A- A- ‘_

 

 

A HISTORY OF THE BELDING OPERA HOUSE
BELDING. MICHIGAN. FROM 1889-1915

Thesis for the 099m of M. A.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Jack A. WiIson
1965

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ABSTRACT

A HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE BELDING OPERA HOUSE
BELDING, MICHIGAN, FROM 1888-1915

by Jack A. Wilson

This study attempts to present the Belding
Opera House by reconstructing its physical aspects
before and after modernization in 1901, by recording
its productions and events which directly or indirectly
affected it, and by showing cause for its decline as
an entertainment center in the Belding community.

The study is limited chronologically to the years
1899—1915 for emphasis, although a brief summary of
activities from 1915 to 1965 is included. The years
1889-1894 are incomplete as a result of insufficient
records. The year 1902 has been deleted because no
record is available for that year.

Chapter I summarizes the important historical
events in the founding and development of the Belding
community which eventually led to construction of the
Belding Opera House.

The physical aspects of the original opera

house structure are described in Chapter II. The

Jack A. Wilson

remaining portion of the chapter delineates the Belding
Opera House after its renovation in 1901. Several
ground plans and a longitudinal cross-section are
included.

Chapter III records the actual use of the Belding
Opera House as a theatre and community center. Important
events within the community relating to the Opera House
are also presented as an integral part of this chapter.

The final chapter, Chapter IV, summarizes the
events at the Belding Opera House during its twenty-
seven years of active theatrical life. Using the summary,
in part, as a reference point, one major conclusion is
reached concerning the decline of the Belding Opera House
as a place of dramatic activity. The moving picture,
with its better ability to duplicate real life, its small
capital outlay and its low cost to the audience, is found
the cause for the death of the Belding Opera House as a
place of legitimate drama.

Spread throughout the text where they seem most
useful are a quick reference chart showing the number
and classification of actual events at the Belding Opera
House for each year, drawings of the physical plant,‘
programs of former events, and pictures of the Opera
House as it is today. Included in the appendix are a
reporter's view of a production from back stage and a

copy of a concert program.

Fig. l
Belding Hotel and Opera House
1890

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THESIS

 

A HISTORY OF THE BELDING OPERA HOUSE
BELDING, MICHIGAN, FROM 1889-1915

By

Jack A. Wilson

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State university
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH

1965

PREFACE

The study of the Belding Opera House is the
outgrowth of interest in the small town Opera house
which was aroused by Frank C. Rutledge in a course in
theatre history. The preliminary research for the study
was done under Mr. Rutledge's guidance in 1962. The
intensification of the study was begun in the fall of
196A to meet the thesis requirement of Michigan State
University.

The purpose of this study as first conceived was
to not only record the events which took place at the
Belding Opera House but also to reconstruct its physical
features, show cause for its decline and hOpefully to
uncover evidence of a small town Opera house which once
housed road companies which ordinarily played only the
bigger cities.

The latter purpose was not achieved. The pre-
liminary investigation showed that as a result of a
major fire at the Powers Opera House in Grand Rapids one
company scheduled to play the big city Opera house in
Grand Rapids was detoured to the Belding Opera House.
Newspaper accounts seemed to indicate that other companies
destined for Grand Rapids might also have been rerouted

through Belding. Detailed research did not show this to

ii

111

be true, although research efforts were restricted by
the lack of records for the following year.

The other purposes of the study were realized
only with the help of many peOple. I would like to
thank all those who aided in the research and preparation
of this thesis.

A very Special thanks must go to Loren Prine and
the staff of the Belding Banner-News for their patience,

 

their invaluable clues to sources of further information,
and their kindness in allowing me complete freedom in
their morgue.
I am also indebted to:
Helen Cusack
Staff of the Alvah N. Belding Library
Thomas Art Service, Belding
Wesley George Porter
Staff of the City Clerk's Office

Frank C. Rutledge

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREACEOO ...... 0.000000000000000. OOOOOOOOOOOOOO 0.0 11
Chapter

I . BELDING BEFORE THE CONSTRUCTION OF
THEBELDING opm HOUSEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 1

II. PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF THE BELDING OPERA HOUSE 9

Original Structure.... .......... . .......... 10
Remodeled Structure ......... . .............. 17

III. PERFORMANCES AND RELATED EVENTS ............ 31’.

1889-1895 ................................ . 5
1896 ..... .. ............................... . 3

190 00000000000000.0000...00000000000000... 5
1905...... ..... coo-cocoa...eoeeeeoeoeoooooo o
19060000000000.0000oeooeoeeeeone oooooo on... 83
1907000000.eoeeeeeee0.0000000000000000...oe 86
19080000000000.0000eeoeeoeooeoeeeeeeeeeeeeo 92
1909000000000...0.0000000000000000000000coo 9n
19100000000000.0000coo-00000000000000.0000. 99
1911000000.0000000000000...00000000000000.0102
19120000000000000000.0000.eoeeeoeooeoooeeoolos

OB

191.OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

191 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO00.0.00000000000112

1915.00.00.00000000OOCOOOOOOOOO.0.0.00.000011
1916 to the PnaentOOOOOO.OOOOOOOOOOOOOO.0.11

Iv. CONCLmIONSQOOOOOOOOOOOOO.OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOII7
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................... . ......... . .131

iv

IJST OF TABLES

Table Page
1. Classification of events from 1889-1900...... 120
2. Classification of events from 1901-1915 ...... 122

LIST OF ILLUSTRNTIONS

Figure Page
1. Belding Hotel and Opera House in 1890.......

2. Ticket Board for Reserved Seats........ ..... 13
3. Belding Opera House Ground Plan 1888-1901... 1h
4. Present Stage............. ................. . 16
5. Rear of the Auditorium,1962................. l6
6. Stage Right Electric Floor Pocket........... l9
7. Interior of Floor Pocket.................... l9
8. Belding Opera House Longitudinal Section.... 20
9. Belding Opera Reuse Ground Plan l901........ 21
10. Stage Left Fly Gallery...................... 23
11. Gridiron Showing Support Truss.............. 2A
12. voice Tube from Fly Gallery to Stage........ 27
13. Exterior of Scene House..................... 29
1h. Program from the First Recorded Activity at

the Belding Opera House in 1889............. 35
15. Page 1 of Program June 5, 1891.............. ho
l6. Page2of Program June 5. 1891.............. I41
17. Play Bills on Dressing Room wall............ 73
18. Program March 11 1907....... ............... 87

V1

 

THESE

 

APPENDICES

Page

A Example of Concert Series Program
Mozart Symphony Club, Feb. 28, 1901............. 129

B Behind the Scenes A Banner Re orter saw
i1; Plunkal'd, septefllb.r Eu, 190 00000000000000... 130

 

vii

CHAPTER I

BELDING UNTIL THE CONSTRUCTION
OF THE BELDING OPERA HOUSE

In 1838 Charles Broas, formerly of Broome County,
New York, his wife and seventeen-year old son Levi picked
and hacked their way along section lines, waded streams
and slept in the wilderness until they encountered a big
bend in the Flat River. It was here that Charles Broas
had obtained three hundred and twenty acres of land, and
it was here that a small settlement was to grow to become
the silk capital of the world.1

With the help of other settlers who moved in,
Broas built a wing-dam and race and erected a saw mill
through which many of the pine logs being cleared from
surrounding land might be processed. The year 1842
brought Lucius Patterson to the area and he bought half
interest in the Broas saw mill, but it soon failed and
was abandoned.

In 1855 Hiram Belding purchased a tract of land
from Levi Broas and settled on a small hill overlooking
the river. With the help of Volney Belding as builder,
Lucius Patterson reopened the saw mill in 1857, the same

year a post office was established and given the name

Patterson Mills. By 1862 the Patterson Mills' post

 

1Information not otherwise footnoted in this
chapter comes from: Histor of Ionia Count , Michi'an,
ed. Rev. E. E. Branch, IInEIafiEpoIIs: . . wen anc
Co., 1916), I, xx, 277-3h1.

 

 

office was bolstered by a stage mail connection and the
appointment of an official postmaster, S. S. Brown. Two
years later, Hiram Belding opened a small store on what
is now Main Street. He sold it, but another store and a
grist mill were established. The village numbered thir-
teen families with seventeen children drawing public
money for schools and also had a doctor.

In 1871 the first major industry came to the
settlement. A firm of Wilson, Luther & Wilson purchased
land and constructed a saw mill with a capacity of from
fifty to sixty thousand feet of lumber a day. This
brought capital and employment to the little village.

The following year a branch railway connecting the village
with Kiddville was completed. The passenger service on
this railway consisted of a rail car pulled by a horse
which walked on plank laid between the tracks.

Village citizens, about this time, began to feel
a need for a permanent name for their community. Although
originally called Patterson Mills, the village had picked
up many other names associated with the river conditions
from the log runners and rafters of the early days. Broas
Rapids and Hog Hole were the most common. Sometime in
late 1871 a meeting was held to give the village a
permanent name.

The meeting was quite largely attended and
many of those present were in favor of calling

it Broas Rapids.

David E. Wilson, however, suggested that

there being so many towns in Michigan already

ending with "Rapids" it would be better to

choose some other name and pr0posed Belding,

arguing that this being the old home of the

Belding Brothers who were then engaged in

the manufacture of silk thread in the east,

the name Belding already appearing on spools

the world over would at once bring the place

into special notice. The meeting at once

became favorable to the change and a majogity

vote was registered for the name Belding.

Thus Belding got its name, but who were these
brothers after whom it was named and how did they rise
to fame? In 1857 Hiram and Alvah N. Belding, then work-
ing on their father's farm, decided to write their brother
Milo who was still in the East to send them a stock of
silk merchandise. They formed a partnership, and with
liabilities of $1A5.6O owed for their merchandise and
cash capital of $3.15 to make change, they began their
silk business. They were successful and continued to
send east for merchandise while peddling their goods not
only house to house but to local merchants as well.

In 1863 brothers Milo and David Joined the partner-
ship and the Belding Brothers and Company were soon
using one-twentieth of all the silk imported into the
United States. In 1864 they Joined in a partnership with
E. K. Rose who had a small silk mill in Rockville, Connec-

ticut. Two years later they dissolved the partnership

 

2Belding Banner, 1912 Industrial Edition.

and the Belding Brothers and Company began to manufacture
silk on their own. The business increased rapidly and in
1876 they established a factory at Northampton, Massa—
chusetts.

While the Belding Brothers were prOSpering, so
was the small village of their name in Michigan.

Those enterprising men, the Belding Brothers,
who started out from Ashfield a few years ago to
peddle silk, and worked themselves, as the older
concerns have reason to know, into an extensive
business of manufacturing and wholesaling silk,
have founded a village on the Flat River, in
Ionia county, Mich., which has now grown to a
population of 1000, and which bears the name of
Belding. Some of the land has recently been
sold at the rate of $2000 per acre for building
lots. An extensive lumbering mill is busy, as
is a large flouring mill. The place now has a
railroad and it did have a paper but green-
backism led the editor astray last year, and
that political venture proving unsuccessful,
he is now "busted".

The silk factories of the Beldings at North-
ampton and in Rockville, Conn. are six weeks
behind their orders and some of the machinery 3
at Northampton is kept running 15 hours per day.

The Belding Hgmg_§gws, in reprinting this article,
noted only one error and that was that the £222.!212."‘3
still publishing and planned to continue.

Seven years later in 1886 the Belding Brothers
and Company built a 150-foot high four-story silk mill
in the village of Belding. How and why this happened
are told in the words of Alvah Belding himself in an

 

BSpringfield, Mass., Union quoted in Belding Home
News, Vol. I, Aug. 21, 1879.

interview with a reporter of the Detroit Journal in 1901.

One day my brother and I came back here to
Belding, Just to see the town. That was about
16 years ago - oh, yes, we're old men now, but
there was something that drew us back, remem-
brances of our boyhood, I suppose. Anyway,
we looked over what had once been the homestead
farm. It had grown into quite a village of
market gardeners and small farmers. Said I
to my brother: "What say you to building a
mill here, Just to help the old town along?"

He thought it a good idea. There's where the
sentiment came in. Of course a business can't
be conducted along sentimental lines alone. A
little hard-headed commercial sense must come
in somewhere so we began to figure. We learned
that we could take care of our help more cheaply
here than in the east. We didn't need to think
much more about it. Within three months ground
was broken for the mill. We told the people
here we had come back to the old boyhood home
to helfi the town along; told them we'd employ
about 00 hands and build a hotel and do a few
more things, to show the Belding folks we'd

not deserted them for good. We've done it sir.

We Opened the mill about 15 years ago. It
was a success. And the Richardson Silk CO.,
acting upon our idea that our product could
be produced more cheaply here then in the East,
came along and expressed a desire to build
another plant here. We sold them ours on the
spot. You see, we'd built it as a model mill
and wanted nothing but the best here in the
old town. After that sale we set to work to
build a second mill. By and by it was ready.
That's the story of the Belding and Richards
silk business in this quiet county town that
you have to back into on the railroad and
can't see from the main line. We have here
now, with the Richardson company's plant,
two of the finest silk thread mills in the
world. We are proud of them. And the great-
est pleasure my brother and I experience is
when we come into Belding after tours of in-
spection of the other mills and settle down
for a few days of rest and whist playing. You
ought to play whist with my brother. I tell
him he knows a lot more about whist than he

does about making silk thread. And Mr. A
Belding laughed behind his white mustache.

So a combination of nostaglia and good business
caused the Belding Brothers to return to their Old home—
stead and help the old town along. Among the "few more
things" which the Beldings did for the town was the
construction of a hotel with two commercial stores and
an Opera house attached.

Many references'are made in Belding newspapers and
elsewhere to the quality Of the Belding Hotel. It was
finished in August Of 1888 and was the finest hotel be-
tween Detroit and Chicago and much better than many in
both of those cities. The Trade Review, a special edition
newspaper published in 1897 "devoted to the Interest of
the Progressive Business Men and the Advancement of the
City"5 gives a very thorough description of the Belding
Hotel and its facilities.

Opened to the public August 11, 1888,

this hotel since its establishment has left

nothing to be desired in point of elegance,

comfort and perfect service. All of the

modern improvements and innovations are in

use, and, owing to the excellence of its

management and the effort put forth to cater

to a critical patronage, it has secured a

firm and lasting hold on the public favor.
Hotel Belding is lighted throughout by

 

ItEéiding Banner, April 18, 1901.
5Belding Banner, The Trade Review, 1897.

electricity. The exquisite furnishings are
in oak, the two connection parlors on the
second floor being specially arranged and
adapted for receptions. The dining room
on the first floor has a seating capacity
of 100, and is both well-lighted and attrac-
tively furnished. The three sample rooms
are favorites with commercial travelers,
Hotel Belding having a practical monOpoly
of their patronage. Fine bath rooms are
located on all three floors, and the ven-
tilation is perfect, each of the fifty
guest apartments being an outside room.
They are arranged single or en suite, and
every room is provided with hot and cold
stationary stands, and return call annun-
ciators. In the basement is the finely
appointed billiard room. Fourteen employees
are required to equip the hotel, including
a chef of marked ability and skill in the
culinary art, whose efforts are liberally
reinforced by the liberal catering which
characterizes the management. Rates are

$2 a dgy with special rates by the week or
month.

From the time it was built this elegant hotel was
a center of activity for Belding. All visiting business
men stayed there, sO-called traveling doctors saw their
patients and dispensed their wares in the hotel rooms,
and all advance tickets for opera house performances were
sold at the hotel.

W. P. Hetherington, a man with hotel experience
in the east came to Belding to manage the hotel. Hether-
ington became a man of considerable stature in the com-
munity. He was once clerk of the town council and

secretary of the Belding Land and Improvement Company.

 

6Ibid.

8

He acted as opera house manager and did all its booking
until he retired in 1915. His local fishing excursions
and the size Of his catch were Often recorded in the
local newspaper. He and his wife were described as
"fancy dressers. Hetherington and his wife, who was as
broad as she was tall, always wore dressy clothes. She
would never come to town without being all dolled up and
when there was a show at the Opera House she wore formal
gowns and he always wore a tOp hot and striped trousers
and a formal coat."7

An Opera house to provide entertainment for traveling
guests as well as the local patrons and to serve as a
center for all civic and social activities was built in
conJunction with the hotel in 1888 and 1889. It comprised
the second floor above the commercial stores which was a
common location for such structures in this period.8

The characteristic features of the Belding Opera House

will be discussed in the next chapter.

 

7Interview with Wes Porter, former stage manager
at the Belding Opera House, Feb. 12, 1965.

8
Harlowe R. Hoyt, Town Hall Tonight, (Englewood
Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1955!, p. 13.

CHAPTER II
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF THE BELDING OPERA HOUSE

The physical aspects of the Opera House as it was
first built are most difficult to reconstruct. Most of
the evidence comes from references to the Old building
when remodeling was being discussed or from certain fea-
tures which are still detectable in the Opera House
itself.

Indications are that the original Opera House as
constructed in 1888 was a rectangle 77' long and h5' wide.
These dimensions were calculated in the Opera House itself
and then checked against measurements taken in the com-
mercial stores below the Opera House. The width was cal-
culated by measuring in the auditorium from side wall to
side wall above the chair rail, 9 distance of h3'3", and
adding to this distance 1'0" for the structural west wall
and 9" for the inside wall adjoining the hotel. The stores
below substantiate this calculation: there are two rooms
of 20'“" each in width with on 18" brick and wood paneled
wall dividing them. This allows 2'10" for the two side
walls and their paneling.

The length was calculated by adding the 67'6"
distance between the existing apron and the back wall of
the auditorium plus the 2'0" apron depth, plus the 1'0"
proscenium, plus 3'6" from proscenium wall to a Joint on
the side wall of the building which indicates where the
addition was added in 1901, plus allowing 2'8" for the

10

11

front and back structural walls (Fig. 8). This adds up
to 76'8". A check in the store below reveals a total
length from the outside of the front wall to the outside
of the old back wall to be 77'. The h" margin of error
may be the result of the sandstone facing on the front
of the building.

Directly below the present stage in the men's
restroom, what was after 1901 a dressing room, and in
line with the wall Joint previously referred to in calcu-
lating the length, there appears a heavy brick wall (Fig.
8). Near the floor, the top of a large arch shows. Be-
low in the store this arch broadens into a large doorway
in the wall. This wall is 17'8" from what is now the
back wall of the building. When the thickness of the
latter wall is considered the distance is very close to
the 20' addition mentioned in the Belding Banner as having

 

been added in 1901. Little doubt is left then that the
wall in the dressing room with the tap of the arch showing
and the door opening below the arch indicates the original
back wall of the Opera House.

