The Hanlon Brothers: From Daredevil Acrobatics to Spectacle Pantomime, 1833-1931

6. The Changing Taste in American Theatricals: Fantasma and Superba

112 6 The Changing Taste in American Theatricals: Fantasma and Superba The Decline of Pantomime? In February 1882, the English drama critic W. Davenport Adams lamented the state of his beloved pantomime. Distressed by the “monotony of the subjects treated,” the writer criticized managers who constantly returned to such familiar nursery stories as “The House that Jack Built,” “Mother Goose,” “Red Riding Hood,” and “Jack and the Beanstalk” for their plotlines. Adams argued that new subjects were needed; new fairylands had to be explored. The critic went on to suggest, “There is a perfect mine of wealth, for instance, in the fairy lore of Germany and Scandinavia,”1 perhaps referring to the Wagnerian revolution. The subject matter of most English pantomimes aside, Adams was especially disturbed by the frequency with which specialty acts and vaudeville turns were introduced to the previously sacrosanct theatrical form. Distracting from the “plot” and interrupting the comic mayhem of silent clowning, the routines the changing taste in american theatricals 113 threatened the vitality of the genre. With a hint of hand-wringing, he suggested, “It is nevertheless to the music-hall element that we owe the main portion of that impropriety of word, gesture, and ‘business’ which makes so much of our pantomimes.”2 In particular, Adams singled out Robert Reece, chief pantomime author at John Hollingshead’s Gaiety Theatre for tampering with the form and introducing what he deemed to be undesirable elements. Reece had of course also prepared the English version of the Hanlons’ Le Voyage en Suisse. Besides the cross-dressed players, Adams recoiled at the “rows of infinitesimally-clothed damsels who crowd the pantomime stage,” pleading “there can be charming ballets without reducing the coryphées almost to nudity.”3 Although the Hanlons were an ocean away from the London-based author, he seemed to be addressing the direction that the Hanlon Brothers would chart for the rest of their careers. By 1884, the family had moved into the production of spectacle pantomime, replete with burlesque and vaudeville routines, scantily clad chorines, and cross-dressed female leads. While Le Voyage en Suisse continued to entertain North American and European audiences, across the next thirty years the family focused their efforts on two lavish pantomimes—Fantasma and Superba. In the process, they helped lay the terrain for much of the twentieth-century American popular theatre. Tentative Steps into Management After a lifetime spent crisscrossing the globe, first as daredevil acrobats and then as pantomime artists, the Hanlon Brothers had the financial means, theatrical reputation, and technical know-how to devise a series of highly regarded pantomimes that continued to entertain audiences into the early twentieth century. The remainder of their careers would be spent perfecting a theatrical style replete with acrobatics, trick scenery, slapstick comedy, and technical marvels. Yearly, their pantomimes were revamped with new thrills added to loosely concocted plot lines. Each “new” production was eagerly anticipated by their audiences, as a 1905 writer stated in the New York Times: “The country towns await the Hanlons’ visit like the circus’s, as an annual institution.”4 Attaching their names to a series of highly sophisticated, annually produced pantomimes, they moved into theatrical management. By the mid-1880s, the Hanlons were tiring of Le Voyage en Suisse. After performing the show virtually nonstop since 1879, they were understandably ready for new challenges. With the brothers longing to move into the production of fairy pantomimes, the plot of the piece held little attraction for them. But Le Voyage en Suisse had become a staple entertainment on the American and European continents, with reliable audiences in virtually every major city 114 the changing taste in american theatricals that were eager for the now-predictable laughs. Hence, George Hanlon began shopping for a buyer. In an 1885 letter to T. Allston Brown, he wrote, “We are willing to sell The Voyage out complete if you can find us a cash purchaser within a fortnight.”5 Apparently none was found, at least initially. Hoping to attract a European manager interested in its purchase, Edward brought the Le Voyage en Suisse company to the European continent in 1885. Here, they played to great acclaim in France, Spain, Germany, and Austria. In September 1885, the company mounted a new pantomime at Paris’s Théâtre des Variétés titled Le Naufrage de M. Godet. A drawing room comedy, Le Naufrage de M. Godet...