| |
A Brief History
of Pioneer Entertainment in Beaumont, Texas By
W. T. Block | |
"On
the Southeast Texas frontier, the key to recreation, religion, and public entertainment
was social isolation, a product of the sparse populations. Companionship versus
loneliness welcomed all strangers, forced impious farmers into the church house,
and reduced to insignificance the dogmatic differences between the Methodist,
Baptist, and Presbyterian denominations.
For many farm wives, the extents
of their worlds were the rail fences which surrounded them. And envied was the
one whose husband received a jury summons or subpoena, for either could result
in a weekend of dancing, church attendance, and feminine association in Woodville,
Liberty, Beaumont,
Orange, Jasper,
or Sabine Pass.
Even
voting was less an example of civic responsibility than an excuse for going to
town. And the gathering of noisy throngs to witness public executions at the courthouse
should be judged as less an expression of a populace devoid of sentiment than
of one starved for companionship. That same craving for human relationships led
audiences to tolerate mediocre acting and scratchy fiddling, for imperfect performances
were better than no performances at all.
During
the antebellum years, little is known about public entertainment in Southeast
Texas except that it was all of the "home-grown" variety. No railroads existed
east of Orange, Texas, before
April, 1880, that might carry traveling troupes to the Beaumont
region. And the railroad to Houston
was not reopened permanently until 1876.
Insofar as Beaumont
is concerned, two factors are certain. The quarterly district and county court
sessions were the principal instruments for congregating rural citizens at the
county seat, and as a result, the dances at the court house on the preceding Saturday
nights. Also, as opposed to some neighboring communities in Southeast Texas, there
was no church resistance to ballroom dancing in Beaumont in 1860.
The
late Judge Tom Russell once published an interesting account, the identity of
the subject personage still uncertain. A new settler arrived in Beaumont on a
Saturday before the Civil War. Upon hearing violin refrains emanating from the
court house that evening, the stranger entered and discovered a young fiddler,
whose rosiny notes guided the toes of the square dancers. The next morning, the
violinist was again at the court house, superintending the Sunday school. At 11
o'clock, he mounted an improvised pulpit and delivered the sermon. Displaying
still a fourth role, it was the fiddler, as chief justice (now county judge),
who called the Jefferson County Court to order on Monday morning.
During
a district court weekend in December, 1858, Henry R. Green, an early Beaumont
school teacher, reported that there was "dancing on hand everywhere," and that
he was "sicker of eggnog than the whale was of Jonah."
In January, 1859,
James C. Clelland taught a dancing school at Beaumont which "the citizens are
attending tri-weekly." In November, 1860, William Harris styled himself in the
Beaumont "Banner" as a "teacher of fashionable dances," offering a series of lessons
to Beaumont gentlemen for $10.
Public
entertainment seems to have regressed during the Civil War decade, probably because
the prosecution of the war was all-important between 1861-1865, and during the
Reconstruction epoch, the retention of body and soul in one breathing container
took precedence over personal pleasure.
Nevertheless, there was some effort
to entertain Confederate soldiers in the area as well as the public. In December,
1863, Sabine Pass' "Military Corps Dramatique" presented an "entertainment, which
was well-patronized, and the audience seemed to be well pleased."
In August,
1864, Beaumont's citizens built a soldiers' home or center, known as "Cottage
House." The following New Year's Eve, Surgeon E. A. Pye of the Confederate Hospital
wrote that "there was a great ball in town tonight for the benefit of the soldiers'
home." And a week earlier, on Christmas Eve, he partook "of an eggnog at Cottage
House," where "some half dozen gentlemen and two or three ladies had a game of
whist."
Although
Federal army troops still occupied Beaumont,
Orange, and Sabine
Pass until 1876, the area's economy and social scene appear to have regained
their pre-war eminence by 1872. Gala weddings were back in vogue, each accompanied
by a night of dancing. A Beaumont newspaper of 1873 reported a concert at the
court house, composed entirely of local talent. Vocal selections by the "Virginia
Rosebud" - (identity unknown, but possibly from the Baldwin or Alexander families)
- "elicited rapturous applause." The other featured vocalist was Prof. J. C. Clelland,
the same dance master who conducted the school in 1859.