On the present auditorium floor several breaks in
the pattern or the flooring suggest where new flooring
was added, it is assumed, when the building was remodeled.
After trying to fit these flooring breaks with other per-
tinent facts known about the auditorium and later adjust-

ments made to it, a relatively logical theory has been

12

arrived at for the size of the stage and the method of
seating.

The break which is closest to the present stage
goes completely across the auditorium floor and is 15'1"
from the present apron. This 15'1" added to the previously
given dimensions for the present apron, proscenium, and
distance to the original back wall make a total of 21'7"
which is not unlikely for a stage using a groove system
of scenery.

The second break on the auditorium floor is 21'7"
from the present apron or 6'6" from the first line. It
does not run the complete width but is centered. It is
not unlogical that this line represents the front of the
original apron. This would give a total depth of 28'1"
from the back wall to the front of the apron (See Ground
Plan, Fig. 3).

The old ticket board, discovered backstage,
indicates that there were seventeen rows of reserved
seats (Fig. 2). Each row, according to the ticket board,
had ten seats on either side of a center aisle. The
newspaper states that eight rows were added to the front
in 1901 when the stage house was modernized. These eight
rows must have been added in approximately 21'0", allow-
ing 2'8" per row. Assuming the remaining or original
nine rows of reserved seats to be the same, they would

occupy 2h'0".

13

 

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15

This leaves 21'11" to the rear wall of the audi-
torium. The Belding Banner states that after its re-
opening in 1901 the Opera House had 3&0 reserved seats
and would accommodate about 600 in total. This means
that a minimum of 260 could be seated behind the reserved
section in the remaining 21'11". It is assumed that
benches, popular during the period in such cases and
removable for dancing if desired, were used in this rear
area.

Seventeen rows of benches could have been placed
in the unreserved seating area, allowing 2'2" per row.
Fifteen peeple could then have been seated in each row
on either side of a 5' center aisle. This would provide
approximately 15" of seating space per person. This allows
a 7'0" entrance as far'as the center aisle and would pro-
vide space for additional rows to be added or standing
room when all seats were sold (Fig. 3). Approximately
uho seats in the original auditorium and 600 seats after
1901 can thus be accounted for.

The back wall of the auditorium contains today.
and by evidence shown in early pictures, has always con-
tained four large arched windows with shutters on the
inside to keep out the light for daytime productions.
Each arch contains two 2'7" windows divided by a 6” sup-
port. The clear-psned windows are 7'6" high with a cross-

piece on tap, above which are stained glass panes in an

l6

 

Fig. h. Present Stage.

 

 

Fig. 5. Rear of Auditorium 1962.

l7

arch (Fig. 5).

At the right rear of the auditorium there is a
large entrance door which is now divided. This division
does not appear to have been part of the original archi-
tecture, although when it was divided is not known.

Outside this entrance there is a landing for the
stairs on the street side on which there was once a large
window similar to the ones in the auditorium. Descending
from this landing are two sets of thirteen steps with a
6;" rise per step. One set runs toward the stage and
the other reverses and descends to the street entrance.
The stair case is 7' wide. At the foot of the steps near
the street is a small room which appears to have been a
coat check room and perhaps a ticket window although most
of the advertisements state that tickets were sold at the
adjoining hotel. There is also some evidence which points
to an entrance to this set of stairs from the hotel as
well as from the street.

In general, this is all that can be concluded
from the existing evidence concerning the original
structure.

In 1901 the Belding Opera Reuse underwent major
modernization. A large stage house with much greater
height was added to the rear of the building and the roof
was modified. The stage house is 39'6" in height from
the stage level and 60' from the ground to the roof. The

18

depth calculated from the old back wall to the present
back wall is 17'8" plus 16" structural wall thickness
which approximates the 20' as stated in the Belding Egg-
‘ggg.1 The addition is also about 5" narrower on the in-
side than the old building. It is only h2'10" as apposed
to the 83'3" width of the old part. This 5" discrepancy
is probably the result of an extra row of bricks which

is evident in the new part continuing up about half the
height of the stage house.

Although all of the sets, drops, and various other
stage equipment have been taken out, the grid. pin rail,
and other skeletal forms remain.

In the back wall of the stage house, approximately
8' from the SR side, there is a scene door which is 5'
wide by 7'1" high. On the outside of the building above
this scene door, a large wooden beam protrudes from the
building with two long iron links attached to it. To the
ring in the lower of the two, a large pulley was attached
with ropes to aid in hoisting the scenery up from the
ground below (Fig. 13). To the left of the scene door
and on the outside of the building an iron fire ladder
was attached for emergency. That has now been removed.

On the stage right side in the rear corner a

flight of stairs descends to the dressing rooms. In a

 

IBelding Banner, June 27, 1901.

 

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BELDING OPERA House

Fig. 9

LONG lTUDlNAL

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SECTION

Scale

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22

similar position on stage left there is a trap door but
no steps or ladder is evident.

On the SR side some 8' or 10' in from the side
wall there isoa floor pocket installed by the American
Reflector and Light Company of Chicago (Fig. 6). Inside
there is what was probably the original wedge-shaped
fixture which is now disconnected (Fig. 7). Presumably
a similar fixture is present on the SL side but it is
now covered by part of the band shell or the heating and
air conditioning equipment. Electricity does not appear
to have been a new addition in 1901.

With the addition of the new stage house, the
total length of the building became 96'. Of this, hs'll"
had previously been occupied by seating. The Belding
Banner2 states that eight more rows of reserved seats
were added at this time. Eight new rows of reserved
seats at the existing 2'8" per row took up 21'h"_of the
old stage area. This makes the seating area occupy 67'
6". The extra 3" was, no doubt, added to the distance
between the first row of reserved seats and the apron of
the stage.

The new stage was raised 3'6" from the auditorium
floor. (The height from the auditorium floor of the

original stage is not known but is approximated in Fig. 8)

 

2Ibid.

 

Note truss support at center
t the right.

and proscenium wall a

SL Fly Gallery.

Fig. 10.

24

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page mpoz

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25

A 2' apron in front of the proscenium was constructed,
including a footlight trough. This still exists. The
proscenium arch was raised 2' to lh' in height3 and is
23'2" wide (Fig. 9). The proscenium wall is 1'0" thick.
The stage is 22'3" deep from the proscenium wall to the
back wall of the new stage house. Totaled, this makes
the modernized stage 25'3" from back wall through the
apron (Fig. 8). This, added to the 6716" of the auditor-
ium and the 2'8" for the two structural walls and allowing
h" for the facing, makes the modernized building 95'9" in
length. It is believed that the building is actually 96'
long but that three inches were lost in the difficult
situation of taking present measurements.

On either side of the stage some 17' or 18' from
the back wall, ladders rise to the pinrail platforms
through trap doors on the platforms. TheSL pinrail
platform is 21'3" from the flooru The rail itself is
some 3' higher and contains 32 pin holes (Fig. 10). The
SR pinrail platform is 21'2" from the floor. The one-
inch discrepancy between SL and SR is probably due to
sagging of the SR platform as a result of age. The BB
rail also has 32 pin holes. Each platform is h'7" wide.
On SR a flight of steps 1'8" wide and on SL a flight of
steps 2'5" wide descend 5'6" to a catwalk 3'10" wide

31b1d.

26

running between the two pin rails on the down stage side
of the loft (Fig. 9).

The grid begins 13'6" from the pin rail platform
(Fig. 11). The grid is composed of 8" timbers resting on
edge approximately one foot apart running from the back
wall to the proscenium wall. A center truss of bolted
2" x 10" supports the grid approximately 19'9" from the
back wall (Figs. 9 & 10). This truss rests on special
palasters above and on the corners of the original back
wall of the theatre below. A ladder leads to the grid
from the SR pin rail platform.

At this point a unique characteristic of the 1901
addition requires discussion. The downstage upper
stagehouse wall is 26'0" from the back wall. This wall
is the only outside wall of the building which is not
constructed of brick or stone. It is constructed of 2"

x 6" crossbraced at irregular intervals and covered with
rough wood siding which in turn is covered outside by

zinc sheeting. The only apparent explanation is a very
practical one. The wall is not required to support any-
thing of major weight, and wood plank in a town with a
lumber mill would be a great deal cheaper than brick or
stone which would have had to be transported and supported.

As mentioned previously, there are stairs in the
rear corner of the stage left side leading to the dressing

rooms (Figs. 8 and 9). According to Wes Porter, stage

.dmspm op apoaadc mHm gone onus doao> .NH .mam

 

28

hand from 1900 to 1904 and stage manager from 1904 until
the theatre closed, this was the only access route to the
dressing rooms." Today there are two new sets of stairs
leading from the auditorium to restrooms now occupying a
portion of the dressing room space; these were added some-
time after the theatre closed in 1915. No toilet facili-
ties were ever available in the Opera House during the
time of its use as an Opera house, but toilets were part
of the Belding Hetel facilities next door.

An opening in the curved portion of the proscen-
ium wall SR leads to a set of steps which rise to the
stage level parallel with the proscenium arch (Fig. 9).
This appears to be the only means of access to the stage
from the auditorium. According to Mr. Porter,5 the stage
manager was stationed at position SR near these steps.
The stage manager's Job was to communicate with the
stage hands and the company manager. A cepper tube with
a mouthpiece leads down to this point from the pinrail
above (Fig. 12). Mr. Porter believes this device was
installed after the modernization.6

The Sept. 12, 1901 Belding Banner stated that

 

eight new dressing rooms were among the improvements

‘nPorter, Interview, Feb. 12, 1965.
51b1d.
51b1d.

29

 

Fig. 13. Exterior of Scene House.
Note beams and iron links.

30

included in the Opera House. (Mr. Porter recalls only
six7) There is little evidence today to indicate how
this under-stage area was divided into dressing rooms
and what other facilities may have been provided. The
only division which remains and appears to be part of the
original structure is a brick partition which separates
the area into slightly unequal parts. This wall runs from
the new back wall to a point about 3' from the outside
back wall of the original structure. The 3' would have
provided for a door between rooms.

The brick wall at this level contains three win-
dows and a costume door (Fig. 13). The latter is h'n"
wide by 6'6" high and is located on the SL side 3' from
the steps which descend from the stage. On the outside
of the building far above the costume door a second
wooden beam protrudes similar to the one over the scene
dooru Three long iron links are attached to the beam
with a ring on the end of the lowest link. A pulley and
rcpe were attached to facilitate raising and lowering
trunks filled with costumes for the various productions.8

Behind and beneath the SL set of stairs descending
from the stage there is a 3'11" wide flight of steps be-

ginning at the Opening in the curved portion of the
71b1d.

8Ibid.

31

proscenium wall on the SL side of the auditorium and
leading to the outside rear of the building (Fig 8).
From this stairway to the brick partition mentioned pre-
viously with regard to the dressing room area is 16'9".
This part of the under stage area may have served as the
costume room. It is then assumed that the area on the
other side of the brick partition, which is now inacces-
sible, was divided into the eight dressing rooms,9 each
of which may have been approximately 5'6" by 7'6" or
slightly larger if Mr. Porter is correct in stating that
there were actually only six.10

The hallway leading from the street to the second
floor entrance of the Opera House was frescoed and the
entire auditorium was redecorated in 1901.11

The contents of the Opera House changed consider-
ably during its renovation The old sliding scenery was
disposed of and new scenery costing $650 was purchased.12
Two drOp curtains and several sets were purchased from W.
Mbnsel Minor and Brothers of Chicago The sets included:
parlor, plain chamber, kitchen, garden, woods scene,
landscape, set cottage, set rock, rocky pass, and set

bridge.13

9Belding Banner, Sept. 12, 1901.

1 Porter, Interview, Feb. 12, 1965.
11Belding Banner, Aug. 22,1901.
12M.

13Be1dingyBanneg, Sept. 12, 1901.

 

32

A new carpet, curtains and draperies were pur-
chased along with 2&0 new wooden Opera chairs with fold-
ing wooden seats.1h

Whether the building was altered in any other way
in 1901 is not known. In general, these are the physical
changes which seem to have taken place during the summer
modernization period of 1901 at the Belding Opera House.

The only physical additions known to have taken
place after modernization period and during the life of
the Opera House as a theatre were those required by
changing state fire laws. Mr. Porter 15 says that three
outside fire escapes once existed and he thinks they were
added at different times. The previously mentioned iron
ladder descending on the outside of the back of the builde
ing near the scenery door he remembers as always being
there. A selfeactivating iron step fire escape was later
installed near the costume door for quick exit from the
dressing rooms. -Still later, he says, the fire inspector
said that the front entrance stairs and the rear stairs
leading from the auditorium to the alley behind the Opera
House were not sufficient. An iron platform, three or
four feet in width with retractable iron steps, was

attached to the front of the Opera House so that in case

 

1HIbid.

15Interview, Feb. 12, 1965.

 

33

of fire in the hotel, which might block both other means
Of escape, the patrons in the theatre might crawl out the
large front windows and descend to the street. No doubt
this was an unsightly contraption viewed from main Street
which would account for its not being there today.

This, then, is the physical reconstruction of the
Belding Opera House based on existing features and news-
paper reports. The original 77' by 45' rectangle with
its 21'7" stage (depth). equipped with draw scenery, was
extended to 96' and the MO' scene house was added. The
Rho-seat capacity of the original structure was also in-
creased by removing the old stage and installing new
seats in its place which allowed the remodeled Opera house

to accommodate 660 persons.

CHAPTER III
PERFORMANCES AND RELATED EVENTS

To construct a comprehensive narrative of what
events actually took place at the Belding Opera House
the events have been listed chronologically in this
chapter. Related happenings are included such as: (l)
where the show appeared appeared before coming to Belding;
(2) description of the staging - limited because all
information comes from newSpaper articles which were
interested only in general description, not technical
recording; (3) critical comments pertaining to the per-
formance; and (h) pertinent information concerning
author, star or New York run. Trends and occurrences in
the community which might have had some effect on the
Opera House are also recorded in order to give perspec-
tive to the study.

No newspapers or official records of any form
exist prior to 1895 in Belding because of the 1893 fire
which destroyed the newspaper office and the city build-
ing, along with several other buildings. Library scrap-
book files and private collections of odds and ends
belonging to Belding residents have revealed a few of
the events which took place between 1889 and 1895.

The first known event was a dinner followed by
a program held in the Opera House by the Oak Leaf Club
of Belding in April 1889. An invitation to this dinner

35

36

 

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495.31%ng

 

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.333 .8389 3 60:.ng

 

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37

is still in the possession of a Belding citizen, Mr.

L. Thomas. (Fig. it) He recalls his father saying that
such dinners were often held in the Opera House when the
Belding Hotel dining room was too small and when a pro-
gram was to follow.1 Other Belding citizens substantiate
this statement.

The first musical event for which there is record
was the Schubert Male Quartette of Chicago which appeared
at the Belding Opera House May 13, 1890 (Banner, 5/2/1890).
The following article from the Belding Banner of May 2
of that year shows not only the quality of the performing
group but the taste of the Belding audience during this
period.

This presents to the people of Belding
and vicinity a rare opportunity. This cel-
ebrated male quartette are not operatic
singers as many might infer; they sing
classical music but not the operatic style;
one can hear and understand what they say.
They are accompanied by Miss Inez McCusker,
of Buffalo, N. Y., as SOprano, and Miss
Georgiella Lay as pianist. Nothing greater
could be said in their praise than that they
have been re-engaged for the fourth season
to sing this summer at Chautaugua (N. Y.)
Assembly, from August 5th to 23rd. They
have been obtained at great eXpense, be-
lieving that the public will accept this
privilege accorded them and Beet the Schu-
bert Club with a full house.

On July h, 1890 exercises to celebrate the

 

1Interview with Mr. L. Thomas, Feb. 11, 1965.
2Be1ding Banner, May 2, 1890.

38

national holiday were held at the Opera House (Banner,
7/fl/1890).

Labadie—Rowell, an English Comedy Company, is
the only performing play group for which record is avail-
able in 1890. They appeared July 11 in Little Galatea,

based on an old myth and the comedy of gygmalion and

 

Galatea by W. S. Gilbert and Sullivan,and on July 12
in 5 Taste 2£_WOe (Banner, 7/18/1890).

 

On Dec. 17 the Grand Rapids High School Band
gave a concert with admission for children at 15¢, adults
25¢, and reserved seats 35¢ (Banner, 12/12/1890). This
is the first reference to ticket price for a performance
and for reserved seats. Later all references to price
and purchase of tickets indicate that a reserved section,
a given number of the first few rows, was available with
the price always 10¢ more than the regular price. Ad-
vance tickets for performances at the Belding Opera
House were always sold at the adjoining Belding Hotel.

An Opera House band was formed during the first
year of operation to entertain for civic and private
programs and to play when an orchestra was needed by a
traveling show. On Dec. 12, 1890 the following letter
appeared in the Banner to the citizens of the community.

To the citizens of Belding who contributed

to the Belding Opera House Band: We take this
opportunity to thank you most cordially for your

liberal response to the solicitors for the band.
It was the right thing at the right time, in

39

the right place and given to the right
organization. We would like to say here
that we think (not as some of the prom-
inent men think) that considering the
length of time we have been organized,
which is about six months, that we have
played more and improved as much as any
band in the same length of time. We have
a very poor set of instruments, but we
expect soon to have a new set, so you
may expect to hear better harmony and
more of it in the near future.

Again thanking you for your contri-
butions and especially thanking the
solicitors who did the work without
even being requested, we remain,

Belding Opera House gand
R. A. Wilder, Leader

Only two theatrical events are known to have
taken place at the Belding Opera House in 1891. The
first was the Ariel-Thomas Company which appeared on
April 6. The nature of the group is not known but
there appeared to be great anticipation for an excellent
performance. An April 3 article in the Banner stated
that only 150 seats remained to be sold and suggested
that patrons secure their seats immediately so that
they would not have to arrive one or two hours early in
order to be sure of a place to sit (Banner, h/3/189l).

The second event of 1891 was Mountain Pink,

 

performed on June 5. A play program still exists from
this performance which lists the cast and characters as

well as giving a synopsis of the plot. (Figs. 15 and 16)

 

V32elding Banner, Dec. 12, 1890.

