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uutiur ui tuc bcvcu-picce orciiesirtLAfter the overture Miss Augusta L. Dargon read a poem written by George D. Prentice.Among the past were several well known actors and actresses from New. York and New Orleans stage. The program closed with the musical burletta “Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale.When the playhouse was first first opened It was known as the New Galveston Theater, but this name was soon changed to the Tre-mont Opera House, although the entrance was on Market street. The main Auditorium was on the second floor and was entered by a broad flight of steps leading up from the street.• During the first season the new theater was open the French OperaBetween appearances of the professional stock companies amateur performances were put on by the old Histrionic Society, made up of some of the most prominent young people in town.Some of these performances were big successes; some forlorn failures.Among the early plays was an opera, “The Feast of the Hoses,written and presented by ipcal talent. Another was “Carmine, or the Trader at the Ford. written in the '70’s by Warren Baor, reporter for the News. This play failed to arouse much enthusiasm, however, and after the first performance was not repeated. Another failure was “La i Fitte. or the Pirate of the Gulf,” 1 written by Prof. Louis Eyth, andw*iv v|/vt u tavuwv* vpviiby Henry Toujouse and Arthur Michels soon after the Tremont was completed, and after Michels’ death a few years later was conducted by Toujouse until the old theater closed in 1895.The Tremont Opera House, in addition to the regular theatrical performances was also the scene of the annual Monius Ball, held during the carnival season, and predecessors of the present day Mardi Gras balls. A floor for dancing was built over the downstairs seats a few days before the ball, and was torn up after the carnival was over. The lasj. Momus Ball was held in 1881.Shortly after the theater opened the management changed from Greenwall Brothers ,AO.d Prince to Fife, and then to Southerland andand gallant cavaliers,” but the setting was different. This time the opening production was “Daughters of Eve,” presented by a New York stock company. The Grand, which is now the- Martini Theater, was packed to the roof with the “beauty and culture’’ of Galveston. On the moraiqg before the new theater opened the Galveston News carried a story in tribute to the old theater whose day was done.The “lead” of that story is worth repeating. It read as follows:“The Tremont Optra House isdark.“For nearly a quarter of a century has the old theater stood on | the central corner of Tremont and Market; stood there through summer's sunshine and winter’s woe; through the good old days and the bad old days.“And what crowds of people have , trooped up and down those steep front stairs. Some now lie ’neath white shafts of marble in the silent city of the dead; others live in cities far removed, while many are still here whose hearts will palpitate, whose eyes will fill when memory carries them back to the part the old house has played in their lives. Strains of sweet music will long lurk among the cobwebs, echoes of sweet laughter will linger loth to leave the spot that gave it birth, while the ghosts of suppressed sobs will moan among the deserted wings and stalk about the vacant seats. Only a few blocks away another temple has been erected to Thespis; the ever restless world hAs turned to worship atnew throne, and the old playhouse is left to tho echoes of soon to be forgotten footsteps.”Hor msjiy year* the Grand Opera House replaced the Tremont as Galveston’s mbst elaborate playhouse. The ownership and management of the building passed through, severkl hands, until finajly, several years £go, it was purchased by J. E. Pearce. He leased it to A. Martini. Ampng other Improvements is an entrance cut, through to Twenty-first street, wijlch now forms the foyer of the present theater. The only entrance to the old Grand was from the Postoffice street side. The space occupied by the new entrance is owned by E. H. Ivey and leased by the theater interests.In recent years the theater has been used chiefly for the presentation of motion pictures, although up until the present season a weekly vaudeville during the fall and winter was a feature attraction. With the advent and increasing popularity of sound pictures, Mr. Martini installed movietone and vitaphoheBELLIGERENT ART.It was Inevitable that we should finally tun across that old college frionH whmp llf* omhitlon had been• aPalm Beach Preened for W inter;New Club to Set Society’s PacePaint Beach will atari the winter season December 15, when the Breaker* hotel (lower left) Is opened. The new Whitehall dub (upper right) win open New Y ear’s eve.Palm Beach,. Fla.—1*5—Pressed i look In at the opening of Vhitehall,. cent. It is modeled after the Rea-saia:“At the closedate for whichare available, t that the total w was $124 .OOO.OOC the United Stat in force over surance, or 7( world’s total, try. we have be ditions each yr ing life insuraiGoveH. 8. Paing schooner (piccaninny** wNew Orleam portant to the as the fUntloclioned “Qrleen.ing again for try’s economic H. 8. Paine, the carbohydjof cbejplstry Iton.'tHtes a gr• l m _ 'Mm
Newspaper Details
Galveston Tribune
Galveston, Texas, US
Sat, Dec 14, 1929
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Rosenberg L.
TX, USA 13 Mar 2019
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