The Golden Age of Indianapolis Theaters

8. English’s and the Grand Lead the Growing Theater Parade

8 English’sandtheGrand LeadtheGrowing TheaterParade English’s found its niche from the beginning. Book all the prominent talent possible, especially those who are appearing in plays and musicals they have helped make successful on New York City’s Broadway. The Grand competed for the same performers for twenty-five years before moving to a specialty all its own—vaudeville. It lowered the ticket price, charging 50¢ for its most expensive seats. Daily matinees cost 25¢. Advertisements now called its entertainment “fashionable vaudeville.” Whether it was fashionable or not cannot be determined all these years later, but it did book some performers who would become highly successful in the future. A young W. C. Fields appeared one week as a headliner in the Orpheum Show, which featured seven acts. In a local newspaper review Fields was praised as “an eccentric juggler of much ability who is remarkably deft and clever. He sets off his most serious work with bright and novel comedy.” Other performers headed for stardom who appeared in vaudeville at the Grand were Will Rogers , comedian Victor Moore, and a wildly personable vocalist, Eva Tanguay, who would become the highest-paid performer in vaudeville. 63 National boxing celebrities continued to draw audiences, whether they were still fighting or not. Former world champ James Corbett had retired from the ring and had a new career when he appeared at the Grand. He had become a stand-up comedian with the emphasis in his dialogue on happenings from his worldwide travels. One newspaper critic wrote that Corbett “keeps his audience interested and laughing without a break for twenty minutes.” The theater’s most frequent visitor during this period was Gus Edwards. He created a musical act with what he called promising youngsters. Among those who got their first stageexperiencethankstoEdwardswereEddie Cantor, George Jessel, and Walter Winchell. Most weeks the vaudeville shows included short film presentations. Toward the end of the decade, when these visuals began to evolve into stories with the stress on comedy and suspense , they became more important additions to the stage acts. This created the need for more theater seats and improved facilities. Magicians were popular at the Grand. One of the most notable was Harry Houdini. During a Christmas week engagement, he invited the Indianapolis Brewing Company to lock him in a tank of beer. As usual, he managed to escape. Vincent Burke Collection. In the spring of 1907, the Grand closed. Demolition crews moved in to level the site and replace it with a modern vaudeville house. When the theater reopened in September, the Indianapolis Star was most complimentary: When Indianapolis theater-goers see the Grand Opera House upon its reopening they will not only witness the inauguration of a new season of high class vaudeville but will discover a rebuilt theater that is handsome, safe and thoroughly up to date with all the modern improvements and conveniences known to twentieth-century theater buildings. . . . There is plenty of room in the new amusement place; the capacity of the main floor is considerably greater than was that of the old Grand, and the handsome new balcony and gallery are vast improvements over the old. Ironically, thirty-three months later (June 1910) the theater’s owner, the Anderson -Ziegler Company, announced it was retiring from the field of vaudeville. It sold the Grand and all its other theatrical holdings in the Midwest to George B. 64 Cox, president of the Cincinnati Trust Company. One month later, Cox sold half of his new holdings to the B. F. Keith Company. English’s moved into the twentieth century with an emphasis on humor. It continued to book shows that had been highly successful on Broadway, and many of them brought laughter and joy. During the century’s first decade, nearly 400 such shows appeared here, some of them brought back for a second or third time. Half of them revolved around music. George M. Cohan’s shows always guaranteed good houses, including The Talk of New York, George Washington Jr., Little Johnny Jones, and 45 Minutes from Broadway. Dave Montgomery and Fred Stone were regulars at English’s, appearing in early productions of The Wizard of Oz and The Red Mill. Individual favorites at English’s were growing in number by this time. Eddie Foy and his family were among them, along with Nat Goodwin, May Irwin...