40

as Houses/5...?

 

 

 

.‘T:.—\

 

             

thgin @ifikx’

1891.

 

BROWN’S

BAZAAR f .

Takes the Lead for

Ladies' and Gents' Safety Bi-
cycles and Tricycles, Ham-
mocks, Croquet Sets, Express
Wagons, Glassware, Crock-
ery, Tinware, Notions and
Wall Paper.

 

BUY YOUR

G R O C E R l E S
m movrsmrs

-———Al Hm—

 

i

West End Store?

QRWW.

Fig. 15.

 

The Boys
are Prepared

to Furnish luslc
on
All (kcaslons.

‘33.

R. A. Wilder.

Geo. Holmes. 33'“ W-

Sena-urine.

 

Holmeslz C onnell

-—-—THS—v

Old Drug Store

Ox nu: Conn

Is one of the Landmark: of
of the town.

It is where they sell

PURE DRUGS

AND MEDICINES.

DRIIGGISTS’ SUNDRIES
A SPECIALTY.

W
000mb

Ive & Day's
And cam

Finest/61ml Ssh War

ll Tm.
W

 

Page 1 of Program, June 5, 1891.

 

I41

I???

 

CLOTHING H8 FURNlofill‘lgo

 
   

W. F. Bricker,

 

Real Estate 1

 

Agent. |

 

——

“W! l

mam:

mum-Inn l

l

 

Mia-lupus“! want l
shill. Circus l
A Call.

mums I

Fig. 16.

1 Felix Bum. Captain of

may; l
fimxfiain :
3.131.: 3

CAST (WHARACIIRS:

M, A Mountain Pink,
Ml“ Rachel LION”.

Jack Weeks. A Native Speci-
men, W. *. Nwdey.

Hamid Wilmont. A New '
Yorker. l. 1.. llubbell.

 

”Moonshine“, ll. ll. Sylvelo 5
tar.

Col 'l’raflon. .\ masher-n gan-
flmaummm law-shall.

Jerry Richards. Rough and
Ready, Bert Lewis.

Scrip, .\ Cotton Bud.
I". H. Van Polt.
aen’ Tram-n. A Southern

 

Rose, Mia am A. flood.

but“ was, A Holly '
no“, In W. ll. Gardner. l

Fonda Runner-y, A 1“.le
Lily, mu (lace O’Bryon.

WI. lit-mutual and
Rename 0.00.

 

. h

 

1h Bast Stock and law at Prices

- Opposite Opera House.

 

2&1 .
2 in
--\'m cau—

BAVE HONEY
and always be
ON TIME
M inn-lag a
watch or
W. ll. WARREN.

o.
f
I

 

ll0'l Wilma!!!
Buy a. Stone.
3141/ a Gasoline Slave-

Buy the but 60W
Stove

Buy Clark’s “ch61”
Stave.
Bm; them of

Frank lmlml.

77» Hardware darlm'
ans-Ilka my-

Page 2 of Program, June 5, 1891.

#2

The Belding Opera House orchestra advertised in this

4 It

program for people to attend its entertainments.
is possible that this band held regular programs or
dances at the Opera House.

Nothing is known of the 1892 activity at the
Opera House and evidence of only one theatrical perform-

alnce in 1893 has been uncovered. On February 28 and 29

thirty local artists "held the boards" with The Colonial

 

Minstrels.5

The year 189a, like 1892, is without theatrical
record. Beginning with 1895 partial newspaper records
are available, but 1895 could hardly be called an active
year. Only seven theatre performances dotted the calen-
dar. I

Thg_Mascot, presented by the Columbian Comic
Opera Company, appeared May 21. This group had appeared
before in Belding; the newspaper article states that
Manager Hetherington had booked the company for a return
engagement (Banner, 5/2/1895).

The Wilson Day Company, a repertoire group, was
in Belding for three nights, May 9, 10, and 11 (Banner,
5/9/1895) A_Cracker gagk_was presented on June 17
(Banner, 6/6/1895), followed by the Gilbert Opera '

 

“Play program, June 5, 1891.

5Clipping from a 1929 issue of an unknown news-
paper in the scrapbook of E. B. Lapham now in the Alvah
N. Belding Library.

"3

Company (Banner, 7/29/1895) .

November was the biggest theatre month of 1895
and anticipated the coming of an active new year. The
Boston Rivals Company appeared on November 15 (Banner,

11/7/1895) and Mrs. Finnigan played on November 18

 

(Banner, ll/flh/l895). The year concluded with a pro-
duction of All_the Comforts of Hgmg_on December 2 (Banner,
11/28/1895).

1896

The Opera House was much busier in 1896 with both
social and theatrical events. A lecture-concert series,
begun in 1895, was continued but resulted in financial
failure. The year's activities at the Opera House began
on February 6 with the Foresters' Social Club party
(Banner, 2/6/1896). February 18 brought H. H. Emmet,
"Indian Orator" as a part of the Belding High School
lecture course (Banner, 2/13/1896). The Foresters'
Social Club held a second party on February 21, this one
a Washington Masque Ball (Banner, 2/20/1896).

In an attempt to balance the books of the lecture
series, Professor VanWinkle of the High School arranged
for Lovett's Boston Stars to appear on March 12 (Banner,
3/5/1896). Although the entertainment was good, the
audience was small and the lecture course lost money

(Banner, 3/19/1896).

an

Frank Tucker and Company presented East Lynne
on May 3 (Banner, h/30/1896). A June h article in the

Belding Banner noted that Mr. Tucker had gone to Detroit

 

where he died on the Operating table while having a leg
amputated. Later in May, A_Tg§mp_gn_gimg, written by
O. H. Sylvester, a local resident, and with a cast of
local peOple was scheduled (Banner, h/23/1896).

A concert to help the K. P. band purchase uniforms
was held May 29 (Banner, 5/28/1896). Tickets were 15¢
each or two for 25¢. A church union memorial service in
honor of Decoration Day with 100 veterans and wives plus
other citizens overflowed from the Opera House on May 30
(Banner, 5/28/1896).

June 8 brought the Big Four Minstrels under Mr.

 

C. Menkee with over twenty artists and a closing extra-

vaganza called King of the Cannibal Islands (Banner,

 

6/h/1896). Baccalaureate was held June 14 and Commence-
ment exercises June 19 for the class of 1896 (Banner,
6/11/1896). A.2£222.22.Elfl£2 scheduled for performance
in May by local citizens, was finally presented on June
17 (Banner, 6/18/1896).

In July the ladies of the Congregational Social
Circle decided to take over the lecture course previously
backed by the Belding High School. They scheduled an

illustrated lecture of the Oberammergau Passion play; the

“5

New York Male Quartet; Herbert A. Sprague, the noted
impersonator; and the Shipp Brothers, a group of English
Hand Bell Ringers (Banner, 6/23/1896).

On August 6, Mrs. Emma Platt Guyton of Grand
Rapids gave two free lectures to ladies only, entitled
"The Awakened Women" and "Our Girls" (Banner, 7/6/1896).

A moment of excitement took place in October.

A. Bigelow struck the city Monday and

told Manager Hetherington that he was arrang-
ing to bill a show for the Opera House in
November. Hetherington didn't like his

looks and fired him from the hotel. The
Sheriff from Montcalm county wired the city
marshal the next day to arrest Bigelow and
hold him for Jumping a board bill at Stanton.
Bigelog is working the show racket on a
bluff.

October was also a month of political oratory at
the Opera House. On October 8 two hundred peOple were
turned away from a speech by Republican Bingley R. Fales
.(Banner, lO/15/1896). A Free Silver meeting was held on
October 12. On October 20 Honorable A. Kennedy Childs
of Connecticut Spoke for sound money (Banner, 10/15/1896).

November continued the political activity with
Democratic Judge Smith speaking for sound money on
November 1. Honorable Andy Fyfe of Grand Rapids was the
guest on November 5 (Banner, lO/29/l896).

1897

The only theatrical entertainment of the winter

 

CbBelding Banner, Oct. 8, 1896.

 

h6

of 1897 was a production of Faust by Porter J. White's
Company which was to appear several times with great
success in the coming years. The play came to Belding
from Owosso where it had played two nights with consider-
able success. The Owosso Argus is quoted as saying,
" . no better play is produced on the American stage
that draws the moral picture of life and keeps in favor
with the audience as Faust and Mr. White's company is
strong and well adapted to the piece" (Banner, 2/18/1897).
The next production was the June 2 performance
of 2§;_Jekyll EEE.M£4.EX§33 W. H. Hartigan, who starred

in this production, had written a new play, Judas

Maccabeus,which he hoped to return with the following

 

season (Banner, 5/3/1897). The Bryan Comedians who
played six nights beginning June 21 were billed as
presenting a "... clean, bright and dashing new bill
every night." Prices were 10¢ and 15¢ which seems to
have been normal for companies which played more than
one night in Belding; one night performance tickets were
generally higher (Banner, 5/17/1897).

The Garrick Theatre Company played three nights
in Belding August l2, l3, and 14 after a week at the
Stone Opera House in Flint (Banner, 8/12/1897). No
advertisement appeared in this issue of the Belding
Banner and the names of the plays or other details were

not included in the notice.

1:7

In October the school superintendent began a new
campaign to sell season tickets for the winter lecture
project which had failed in 1895 and had been adOpted
with slightly more success by a ladies church group in
1896. Presumably the advance sale of tickets was a new
way to guarantee financial solvency.

School Superintendent Van Winkle is pushing

to sell 400 full course tickets for a lecture
course project. 200 $1 tickets have been sold
for the seven big entertainments. The list
includes: Geo. W. Bain, Hon. Wallace Bruce,
Hon. J. W. Giddings, Prof. Hamilton, J. W.
Conary, the Mozart Symphony Company and the
Smith Sister Concert Company. The names of
Bruce, Bain, Giddings and others are among
the foremost men on the lecture platform
today and every person in this vicinity
should hear them.
October 25 began a one-weekstand by an Indian Medicine
Company (Banner, 10/21/1897). The nature of their
productions is unknown.

November 3 and n, 1897 were significant dates
for the Opera House because they brought for the first
time electrified pictures which, in later years, were
to play such an important part in the decline of not
only the Belding Opera House but other theatres like it
throughout this part of the United States.8 On those
two November evenings Carrington Illustrated Entertain-

ments showed the Drummer Boy 2£_Shiloh which had played

 

7Ibid., Oct. 14, 1897.
8Hoyt, p. 279.

 

AB

342 consecutive nights in Chicago. Battle scenes of the
civil war were accompanied by Mr. Carrington who attempted
to "make the battle scenes of war more realistic"9 by
playing his drum. This appeared to be a new and exciting
form of entertainment for Belding citizens and the Banner
recommended it highly.
The testimonials to the merits of the

entertainments are numerous. Every old

soldier, every citizen, schooé boy and

girl should see and hear it.

Side Tracked played to a packed house on November

 

18. Pat Kane, who played the tramp, was criticized in
the Belding Banner review as "not up to the Jule Waters'
rendition of it" (Banner, 11/25/1897). Whether Miss
Walters had appeared in the play previously at the Opera
House is unknown.

The 1897 theatre season concluded with a local

school production of the Operetta Choosing the National

 

Flower on November 25 (Banner, 12/25/1897).
1898
The 1898 theatre season began on February 28
when Porter J. White returned with an "Elaborate Scenic
and Electrical Production" of Faust (Banner, 2/2h/1898).
Regular price seats of 50¢, 35¢ and 25¢ were advertised.
On April 16 Belding citizens saw the "Original

 

9Beldin Banner, Oct. 28, 1897.
1 Ibid.

49

Big Four Minstrels" at the Opera House. A free mammoth
illuminated parade was held prior to the 8:30 curtain
(Banner, h/1h/1898).

On June 23 seven members of the Belding High
School class of 1898 participated in graduation exercises
at the Opera House (Banner, 5/26/1898). The Labadies
appeared in a Duologue on June 28. Manager Hetherington,
no doubt to encourage a large house, purchased electric
fans to aid air circulation and make the Opera House
more comfortable for the audience (Banner, 6/23/1898).

The second appearance of moving pictures in
Belding took place July 7 when a cinema firm showed
pictures by the Vitascope; they had spent the previous
night in Greenville. Again the Banner encouraged the
citizens: "Those who have not seen this modern wonder
should not miss the chance." (Banner, 7/7/1898). On
July 28 the Ionia County Battalion held a program in the
Opera House after a picnic supper and campfire (Banner,
7/28/1898).

The autumn theatre season was Opened by Porter
J. White, now well known to Belding theatre goers. Since
his last appearance in Belding in February, Mr. White
was reported to have invested $3000 in electric effects
for his production of Faust which appeared on the Belding
stage on October 3 (Banner, 9/22/1898). A Breezy Time,

reported to have appeared in Belding before, played on

50

October 10 (Banner, 9/22/1898).

In anticipation of November elections, Mr. J. R.
Whiting, the silver candidate for governor, spoke at the
Opera House October 11. The speech did not appeal to
Belding citizens for the Belding Banner said two days
later: "It is safe to say that his vote will not be any
the larger for his visit here." (Banner, lO/13/1898).

933:2 9_'_ £113 Old Black appeared on November 5
before a small audience. The company was reported to be
"a up-to-date one." (Banner, 11/10/1898). D£;_Ashley
was the November 19 attraction (Banner, 11/17/1898), and
the Cuban Creoles performed on November 21 (Banner, 11/
17/1898). The latter production was termed "rocky" by
the Banner. Two social events rounded out the month.

The Woodmen gave a dancing party on November 23, Thanks-
giving eve, and the Social Club gave a 50¢ party on
Thanksgiving night (Banner, ll/17/1898). A $25 house
greeted the Greenville Theatre Company on November 28
(Banner, 12/1/1898).

On December 16 a "poverty party", at which each
guest was fined, was held by the Social Club (Banner,
12/8/1898). The year concluded with a "Special Holiday
Engagement of the Bohemian Operatic Vaudevilles" on
December 30 (Banner, 12/22/1898).

1899
The new year 1899 brought hope and new prosperity

51

for Belding citizens. In October the Banner stated
"... the outlook for a prOSperous future of greater
dimensions than ever before is certainly in sight for
Belding."11 The writer had good reason for his Optimism.
In January a new manufacturing company had been formed,
the Sanitary Refrigerator Company, which increased em-
ployment. A great deal of enthusiasm was generated
during the winter months concerning the installment of
street lights. The excitement over letting the bids
somehow ended in a law suit but was later resolved. There
was a demand for tenant houses and both private and busi-
ness real estate moved rapidly. The Grand Rapids and
Saginaw Railroad was completing the last mile of track
into Belding.12 In December the Belding Brothers and
the Richardson Silk mills were running extra hours in
an attempt to catch up on back orders and new industry
was in sight. Over a year later this boom brought about
the needed improvements in the Belding Opera House.13
The Opera House reflected the Spurt in the local
economy for 1899 was an active year. The year began with
a successful minstrel show by the local Recreation Club

which cleared $50 for the group (Banner, 1/12/1899).

On January 19 the American Cineography Company showed

 

Ibid., Oct. 19, 1898.

13Ibid., Dec. 21, 1898.

52

pictures of the Spanish-American War including the
sinking Of the Maine (Banner, 1/19/1899).

The Recreation Club held a dance at the Opera
House on February 24 and on February 28 the Recreation
Club's Colonial Minstrels gave another performance before
touring Greenville and Ionia on ensuing nights (Banner,
2/16/1899) .

April was an active month with three activities
on the calendar. The first was the Litz Quartet Of
Grand Rapids which appeared on April 7 as part of the
lecture course series (Banner, 4/6/1899). The Belding
Woman's Club held a program of Shakespeare readings on

April 18 with selections from Midsummer Night's Dream,

 

Macbeth and Merry Wize§_2£_Windsor (Banner, h/20/1899).
The following night Gorton's New Orleans Minstrels
performed (Banner, h/13/1899).

Activity at the Opera House in May consisted of
a band concert on May 1 with a party following (Banner,
h/20/1899) and a performance by the Schubert Symphony
Club and Ladies Quartet on May 11 (Banner, 2/27/1899).
Baccalaureate was held on June 17 and commencement on
June 22 (Banner, 6/22/1899).

The Canadian Jubilee Singers presented a cOncert
on July 21 (Banner, 6/13/1899). For August 15 the Hearts
of the Blue Ridge were billed as the best troupe to

appear in several months. They moved from Belding to

53

Grand Rapids for a four-night stand (Banner, 7/10/1899).

A young actor of the community left for Maryland
about this time. Frank A. Ramsdell of Grattan took a
Job with the King Repertoire Company and was to begin a
tour of the southern states. He was to receive a salary
of $25 per week which seems to have been an outstanding
amount for this period (Banner, 7/10/1899).

Belding received §i_Plunkard enthusiastically on

 

September 6. Over one hundred patrons were turned away
at the door and one hundred others were sold standing
room (Banner, 9/7/1899). This was the first public
indication that a new opera house was needed.

The problem of inadequate seating was followed
by a complaint about the stage facilities themselves.
QQ_£QS_Swanee Rixgr_with Stella Mayhew as Old Aunt Linda
singing her latest "coon songs" appeared on October 3.
The review following the performance stated:

They had a car load of Special scenery

but could use but little owing to the size
of thiustage, even standing room being all
sold.

The new lecture course schedule was released in
October with an increased number of events. The first
selection was Andy Fyfe and the Liszt Quartette on_
October 25 (Banner, 10/12/1899). The Belding premiere

of Uncle Tom's Cabin took place on October 31 at the

 

I“11318., Oct. 5, 1899.

5!:

Opera House. This company was supposed to be the
largest on the road and had a large amount of unusual
scenery (Banner, lO/26/1899). Many more 22212.222 shows
were to come to Belding and all with increasingly more
spectacular scenery and lighting effects.

The Opera House hosted the young people of the
community on November 15 for a dance (Banner, 11/23/1899).
The biggest event of the month was not theatrical but
yet dramatic; it was the arrival of the first passenger
train on November 29 on the newly completed Grand Rapids
and Saginaw Railroad (Banner, 11/30/1899). The train was
the Opera House's first rival. Wes Porter, who remembers
the arrival Of this first train, says that the Opera House
and the arrival of a train were, for many years to come,
the social events for young dating couples.15 The town
had no other fOrms of entertainment.

