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The Louisville Burlesque War: Empire Circuit Company vs. Columbia Amusement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2014

Karen R. Gray  and
Sarah R. Yates
Karen R. Gray
Affiliation:
Adjunct Lecturers in English at Indiana University Southeast.
Sarah R. Yates
Affiliation:
Adjunct Lecturers in English at Indiana University Southeast.
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Extract

The Louisville burlesque war began in July of 1908 and ended in late August, 1909, with the opening of the Columbia Amusement Company's Gayety Theatre. In all, there were over ten court cases and thousands of dollars expended by both sides. It was a conflict which, with the help of the press, moved from a private business matter to embroil the whole community. Beyond its local significance, however, the “Gayety Theatre war” foreshadowed a revolution in national burlesque business.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , May 1984 , pp. 29 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1984

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References

NOTES

1 New York Dramatic Mirror. 3/13/09.

2 For a fuller discussion of information contained in the introduction, see Yates, Sarah R. and Gray, Karen R., “When Politics Was a Girlie Show,” Louisville Today (June, 1981), pp. 18–21Google Scholar; 52–55. See also Courier-Journal, 12/4/13.

3 Yater, George, Two Hundred Years at the Falls of the Ohio: A History of Louisville and Jefferson County (Louisville: Heritage Corporation, 1979), p. 149.Google Scholar

4 Heuck, Robert, “Show Business Over-the-Rhine,” Bulletin of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio (April, 1958), pp. 131–133.Google Scholar

5 Empire Circuit Company letterhead stationery, authors' collection.

6 Leavitt, M. B., Fifty Years in Theatrical Management (New York: Broadway Publishing Co., 1912), pp. 322–323.Google Scholar

7 Billboard, 12/21/01.

8 Wire, Sydney, “A Glance at Burlesque Conditions,” Billboard (December 14, 1912), p. 40.Google Scholar

9 Zeidman, Irving, The American Burlesque Show (New York: Hawthorne, 1967), p. 55.Google Scholar

10 Zeidman, pp. 55–56.

11 Louisville Herald, 5/12/09.

12 Wire, p. 40.

13 Zeidman, p. 77.

14 Ibid.

15 Billboard, 9/12/14.

16 Cincinnati Post, 2/22/27.

17 Billboard, 9/12/14.

18 Miller, Zane, Boss Cox's Cincinnati (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968), p. 86.Google Scholar

19 Miller, p. 168.

20 Miller, pp. 168–169.

21 Courier-Journal, 12/15/08.

22 The origins of the business rivalry which existed between the two cities is discussed in Yater, p. 101.

23 Evening Post, 11/9/08.

24 Ibid.

25 Courier-Journal, 12/15/08.

26 Courier-Journal, 7/19/08.

27 Courier-Journal, 2/15/09.

28 Courier-Journal, 2/28/09. It is interesting to note that Michael Muller purchased the American Burlesque Circuit in 1916. The ABC was the renamed Empire Circuit. Billboard, 4/1/16.

29 Courier-Journal, 2/12/09.

30 Courier-Journal, 2/20/09.

31 Evening Post, 2/25/09.

32 Courier-Journal, 2/26/09.

33 Courier-Journal, 2/28/09.

34 Yater, p. 188.

35 Courier-Journal, 2/28/09.

36 Ibid.

37 Louisville Herald, 3/5/09.

38 Ibid.

39 Louisville Herald, 3/6/09.

40 Louisville Herald, 3/7/09.

41 Ibid.

42 Louisville Herald, 3/11/09.

43 Louisville Herald, 3/25/09.

44 Louisville Herald. 3/27/09.

45 Louisville Herald. 3/28/09.

46 Ibid.

47 Louisville Herald, 3/30/09.

48 Louisville Herald, 3/18/09.

49 Ibid.

50 Evening Post, 5/15/09.

51 Louisville Herald. 5/22/09.

52 Louisville Herald. 5/28/09.

53 Louisville Herald. 5/26/09.

54 Louisville Herald. 5/30/09.

55 Louisville Herald. 6/13/09.

56 Courier-Journal, 8/5/09.

57 Evening Post, 7/2/09.

58 Louisville Herald, 8/31/09.

59 Evening Post, 7/3/09.

60 Evening Post, 2/19/09.

61 Sobel, Bernard, Burleycue (New York: Farrar and Rinehart; 1931), p. 85.Google Scholar

62 Billboard, 9/12/14.

63 Billboard, 9/19/12.

64 Billboard, 11/2/12.

65 Billboard, 4/19/13 and 4/28/13. On April 9, 1913, John G. Jermon, Columbia Director, filed suit against Columbia to block its granting of a franchise to James Butler's theater in St. Louis. Jerman owned the former Columbia house in that city and his interests appear to have been sacrificed for the sake of merger.

66 Billboard, 4/26/13.

67 Louisville Times, 4/12/13 and 8/30/13.

68 Zeidman, p. 72.

69 Wire, p. 40.

70 Research for this article was partially supported by a grant from the Indiana University Research Operations Committee.