A copy of the
"Neches Valley News" of 1872 carried a full column of Beaumont social activities,
chief among them being a party and dance at R. H. Leonard's residence; a reception,
dance, and wedding, officiated by the Rev. J. F. Pipkin; and a union school picnic.
At each affair, the string duo of Jack M. Caswell, an early steamboatman, and
A. J. D. Sapp, a Beaumont merchant, presented the musical accompaniment. Caswell
and Sapp furnished the music for most of Beaumont's social events throughout the
Reconstruction years.
In 1873, John E. Jirou organized the Beaumont Brass
Band, also known as the Lumbermen's Brass Band, which, except for short periods
of disbandment, was a special feature of Beaumont's entertainment scene until
long after 1900. The first surviving record of that band dates from Beaumont's
Centennial celebration on July 4, 1876. As of December, 1895, the Beaumont City
Band was directed by Prof. F. J. Cutter, with the following members, namely: Lee
Blanchette, Ed Eastham, Jim Minter, Sid Levy, Oscar Hille, Abe Solinsky, Byron
Wiess, P. Green, Dorr Chapin, Ray Wiess, and C. G. Conn.
A Galveston newspaper
of 1884 mentioned another instrumental group in conjunction with a popular pasttime
which reached Beaumont
a century ago, as follows:
"The Baseball Club returned (to Beaumont)
from Village Mills, flushed with victory in a contest with the local nine of that
place, and headed by Prof. Hicks' Cornet Band, paraded the principal streets." |
| | Pearl
Street and Keith Park in Beaumont
Postcard courtesy
rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ | |
|
| | Pearl
Street in Beaumont in the 1920s
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/
%7Etxpstcrd/ | |
|
| | Another
view of Pearl Street in the 1920s
Postcard courtesy
rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ | |
|
Three months later,
Hicks' band led the Pearl Street parade when the Beaumont Fire Company and the
Wiess Hook and Ladder Company laid the cornerstone of the city's first fire engine
house in September, 1884. A third group of Beaumont musicians, the Lumbermen's
Silver Cornet Band, directed by Mr. A. Ashold, was entertaining periodically at
the opera house in 1892. During the 1880s-1890s, two neighboring bands also performed
at many Beaumont social events. The First Regimental Band of Orange played for
many dances here. The Kountze Brass Band furnished the music for Beaumont's Leap
Year Ball of January, 1892. This group, comprised of the employees of the Sunset
Sawmill at Olive, two miles north
of Kountze, was organized by
Sam Barnett and G. A. Sternenberg in 1890, and played frequently in Beaumont during
the succeeding decade.
Until
1877, most dances, concerts, and church services were conducted in the court house.
In 1879-1880, the Temperance Hall and the Blanchette Hall were completed, the
latter serving as the unofficial opera house for the next year. In June, 1881,
when the Blanchette Hall was closed for remodeling, a new opera house was built.
It was purchased the following August by Henry Solinsky, who immediately left
for the North in search of vaudeville talent. In October, 1881, Wolf Bluestein,
Solinsky's business partner, opened the Bluestein Opera House on the second floor
of the partners' new brick building at Tevis and Forsythe Streets. It remained
in use for the next two years.
In October, 1883, John B. Goodhue built
the Crosby Opera House in a frame structure in the Goodhue block opposite the
Southern Pacific depot at Laurel and Park Streets. It had a seating capacity of
1,100, equal to about forty percent of Beaumont's 1883 population, and Henry Herring
was its first manager. In September, 1886, a Galveston newspaper article recorded
that; "The Crosby Opera House at this place {Beaumont} is being enlarged and repaired,
and fitted up with entirely new scenery. The building and scenic display will
be unsurpassed by any other opera house in the state."
In June, 1889, just in time for the East Texas Deep Water Convention which met
there, the same proprietor completed the Goodhue Opera House in a "beautiful new
brick building," adjacent to the old opera structure. It remained the city's social
and cultural center until W. W. Kyle opened the new Kyle Opera House in October,
1901. |
| | Kyle
Opera House in Beaumont
1910 Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/
%7Etxpstcrd/ | |
|
Beaumont's
earliest "heritage" festival was its Grand Tournament and Strawberry Festival,
begun in 1880 and repeated annually during the month of June. The last record
of this event in the writer's possession occurred in 1886, but since few newspapers
of that era survive today, it is possible that the celebration continued for three
or four years afterward.