The Opera House closed the year with a rural
comedy drama Seth Haskins on December 16 (Banner, 12/1/
1899).

1900

The population of Belding had grown to 3282 by
the turn of the century; the town's prosperity was also
growing. Activity at the Opera House seemed to drOp,

however, partly perhaps as a result of the poor facilities

 

1
5Interview, Feb. 12, 1965.

55

afforded the traveling shows. The number of dances and
parties seems to have decreased, too; however, announce-
ments of dances may not have always appeared in the
newSpaper. Publicity for a particular club or church
seemed to run in streaks. Perhaps Banner staff members
had Specific interests in some of these groups. If so,

a change of staff might affect reports on social events
taking place at the Opera House. The only party reported
for 1900 was held by the Foresters' Club on New Year's
night (Banner, 12/14/1899).

On February 23 and 24.a vaudeville troupe called
the "Three J's" appeared (News, 2/9/1900). This particu-
lar troupe used an advertising gimmick which became more
and more pOpular for such companies. It was the use of
testimonials by theatre goers of a nearby city, such as
the following.

A very large and appreciative audience
composed of some Of the most prominent
citizens of Caro, witnessed the performance
of Jack's Jolly Jokers in "A Night Out with
the 3 J's" at the Opera House last evening,
and by permission the manager of the company
has authority to refer the citizens of Beld-
ing to the editors of the Caro papers and
the following named citizens who can testify
to the superiority of the acting of the
players. This performance surpassed their
eXpectations and patrons of a theatre are
safe in taking any members of their family.
The audience were convulsed with laughter
in every particular. Jack's Jolly Jokers
is the best comedy and vaudeville show we
ever had in Caro, and is well worth the

56

price of admission. W. O. Luce, Postmaster.
F. B. Ransford, James Buléen, O. E. Thomas,
E. H. Streeter, Courier.

Another show did not appear until November 13.
The article advertising éE_Piney Ridge is reproduced here
as an example of many similar ones.

The management Of the Belding Opera House
announces as the next attraction David Higgin's
beautiful Southern romance At Pine Rid e.

The six scenes of the play are Iaié amlg pine
clad hills of Tennessee where the people speak
with a soft drawling accent and where they
love and hate with an intensity the cold
Northerner knows not. The story is that of
a young white man, who when an infant had
been stolen by a revengeful slave and abandoned
in the mountains, only to be cared for by a
mountain woman who bequeathed him prOperty on
which were rich deposits of iron and coal. .

. The Opening of the play find the young
man rich and on the eve of marriage to a
beautiful girl. The engagement is broken
Off when he is accused of being a Negro by
his rival, who is himself tinted with black
blood. The plot and denouement are strong
and powerful and the run of incidents exciting
and unexpected.

The race question is handled in an unusual
way. There is quite a thread of characteristic
comedy and the play is one of absorbing interest.
The producing company is a powerful one and the
scenery and electrical effects are novel and
beautiful. 7

In order to book this company, Manager Hethering-
ton had to raise the prices to 50¢ and 75¢. The Belding
News commented:

The price of seats may seem to be rather
high but when you take into account the number

 

leeldingNews, Feb. 9, 1900.
17Ibid., Nov. 9, 1900.

 

57

of people and the rich scenery connected
with the play, the company could not well
afford to place the price at any lower
figure, even with the guarantee of a full
house. Remember that oneagood show is
worth a dozen poor ones.

Ten days later, on November 19, Baby Blanch
appeared as Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin (News, 11/16/1900).

 

This was the second visit of an 22212.22fll§.922$2 show.
The play, based on the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe
and first produced in New York at the National Theatre
on August 23, 1852 is credited with bringing more peOple
to the theatre than any dozen other plays during its
sixty years of pOpularity.19
The return Of Porter J. White and F§E§£_concluded
the appearances of traveling shows for the year on Novem-

ber 2h (News, ll/23/l900), but the Greenville Opera

Company performed H. M. S. Pinafore as the final produc-

 

tion of the year. The group, which had Spent considerable
time and money to organize and train the 40-member cast
and eight-member orchestra, had been very successful in
Greenville. They anticipated a large crowd at Belding
for the 35¢ tickets (Ngwg, 11/30/1900).
1901
When 1901 dawned Belding found itself nearing the

peak of prOSperity which the town had enjoyed since 1899.

 

18lbld.

19Mantle, Burns, Best Fla 3 22 1899-1909. (Phila-
delphia: Blakiston Company, I9 , p. 390.

 

 

58

The town, still growing, now had #000 inhabitants who
were actively seeking improvements and modernization.
In March the Banner asked editorially.

What about paving Main Street this Spring?

Must we continue to have mud a foot deep during
wet weather upon our principal thoroughfare for
a while longer 35 will a start be made now
towards paving?

In April several citizens submitted a petition to
the City Council for sidewalks on Main Street. At the
same meeting, the Council decided to pave Main Street.21
In May a road grader arrived for sixty clays.22 The
Banner suggested in the same month that the city rebate
a per cent of the cost to all citizens who would put
cement sidewalks in front of their prOperties.23 The
City Council accepted a petition for new sewer construc-
tion at its May 17 meeting2u and shade trees, ordered in
April, were set out to beautify the streets.25

The Belding boom was large indeed as the Banner
indicated on April h.

During the past week this city has been

visited by a number of gentlement interested
in the firm of Belding Brothers and Company,

and such called into consultation regarding
the new factory to be built here at once. .

 

QOBelding Banner, March IR, 1901.
21Council record, April 8, 1901.
22333g , May 10, 1901.

23Belding Banner, May 30, 1901.
2“Council record, May 17, 1901.

25Ibid., April 19, 1901.

59

As soon as plans can be completed the
contract will be let and work will be
under way in less than four weeks, the
expectation being to have all completed,
machinery installed and ready to operate
in about four months.

But this is not all. There are other
important and extensive building improve-
ments that are certainly coming this
present season. Details have not been
settled yet so that we can give our
readers very definite information. One
Of the things receiving consideration is
the building of a fine large business
block on the vacant corner east of Hotel
Belding, the upper part of which should
contain a modern, commodious, up-to-date
Opera house. If this is not carried out,
the present Opera house will be remodeled
and enlarged by adding about 15 feet more
on the north end, raising the roof, en-
larging stage, and building gallery.

The construction of the electric line
is now considered certain this season and
will help the boom along. The only trouble
is where will the new families live. Houses
are going to be a premium inside of a month
and there ought to be a hundred houses built
here this season. There are mighty few
unemployed men in the city now and with the
amount of additional work now in sight there
certaégly will be a lot of new peOple required
here.

New industry, new electric power, the possibility

of a whole new business block with a new Opera house, the

need for new housing - all were part Of the growing com-

munity in 1901. Education also got a boost that year.

The University of Chicago placed Belding High School on

the approved list and Belding graduates were accepted

without examination. During the summer teachers attended

 

26Belding Banner, April h, 1901.

6O

Hillsdale College and Oxford College in Ohio.27 Rumors
spread that Yerington's College wanted to locate in
Belding, providing suitable buildings could be found.28

The success of Belding, the city, was in a great
portion due to the success of the Belding Brothers and
their silk business. A Detroit Journalist asked A. N.
Belding to account for his success in an interview in
1901.' His answer helps show why the city was so prosper-
ous and hints at what was later to cause its decline.

I think our success is accounted for in
the fact that we have produced the best pro-
duct it was possible to build and that we
have produced our product cheaply. We run
our own boarding house here for the girls
in our employ if they wish to live in it.

We have built such perfect mills that our
insurance rate is the lowest obtainable,
one-fifth of one per cent, and we employ
only intelligent American labor. Indeed,
all the girls in our employ here in Belding
are the daughters of farmers, who have come
to town to work in our mills preferring such
work to the farm drudgery.

Belding is a city of labor, a city in
which labor is honored, and reSpected, and
here morality is not at a premium, as in so
many mill towns. Despite the fact that there
are 800 girls, ranging in age from 16 to 28
employed in the two mills of Belding: girls
who are away from home, and acting on their
own responsibility, only twice in the last
ten years has there been anything approach-
ing a "mill scandal" in this model town.

The young women employed in the big estab-
lishments are not hollow-eyed and wan.
Their cheeks and the lines of their bodies

 

2711316., June 20, 1901.
281bid., April 11, 1901.

61

show that there is good, rich, red blood

flowing through their arteries. They

look well-fed, not half-starved, as

look girls in so many mills. Many wear

eye glasses, but not because their eyes

are not normal. They wear glasses as

the watchmaker wears the single glass, 2

to make their eyes more acute than normal. 9

These young women comprised a very important part
of the Belding Opera House audience. As many would go as
could get dates for a performance and, according to Wes
Porter, getting a date in Belding at this time was no
problem. "All a fellow had to do was walk past one of
those boarding houses and he'd have a girl on his arm."30
Porter also indicates that groups of girls often went
unescorted. This was possible because they had indepen-
dent incomes Of six dollars per week for their sixty
hours work and only had to pay two dollars per week room
and board. Money for such activities as those at the
Opera House remained even after sending a portion to
their families.31
In the conclusion of his article on A. N. Belding

in the Detroit Journal, Mr. Harriman gives a good de-
scription of Belding during this period and explains how
the citizens saw their city.

The peOple of Belding see a great future

 

291bid., April 18, 1901.
30Interview, Feb. 12, 1965.
31Belding Banner, April 18, 1901.

62

for their town. Its growth has been steady
for the past ten years. There is not a
rickety building in it. Its main street

is lined with stone and brick stores, mostly
two stories in height, but so constructed
that another or two more stories may be
added at will. Just now ground is being
broken for the erection of a new mill by

the Beldings opposite the model hotel. In
this mill silk fabric, that is, cloth will
be manufactured and employment will be given
500 more hands. But silk is not the only
industry of this really wonderful town.
There is a refrigerator factory employing
hundreds of male workers, and managed by

the Belding Hall Company and a box, basket
and shoe factories. It would seem, to the
stranger in Belding, that its inhabitants
are right in prOphecy for 152a future that
shall be more prolific. . .

The Belding boom was reflected in the number of
theatrical companies which visited the city and in other
activities which took place at the Opera House in 1901.
Nine different companies performed and at least eleven
other events took place. January saw three companies
perform five different routines. The Jubilee Singers
appeared on January 15 before a packed house (Banner,
1/17/1901). January 17 was the first night Of a three-
night stand by the Stark Comedy Company (Banner, 1/10/'
1901), and on January 31 the Young Opera Company performed
(Banner, 1/24/1901) .

The only event to take place in the Opera House
in February was a concert by the Mozart Symphony Club on
February 28 (Banner, 2/21/1901), although the John E.

 

32mm.

63

Young Opera Company had been scheduled for February 30
(Banner, 2/28/1901). Whether they cancelled because
there was no such date or for other reasons is not
known. The date may be a miSprint.

The appearance of the Mozart Symphony Club is
significant because they attempted to inhibit the actions
of the audience. Mr. Stoelzer, club manager, wrote Mr.
Hetherington that in the past programs had been issued
to the audience but that this had been discontinued as
a result of complaints by attentive listeners who found
it difficult to listen while others were rattling paper.
As a substitute the club adopted a large 3' by 5' stage
announcement placard. At the conclusion of the Banner
article there appeared a program listing the various
numbers. (See appendix) At the bottom of the program
another announcement attempted to restrain the audience:
"As the last number is a patriotic selection the audience
is requested to refrain from adjusting their wraps, etc.
until the close."33

The appearance of P. S. Henson on March 21, who
lectured on "Fools, Gunnery and Backbone", was the only
event of the month (Banner, 3/1'4/1901).

April was slightly more eventful with the.

appearances of the Gus Sun Minstrels on April 4 (Banner,

 

33Ibld., Feb. 21, 1901.

6h

3/21/1901) and the Elias Day Entertainment on April 10
(Banner, h/h/190l). One social event is recorded, a
masquerade dance given for the members of the dancing
class which had been meeting regularly at the Opera
House (Banner, h/h/1901).

NO professional performances were held at the
Opera House in May. On May 26 the Opera House was the
scene of the annual union church service and on May 30
the Belding High School chorus presented the cantata
"May Day" (Banner, u/25/l901). The High School held
Baccalaureate at the Opera House on June 16 and Commence-
ment exercises there on June 20 (Banner, 6/13/1901).

June is an exceedingly important month because
it marks the announcement of the beginning of construction
on the addition to the Opera House. An article in the
Banner gives the following account of this construction.

The contracts have been let for the
contemplated improvements in the Belding
Opera House and work has commenced. J.

F. Huntley and Co. who are building the
new factory and Fales livery barn, also
secured the contract on this and began

to prepare for the foundations Monday.

An addition of 20 feet will be built on
the rear end of the block and it will be
carried 20 feet higher than the present
building. The object of the extra height
is so that instead of using the present
style of draw scenery, nothing but drOps will
be used which can be drawn up out of sight
and out of the way when not in use leaving
the stage entirely clear at all times of
all scenery not in actual use. This gives
more room, is a great deal easier and
quicker done and is the plan now in vogue

65

in all the best and up to date theatres in
the country. This means of course that the
present outfit of scenery will be rendered
useless here and a complete new outfit has
been ordered from a Chicago establishment
making a speciality of that work, at large
expense.

The stage will be moved back sufficiently
to give room for about eight more rows of
seats, increasing the seating capacity of
the house about 170, and yet having a stage
considerably larger than before. The Open-
ing arch also will be made about two feet
higher, and there will be sufficient room
so that any company coming here having
special scenery can use it, and plays can
be put on as well mounted here as they can
in any but the largest theatres in the large
cities. This has not been the case in the
past as we all very well know, and many
companies that have played here have been
unable to do themselves justice on that
account. It will mean in the future a
better class of plays than the average of
the past, quite a number that never came
here before being booked at once as soon
as the improvements became a certainty.

Another great improvement which, how-
ever, will be of more interest to the
players than the audience is that a series
of neat, comfortable and convenient dressing
rooms will be provided under the stage. The
lack of proper provisions in this reapect
has always been a drawback to the house in
the past. New seats will be purchased for
the entire front or reserved portion of the
house, and when it is again thrown Open to
the public they will find the ngn house a
great improvement over the old.

During July and August there were, of course,
no performances due to the construction but the newspaper
kept local citizens up-to-date on the progress being made

in the remodeling. On August 22, the Banner stated:

 

3"Ibid., June 27, 1901.

66

The Opera House improvement is to be
even beyond original plans. The Job has
been let tO Mr. Seitz Of Grand Rapids and
the entire auditorium and hallway leading
to it will be beautifully frescoed and
decorated. The new scenery costs $650 and
will be the best. The stage is constructed
on the same plans as those Of the largest
and best theatres in the large cities and
will have all the modern conveniences. Our
people certainly cannot help but be pleased
with this handsome little playhousg when
the doors are thrown open Sept. 9. 5

Again, a week later, a comment on the rate Of
construction and the announcement Of the opening show
appeared in the Banner.

The work upon the Opera house is moving
along at a rapid rate and everything will
be ready and complete for the Opening Sept.
9 by that popular exponent Of rural comedy,
J. C. Lewis in "Si Plunkard". The sale Of
seats will be Open Monday morning next at
Hotel Belding and it is expected that with
the popularity Of the company and the wish
to be present at the reopening Of the house
there will be a big rush for seats and it
is not improbable that the entire house may
be sold out on that day. Better be on hand
early if you want t§6secure gOOd seats.
Prices 35¢ and 50¢.

Indeed, the remodeled Belding Opera House did
Open September 9, 1901 with J. C. Lewis and his Big

Comedy Company in a production Of §i_Plunkard. A review

 

Of the Opening in the following issue Of the Belding

Banner indicated that extensive rain had reduced the

 

35Ib1d., August 22, 1901.
36Ibid., August 29, 1901.

67

crowd but that there was still a good house with door
receipts exceeding $200. Mention was made Of 240 new
Opera chairs which were purchased for the reserved seat
section, bringing the total seating capacity to over 600.
The article further states:

The new scenery is very fine and reflects
great credit upon their artists, W. Monsel
Minor & Bros. Of Chicago. There are two
drOp curtains, one entitled "A Venetian Fes-
tival" and the other a fine advertising cur-
tain and the following sets: parlor, plain
chamber, kitchen, garden, wood, landscape,
set cottage, set rock, rocky pass, set
bridge. The carpet, curtains and draperies
are all new. . .

Mr. J. C. Lewis spoke in highly compli-
mentary terms Of the house, declaring that
it was now as fine and convenient a little
theatre as he knew Of in a city Of this size.
The stage, he said, was plenty large enough
for the presentgtion Of any show which could
be booked here.

The death Of William McKinley caused the cancel-
lation at the last moment Of Rice and Mack who were tO
have performed on September 19. The mayor Of the city
Of Belding proclaimed that all places Of business would
be closed and that public memorial services would be
held in honor Of the dead president on September 19 at
the Opera House (Banner, 9/19/1901).

October productions included Little Trixie on
October A (Banner, 9/26/1901), Th§_Man from Mexico on

 

October 25, and the Opening party Of the concert

 

37Ibid., Sept. 12, 1901.

68

orchestra on October 26 (Banner, lO/Bl/lQOl).

For November 15, the Opera House booked a melo-
dramatic production Of EDE.§EEE.2£.§$£E.1n which "the
world's most famous acrobats, the Domanzittas, form the
human bridge 30 feet above the stage over which three
people run to safety" (Banner, 11/7/1901).

However, the night Of November in proved tO have
a more dramatic effect on the theatrical life Of Belding
than even the Domanzittas could provide the following
night. The Powers Opera House in Grand Rapids burned
on November 1h. As a result, Manager Hetherington was
able tO secure for Belding Harry Glazier in Robert Louis
Stevenson's Prince Qt£2_which included all the scenic
equipment and all the costumes used during the New York
run (Banner, 11/14/1901 and News, 11/15/1901). The play,
which had run forty performances beginning September 3,
1900 at Wallack's Theatre, had been adapted from the

novel and produced by Otis Skinner.38

The Belding per-
formance tOOk place on November 21 with all the reserved
seats sold out prior to the performance. Hetherington
was praised for persuading the company to give Belding
preference over Ionia or Greenville (Banner, 11/21/1901).

The night after the performance the Belding News

stated:

 

38Mantle, p. 368.

