Sans Pareil/Adelphi Theatres
Seasonal Digests: 1806-1899
Theatre developments, history, reviews, performers, authors, genres, audiences.
The Adelphi Calendar Project 1806-1900
Alfred L. Nelson and Gilbert B. Cross, General Editors
Theodore J. Seward, Jr., Systems Analyst
The Adelphi Calendar Project 1806-1900
Alfred L. Nelson and Gilbert B. Cross, General Editors
Theodore J. Seward, Jr., Systems Analyst
Copyright © 1988, 1992, 2013 and 2016 by Alfred L. Nelson, Gilbert B. Cross, Joseph Donohue.
Originally published by Greenwood Press as The Sans Pareil Theatre 1806-1819, Adelphi Theatre 1819-1850: An Index to Authors, Titles, Performers, 1988, and The Adelphi Theatre 1850-1900: An Index to Authors, Titles, Performers and Management, 1992.
The Adelphi Theatre Calendar revised, reconstructed and amplified. Copyright © 2016, by Alfred L. Nelson, Gilbert B. Cross, Joseph Donohue. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License, with the exception of graphics from The Clip Art Book, edited by Gerard Quinn and published by Crescent in 1990. These images are reproduced in accord with the publisher’s note, which states "The Clip Art Book is a new compilation of illustrations that are in the public domain. The individual illustrations are copyright free and may be reproduced without permission or payment. However, the selection of illustrations and their layout is the copyright of the publisher, so that one page or more may not be photocopied or reproduced without first contacting the publishers."
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Index to Books
Book 1: Sans Pareil/Adelphi Theatres—Curtain Up: 1806-1899Book 2: Sans Pareil/Adelphi Theatres—Seasonal Digests: 1806-1899
Book 3: Sans Pareil/Adelphi Theatres—Seasonal Summaries: 1806-1849
Book 4: Adelphi Theatre—Seasonal Summaries: 1850-1899
Book 5: Sans Pareil Theatre—Daily Calendars: 1806-1818
Book 6: Adelphi Theatre—Daily Calendars: 1819-1829
Book 7: Adelphi Theatre—Daily Calendars: 1830-1839
Book 8: Adelphi Theatre—Daily Calendars: 1840-1849
Book 9: Adelphi Theatre—Daily Calendars: 1850-1859
Book 10: Adelphi Theatre—Daily Calendars: 1860-1869
Book 11: Adelphi Theatre—Daily Calendars: 1870-1879
Book 12: Adelphi Theatre—Daily Calendars: 1880-1889
Book 13: Adelphi Theatre—Daily Calendars: 1890-1899
Book 14: Sans Pareil/Adelphi Theatres—All-Inclusive Index: 1806-1899
Contents
Index to Books
List of Illustrations
Book 2 Introduction
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1806-1807 Ed. John W. Brokaw
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1807-1808 Ed. John W. Brokaw
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest Summer 1808 Ed. John W. Brokaw
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1808-1809 Ed. John W. Brokaw
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1809-1810 Ed. John W. Brokaw
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest Summer 1810 Ed. John W. Brokaw
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1810-1811 Ed. Frank McHugh
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1811-1812 Ed. Frank McHugh
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1812-1813 Ed. Frank McHugh
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1813-1814 Ed. Frank McHugh
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1814-1815 Ed. Frank McHugh
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1815-1816 Ed. Franklin Case
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1816-1817 Ed. Franklin Case
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1817-1818 Ed. Franklin Case
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1818-1819 Ed. Franklin Case
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1819-1820 Ed. Franklin Case
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1820-1821 Ed. Alfred Nelson & Gilbert Cross
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1821-1822 Ed. Alfred Nelson & Gilbert Cross
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1822-1823 Ed. Alfred Nelson & Gilbert Cross
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1823-1824 Ed. Alfred Nelson & Gilbert Cross
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1824-1825 Ed. Alfred Nelson & Gilbert Cross
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1825-1826 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1826-1827 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1827-1828 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1828-1829 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1829-1830 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest Summer 1830 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1830-1831 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest Summer 1831 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1831-1832 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1832-1833 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest Summer 1833 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1833-1834 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1834-1835 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1835-1836 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1836-1837 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1837-1838 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1838-1839 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1839-1840 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1840-1841 Ed. Franklin & Mary Case
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1841-1842 Ed. Franklin & Mary Case
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1842-1843 Ed. Franklin & Mary Case
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1843-1844 Ed. Franklin & Mary Case
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1844-1845 Ed. Franklin & Mary Case
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1845-1846 Ed. Gayle Harris
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1846-1847 Ed. Gayle Harris
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1847-1848 Ed. Gayle Harris
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1848-1849 Ed. Gayle Harris
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1849-1850 Ed. Gayle Harris
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1850-1851 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1851-1852 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1852-1853 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1853-1854 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1854-1855 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1855-1856 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1856-1857 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1857-1858 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1858-1859 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1859-1860 Ed. Alicia Kae Koger
Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1860-1861 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1861-1862 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1862-1863 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1863-1864 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1864-1865 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1865-1866 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1866-1867 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1867-1868 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1868-1869 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Theatre Royal, Adelphi Seasonal Digest 1869-1870 Ed. Alfrida Lee
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1870-1871 Ed. Frank McHugh & Gilbert Cross
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1871-1872 Ed. Frank McHugh & Gilbert Cross
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1872-1873 Ed. Frank McHugh & Gilbert Cross
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1873-1874 Ed. Frank McHugh & Gilbert Cross
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1874-1875 Ed. Frank McHugh & Gilbert Cross
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1875-1876 Ed. Frank McHugh & Gilbert Cross
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1876-1877 Ed. Frank McHugh & Gilbert Cross
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1877-1878 Ed. Frank McHugh & Gilbert Cross
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1878-1879 Ed. Frank McHugh & Gilbert Cross
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1879-1880 Ed. Frank McHugh & Gilbert Cross
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1880-1881 Ed. Peggy Russo
Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1881-1882 Ed. Peggy Russo
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1882-1883 Ed. Peggy Russo
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1883-1884 Ed. Peggy Russo
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1884-1885 Ed. Peggy Russo
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1885-1886 Ed. Peggy Russo
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1886-1887 Ed. Peggy Russo
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1887-1888 Ed. Peggy Russo
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1888-1889 Ed. Peggy Russo
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1889-1890 Ed. Peggy Russo
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1890-1891 Ed. Meredith Klaus
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1891-1892 Ed. Meredith Klaus
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1892-1893 Ed. Meredith Klaus
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1893-1894 Ed. Meredith Klaus
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1894-1895 Ed. Meredith Klaus
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1895-1896 Ed. Thirza Cady
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1896-1897 Ed. Thirza Cady
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1897-1898 Ed. Thirza Cady
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1898-1899 Ed. Thirza Cady
Royal Adelphi Theatre Seasonal Digest 1899-1900 Ed. Thirza Cady
Iconography
Full Legal Code of License
List of Illustrations
Illustration 1 Iconography
Book 2Introduction
These digests are written by editors to give the "feel" of a season. They are a perfect place for theatre history. For example, the 1806-1807 digest rightly discusses the birth of the Sans Pareil and relates how John Scott, who had made his fortune with a laundry "washing blue," was induced by his stage-struck daughter, Jane, to take buildings behind 411 The Strand and create a theatre for her. It was christened the Sans Pareil (Without Compare), and a long distinguished history began. When Scott sold the house in 1819, it became the Adelphi (brothers), presumably because it stood opposite London's first neo-classical buildings of the same name (Greek Αδελφοι) built by the four Adams brothers between1768 to 1772.
Editors try to capture the spirit of the times. While discussing the improvements to Ben Webster's new theatre in 1858, the Illustrated Times (Jan 1, 1859) praised the new ticketing arrangements: "admission money is paid [and] the theatre-goer has secured his seat for the night without any ulterior trouble, without any chance of having it taken from him." Significantly, the paper adds: "of another new feature in the new theatre, we have some doubt: all the check-takers and box-openers are females." Webster was ahead of his times in hiring women. In 1847, the Theatrical Times complained box-keepers were "noted for their incivility and excessively disobliging propensities" and referred to "the most rapacious and cormorantly inclined box-keeper." Such information is seldom found in traditional theatre histories.
Readers will find commentary on the performances and an assessment of their popularity. Reviews are used extensively throughout. If possible, there is a summary of the plot, criticism of performers and an account of scenic effects. For example, in the 1879-1880 season, the Daily Telegraph praises the sensation scene (but little else) in Dion Boucicault's Rescued. It "is to the carpenter and not the author that praise is due…A bridge is swung aside at the moment when a train bearing the hero and his fortunes is about to cross" and goes on to reveal what happens next. (The spoiler alert had yet to be born.) According to the same source, the audience's morality is affronted by the scene in which Lady Sybil makes advances to the engine driver.
Advertising found a home at the Adelphi. A critical note, published in the 1880s, laments those occupying the gallery receive an inferior, thin, folio sheet, heavily and "odoriferously" printed while those in the expensive seats are "given a scented, octavo programme advertising the perfumer." Programs had space for advertising, bills did not. It was a win-win situation. The enterprising expatriate Frenchman, Eugène Rimmel, not only invented the first non-toxic mascara but was responsible for the first "Smell-O-Vision" play. In the 1871 pantomime, Little Snowwhite, a Fairy Tale (by Charles Millward), Rimmel was credited with adding perfume to the waterfall.
The digests are a perfect home for details about performers—their appearance, popularity and ability. For example, the Theatrical Observer (December 11, 1844), looking back to the birth of the Sans Pareil, prints a carefully modulated description of Jane M. Scott's appearance and talent.
