NEW YORK THEATRES IN FORTIES.
BY STEPHEN FISKE.
Late in the ’Forties, John Brougham, a wit on both sides the Atlantic and rivaling the Brough Brothers as a writer of burlesque, opened his Lyceum on Broadway near Broome Street. There Mrs. John Wood, the queer of burlesque actresses, first appeared in America. Afterwards she managed the Olympic. Brougham, who knew more of literature than of business, was soon succeeded by James W. Wallack, from the Park Theatre, and the name of the Lyceum was changed to Wallack’s. For many years—certainly until 1864—this was the best theatre in the United States. It was removed to Thirteenth Street and Broadway, and then to its present location.
The Wallack Company is a tradition—Lester, Blacke, Gilbert, Reynolds, Young, Sefton, Mrs. John Hoey, Mary Gannon and Madeline Henriques.
Town and Country 5/19/1906: 34. Print.