69

It was a case Of "GO Away Back and Sit
Down" if you didn't have a reserved seat
at the opera house last night, the occasion
being Harry Glazier in "Prince Otto". By
all means it was the génest production ever
witnessed in Belding.
In the following edition Of the Belding Banner
a review Of the show appeared. In it the director Of
the company was quoted as saying that they had come
eXpecting tO lose money but were surprised and also
"pleased with the Opera House, elegant hotel accommoda—
tions, and the general thrifty and prOSperous appearance
Of our city.")40
A very active theatrical year was completed at
the Opera House by a performance Of the Hungarian Court
Orchestra Of Budapest, well received by Belding citizens
(Banner, 11/28/1901), and the appearance on December 10
Of Charles Cowles and his group Of character comedians
(Banner, 12/5/1901).
1902
Unfortunately, no COpies Of either the Belding
Banner or the Belding News are available for 1902. It
may be reasonably assumed that 1902 was a very active

year since it followed so closely the remodeling Of the

Opera House and it is quite possible that other companies

 

39Beldin Newg, November 15, 1901,
noBelding Banner, November 28, 1901.

 

70

were rescheduled from Grand Rapids as a result Of the
Powers Opera House fire.
1903

The year 1903 brought appearances by seventeen
professional companies. The first company produced A
Bunch of 53y§_on January 9. According to the advertise-
ments it had appeared 350 times in New York although when
is not clear (Banner, 1/15/1903). NO reference is made

to this play in Best Plays g£_1899-1909. As a part Of

 

 

the Lyceum course Elbert Hubbard and Fra Elbirtus came
on January 28 (Banner, 1/15/1903).
A Children's Grand Carnival was held on February
6 at the Opera House and the Peet Brothers provided
entertainment on February 9 in an effort to raise money
for a piano at the high school (Banner, 2/5/1903). The
George H. Lott Concert Company performed at the Opera
House on February 22 as part Of the concert course (Banner,
2/19/1903). The Markle-Harder Stock Company produced
Caught i§_a_flgb on February 23 and 24 (Banner, 2/12/1903).
Ritchies Unique Entertainers appeared on March 17
in PeOples POpular Course (Banner, 3/12/1903). A mis-
fortune befell the group while in Belding. Mr. Ritchie,
a sleight Of hand man, injured one Of his canaries during
the performance and it died the next morning before the
group left for Manistee (Banner, 3/19/1903).

Nettie DeCoursey and Mae Cody starred in Orphan's

 

71

Prayer, a pastoral comedy, on March 31 {Banner, 3/19/1903).

The Banner noted that "Miss Cody promised to wear during
this organization's appearance here the same stunning
gowns that have won her so much free newspaper notori-
ety."]41
Honorable Charles A. Landis gave a political
Speech on April 16 at the Opera House, followed on April
17 by a production Of A_§2y21.§1313.(Banner, h/2/l903).

The Home Talent Dramatic Club presented a "modernized"

version Of A Merchant 3£_Venice on April 2h (Banner, 4/

 

2/1903). The production was advertised widely for the
whole month prior to the performance. One advertisement
states that ". . . daintiness Of its love scenes, brisk-
ness Of its action and the quaint breeziness Of its humor
combine tO make it an ideal play.“42

My_Friend from Arkansas, given on May 1, was the

 

only theatrical performance Of the month (Banner, h/30/'
1903). The Kelly and Mack Company were tO have appeared
On May 16 but they cancelled the date (Banner, 5/lh/l903).
Decoration Day exercises were held at the Opera House in
memory Of the dead soldiers Of the community on May 30
(Banner, 5/28/1903).

The Franklin Stock Company came to Belding with

 

:Ilbid., March 26, 1903.
2““'

Ibid., April 16, 1903.

72

three productions: A_Man of Mystery, Under TwO Flags, and
the Octoroon for three nights, June 4, 5, and 6 (Banner,

6/h/l903). 0f the three plays Under Two Flags was the

 

best known. It ran 135 performances and was first pro-
duced by Charles Frohman in arrangement with David Belasco
at the Garden Theatre in New York on February 5, 1901.“3
As was customary, Baccalaureate was held at the Opera
House on June 21 followed by Commencement exercises on
June 25 (Banner, 5/11/1903).

In July the Opera House tOOk on a new function.
For the first time on record it housed evangelistic
services. The Church Of Christ revival services began
on July 12 and continued, well attended, for one month
nightly; the services resulted in many baptisms. On one
occasion over 200 peOple from Ionia heard Rev. Kindred,
a forceful evangelistic speaker. New competition, a

tent show Of Uncle Tom's Cabin, appeared for several

 

nights during the time the Opera House was hosting the
revival meeting (Banner, 6/16/1903). Such tent shows
were to add tO the decline Of the Opera House as they
grew in popularity.

A£_Cripple Creek, which had played in New York,
Chicago, and Detroit appeared on August 18. A crOWded

Opera house received an excellent performance (Banner,

 

u3Mantle, p. 387.

73

 

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i

I.
a!

/./

,5 -. EB ,
" ”3% ¥ ”7' is
H&bAv'E

~. OFTHE

OLDIER§ MILL/2

()7 \"1‘lx/'

8“ I -

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Fig. 17. Play Bills on Dressing Room Wall.

71;

8/13/1903). A_Country 5323 which had played the two
nights before at the Phelps Opera House in Greenville,
came to Belding on August 27 (Banner, 8/27/1903).
September 7 marked the return Of Gordon and
Bennet's production Of A 5223}.§22 2 after 103 consecutive
nights in Philadelphia and one week in Grand Rapids. It
drew a packed house even though it had appeared in Belding

the previous year. The company promised to return to

 

Belding with Holy City during the l90h season (Banner,
9/10/1903).
On September 17, J. C. Lewis appeared with a

bigger production Of Si Plunkard than had visited Belding

 

for the reOpening Of the Opera House in 1901. One Of

the advertisements shows a "black face" picture Of Billy
Clark, one of the cast members, in his "famous mind
wandering pose" (Banner, 9/17/1903). The month ended with
Missouri §i£l_on September 29 (Banner, 9/2h/l903).

The biggest attraction in October was the produc-
tion Of Quincy Aggmg_8awyer which had played 36 perform—
ances at the Academy Of Music in New York, beginning
August 7, 1902. It played in Belding October 13. Manager
Hetherington noted in regard tO the performance that no
latecomers would be seated until the act was completed
(Banner, 8/20/1903). Montana Outlaw was billed for
October 26 (Banner, 10/22/1903).

As a part Of the concert course, Nellie Peck

75

Saunders Company appeared on November 20 (Banner, 11/5/
1903). On November 25, Henry Arthur Jones, E. S. Willard
and Horace Lewis starred in The Middleman (Banner, ll/l2/'

 

1903). Willard was an actor and producer of some stature.
His debut and that of Middleman in New York came on
November 10, 1890. In 1900, 1902, and again in 1905,
Willard and his company produced a repertory of plays
at the Garden Theatre.M4 Willard was probably the best
known actor and producer ever to appear in Belding.

On December 4 the Slayton's Women's Symphony
held a concert at the Opera House (Banner, 11/26/1903).
Ihg_C0nvict's Daughter played December 15 (Banner, 12/3/
1903). The Colonial Moving Picture Company showed a
moving picture of a theatre production of Egglg_gggls
Cabin_on December 28 (Banner, 12/24/1903).

1904

The year 1904 proved to be a big year at the
Belding Opera House. A total of twenty professional
productions took place over the year. The first scheduled
play, The Merchant 2£_Venice with Elmer Buffham and
Charles Pierson, both veterans of the New York stage,
failed to appear because of Mr. Buffham's illness (News,
1/8/190u). The ng_Plantation, a story Of chivalry and

romance set in the old South, did appear on January 1h

 

uuMantle, prfi384.

76

as scheduled (N212, 1/8/1904). Two nights before the
Boston Ladies' Symphony Orchestra had entertained local
citizens as part of the concert course (5223, 1/8/1904).

Six weeks passed before the next performance, a
production Of the Minister's Daughter, on February 25
(News, 2/19/1904). The schedule of this traveling com-
pany is interesting to note. They played at the New
Majestic in Grand Rapids on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednes-
day; at the Belding Opera House on Thursday; at Saginaw,
Friday; at Bay City, Saturday; and then Jumped down to
Toledo. Mr. Hetherington kept the price Of tickets at
50¢ although it was reported that this company was
drawing 75¢ and $1.50 in the other towns (N331, 2/19/190“).
Hetherington was well pleased with the packed Opera House
and the audience found the production one of the best
shows ever to come to Belding (N213, 2/26/1904).

Three traveling companies came to Belding in
March. John Sturgeon starred in Alexander Dumas' 92325“
2?. M Cristo on March 17 (News, 3/‘11/190’4). Although
Sturgeon does not appear in Ehg;g_!§g_ig_£ 2 Theatre, he
was billed as having played beside such noted actors as
Edwin Booth, Lawrence Barret, Joseph Haworth and Fredrick
Ward. The second play presented during the month was A
;R_u_r_1_ on_ 215 _B_a_nl_<_ on March 214 (M, 3/18/1904), followed

on March 31 by Gorton's Minstrels which included several
EurOpean novelty acts (News, 3/25/190u).

77

its tenth season, appeared at the Opera House. The show
originally played at the Fourteenth Street Theatre in
New York. The scenery and effects were by Ackerman of
New York and included a dynamite scene and a steamboat
race (News, h/8/190h). The show came to Belding from
Ludington and continued on to Saginaw.

The Lyman Twins appeared on April 21 in their
successful musical comedy 9.13.225. M (3.9.13.1 14/15/1901”.
Thomas Green had been scheduled as a lecturer sometime in
April but cancelled once and then rescheduled; in the end
he lectured at the Disciple Church (News, 4/8/1904).

E231.92222.2£.§22£2."‘° to have been presented
under the auspices of the ladies Of the Methodist Church.
Announcements Of the coming production were made on April
1, 8, and 15 stating that the play would be presented
soon and that tickets could be purchased for 35¢. NO
other mention was made about the production so it is
unknown if the performance actually took place and if so,
exactly when (News, n/1/1904).

During May three plays "held the boards" at the
Opera House. The first, 912 Arkansaw, was presented on
May 10 (£219.: u/22/19ou), and the second, Leg-11122.33,
a four-act comedy by Eunice Fitch, appeared on May 17
(Eggs, 5/13/190h). The latter production included two
child artists, Hazel and Harry Shannon. The third play,

78

Joshua Simpkins, a realistic pastoral comedy, finished
the spring season on May 23. This company carried its
Own orchestra and held a band parade at noon (News, 5/
20/1904).

Three months lapsed before activities began again
at the Opera House on August 22 with A_§gy§1_§lgzg_(8ee
Fig. 20), a play well known from previous seasons to
Belding residents. Scenes from the play depicted a
great trOpical palm island by moonlight, the gorgeous
palace of the king, and a great volcano erupting. The
company carried a whole carload of scenic effects and a
cast Of thirty (News, 8/19/1904).

The Hoosier 9331, by Dave B. Lewis, a satire
dealing with mannerisms and customs of the natives Of
Indiana, rounded out the month on August 30 (News, 8/26/
190h).

The new lecture course which had been held at the
Opera House since 1895 moved to the Disciple Church
because rent was only $10 per appearance there while
Hetherington charged $20 for the Opera House (3212, 9/2/'
1904).

A Devil's La 2 appeared on September 12 (3335,
9/12/1904). On September 19 a production of Henrik
Ibsen's A_Doll's H22§g_starred Clara ThrOpp as Nora.

Mr. Hetherington raised the ticket price to 75¢ but in

Lansing where the company had last played tickets had

79

been $1.50 (Newe, 9/16/1904). A_Doll's Neeee_was first
produced in New York on December 21, 1889 at the Palmer's
Theatre, but had most recently been revived at the Man-
hattan Theatre in May 1902.45
On October 5 Micheal Strogoff, a drama of the
Russo-Japanese War, held the stage at the Opera House.
The company carried a carload Of electrical and scenic
effects plus 20 performers (Newe, 9/30/1904). The Gus
Sun Minstrels displayed their talents for Belding resi-
dents On October 1 (Newe, 10/1/1904). The Mitchell
Lawman Company presented 2ew_Nights Ne_e_§eg_§eew October
18 (Newe, 10/14/1904) and Porter J. White's E2232 returned
to Belding on October 22 (Newe, 10/20/1904).
The new month's activities at the Opera House
Opened with speeches by Senator James Helme, A. B. Morse
and James Scully on November 4 (Newe, 10/27/1904). Allen
Villair and Company in Ewe_NeeE£_e£_Iewee_ran for three
nights and a matinee beginning November 10. As a gimmick
to increase attendance, ladies were admitted to the best
30¢ seats for 15¢ on Thursday night with tickets bought
before 7 p.m. (Newe, 11/3/1904).

November concluded with what the Philadelphia

 

Record called ". . . a scenic production in play form

Of the best New England story ever written. It is

 

u
5Ibid., p. 411.

8O

sweetly natural as the breath of the fields.“46 The
play, Quincy Neewe Sawyer, was presented on November 19
for 75¢, 50¢ and 35¢ for children (Newe, 11/17/1904).
This same production had appeared in Belding in 1903.
The year ended with The Reel W Bgewg on
December 6 (Newe, 12/1/1904) and the romantic melodrama,
When.2§e_Bell ISllE! on December 29 (Newe, 12/22/1904).

 

 

The Opera House employed seven local men in 1904
besides the Manager W. P. Hetherington. Wes Porter was
stage manager; Edgar Stanton, Electrician; C. Piefer,
stage carpenter; William Fish, property man, advertising
agent and bill poster; J. E. Ferguson, M.S., Physician;
and I. L. Hubbell, Attorney. Except for the stage

manager, all Jobs were part-time and non-paying.)47

1905

Twenty-two professional theatrical companies
"held the boards" at the Opera House in 1905. The first
appearance in the new year, however, was a lecture given
by Eli Perkins and sponsored by the Baptist Church (Newe,
1/5/1905). Ng.O§phan's Prayer, billed as "sweet, pathetic,
and soul-stirring" was the dramatic offering on January
10. The Ionia County Farmers Institute used the Opera
House on January 12 (Newe, 1/5/1905).

 

HEBelding News, November 17, 1904.

u7Belding Boomerang, Dec. 1904.

81

TNe_9le_Clothes New appeared on February 8 after
being postponed from January 27. The play showed how
"Hebrews, despite reputed love for amassment Of wealth,
possess an exquisite sense Of humor" (Newe, 1/19/1905).

Thomas J. Smith starred in Rowland and Clifford's

production Of the Irish comedy, The Gamekeeper, on March

 

lO (Newe, 3/2/1905). Theatre-goers saw Ny Friend EEEE
Arkansaw on March 23 (Newe, 3/16/1905).

A benefit ball honored Arthur Chickering on April
14 (Newe, 3/23/1905). Ewe.gwe_0rphans by Lillian Lyons
and Company played on April 17 as the month's only road
show (Newe, 4/13/1905). The play had been first produced
on December 21, 1874 at the union Square Theatre in New
York and was revived at the New Amsterdam Theatre for 56
performances beginning March 28, 1904.“8 The Lyman Twins
came to Belding on April 26 in A}; 92.9. fleece (Newe, 4/20/
1905).

Two companies traveled to Belding in May: Gordon
and Bennett's production of EEEX.9$EZ on May 5 (Newe, 4/
27/1905) and Margaret Ralph in Shakespeare's 222 Taming
22.222.§2£2! on May 22. The latter was modified to meet
the requirements Of the audiences to which it played (Newe,
5/11/1905).

The Modern Woodsmen Association gave Belding

 

BMantle, p. 456.

82

theatre-goers an evening's entertainment on June 15
when they presented 922.!£;.222l§."1th all local talent
(213:2. 6/8/1905).

On August 3 the professional performances began
again with §1_P1unkard on the Belding stage. New raised
seats would, according to the Belding Newe, make Old-style
neck craning unnecessary (Newe, 7/27/1905). Although Wes
Porter, stage manager at this time, does not remember the
floor being ever anything but flat, it appears that some-
thing did happen in the summer Of 1905 to facilitate
better viewing by those in the rear of the audience.

The Middleton Stock Company began a three-night
stand on August 10 with three plays: Beyond BEENEEEI
Mamm, and __s__Dan ere EEEELEEEEAH. (£222., 8/
10/1905). NNeE_Neweg.w$ll_Qe, presented by the Holden
Brothers Company on August 25, completed the month (Newe,
8/17/1905) .

During September the Opera House hosted N_Neyel'
§l§1§.°" September 15; Trilby, September 20; and N_Prince
e£.§eye, September 30 (Newe, 9/7/1905). Trilby was the
road version of W. A. Brady's New York revival which had
had 24 performances at the New Amsterdam Theatre in May
1905. The play had originally been produced on May 22,
1895 at the Garden Theatre.“9

 

v—nglbid., p. 491.

83

Four traveling companies passed through Belding
in October. The Porter J. White production of £2223.
returned on October 4 with ". . . the acme of stage
realism - the startling electric effect, the duel Of
death. . . Mephisto kills Valentine with an electric
sword." (Newe, 9/27/1905). On October 9, 10 and 11 the
Imperial Stock Company performed at the Opera House. N£_
Sunrise played on October 27 and Hoosier 9221.0“ October
31 (£215. 9/7/1905).

Gorton's Minstrels displayed their talent on
November 13 (Newe, 9/7/1905), followed by A Nell 10y on
November 17 (Newe, 11/16/1905).

The year closed with two performances in December.
The largest Neeleflgewle_gee$w_company ever to appear in
Belding performed on December 2 (Newe, 11/30/1905). gh_e_
93222 Lighthouse Robbery concluded stage activities for
the year on December 12 (Newe, 12/7/1905).

1906

Probably the most important theatre news of 1906
was the formation Of a theatre circuit in the western
Michigan area with W. P. Hetherington as president. The
managers of the Opera houses in Belding, Alma, Ithaca,
Greenville, Big Rapids and Mt. Pleasant united in an
attempt tO secure better theatre attractions. The group

guaranteed a week's engagement in the six neighboring

84
50

towns.

Lyman Howe Opened 1906 with moving pictures of
the surrender of Port Arthur on January 3 (Newe, 12/21/
1906). A home talent play HEQEE.E§E.L3UP°13 played on
February 20 to a receptive audience Of local citizens
(Newe, 2/22/1906). 2§e_Little Homestead appeared on the
Belding stage March 9 (Newe, 3/1/1906). On March 23 the
Opera House hosted a mass convention Of the Good Citizen
League (Newe, 3/22/1906).