It was delicately hinted that the greedy public not only expected intrinsic merit for their money, but also that it must be hallowed o'er with beauty to secure the first impression. Now Miss Scott, in addition to some natural defects, had the smallpox and rickets unfavorably, but as genius comes in all disguises, she really had great talent, both as an actress and a writer.
Useful information indeed although the reader is left puzzling how it was possible to have smallpox and rickets favorably.
With the Adelphi are connected the names of many performers famous in their day: Frederick Yates, Edward Wright, Paul Bedford, John L. Toole, Madame Céline Céleste, Mrs. Fitzwilliam, Mrs. Keeley, Ben N. Webster, Dion Boucicault, the Billingtons, as well as names whose only record is found in the playbills and programs. During the later seasons of the century, the two great draws were William Terriss and Jessie Millward, who, besides being lovers, took on the roles of "hero" and "heroine" at the Adelphi. The 1897-1898 digest is the appropriate place for an account of the murder of matinee idol "Breezy Bill."
Editors note such important theatrical developments as the royalty system, which began with the production of Boucicault's The Colleen Bawn in the 1860-1861 season. He proposed to Ben Webster they share the profits. Whereas the playwright had made £300 for his highly successful, London Assurance (1841, Covent Garden), he now found himself richer by ten thousand pounds.
Adaptations of contemporary authors flourished at the Adelphi and are recorded in the digests. In 1846, the Theatrical Times complained translations of foreign plays are preferred over those written by native talent. Moreover, native talent was spurned. "Some thousands of plays of all kinds are…submitted to the managers of our theatres for their approval. They are taken in, doomed never to see the light again."
It is true that in the mid-19th century, the Adelphi hosted some French operettas, including La Belle Hélène, but in 1867, the Adelphi gave English comic opera a boost by hosting the premiere of Arthur Sullivan's first successful comic opera, Cox and Box. Such information is found in the digests.
The endless demand for new plays discouraged any attempt to write thoughtful dramas, so adaptations and translations (particularly from the French) flourished. Many stories and novels by Charles Dickens were adapted for the Adelphi stage. The first was John Baldwin Buckstone's The Christening (1834), a farce based on the story "The Bloomsbury Christening." More of Dickens' early works appeared, including William Rede's The Peregrinations of Pickwick; or, Boz-i-a-na (1837). Edward Stirling adapted Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby in 1838. An attempt to dispense with the novelist himself produced The Fortunes of Smike; or, A Sequel to Nicholas Nickleby, which did not prosper, and Stirling returned to the master with The Old Curiosity Shop; or, One Hour from Humphrey's Clock (1840). Soon Dickens was making arrangements with theatres to adapt his work. At least, he had some remuneration for his efforts.
While Dickens was a particular favorite of Adelphi audiences, native dramatists eventually began coming into their own. James R. Planché, William Buckstone, Mark Lemon, John Oxenford, Henry Pettitt, George Sims, Frederick Yates and Tom Taylor tried hard to raise the taste of audiences. Dion Boucicault staged more plays at the Adelphi than elsewhere—thirty-seven. He finally gained audience sympathies for the plight of the distressed Irish.
Editors draw attention to the differing genres as they grew and diminished in popularity. These designations reflect changing tastes, not only of the Adelphi audience but others. The patent houses lurched from crisis to crisis, but the Adelphi generally prospered. Originally opened as a place to perform songs, dances and recitations, the house evolved into the home of "Adelphi Screamers"—melodramas in the modern sense of the word, with appropriate terror and romance—all found amidst the most dramatic of settings.
The digests may be eclectic, but they are none the worse for it.
GBCBook 2: Sans Pareil/Adelphi Theatres—Seasonal Digests: 1806-18991
Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest 1806-1807Ed. John W. Brokaw
The merchant John Scott, founder of the Sans Pareil, made his fortune with a washing blue of his invention, "Old True Blue," "for bluing stockings, fine and family linen and cotton also for dying silk, tiffeny [sic], gauze and for writing and drawing a most transparent blue" (advertisement qtd. in Alfred L. Nelson's "'True Blue' Scott and His Daughter at the Sans Pareil," p. 1). Scott also sold magic lanterns. One advertisement tells of "thirty magic, magnetic and fanciful entertainments for the fireside with instruction for their use, being upon an entirely new principle such as has not been seen in this country, being just received from his newly established manufactory in Saxony" (Nelson p. 2). John Scott's daughter Jane, a pupil of Dr. Arne at one time, gave singing and pianoforte lessons in the years preceding her Sans Pareil debut and wrote songs, some of which she offered for sale. She had also, in the words of W. C. Forman, "a passion for the stage, and a good deal of native talent" (W. Forman, "The Story of The Adelphi," Notes and Queries, June, 1930, p. 419). The Theatrical Observer made the same points about Miss Scott and described the obstacles she faced and the support her father gave her.