Tony Pastor

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Pastor, Tony [Antonio] (1837–1908), producer and actor. Often considered the father of modern American vaudeville, he was born in New York, where his father was a theatre violinist. While still a youngster he sang on the temperance circuit, then gave his first professional performance as a child prodigy at Barnum's Museum in 1846. After appearing in minstrel shows and with circuses, Pastor made his variety debut in 1861. At the time, variety still had a certain bad odor attached to it. Most theatres had bars that actively pushed the sale of liquor and attracted a relatively rough order of patrons. The ambitious, highly moral Pastor set out to change all that and quickly succeeded. When he opened his first theatre in 1865, he discouraged serving of drinks, attempted to clean up sometimes off‐color acts, and solicited family trade. His methods proved so popular that he opened a larger theatre in 1875, then in 1881 opened the theatre on 14th Street, which was afterwards identified with him and where he achieved his greatest success. A small, stocky, mustachioed man, Pastor regularly appeared on his own bills, not merely to introduce the acts but also to sing his “Rhymes for the Times,” comic, topical songs twitting current events and celebrities. Virtually his only failure was his attempt to approach the legitimate stage with extended pieces of a sort that Harrigan and Hart had popularized. Toward the end of his career, despite his fame, he was rudely pushed aside by newer figures who were attempting to set up national chains and monopolize vaudeville. Biography: Tony Pastor: Dean of the Vaudeville Stage, Parker Zellers, 1971.

Pastor, Tony [ Antonio Pastor] (1837–1908), American vaudeville performer and manager. He made his first appearance as a child with Barnum, and later travelled with circuses and minstrel shows as a singing clown, ring-master, or ‘blackface’ ballad-singer. In 1861 he made his début in variety, which had sunk to a low level of vulgarity. Determined to clean it up, he opened a theatre on Broadway in 1865, moving 10 years later to Buckley's Minstrel Hall, later the Olympic Theatre 3, which he renamed Tony Pastor's Opera House. He banned drinking and smoking and discouraged the more vulgar acts, appearing always in his own shows—he had a rich tenor voice well suited to the popular ballads of the day, of which he himself claimed to have composed over 2,000. In 1881 he presented the first performance of what was later called vaudeville at his newly acquired Fourteenth Street Theatre, which he ran until his death, many famous stars, including Weber and Fields and Lillian Russell, appearing there.

Tony Pastor c.1837–1908, American theater manager, b. New York City. Pastor appeared on the stage from childhood and became an experienced acrobat, dancer, and singer. He opened his first theater at 444 Broadway, New York City, in 1861. Thereafter he opened two more Broadway theaters, and in 1881 began presenting shows at his best-known playhouse on 14th St. In these establishments Pastor introduced many performers who became famous (notably Lillian Russell) and presented vaudeville suitable for a mixed audience.

Bibliography: See biography by P. Zellers (1971).