Three events took place on the Belding stage in
April: EEEE.EXEEE.°n April 4 (Newe, 3/29/1906), the
Ladies Chorus and Apollo Quartet of Grand Rapids on April
17 (Newe, 4/12/1906), and'N_Nwwew_§leye_on April 25. The
last was a social comment on the inhuman treatment of
workers by some unscrupulous employers (Newe, 4/19/1906).

Two moving picture showings and a concert Occurred
in May. Liberty Moving Pictures showed silent movies at
the Opera House on May 2. On May 9 a harp concert featured
Miss Helena Stone (Newe, 4/26/1906). Moving pictures Of
San Francisco before and after the earthquake were shown
May 24 for 15¢, 25¢, and 35¢ (Eggg, 5/17/1906).

In June two professional companies and an amateur

group shared the Opera House stage. Texas Sweethearts

 

appeared on June 7 (News, 5/31/1906) and the Benson and

 

5OBeidin News, January 25, 1906.

85

Flynn Stock Company arrived with Neeel_Nlew, Neyel.
Hearts, and Ny.eew£_££ew_Brazil on June 18, 19 and 20
(Newe, 6/14/1906) .

The Belding High School finished the month with
scenes from ShakeSpeare on June 21 (Newe, 6/14/1906).

The usual summer lull in road shows was short
in 1906. Ny Wife's Family was presented on July 25 (Newe,
7/17/1906). One week later on August 6, 22212.2225

Spruceby came to Belding with a hayseed band and a car-

 

load Of special scenery including a mechanized sawmill
(Newe, 8/2/1906). On August 14 Miss Beulah Poynter
starred in Newe_Rivers (See Fig.17') (Newe, 7/26/1906).
The religious spectacular Nely'QNEy appeared on August

18 (Newe, 8/16/1906). An active month for Belding theatre

 

patrons finished on August 24 with 222 Midnight ElXEE.
(M: 8/23/1906). '

Two companies performed at the Opera House in
September: Hooligan 1.3 New X933. on September 14 (1235'
9/6/1906) and Francis Labadie's Bostonians, a musical,
novelty and moving picture company on September 29 (Newe,
9/27/1906).

Four professional companies shared the Opera
House stage in October. A em 22 Neye returned to
Belding on October 2 (Newe, 9/20/1906), followed one
week later by INe_Village Vagabond on October 9 (Newe,
9/4/1906), and two weeks later by the Silew 93.11; on

86

October 16 (Newe, 9/4/1906). "A great labor union scene,
big factory in full Operation, realistic women's war on
Blackwell Island, a courtroom scene and a great garden
fire" were all part Of the Nwew_Newew_§ee_production
when it appeared at the Opera House October 24 (Newe, 10/
18/1906).

The Democratic campaign in 1906 closed on November
3 with addresses at the Opera House. The only play of
the month was N_Wife's Secret on November 7 (Newe, 10/25/
1906), but Archie L. Shepard brought moving pictures on
November 20 (Newe, 11/15/1906).

The year concluded with two shows: Nege Thorne
on December 4 (Newe, 11/29/1906) and ENe_Honeymoon on
December 14 (Newe, 12/6/1906).

1907

The year 1907 marked the first major threat of
competition to the Opera House by other entertainment
media. Roller skating had become popular in surrounding
communities and a rink Opened in Belding in October 1907.
But roller skating was a weak threat compared to the
summer Opening of the Bijou Theatre which showed moving
pictures for 59!.51 The Opera House had been showing
moving pictures at various times for several years but at

a price considerably higher than 5¢.

 

51Ibid., August 8, 1907.

87

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f Fig. 18. Program, March 11, 1907.

88

Plays continued to come to the Opera House, how-
ever. Three shows appeared in January: §g£g£_Paterson
on January 10 (Eggs, 1/3/1907); gumag_Hearts, January 16
(Eggs, 1/10/1907); and £232 in a Tangle, January 26 and
28 (M, 1/2LI/1907).

"A spectacular fire scene showing flames inside
and outside with firemen in Operation and loss of life"
was one of the features of Mismated. The local produc-
tion was directed by B. M. Garfield of Buffalo, N. Y.
for the benefit of Knights of Pythias on February 11 and
12 (m, 1/31/1907).

figmgg'ggg_Juliet played March 1, starring Margaret
Morrison and Mr. Owen of Owen and Company. Owen had
played more great parts, including Hamlet, Romeo, Shylock,
and Garrick, than any man his age on the stage, said the

News. (News, 2/28/1907). By pOpular demand, Mismated,

 

the local talent production, was repeated on March 6
(Megs, 2/28/1907). Rockwell's Sunny South Company
played March 11.52 (See Fig. 18 ) A concert by the Glee
and Mandolin Club of Kalamazoo College finished the month
on March 19 (Eggs, 3/15/1907).

223 Warning Bell, an old New England scenic
production by Gordon and Bennett, played April 6 (Eggs,
h/fl/1907), but the company presenting Gingerbread Mag.

 

5rgBelding Opera House Program, March 11, 1907.

89

scheduled for the following week, cancelled because of
a smallpox scare. The exact statement was published by
the News.

The "Gingerbread Man", which was to appear
at the Belding Opera House on Friday evening,
April 2, will not appear on account of the
existence of smallpox in this city. A repre-
sentative of the show informed our reporter
that he deemed it best to cancel their date
here for the reason that smallpox scare here
would doubtless result in a small attendance
and a financial loss, on the one hand, and
with the possibility that the 43 peOple con-
nected with the show might be tied up here
by quarantine. The necessity for cancelling
the date was not only greatly regretted by
Mr. Hetherington and the prOprietor of the
show, but by hundreds of theatre-going people
in this city who have planned to see the play
when presented here.5

The smallpox scare must have subsided by April 19 because
on that night Kate Watson and Gus Cohan appeared in
Hoosier Girl at the Opera House (News, 4/18/1907).
"A play every mother and daughter should see,"
The Little Homestead, by W. B. Patton was staged May 1
(News, h/25/1907). On May 13 Fred G. Conrad presented
Eugene Moore in a lavish production of Mgg££_0risto by
direct arrangement with the Dumas heirs. The advertising
article carried a new approach to entice customers.
Drama lives by working on the collective
sympathies of an assemblage of men and women,.
not insulated but in electrical contact and

in such sympathies there is always and in-
evitably a moral element. The theatre was

 

53Belding News, April A, 1907.

90

from old, and ever will be, a school of
virtue or of vice, even though it "hold

a warped mirror to a gaping age." It
reacts upon the manners in caricatures.
There will be good plays and bad plays
according to the audience attending. The
demand causes the supply, as in everything
else. The theatre is one of the greatest
popular forms of interest and relaxation.
Such plays as "Monte Cristo" which has
always been considered the elder Dumas'
greatest contribution to stage literature,
are one of the forces that argushaping
the soul of mankind for good.

The Lyman Twins returned to Belding once more on

May 16 in the farce-comedy The Bustiers (News, 5/9/1907).

 

The Fool's Revenge, first performed with Edwin Booth at
the Garden Theatre in New York in 186h and revived by

E. S. Willard in 1905 for his repertory company, played

at the Belding Opera House on May 2“ (News, 5/16/1907).
Another Porter J. White Company offering, the Hidden 5222!
appeared on May 30 (News, 5/30/1907).

Staged by the senior class on June 13, At the,
§ign_2£_§he_gggk_O'Lantern met great success. Commence-
ment exercises, however, had been moved to the new high
school (3333, 6/13/1907). "Large, clear, bright and
natural color moving pictures were shown at the Opera
House on June 214, 25, and 26 (3222.: 6/20/1907).

The Adorable Fritzie came to Belding on July 30

(News, 7/25/1907). In August the stage at the Opera House

 

u
5 Ibid.

91

was shared by ssss_Simpkins on August 14, Lyman Howe's
motion pictures on August 21, and 222.§22!L§$El.°n August
31 (Ms, 7/18/1907). '_1‘_h_e_ Mfll’ first produced at
Wallack's Theatre for 6a performances in 1902,55 had
been performed in Belding previously.

Four road shows visited Belding in September:
As Told in the Hills, September 6 (Eggs, 9/5/1907); Esss

Lygse, September 11 (News, 7/18/1907); For Mother's Sake,

 

September 18 (News, 9/12/1907); and Nobodyls Claim,

 

September 26 (ngs, 9/19/1907).

Humsty Dumpty, which had played 132 performances
at the New Amsterdam Theatre in 1904 and was revived in
1906 at the New York Theatre in New York,56 played in
Belding on October 5 (Eggs, 1Q/3/l907). A lecture
followed on October in by Poet Scout Captain Jack Crawford
(Eggs, lO/lO/l907). The Nellie Kennedy Company appeared
for three nights October 10, 11 and 12 (Eggs, lO/lO/l907).
Gorton's Minstrels completed the month with an appearance
on October 22 (Nsss, 10/17/1907).

A "mammoth scenic and electrical spectacular
revival" of the original version of 22212.22fll§.92222.
took place at the Opera House on November 4 (Eggs, 10/24/
1907). T§s_Missouri‘§ssl closed the year's theatrical

 

55Mantle, p. ”09.
56Ib1d., p. A73.

92

events at the Opera House on November 8 (Nsss, 11/7/1907).
Nothing happened at the Opera House in December although
the Bijou Theatre hosted a variety show in conjunction
with its moving pictures.

1908

Moving picture competition accelerated greatly in
1908 with the Opening of three new 5¢ theatres - Wilson,
Star and Royal. These theatres often had vaudeville acts
along with the moving pictures. This increased competi-
tion was reflected at the Opera House where the number
of professional companies decreased to sixteen from over
twenty-three the previous year.

J. C. Rockwell's New Sunny South Company, an
all-Negro organization, Opened the new year on January
30 at the Opera House (Banner, 1/23/1908). On February
lO,‘gss;s.gsss.Jenkins, a New England comedy, came to
Belding (Banner, 2/6/1908).

The Kalamazoo College Glee and Mandolin Club,
which had been so well received in 1907, returned to the
Opera House on March 14 under the sponsorship of the
Baptist Young Peoples Society (Banner, 3/5/1908). Tss
Little Prospector with Chic Perkins appeared on March 20,
followed six nights later on March 26 by David Edwin's
Ms;s_Nss Husband, produced by Harry Scott and Company
(Banner, 3/19/1908).

The only event to take place at the Opera House

93

in April was a citizens' meeting to suggest and arrange
entertainment for the summer season and make arrangements
for the governor's visit (Banner, h/25/1908). For the
benefit of the Holy Trinity Mission a local talent group
staged SleepingBeauty on May 12 and 13 (Banner, h/BQ/
1908). Richard and Pringle's Minstrels, billed as the
oldest in the business, booked Belding for May 19 (Banner,
5/14/1908). On May 29 J. C. Lewis' production 0f.§l

Plunkard, well known to Belding residents, reappeared

 

(Banner, 5/28/1908). Masgue stCulture, the senior class
play, was presented on June 24 (Banner, 6/18/1908).

After six weeks of inactivity events began again
at the Opera House on August 6 with Miss Mary Carew
starring in the Moonshiner's Daughter (Banner, 7/30/1908).
Pathe's Vaudeville Company performed on August 17 and 18
at the Opera House (Banner, 8/13/1908), followed by
‘Bgsss_l§ Arizona on August 25 (Banner, 8/20/1908).

September's only performance was Fred Raymond's
melodrama 21Q_Arkansas on September 19. On the previous
Tuesday it had been in Ionia where it had pleased a full
house (Banner, 9/19/1908). £sss_Rivers which appeared
on October 7 came to Belding from an engagement in
Petoskey (Banner, 10/1/1908). On October 18 the Opera
House patrons saw Quincy sssms_8asyer which, since its
last appearance in Belding, had had a successful run in

New York (Banner, 10/8/1908).

9h

The musical comedy District Leader was presented

 

by a h2-member cast on November 5 (Banner, 10/22/1908).
The show had played at Wallack's Theatre in New York,
beginning April 30, 1906.57 Germain sss_Wizard, recog-
nized as the greatest magician on the platform, appeared
on November 11 (Banner, 11/5/1908).

The West Henry Stock Company closed the year on
December 7, 8 and 9 with 10¢, 20¢ and 30¢ tickets, the
lowest prices in many years (Banner, 12/3/1908).

1909

Only thirteen professional theatre companies
appeared in Belding in 1909, a drOp of two from 1908
and nine from 1907. The first event to take place at
the Opera House in the year was an amateur production of
Cinderella and sss_slsss_Slipper on January 28 and 293
The show played to a full house on Opening night, but a
bad storm diminished the crowd on the second night; still
the sponsoring group, the St. Mary's Guild, made $105
profit (Banner, 2/h/1909).

On February 4 the local theatre-goers were treated
to an excellent production Of the well-known play Efillfl
Garrick, (Banner, 1/28/1909) which had first been pro-
duced in London in 1864 and in New York at Wallack's

8
Theatre in 1873.5 The romantic actor Clifton Malory

 

57Ibid., p. 51h.
58Ibid., p. 568.

95

played the title role.

The Opera House became the scene of citizens'
meetings on March 7 and 14 to listen to speakers and
discuss "the local Option" - whether Belding would
continue to be a "wet" (where alcoholic beverages could
be served) community or whether it would become "dry".
Such meetings always Opened with the singing of "America"
and a prayer.. Local quartets and similar groups performed
between speeches (Banner, 3/11/1909).

W. P. Hetherington, Opera House manager, made a
move in March to absorb at least part of his competition.
On March 18 the Belding Banner announced that P. J.
Andrews, prOprietor of the Royal Theatre, and Hetherington
had formed a partnership designed to enable amusement-
loving peOple to witness the best class of moving pictures
in comfortable seats and without having to wait in line
on busy nights. A fire-proof projection room was installed
at the Opera House for safety.59 The Banner article
marks the first and only admission by Hetherington that
movies had made their influence felt in the theatre
world. The article continued by saying:

The moving picture business has made

such inroads into the business of the regu-
lar traveling theatrical companies that Mr.
Hetherington has found the Opera House an

elephant on his hands, so has decided to
try this venture with Mr. Andrews. Of

 

59Belding Banner, March 18, 1909.

96

course, should any theatrical companies

desire to book for this city, the picture

show will stand aside for a night, but

otherwise the public will find the Opera

House Open on gaery weekday for their

entertainment.
The Opera House Opened in this capacity on March 27, 1909
(Banner, 3/25/1909).

0 Scar O'Shea in gssg_s£_Tramps held the stage on
April 1 at the Opera House (Banner, 3/25/1909). Three
nights later on April 3 a mass meeting for men only was
held at the Opera House to discuss the "local option"
issue (Banner, h/l/l909). 3222.32.3222 Friends by W. B.
Patton appeared on April 13. An article in the same
issue of the Banner as that play advertisement noted
that Belding had gone "dry" (Banner, h/8/l909).

Nothing else was staged until the senior class
play gsss_on June 15 (Banner, 6/10/1909). Another local
talent production Master Mss_followed on July 20 (Banner,
7/15/1909).

Stage productions were few in the spring and
summer, but the Opera House still functioned with success
as a moving picture house. In July Hetherington bought
the equipment from his partner P. J. Andrews and the
Opera House was reported to be a very popular place of

entertainment on week nights because of its fine, un-

obJectionable pictures, and its ample comfortable seating

 

TUIt id .

97

space (Banner, 7/29/1909).

A calendar of theatre events to take place in
the coming months at the Opera House and printed in the
Belding Banner noted that moving pictures would be shown
between all acts at every performance. The fall season
opened in August with three plays offered to theatre

patrons: Moonshiner's Daughter, August 10 (Banner, 8/5/'

 

1909); Lsss_Rivers,August 19 (Banner, 8/12/1909); and

In September Belding citizens had an Opportunity
to attend a production at the Opera House once a week.
[Tss_ssgls_sss.£ss_gs_appeared September 1 (Banner, 7/29/
1909). ng_Puncher, written by Hal Reid, came on Septem-
ber 8 (Banner, 9/2/1909). 222%}. £2291 1:22. U.S.A.
traveled to Belding on September 17 after a run in Fort
Wayne, Indiana (Banner, 9/9/1909). A portion of a poster
advertising this play still hangs on an Opera House wall.

A new play by W. B. Patton, Blockhead, was presented on

 

September 21 (Banner, 9/16/1909).
At this time the Belding Banner tried to give the
Opera House a needed boost and encourage better attendance.

The Opera House since its enlargement

and convenient dressing rooms under the stage
is attracting plays and players who give high~
class entertainments and Mr. Hetherington is
entitled to much credit for booking fine plays
and giving our citizens an opportunity of wit-
nessing some of the best dramatic talent and
high class Operas. Among the excellent enter-
tainments which have been given there of late

98

were "The Blockhead", "As Told in the Hills",
and "The Girl That's All the Candy", the
latter being given last Saturday night,
which drew a good house and was greatly
enjoyed. It costs a lot of money to get
good plays here and they should be encours1
aged when they do come by good patronage.
The Girl That's All Candy, which appeared at the
Opera House on October 2 (Banner, 9/30/1909), had a drama
attached which was not part of the script. Miss Bernice
Cunningham of Lansing had run away from home and joined
the company as part of a chorus line. Her father, George
Cunningham, followed her to Belding to take her home.
Mr. Cunningham proved persuasive for the Belding Banner
reported: "Miss Cunningham, who had become stage-struck
and ran away with the company, was willing to accompany
her father home, as abbreviated lingerie did not seem to
appeal to her as strongly as it did at first."62
Harry Shannon's comedy, The Banker's Child, on
October 19 and Uncle Tom's Cabin on October 22 finished
the theatrical activities at the Opera House for the
month (Banner, lO/lh/1909).
Lyman H. Howe's travel festival of motion pictures
arrived on November 2 with pictures of Algeria and "other

places where the average traveler never went" (Banner,

10/21/1909). This was the only event aside from regular

 

61
Belding Banner, October 7, 1909.

62Ibid.

99

movies at the Opera House in November, and December
offered little more. A jubilee group called the South-
land Nightingales did perform on December 8 after the
junior class play Flowerland had been presented on Decem-
ber 3 (Banner, 11/25/1909).
1910

No professional theatre activities took place in
January 1910 at the Opera House but in February two shows
passed through Belding. The weird melodrama TEE fissss s£
s Thousand Candles which had originally run two weeks at
New York's Daly Theatre in January 1908 appeared on the
Belding stage February 17 (Banner, 2/10/1910). 222.
Toymakers, a musical absurdity by Charles F. Pidgin,
played on February 2” (Banner, 2/17/1910).