The 1881 "Grand Tournament and Strawberry Festival"
was sponsored by the Ladies' Guild, the Council of Temperance, and the trustees
of Magnolia Cemetery, and occurred on June 18 in Hebert Park. Henry Solinsky and
George White were the co-chairmen, and J. F. Lanier, a young attorney, delivered
the coronation address. The day was filled with sack, foot, and horse racing,
jousting, and similar sporting events, with the participants acquiring points
for each entry. The winner, J. B. Langham, Jr., became the Grand Knight, and as
result, promptly selected Miss Zema French as queen of the tournament. The closing
hours of the evening were consumed with dancing.
At the tournament of 1886,
C. L. Nash became the successful knight, and Miss Lula Langham, "having received
the most votes as the prettiest young lady, was crowned queen."
No
record of amateur drama in Beaumont exists before 1880, but its history, if known,
would surely antedate the Civil War. In April, 1880, the United Friends of Temperance
sponsored the mock opera "Pocahontas" and the farce "Domestic Economy" to a packed
audience in the Blanchette Hall. The cast was composed entirely of local amateur
players. In May, 1881, the members of St. Paul's African Methodist Church, which
was founded in 1873, presented a pantomime production, entitled "The Mistletoe
Bow."
In May and June of 1881, the Beaumont amateurs, with the "connivance"
of the management of The Enterprise Company, presented two selections, entitled
"Poor Pillicoddy" and "A Quiet Family," as the following quote reveals:
"The
Beaumont Amateurs performed last night at the Blanchette Opera House to a good
house. As the whole of the editorial staff of the "Enterprise" belonged to the
company, it would not be quite proper for us to write up the performance at any
length."
And indeed, John W. Leonard, the founder and first publisher,
and his wife and T. A. Lamb, the first business manager, and Mrs. Lamb were the
most ardent thespians in early Beaumont and were the organizers of the Beaumont
Histrionic (theatrical) Society, founded in 1880. It is unclear exactly how long
the city's first theatrical group remained active, but apparently for somewhat
more than a decade. In November, 1885, the "Histrionic Club of Beaumont was greeted
by a large audience at the Orange Opera House, where the players presented their
first drama of the current season, entitled "Among The Breakers." In June, 1886,
the "Beaumont Histrionics", a company composed entirely of local talent," played
to a sell-out audience at the Crosby Opera House.
A later account of Beaumont's
earliest community players appeared in 1887. A Galveston newspaper article recorded
that some members of the Beaumont Histrionic Society "have served for about six
years and have become quite proficient." The last records of the Histrionic Society
in the writer's possession were published in 1892. As was often the case, perhaps
because of the organizing families' religious faiths, the combination musicale
and dramatic presentation were intended to raise funds for St. Mark's Episcopal
Church, as the following paragraph reveals:
"The musical and dramatic
entertainment at the Goodhue Opera House last evening for the benefit of the Episcopal
Church was excellent. The "Doll's Drill" was one of the cutest plays to be seen
in an age. The "Last Loaf" was also well-played by our amateur talent. There was
a good house, and it is believed a good sum was realized." Three months later,
the "Beaumont Histrionics (were) rehearsing the charming drama "Maud Muller."
Beginning in 1881, traveling troupes began stopping in Beaumont, and this
welcomed addition to public entertainment would continue until the movies drove
vaudeville into oblivion during the 1920s. The first troupe was the Fay Templeton
Star Alliance. This company became very popular with the early citizens of Beaumont,
and they returned annually for a decade. On April 25-26, 1881, the visiting players
presented three musicales, billed as "operas," as follows: "Chimes of Normandy,"
"Chou-Fieuri," and "Olivette or Lost Love." |
| | Beaumont
Baptist Church and YMCA
1909
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ | |
|
As
might be expected, much public entertainment centered around church activities.
