A History of Leadville Theater: Opera Houses, Variety Acts and Burlesque Shows by Scanlon Gretchen

Author:Scanlon, Gretchen [Scanlon, Gretchen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2012-11-19T16:00:00+00:00

THE NOVELTY THEATER

A year later, Goldsmith sold the theater to Ben Loeb, changing the name to the Novelty Theater. A few months later, Loeb also purchased the Carbonate Theater from Mike Goldsmith. He cut costs by running both under the same management company. He advertised the Novelty Theater as a “palace of pleasure.” Boxes cost three, five and seven dollars, depending on the size; boxes could hold two, three or five people.

Loeb’s Novelty Theater was known for its loose women, rivers of alcohol, cheating tables and bar fights. Early one morning, a fight occurred between two railroad men, John Holland and L.L. Woods. Woods entered the bar and began calling Holland names, and a fight broke out. Woods had been fired from the Colorado Midland Railroad, and Holland had taken his job. Loeb ran to the door and blew his police whistle; his call for help went unanswered. He returned to the saloon and managed to get the two men apart. When doctors examined Wood’s injuries, they found that most of his ear, a piece of his chin and part of his nose had been bitten off. Both men were charged for fighting in public.

On May 1, 1892, C.W. Adams was at a table in the bar when he heard a strange sound of wood creaking. He opened the door to the theater and noticed that the stage and curtains were engulfed in flames. He shouted to the three men practicing on the trapeze and told them to leave. Smoke filled the theater, and the men were having trouble seeing the ropes to get down. They jumped to the floor and managed to escape from the building with only slight injuries.

It was a windy night, and the flames quickly spread to the nearby Pioneer Club, then owned by Mike Goldsmith. Soon, the fire spread to the Red Light Dance Hall, the White House Saloon, the Mint Saloon and six cribs in the alley, owned by Nellie Shields, along with two brothels and a barbershop. By the next morning, nothing was left but ashes. Saved from the theater was Queene, Loeb’s terrier, which had also been saved from two other fires in her lifetime: the Schloss Beer Hall fire and the Delmonico Concert Hall fire (and they say only cats have nine lives). Three other dogs perished in the fire.

The great destruction on State Street was blamed on the lack of water pressure from the hydrants. Calls were made to the water department asking for more water, but it took twenty minutes to get more pressure. By that time, many buildings were entirely engulfed. Loeb believed that the fire started from a candle in the dressing room of the trapeze artist. The candle was placed under a shelf and lit the shelf on fire, later igniting the costumes in the room and spreading to the stage.

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