Local talent Of the Ladies' Social Circle Opened

the new month on March 1 and 2 with Kittie O'Connor, a

 

romantic Irish drama, and grossed $211.75 (Banner, 3/3/
1910). The professionals returned to the stage on March

8 with T113 ["21 gs 1_:_h_e_ Egg-g (Banner, 3/3/1910). The Belding
High School Athletic Association brought the Kalamazoo
Glee Club to Belding on March 1h (Banner, 3/10/1910).

On March 21 the Barteno Vaudeville Company performed

and two nights later, March 23, 222 Tssss_Cattle 5325.

was presented (Banner, 3/17/1910).

For the second time in six months, Lyman Howe's

picture company came to the city. His Travel Festival,

100

which appeared April 7, this time included Switzerland,
Scotland, India and the U.S. Army (Banner, 3/2C/1910).

Ferocious Siberian wolves in a realistic snow-
storm were the featured attraction of Daniel E222£.2£.22£.
232%}! the next performance on April 18 (Banner, h/h/1910).
The last production of the month was by J. C. Rockwell's
New Sunny South Company on April 25. They advertised
themselves as "entirely different from other colored
companies - clean to a fault and not a line or action to
which exception could be taken." They carried a band
and held a parade at noon (Banner, h/2l/1910).

s Tssss_Ranger, with brass band and orchestra,
appeared on May 6 (Banner, u/28/l910), followed by a
local talent production of QEBEX gsyss on May 11 and 12
given for Holy Trinity Mission (Banner, 5/19/1910). A
dramatized version Of §£n Eggs, a famous novel of the
South,was presented on May 21 for 75¢ and $1 (Banner,
5/19/1910). On June 15 the senior class play, Tss

Deacon's Second Wife, brought live drama to a close until

 

fall (Banner, 6/9/1910).

Stereoptican pictures of Joliet prison, with a
lecture and vaudeville acts, entertained citizens at the
Opera House on June 23 (Banner, 6/23/1910). Stereoptican
and other forms of moving pictures lacked the SOphisti-
cation of our movies today and were Often criticized, as

would be their successor television, for having damaging

101

effects upon the eyes. One such criticism appeared in
the Belding Banner on the same page with advertisements
for the 5¢ moving pictures. ". . . Flickering of moving
pictures attended almost nightly for two months by a
Mr. Britt is said to have aggravated former eye trouble
until he is almost blind."63

August began a more active fall season. Four

companies appeared in Belding during that month. The

Girl From Home Opened the season on August 11 (Banner,

 

 

9/9/1910) and the rural comedy, Tss_Farmer's Daughter,
followed on August 18 (Banner, 9/11/1910). On August 2h
'Tss_Vu1ture starred Miss Allie Ehismore at a slight raise
in prices to 25¢, 35¢, 50¢ and 75¢ (Banner, 9/18/1910).
.EEE.§EEE.EEEE.U°S-A° returned on August 30 (Banner, 9/25/'
1910).

"An audience. . . altogether too small for a pro-
duction of such merit" was on hand at the Opera House on

September 6 for The Bowery Detective (Banner, 9/8/1910).
Joshua Simpkins, in its twelfth year, played at the Opera

 

House on September 12 (Banner, 9/22/1910) and Tss_College
.Bsy appeared on September 22 and 23 (Banner, 9/22/1910).
Two plays were presented to the public in October:
Eggs Rivers on October 7 (Banner, 9/22/1910) and 222.92292.
9222.0“ October 27 (Banner, 10/20/1910). Lyman Howe and

 

63:61.1” July 7, 1910.

102

his Travel Festival came to Belding once again on October
31, this time with pictures of King Edward's funeral,

the Japanese jubilee, fiords of Norway, the Eiffel Tower
and Mt. Etna in eruption (Banner, 10/6/1910).

Little happened on the stage at the Opera House
in November and December. A November 3 Republican rally
(Banner, 11/3/1910) and a citizens' meeting to organize
the board of trade on December 13 (Banner, 12/8/1910)
were the only activities besides the senior class play
produced on December 9 and entitled :22 Captain s£_P1 -
E2233! a parody on "The Courtship of Miles Standish"
(Banner, 12/15/1910).

1911

In January 1911 Lyman Howe again came to Belding
with a new program Of moving pictures in "actual hues of
nature". His moving pictures of a trip in a dirigible
balloon, a ride in the swiftest motor boat and a danger-
Ous bull fight were featured on January 16 (Banner, 1/5/'
1911). Later, on January 27, the Opera House hosted a
Farmer's Institute. Ladies of St. Mary's Guild produced
Issss_County §E$£.°n February 27 and 28 after a ten-week
absence of any stage show in Belding (Banner, 2/23/1911)

March proved slightly more active with meetings
on the local Option question being held once more at the
Opera House. John Lehn addressed the first meeting on

the temperance question on March 12. (Banner, 3/9/1911)

103

For the first time since October, a professional company
performed in Belding three nights, March 20, 21 and 22,
with a change of show each night (Banner, 3/16/1911).

On March 25 and 26 the Opera House was the scene of

more meetings on the liquor question. The evening of
March 25 M. G. Hotchkiss gave an illustrated lecture on
the battle of Gettysburg (Banner, 3/23/1911). A drama
Of American social life, 222.31221 Settlement, which

 

appeared at the Opera House on March 28, drew this comment
from the Banner.

. . . Only a small audience for "The

Final Settlement". Hetherington tries to
give good attractions but when shows meet
with such a chilly reception it does not
encourage him 83 secure many more shows
of like merit.

The following month's only show in Belding, fl.
Cowboy's Girl, appeared on April 20 after holding a
street concert in the afternoon (Banner, 4/13/1911).
Two professional groups visited Belding in May: Alan
Villair and his company with Jim and the Singer on May
16 (Banner, 5/9/1911) and Just s Woman's Way on May 25
(Banner, 5/18/1911). Memorial Day exercises were held
at the Opera House on May 30 although there was some
misunderstanding over who was to pay the $15 to secure

the Opera House auditorium (Banner, 5/25/1911).

Theatrical activities began again at the Opera

 

541bid., March 30, 1911.

104

House on September 6 with s Psss_s£_Country 5122! a
production with special scenery representing New York
harbor and a full view of the Brooklyn Bridge (Banner,
8/31/1911). 211s W McCarty on September 19 (Banner,
9/7/1911) and Camille on September 21 (Banner, 9/21/1911)
also offered Belding patrons entertainment during the
month. The latter play was the road version of Camille
as revived by Edward C. White at the Garden Theatre in
New York in April 1911. The play had originally been
done in New York at the Broadway Theatre in December
1853.65

The Girl from U.S.A. returned to Belding a third

 

time on October 18 (Banner, 10/5/1911), followed by
Lyman Howe's pictures on October 24 of the terrible
Austin, Pennsylvania flood (Banner, 10/5/1911). The
month closed with.Ihs Golden gslsh, a local talent effort
under the Sponsorship of the Knights of Pythias (Banner,
10/12/1911).

EEEX.E$22! after 287 performances at the Daly,
Majestic and Lyric Theatres in New York beginning August
23, 1910,66 appeared at the Belding Opera House on Novem-
ber 3 (Banner, 10/12/1911). A melodrama with"hope in its

theme", Human Hearts, was presented November 14 (Banner,

 

65Mantle, p. 444.
661b1d., p. 422.

105

11/9/1911). Clarence Bennett, who had starred at the
Opera House in s_§sysl_§lsys, returned to Belding in
2133 M flag on November 16 (Banner, 11/16/1911).
This play, originally produced at Wallack's Theatre in
New York in 1905, had been revived in January 1911 at
the Broadway Theatre in New York.67

The year closed with productions of 292.222E2.
EEQ.£EE.£2§Z.°“ November 27 (Banner, 11/23/1911) and
.222l2.22fl£2.922$fl.°n December 2 (Banner, 11/30/1911).

1912

The first play Of 1912 was £E$9.lfl.EEll2 written
by Eugene Walter, a fairly well-known early twentieth
century American playwright. He was an early rebel who
rejected happy endings and sweet young heroines. Eéig.
is_§sll is the story of a man who would have traded his
wife to save himself. With this play Walter really
began his attack on theatre conventions.68 It had played
167 performances at the Astor Theatre in New York begin-
ning February 25, 1908.69 The play was produced in
Belding on January 16 after being billed as the"greatest
and most pOpular play ever produced in America." Some

five companies traveled with it in 1911 (Banner, 1/4/1912).

Lyman Howe's company once more showed pictures at

 

671bid., p. 436.

581bid., p. 387.

691bid., p. 559.

106

the Opera House on February 16, this time pictures of
flying machines, hunting by aeroplane and the recent
eruption of Mt. Etna (Banner, 11/8/1912). The following
night, February 17, J. C. Rockwell's Sunny South Company
held the stage. They had been well received in Belding
several times before (Banner, 2/8/1912).

Harry J. Webster's Amusement Company brought Ths.

Convict's Daughter to the Belding stage on March 13

 

(Banner, 3/14/1912). On March 19 Gaskill and McVilly's
'Thisosary, which had played three months in Chicago and
two in New York, appeared (Banner, 3/7/1912). The
Greenville Glee Club Minstrels concluded the month with
a performance at the Opera House on March 29 (Banner, 3/
28/1912).

The Missouri Girl, which claimed 1000 house

 

records throughout the country, played on April 11 (Banner,
4/4/1912). Oscar Eagle, a one-time director for David
Belasco, brought Beverly, George Barr McCutcheon's romance
of war, to Belding on April 22 after a long run in Chicago.
Beverly passed through Belding on the way to the larger
cities of Kalamazoo and Saginaw (Banner, 4/18/1912).

The Alvarado Stock Company opened a week's engage-
ment at the Opera House on April 29 with a change Of plays

every night: Westerner, The Minister and the Maid, Way

 

Down East Folks, Old Homestead, The Price 23 Silence,

 

 

Captured sy_Wireless, and The Girl s§_Eagle Ranch. The

 

 

107

Banner declared it the best stock company of its kind
to ever visit Belding (Banner, 4/25/1912).

May 22 marked the last professional performance
until fall with the Mason Brothers production of Uncle
Tom's Cabin (Banner, 5/16/1912).

An early summer Industrial edition of the Belding
Banner had the following to say with regard to the Opera
House.

. . . it is to be regretted, however,

that our theatre-going people fail to take
advantage of the finer Offerings booked
and as a result the better class of com-
panies have seen fit to turn our peOple
down. The stage is ample for the produc-
tion of almost any of the pOpular plays of
the day and it is certainly too bad that

some of Mr. Hetherington's past bookin
have been accorded such slim patronage.

0

The Ladies Social Circle broke the summer lull in
theatre activity by booking the National Troubadour Com-
pany for July 9 (Banner, 7/4/1912). The fall season,
however, did not begin until the appearance of 222.!Efliif
sssls Daughters on August 26 (Banner, 8/22/1912).

fi.§2¥21.§l2!2 on September 2 (Banner, 8/29/1912)
and The Lion 229.222.!2222.°n September 9 (Banner, 9/5/
1912) were next to play at the Belding Opera House. Lyman

Howe showed his Travel Festival again on October 18

(Banner, 10/10/1912), followed by Santan Sanderson on

 

 

7OBelding Banner, Industrial Edition, 1912.

Tl-

 

 

 

 

108

October 23 (Banner, 10/17/1912). A crowded Opera House
greeted Senator William Alden Smith on October 28 (Banner,
10/31/1912).

Essss_pleased Belding theatre-goers at the Opera
House on November 19. A_§ssl_s£.§hs_Underworld, a comedy
which was "not risque and vulgar and would not cause one
pang of shame", played on November 25 (Banner, 11/14/1912).
The year closed with the ReRue Brothers Ideal Minstrels
on December 3 (Banner, 11/28/1912).

The most important item affecting the history of
the Opera House in December came from another theatre.
"Owing to great demand for high class pictures, and for
the benefit of farmers, Star Theatre will give Saturday
matinees at 2:30 for 5¢."71 Competition for the Belding
Opera House was increasing.

1913

Scenes Of New York skyscrapers and how they are
built; dynamiting a mountain; a pictorial excursion
through quaint Holland: a model military academy at
Culver, Indiana showing a student's life from raw recruit
to graduation day all marked the Opening event Of 1913
by Lyman Howe on January 17 (Eggs, 1/9/1912). Graustark,

 

dramatized by George D. Baker from the novel by George

Barr McCutcheon, played on January 24 for 50¢, 75¢ and

 

71Belding Banner, December 5, 1912.

109

$1.00 (Eggs, 1/16/1912).

The most important theatrical attraction of the
season came to Belding on February 11. The company had
just come from Detroit and continued on to Grand Rapids.
The Belding Nsss_and the theatre encouraged attendance.

Manager Hetherington wishes to impress
upon local playgoers and church people the
unusual importance of "The Light Eternal",
the big religious drama announced for pre-
sentation at the Belding Opera House Tuesday
February 11. Never before in the history of
Michigan theatricals has any attraction, no
matter what its size, reputation, or merit
been able to accomplish the things done by
"The Light Eternal". Within a period of
about two years there have been more perform-
ances of this play given in Michigan than
almost any other drama or comedy in five
times that period.

"The Light Eternal" has played every
large town and city of the state from six
to twenty-four times2during the two past
theatrical seasons.

February 17 Thoroughbred Tsssp, a play ".
holding up the mirror Of nature and revealing the mysteries
of the workings of crime in some of the big cities,"
appeared on the Belding stage (Nsss, 2/13/1913).

The new month brought only one play to the Opera
House - County Sheriff by Lem B. Parker on March 13 (Nsss,
3/6/1913). John G. Woolley of Illinois, Prohibition Party
candidate for president in 1900, Spoke at the Opera House
on March 22 (M, 3/20/1913).

A. G. Delamater, prominent producing manager of

 

72Belding News, February 6, 1913-

110

New York, announced that Freckles, dramatized from the

 

novel by Neil Twomey, would play in Belding on April 9
(News, 4/3/1913). Freckles first appeared at the Grand

 

Opera House in New York on December 16, 1912.73 A per-
formance of 92232.32ELE.§22$22 called that "exceptionally
good emotional drama destined to outlast the period
originally planned for its story" by the Belding Nsys,
took place on May 3 (Nsss, 4/17/1913). Captain George

W. McBride addressed a Decoration Day crowd at the Opera
House on May 30 (Nsss, 5/22/1913).

Theatrical events began again on August 21 with
Ths_2h$s£, by Henri Bernstine, which had played for a
year at the Lyceum Theatre in New York (NsEs, 8/21/1913).
Iss_Shepherd s£_shs.gslls_followed on September 15 (Eggs,
9/11/1913).

Ths_Wizard s£_Wiseland, which appeared on October
6, received the following review.

The Wizard of Wiseland came and went
Monday. During its meteoric career it
neither electrified or dazzled us, although
it did please a fairly large audience which
was gathered in the Opera house expressly
to be pleased. There were some good musical
numbers, notably "Kathleen", the chorus were
well-drilled, good-looking and agile, there
were but two scenic settings but they were
good ones. The ladies, however, considered
the handsomest male thing in the entire cast~
was the lion - he looked honest if he was

 

73Mantle, p. 488.

111

imitation. It was a show built to get
laughsuand we laughed at it. Done us
good.

A Tom Thumb wedding with sixty little children
trained by Mrs. Elery, a Belding school teacher, took
the Opera House stage on October 28 (Nsss, 10/23/1913).
The children rehearsed on the Opera House stage several
nights prior to the performance and often got into
trouble. They were dressed for a wedding with the little
girl in a long train and the boy in a swallow-tail coat,
and there were a number of flower girls. "A night or
two before when they were practicing up there I sure
thought it was going to be somethin', because those kids
wanted to be into everything and everything was new to
them and so, but the night the show come off, say, them
kids went right through that thing. . . and it was just
dandy."75

The last two professional shows of the year took
place in November. The first was Brewster's Millions on
November 7 (Nsss, 10/30/1913), followed on November 17
by MW 222.131 (NE-gs, 11/13/1913). The last event
Of the year, a public mock court trial on December 15,
was sponsored by the Ladies Social Circle and drew a
large crowd (Nsss, 11/27/1913).

The year 1913 marked the beginning Of the rapid

 

71LBelding News, October 9, 1913.
75Interview with Wes Porter, February 12, 1965.

112

decline of the Belding Opera House. Eighteen professional
shows were presented in Belding on the stage at the Opera
House in 1912. Only eleven appeared there in 1913 and
the new year of 1914 would bring only six, less than
before the Opera House was remodeled in 1901. The
reasons for this decline will be examined more fully in
a following chapter but one fact points to much of the
trouble. The Idle Hour, Majestic and Star moving picture
theatres were in Operation six nights per week plus
Saturday matinees.
1914

No show appeared in January, but the February
16 production of EEEEE.E§E.IEE$1.D1V1G95 played to a
crowded house (Banner, 2/18/1914). Two shows were staged
at the Opera House in March. The first, a local talent

production of Alice is Wonderland sponsored by the Pythian

 

Sisters, played on March 12 and 13 with considerable
success (Banner, 3/11/1914). Ths_Flaming £522!) booked
for March 26, cancelled at the last minute because the
costumes and scenery did not arrive, although the cast
did (Banner, 4/1/1914).

On April 3 Horatio S. Earle spoke at the Opera
House on the "good roads prOposition". A concert on
April 10 featured Miss Lulu Jones Downing, composer-
pianist, and Miss Isabel Richardson, mezzo sOprano. Miss

Richardson was the daughter of G. P. Richardson of the

113

Richardon Silk Company (Banner, 4/1/1914). The high

school chorus performed H.M.S. Pinafore on June 16

 

(Banner, 6/10/1914).

The fall theatre "bill" began on August 19 with
Spendthrift, written by Porter Emerson Brown and produced
by c. s. Primrose (Banner, 8/5/1914). 22395312 Divide,
which had played 500 nights at Daly's Theatre in New
York, played at Belding August 26 (Banner, 8/5/1914).
Ths_§$ghs_Eternal returned on September 3, followed on
September 9 by the gsss_8amaritan (Banner, 8/5/1914).

