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History of The Musical Stage

1900-1910: "Skipping a Beat, Singing a Dream"

by John Kenrick

(Copyright 1996; revised 2020)

(The images below are thumbnails – click on them to see larger versions.)

British Imports: Florodora

Florodora sextette

The "Pretty Maidens" who made up Broadway's original Florodora sextet all reputedly married millionaires -- a claim that sold tickets and drew countless girls of that era to pursue stage careers.

At the start of the 20th Century, America was in its cultural adolescence, bursting with confidence, energy and optimism. London was still the theatrical capital of the world, but New York City was gaining fast in clout and sheer size. As of 1900, there were thirty-three Broadway theatres, and many more would be built within the next decade to meet growing demand.

New York's exploding population was also enjoying increased mobility. In 1904, the city opened its first underground commuter railroad lines. Thanks to this extensive system of "subways," tens of thousands who lived miles away from the theatre district could catch a Broadway show and still sleep at home that night. Add in the ever-increasing numbers of tourists who came into the city by rail and steamship, and Broadway had a tremendous audience base that could support more productions and longer runs.

West End imports remained popular. The first theatrical sensation of the new century was the British musical comedy Florodora (1899 - London 455 performances /1900 - NY 553 performances), the story of a young woman seeking romance and the restoration of a stolen inheritance. When it opened to rave reviews in London a year earlier, established New York producers rejected the show as "too British" -- but a team of newcomers took a chance, earning millions of dollars. When Florodora's sextet of chorines (each standing five foot four and weighing a uniform 130 pounds) joined their well-dressed male counterparts to sing (with heavy Mayfair accents) the flirtatious "Tell Me Pretty Maiden" audiences were entranced --

MEN
Oh tell me, pretty maiden,
Are there any more at home like you?

GIRLS
There are a few, kind sir,
But simple girls, and proper too.

MEN
Then tell me pretty maiden
What these very simple girlies do?

GIRLS
Kind sir, their manners are perfection
And the opposite of mine.

The original Broadway sextet (Daisy Green, Marjorie Relyea, Vaughn Texsmith, Margaret Walker, Agnes Wayburn, and Marie Wilson) inspired all sorts of publicity. Some theatre historians have perpetuated the press agent's claim that all six married millionaires, but it is difficult to verify this. The public was fascinated by these chorines in elegant stage gowns. When chorus boys from a neighboring theatre took to peeking into the sextet's dressing room windows, the girls defended their honor by dousing the boys with icy cascades of seltzer. Florodora had such lasting popularity that it was revived on Broadway in 1902, 1905 and 1920. The final production updated the action, with the sextet dressed as Jazz Age flappers.

British lyricist George Dance and American-born composer Howard Talbot designed A Chinese Honeymoon (1901 - 1,074 performances in London) to please provincial English audiences, but Londoners were so taken by this tale of British couples who honeymoon in China and inadvertently break the kissing laws (did somebody say Mikado?) that it became the first West End production to run over a thousand performances. The show managed a very profitable 376 performance run on Broadway the following year.

The Wizard of Oz

Broadway had plenty of homegrown hits in the early 1900s. Frank L. Baum provided the book and lyrics for the musical version of his classic children's novel The Wizard of Oz (1903 - 293 performances). The story of Dorothy and her pet cow Imogene (Toto was too small to be depicted by a costumed human) being blown to the magical land of Oz received a spectacular production, with lavish settings and a state of the art stereopticon cyclone.

In this production, vaudeville favorites David Montgomery (as the Tin Woodman) and Fred Stone (as The Scarecrow) acrobatically clowned their way to Broadway stardom, and the show inspired a slew of musicals based on childhood fantasies. Their big showstopper was "Hurrah for Baffin's Bay," totally unrelated to the plot or characters. Thanks to the expansion of railroads, touring a Broadway production was easier than ever. The Wizard of Oz toured for several years, earning millions of dollars. However, none of the material in this version would be used in the classic 1939 movie.

In 1900, there were more than 3,000 professional theaters across the United States. Some were glorified tents, but at least 1,000 were equipped to house Broadway-level productions. By 1904, it is estimated that 400 touring companies were trouping plays across the country. There was fierce competition to control this blossoming business.

No Business Like Show Business

Theatre owners Lee and Jacob Shubert wiped out Abe Erlanger's once invincible theatrical syndicate. By the 1920s, the Shuberts would control 75% of the professional theatres in America. More ruthless than Erlanger, they became infamous for suing actors, writers, producers, and even each other. The Shuberts treated all their employees (including performers) as expendable commodities. Fanny Brice described what it was like to be on a Shubert tour by saying, "It took the Shuberts to invent a new way to kill the Jews." (as quoted in Herb Goldman's Fanny Brice, Oxford, NY 1992, p. 161.)

Everyone working in the American theatre of the early 20th Century saw theatre as a business, not an art form. Productions had to be commercially successful to attract audiences, breed imitators and form the basis for future trends. This meant that all shows, musicals included, had to appeal to the growing middle and working classes. The resulting musicals of the early 1900s were upbeat comic celebrations of American know-how and decency. And no one was more expert at providing such entertainments than a little guy named Cohan.

George M. Cohan

George M. Cohan was an Irish-American graduate of variety and vaudeville who wrote, directed, produced and starred in jingoistic musical comedies that celebrated the triumph of American know-how and New York-style "street smarts." After limited runs on Broadway, where most critics frowned on Cohan's shameless sentiment and jingoism, these musicals toured the states to packed houses for a year or more. Cohan's most memorable hits included:

Cohan moved beyond his creative and performing talents to become one of the most powerful producers in show business, forming a partnership with Sam Harris. In fact, Cohan excelled in more capacities than anyone else in American theatrical history. Friend and fellow performer William Collier put it this way:

"George is not the best actor or author or composer or dancer or playwright. But he can dance better than any author, compose better than any manager, and manage better than any playwright. And that makes him a very great man."
- As quoted in John McCabe's George M. Cohan: The Man Who Owned Broadway (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1973), pp. xi-xii.

Cohan remained "The Man Who Owned Broadway" until the 1920s. His musicals had little appeal outside the United States and are too simplistic to be revived today, but the best of his songs are still familiar, including the wartime hit "Over There." FCohan always ended his curtain calls with the same signature speech:

"My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I assure you, I thank you."

(Note: You can find more about Cohan in our special section, Cohan 101.)

The AABA Song Form

In the early 1900s, one song format became the accepted standard in all forms of popular music, including Broadway showtunes -- the AABA form, a structure ingrained in American ears by countless Christian hymns. Most showtunes have two parts:

Since the early 1900s, the choruses of most American popular songs have been thirty-two bars long, usually divided into four sections of eight bars apiece. Musicologists describe this as the AABA form.

The almost universal use of this approach makes songs easy to listen to; the predictable format falls easily on the listener's ears. It also forces composers and lyricists to make their points efficiently, acting more as a discipline than a limitation. From George M. Cohan to Jonathan Larson and beyond, all modern Broadway songwriters have written most of their songs in the thirty-two bar AABA format. In fact, it remained the standard for all popular music until the hard rock revolution of the 1960s.

Of course there are many exceptions and variations, such as:

Even radical departures from the form usually retain some vestige of it. The chorus of Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine" is a whopping 104 bars long, and follows an AAB structure, but the B section ends by echoing the opening bar of A -- providing a sense of sonic symmetry to ears accustomed to AABA melodies.

While Cohan dazzled everyone with his versatility, classical musician Victor Herbert was turning out musicals that were more melodically sophisticated yet equally popular.

Next: Stage 1900-1910: Part II