmo Hamilton

Cosmo Hamilton , born Henry Charles Hamilton Gibbs, was an English playwright and novelist. He took his mother's maiden name when he began to write. Hamilton was married twice: First to Beryl Faber, née Beryl Crossley Smith, the sister of C...

. It starred Robert Loraine, Hubert Hassard-Short, J.H. Bunny, Sydney Smith, Ida Vernon and Dorothy Donnelly. Interestingly, it was directed by Harrison Grey Fiske, husband of Minnie Maddern Fiske. The Fiske company managed the Manhattan Theatre for eight years, until 1907, when the theatre switched to vaudeville and motion pictures.

Last years

By 1907, the Manhattan Theatre was no longer in demand as a playhouse, so a new owner switched to showing movies instead. The theatre had just one screen, and to justify a 10-cent admission charge, several acts of vaudeville were added to the programs. This was reportedly the first time that a New York theatre had shown movies as the main attraction. Previously, movies had just been supplements to vaudeville.

In 1909, the Manhattan was demolished to make way for Gimbels department store, a structure that still stands today but has been converted into a shopping mall.

Chronology of Theatrical Productions at The Manhattan

Productions	Genre	Actors/Actresses/Writers/Producers	Dates of Productions
Way Down East Way Down East Way Down East is a silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. It is the best known of four film adaptations of the melodramatic 19th century play Way Down East by Lottie Blair Parker...	Play, Melodrama, Original, Broadway	Written: Lottie Blair Parker; Revised:Joseph R. Grismer; Produced: ??	February 7, 1898 - June, 1898 (Manhattan Theatre, NYC - 152 Performances)