The Trust s£_the Lonesome Pine, booked to appear

 

in October, was cancelled because Klaw and Erlanger, the
booking agent, claimed an enfringement of dramatic rights
and Manager Hetherington feared a law suit. The year
closed on December 8 with Ths_Forbidden Wsy, a play with
"a moral punch" (Banner, 12/2/1914).
1915

Even less activity took place at the Opera House
in 1915 than had occurred there in 1914. Only three
professional plays were presented. The Opera House lay
idle in January but on February 19 J. C. Rockwell's
popular New Sunny South Company displayed their talent
(News, 2/11/1915). Belding Lodge NO. 120, K. P. Cabaret
Minstrels performed on April 27 and 28, but nothing else
appeared until September (Nsss, 4/7/1915).

Two plays appeared in September of this last

114

year of professional theatre at the Belding Opera House.
Henpecked Hsssy_played on September 4 (Nsss, 9/1/1915)
and Within Ehshsss_was performed on September 22 (Eggs,
9/15/1915). September also brought a new manager to the
Belding Hotel and Opera House. E. W. Dunham replaced
the retiring W. P. Hetherington.76 The new manager
evidently made no attempt to book theatrical companies
for only two more appeared and they had, no doubt, been
booked months in advance. The Dixie Cotton Pickers gave
a show on November 1 (Nsss, 10/27/1915). The year, and
thus professional theatre in Belding, closed on November
10 with EEEEE.§E§.§21.(ESE§! 11/3/1915). Twenty-seven
years Of theatrical activity at the Belding Opera House
had ended.
1916 to Present

After the change of management at the Opera House
in 1915 no further attempts were made to book professional
theatrical companies. The Opera House, in 1916 and 1917,
once more housed the winter concert series with outside
sponsorship, was the scene of the senior play as it had
been many times in the past, and hosted evangelistic
services. For many years after the curtain fell on the
last professional road play, the Belding Opera House

continued to serve the community as a place for dances,

 

7bBeldin News, October 4, 1916,

115

amateur productions, political rallies, revivals, lectures,
and concerts.

The Opera House was used in this manner until 1925
when the school board of the city rented it to be used as
a gymnasium. Boys and girls had physical education in the
Opera House during this period and many basketball games
were played where theatre patrons had once watched EEEEE.
and §l_Plunkard. Girls and boys both played basketball
at that time and Mrs. R. A. Rummler, whose father came
to Belding as superintendent of schools in 1925, recalls
that the stage and rear windows of the Opera House were
hazardous Obstacles to ball players.77 This activity
continued until the new high school was built in 1931.

Exactly what happened to the Opera House during
the next ten years is not known, but it is assumed that
it reverted to some of its Old civic functions and that
perhaps dances and lectures were once again held there.

On November 1, 1941 the Belding Hotel was closed because
of lack of business.78 In 1944 the buildings were sold
and the Hotel was razed to make way for a large new movie
theatre. The Opera House and stores below it remained,
although the Opera House was given a face-lifting. All

the remaining seats were removed and the walls and ceiling

 

77Telephone interview with Mrs. R. A. Rummler,
Feb. 11, 1965.

78Thurza Durea Scrapbook, held by Alvah N. Belding
Library.

116

redecorated. All the scenery and stage equipment were
disposed of and a band shell was installed on the stage.79
Today on the downstage side of the proscenium arch hangs
a large curtain with the initials RBR on it. (See Fig. A)
A placque bearing a 1958 date hangs on the wall near the
entrance and gives recognition to the Rose Ball Room for
ten years of service to the community. Thus, the Belding
Opera House has been used in the capacity of a ballroom
at least since 1948.

The dressing rooms under the stage have been
modified several times to accommodate public restrooms.
Just when these improvements took place is not known.
Since 1963 the Opera House has taken on an added function.
It is now used several nights a week for roller skating.
Except for the shell of the building and those facilities
which are almOst unalterable, not a great deal is left
Of the early Belding Opera House, once the social center

and pride of the Belding community.

 

‘79Mrs. Donald Olmstead, letter, Jan. 4, 1962.

C HAPTER IV
C ONC LUS I ONS

This chapter classifies and summarizes the events
which took place at the Opera House in order to give a
better over-all picture from which to draw conclusions.
With the summary as a reference point and with the
addition Of other factual material, several subjective
conclusions are reached: (1) the Opera House was built
as a business investment and to fulfill a community need;
(2) the original facilities were outdated when built; and
(3) the moving picture caused the decline in legitimate
drama.

The Belding Opera House was built in 1888-89 by
the Belding Brothers who formed the Belding Land and
Improvement Company for this purpose. From 1889 until
1901 existing records show that a total of 98 events took
place at the Opera House, of which only 29 could be called
legitimate drama. Major improvements were made at the
Opera House in the summer of 1901. They included the
erection Of a large scene house and stage and an increased
seating capacity. From 1901 until 1915 when the Belding
Opera House closed to legitimate theatre, a total of 331
events occurred. Of these, 215 were legitimate drama of
the repertory or the single professional show type. Dur-
ing the life of the Opera House from 1889 to 1915, 185
other events were recorded. These activities included

35 amateur productions, 33 lectures and concerts not

118

119

sponsored by the Opera House management, 35 minstrel
shows and vaudeville groups, 24 moving picture produc-
tions not a part of a regular schedule of movies, 7
unclassified, and 51 other events such as political
rallies, citizens meetings, religious revivals and social
parties.

In drawing conclusions from these summary facts
and other aSpects of the history of the Belding Opera
House, certain concepts must be kept in mind. The most
important is the reason for the existence of an opera
house in Belding.

The Belding Opera House, Belding Hotel, and
Belding Silk Mills were built because the Belding Brothers,
who had grown up in the small village community and had
started their silk trade there, saw a sound business
Opportunity and were sentimental about their boyhood home.
The Opera House was also built for more specific reasons.
The community had no building which could house a large
number of its citizens. There was no social or cultural
entertainment of a formal nature provided in the commun-
ity. New manufacturing meant more money and more people
of a managerial class who would become a part of the
community. An opera house above two commercial stores
and attached to a magnificent new hotel was a good
business investment as well as an attractive asset to

the business section Of the village, and the Belding

120

 

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121

Opera House appeared to answer community needs.

Based on the recorded number of events which
occurred at the Opera House in the first ten years of its
existence, the severity of Belding's need for an Opera
house and the soundness of an opera house as a business
investment might be questioned. A total Of 98 events,

29 legitimate theatre and 69 others, seems to indicate
that the Opera House was used less than once each month
during these early years. These figures may not tell
the whole truth, however. Accurate records of the number
and nature of activities which took place at the Opera
House between 1889 and 1895 are lost forever. The six
events recorded in this paper for these first five years
are based on less than a handful of newspapers and mis-
cellaneous sources. Any attempt to estimate the number
of productions or other events would be pure conjecture
and of doubtful value.

Also important to note is that the Belding Opera

House was built with a stage designed for grooved scenery.

This stage allowed no space for large machinery and rapid
scene changes through flown drops. The nature of techni-
cal aspects of theatre was changing greatly at the time
the Belding Opera House was built. In a sense, the Beld—
ing Opera House was out-dated when it was built. The
circumstances surrounding the Belding Opera House's early

history and the limitations of its facilities must be

I

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122

 

 

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123

considered in evaluating the usefulness of the Opera
House in the community and its soundness as a business
investment.

As previously documented, considerable moderniza-
tion took place at the Opera House in 1901. There is no
doubt that these improvements contributed greatly to the
increase in activity at the Opera House. During the six
years, 1901 to 1907, following the Opera House renovation
(no records are available for 1902) a total of 173 events
is recorded for an average of 29 per year. In the biggest
year on record before the 1901 remodeling six different
road companies had passed through Belding. In 1905 and
1907, the biggest years after the remodeling, 22 profes-
sional companies stOpped in Belding. In 1906 in an
attempt to provide even more and better companies as well
as security for the traveling companies, W. P. Hethering-
ton and the managers of five other Opera houses in sur—
rounding towns organized a theatre circuit. It is un-
fortunate that only a reference to the organization of
the group is available in existing Belding records.
Further research Opportunities lie in a detailed investi-
gation of the history of each of the opera houses in the
other towns. Such research might reveal more information
concerning the activities and the degree of success of
the theatre circuit.

Other Observations, based on the statistics of

 

124

the events, may be made concerning the use and value of
the Opera House in the community. Amateur events aver-
aged one or two each year with a high of five in 1909.
An average of one lecture or concert took place each
year with a high of five in 1901. Approximately two
events of a social or a miscellaneous nature took place
each year. These do not include extended revival meetings
of seven to thirty days. From the time of their intro-
duction in Belding in 1897, moving pictures were shown
at least once a year. In 1909 Manager Hetherington
showed movies regularly for an undetermined number of
months. Starting in 1896 when the first minstrel show
performed at the Opera House until 1915, approximately
one minstrel group performed each year. The appearance
of vaudeville troupes at the Opera House averaged less
than once a year. Such groups more often appeared at
rival moving picture theatres.

During the peak years of theatrical activity at

 

the Opera House, Belding citizens usually had two Oppor-

 

tunities a month to attend legitimate drama during the
nine-month theatre season. In 1913 and 1914 activities
at the Opera House declined rapidly and by 1915 only
three professional troupes traveled to Belding. .The
reason for the decline and final demise of the Opera
House appears to be obvious. The Belding Opera House,

like many of its kind throughout the midwest, was unable

125

to meet the challenge of effective competition. There
seems little doubt that the moving picture caused the
death of the Belding Opera House as a place of theatrical
entertainment.

Evidence of what was to come began to gather in
1907. Five traveling moving picture companies appeared
at the Opera House in 1906 and on December 26, 1907 the
first two-column full-page advertisement for the Bijou
Theatre appeared. It listed the names of shows and ad-
vertised music by an orchestra every evening for 5¢.1
Competition increased in 1908 with the Opening of two
more 5¢ movie houses, the Star and the Royal. The number
of theatre productions at the Opera House was cut in half
during the year.

The following March Manager Hetherington made an
effort to capitalize on the growing movie business and
to absorb some of his competition at the same time. He
formed a partnership with the owner of the Royal theatre
and began to show moving pictures at the Opera House,
advertising greater comfort and better quality. This
effort ran for at least six months but for unknown
reasons finally died.

During 1910 and 1911, the number of professional

productions increased slightly but never regained the

 

1Belding News, Dec. 26, 1907.

 

126

1904-1907 pace. The quality of productions fell and
when good shows were booked they were Often poorly
attended. Belding newspapers attempted to encourage
attendance but with little success.

In 1913 the number of professional productions
dropped to eleven, the lowest since 1901. Four movie
houses were Operating nightly. One picture theatre was
closed by the state fire marshall in 1914 because of
narrow aisles and an unsafe lantern booth but it soon
reopened with the prOper improvements.2

In 1914 the moving picture theatres were Openly
attacked by local ministers and church members who sought
a movie censor board.3 Local citizens complained about
the quality of the theatres through the columns Of the
neWSpapers, although the printing of citizens' letters
was very unusual in Belding newSpapers at this time. The
following letter appeared on March 4, 1914 in the Belding

Banner.

 

 

Through the columns of your paper I would
like to register a "kick" against the kind of
talent some local picture shows are bringing
here to place on their stages in the vaude-
ville part of their show. Only a few days
ago there was a bunch of colored peOple in
the city that had no respect to themselves
or for the girls and boys of our city. As
they passed down the streets during the day

 

2Belding Banner, April 15, 1914.
31bid., Aug. 19, 1914.

127

they were constantly making demonstrations
to attract attention and many times in a
very suggestive manner. The women were
very brazen in their indecent exposures.

I have children who would be easily
affected by such demonstrations and I am
not alone in saying that Belding peOple
are getting pretty loose when they support
the shows that bring such peOple to the
city. A good clean vaudeville would not
be objectionable occasionally but if we
have them let us have people that will
act as gentlemen and ladies should on our
streets. Let them dress prOperly before
going out on the street and have a certain
measure of regard for our good citizens.

Yours for a bettering of conditions.

A rather“

Indignant fathers and puritan-minded ministers
may have improved the quality of moving picture enter-
tainment but their attack did nothing for the dying
Opera House. Only six professional companies performed
in Belding at the Opera House in 1914, although two others
were booked. Three legitimate productions appeared in
1915.

Why the moving picture was so effective in
strangling the Opera House as a source of entertainment
is best summed up in the words of Wes Porter:

They had picture shows come here and they

would show a picture and some slides with a
singer and you'd go see that for five cents.
Well, the Opera House couldn't compete with
that in price. More than anything else t at
is why the Opera House quit having shows.

There were other reasons, too. There were fewer

 

4Ibid., March n, 1914.
5Porter, Interview, Feb. 12, 1965.

 

128

and fewer good road shows and the good ones demanded a
substantial profit which Belding could seldom provide.
Accentuated realism, which many of the companies tried
to provide in scenes of real sawmills, earthquakes and
erupting mountains, could better be captured in film
than on stage.6

The moving picture, although the most important,
was not the only competition which the Opera House faced.
In the first years of the new century, roller skating
became a popular form of entertainment and thus took
money which might have been Spent on theatrical enter-
tainment. Summer tent shows, sometimes Specializing in
one play such as 22232.22212M92212.°r more often with a
repertoire of several plays, became popular. Summer tent
competition culminated in the Chautauqua which, between
1911 and 1915, often lasted one or two weeks in the

community with a different type of entertainment each

day and night.

 

 

The Belding Opera House had been built in 1889,
partly as a business venture and partly to fulfill the
needs of the community. By 1915 when a total of seven
events took place at the Opera House, it was neither

economically sound nor satisfying community needs.

 

6A1 Nicholas Vardac, Stage ss_Screen, (Cambridge:

Harvard Press, 1949), p. 166.

129

Appendix A

Example of Concert Series Program
Program from Mozart Symphony Club Feb. 28, 1901

Part I
l. Overture-Zampa.......Herold Mozart Symphony Club

2. Viola d'Amour Solo-Prelude and
the Virgin's last Slumber

.......Massenet Mr. Richard Stoelzer
3. Violin Solo-Hungarian Rhapsody
..... .Hauser Miss Marie Stori
4. Cornet Solo-Fantasie....Hoch Herr Theo Hoch

5. a. Da Gamba Solo-Menuett
.......Boccherini
b. Cello Solo-Fantasie Burlesque
.......Servais
6. SOprano Solo-Love in Springtime
........Ardit Miss Marie Stori

Part II

1. Quartette a. Sonata in A Major.. ..... Mozart
b. Intermezzo Russe........Franke
c. Madrigal (Pizzicato)....Palicot
2. Alpine Echo Horn-Idylle.........Hoch (with Zither acc.)
Mr. Blodeck and Herr Theo. Hoch
3. Ballad-Happy Days with Violin Obligato
4. Descriptive Selection (In the Gypsie Camp) Stoelzer
Twilight
Tales by the Watch Fire
The Bugle Call
Invitation to the Dance
xlephone
Bells
Fortune Tellers Story (SaxOphone)
Castonet Solo Dance
Merriment in the Camp
Church Bells Heard in the Distance
Gypsies break camp and retire in sleighs
5. Roman Triumphal Trumpet Herr Theo Hoch

As the last number is a patriotic selection the audience
is requested to refrain from adjusting their wraps until
the close.

 

130

Appendix B

Behind the Scenes A Banner Reporter saw Si Plunkard
---September 24,

There are probably but few of our readers but
what have, at one time or another attended an entertain-
ment at the Opera House and noted the quick transformation
of scenes which are used to illustrate the various acts
in the drama being produced, but few of them have any
idea of the way these changes are brought about.

Through the kindness of the Stage Manager, Claude
Peifer, our reporter, was given a chance to witness the
play of Si Plunkard from behind the scenes last night
and is this permitted to tell to our readers the secrets
which go so far toward interesting the audience in front
of the stage.

In the rear end of the stage there is a large
number of electric switches which control the various
lights used on and off the stage. By means of these
switches many different effects are produced that give
a different tone to the stage settings when Operated.

The curtains are Operated by men 44 feet above
the stage who handle pulleys to which are attached
various drOp curtains used in the production of the play.
These men are instructed before the play and by other
signals as to when they should raise and lower the cur-
tains.

The other stage apparatus is placed in handy
places for convenience and is fastened together with
rOpes that are easily detached at a second's notice.

Take the case of the tramp for instance who
leaned so far forward when so very tired, he had a
pair of hooks fastened to his heels to hold him firmly
to the floor. The threshing machine was Operated by a
man turning a crank as was also the engine. The actors
who appear hideous on the stage present a very good
aSpect from the audience.

Each of the small army of people has something
to do and it must be done quickly, take it all in all the
work of transformation on the stage is a work of hustle
that requires making every move count.

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books
Branch, Rev. E. E. (ed). Histor of Ionia Count ,
Michi an. Vol. I. InaIana561Is: B. F. B6wen
and 00., 1916.

Hewitt, Barnard. Theatre U.S.A. New York: McGraw-Hill
Book CO.,

Hoyt, Harlowe R. Town Hall Tonight. Englewood Cliffs:
Prentice-HaII Inc., .

 

Mantle, Burns. The Best Fla 3 Of 1899-1909. Philadelphia:
Blakistofi_CbTT-I9nn

Mantle, Burns and Sherwood, Garrison. The Best Fla 3 s£_
1909-1919. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 3.

 

Parker, James. Who's Who in the Theatre. Boston: Small,
Maynard and Co., 1922.

Vardac, A. Nicholas. Sta e to Screené Cambridge:
Harvard Univers yPresm

Newspapers

 

Belding Banner
Belding Banner-News

 

Belding Boomerahg
Belding Home News
Belding News

Belding Star
Belding Trade Review

131

 

132

Other Sources
Belding Opera House Program. Mountain Pink, June 5, 1891.

Belding Opera House Program. Rockwell's Sunny South
Company, March 11, 1907.

Olmstead, Mrs. Donald. Private letter. Jan. 2, 1962.

Scrapbook of Thurza Duryea held by Alvah N. Belding
Library.

Scrapbook of E. B. Lapham held by Alvah N. Belding
Library.

. Belding City Council Records, 1901.

. Personal interview with Wesley George Porter,
former Belding Opera House Stage Manager, Feb.
12, 1965.

. Telephone interview with Mrs. R. A. Rummler
of Belding, Feb. 11, 1965.

 

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