Union Square Theatre

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Union Square Theatre (New York) Briefly one of the most famous of New York theatres, it was situated in the middle of the block between Broadway and Fourth Avenue, on 14th Street, part of the old Morton House. H. M. Sims designed the house for Sheridan Shook, who opened it in 1871 as a variety theatre. When vaudeville failed to attract, he turned over management in 1872 to A. M. Palmer, who established a fine stock company there, and for the next eleven years the house vied with those of Daly and Wallack in prestige. While the other two were best known for comedy, the Union Square enjoyed most of its great successes with the romantic dramas of the time. Among the theatre's major hits, all French in origin, were Sardou's Agnes, Clara Morris in Camille, and The Two Orphans. After Palmer moved his company farther north in 1883 the house's reputation began to fade. Destroyed by fire in 1888, the theatre was rebuilt, but the heart of the theatre district had moved away, and before long the theatre was again a vaudeville house. It was later home to burlesque and to films. The shell of the old theatre, complete with stagehouse, remains on the site. It is not to be confused with an Off‐Broadway house, also called the Union Square Theatre, located on 17th Street.

Union Square Theatre, New York, on the south side of Union Square, between Broadway and 4th Avenue. This opened as a variety hall in 1871. In 1872 A. M. Palmer took over, and for 10 years made the theatre one of the finest in New York, with an admirable stock company and visits from all the best players in the United States. The Two Orphans by John Oxenford, produced in 1874, made a fortune for Palmer. Other outstanding successes were Camille, based on the younger Dumas's La Dame aux camélias, with Clara Morris, and a dramatization of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. W. H. Gillette made his first appearance in New York under Palmer, as did Richard Mansfield, in Feuillet's A Parisian Romance (1883), playing a small part which made him famous overnight. This was the last play to be put on under the management of Palmer, who in 1885 disbanded the stock company and went to the Madison Square Theatre. The Union Square was then used by travelling companies until in 1888 it was burnt down. It was rebuilt, but never regained its former brilliance, and under various names was mostly devoted to continuous vaudeville. It later became a burlesque house and then a cinema, and in 1936 it was demolished.