In 1880-1881, the first Catholic, Episcopal, and Presbyterian congregations were
also in the organizational and building stages, and church fairs and musicales
were the most popular means for raising funds to build churches. The fairs usually
lasted from one to three nights, and they often featured game and refreshment
booths and local and imported musical talent. Two such fairs raised a sizeable
percentage of the money needed to erect St. Louis Catholic Church (the predecessor
to St. Anthony's) in 1881. And the Protestant denominations utilized this means
of fund-raising as well. One church musicale at St. Louis' Church in October,
1881, drew much attention in both the Beaumont and Galveston newspapers, as follows:
"Following the overture was a duet between Miss Angie Bourg, the organist,
and Father Vitalus Quinon, entitled "Let Music and Song," but the most noticeable
appearances of the evening were the performances of Miss Bourg, Mr. Chandelier
of New Orleans, and Father Parmentier of Waco. Mr. Chandelier's solos, "Le Buis
Beni," and " Sleep Well," were rendered with a voice and artistic execution equal
to anything on the lyric stage. Father Parmentier's performances on the violin
also disclosed the true artist. The quartet by the Misses Bourg and Aurelia Adams
and Messrs. Migues, Dinkle and Leonard, "Moonlight on the Lake," and the final
chorus, the grand "Gloria in Excelsis," from Mozart's Twelfth Mass, ended with
applause of a final musical performance."
It
is interesting how very little Christmas and New Year celebrations in Southeast
Texas have changed in the course of a century. And indeed, what change there is
has resulted primarily from advances in technology (such as electric lights, television,
etc.), the greater sophistication of children's toys, and what is often termed
the "commercialization" of Christmas.
By 1880, the Christmas tree already
decorated most Beaumont
houses, which is somewhat amazing, since the first Christmas tree had been introduced
first in Ohio only two or three decades earlier. But its use in the area's churches
was still frowned on in 1880 and did not gain acceptance until a decade or more
later. The Beaumont sawmills always closed from five to seven days for the holidays,
which allowed parents to prepare and celebrate in whatever fashion they could
afford. A copy of the Beaumont "Enterprise" recorded the following news briefs
of the previous holiday season in 1880, as follows:
"Christmas day was
thoroughly enjoyed in Beaumont. The weather was fine and everybody seemed bent
on increasing the pleasures of the day.....The children found Santa Claus more
than usually kind this Christmas-sign of prosperity...Several young ladies and
gentlemen saw the old year out and the new year in at the Blanchette Hall last
night." A community Christmas tree was also enjoyed by the city's children the
Friday night before the holiday, a result of the civic-mindedness of several Beaumont
ladies.
As
of 1885, athletic events were the one area of public entertainment that had not
advanced very far. Only baseball had reached Southeast Texas as of that year,
and of course, basketball (invented in 1891) and football were still in their
infancy and would not reach Southeast Texas until much later. And baseball had
only 'sandlot' or amateur status, professional and school sports generally emerging
at later dates.
A Galveston "Daily News" article of June, 1885, confirmed
that Beaumont's baseball
club occasionally played the Galveston and Houston teams and added: "Beaumont
capitalists are not enamored of baseball as a general thing, and our club is without
the moneyed support of those of larger cities."
What makes that statement
the more difficult to understand is the fact that almost every sawmill along the
East Texas Railroad from Nona to Rockland, Texas, had its own baseball team by
1890, and occasionally the players were numbered among the mill owners as well.
But whatever antagonism may have existed toward baseball at the managerial levels
locally, most Beaumonters supported their 'amateur nine' of a century ago as enthusiastically
as they cheered their professional clubs of the twentieth century.
Still
another form of early Beaumont entertainment began in 1882 when the first traveling
circus visited here. In 1883, the Beaumont "Enterprise" warned its readers to
beware of "circus fakirs," which the editor defined as "money takers at circuses
(who the previous year were) sometimes forgetful of the fact that you had already
paid your entrance money and demanded a second payment, and sometimes they even
forgot the denomination of the bill that you handed them." During a second visit
in Beaumont in December,
1883, a circus clown received a compound leg fracture during his performance.
In December, 1891, many early Beaumonters attended the matinée and evening performances
at the Rentz Brothers circus tent.
Although
fraternal orders do not fall into the category of public entertainment, their
memberships were certainly an instrument for providing it. Beaumont Lodge 286,
A. F. and A. M. (Masonic) dates from the Civil War decade. By 1881, the United
Friends of Temperance, with its white and black chapters; the Knights of Honor;
and the American Legion of Honor had been added to the local list. By 1896, Beaumont
could boast of possessing a chapter of most of the other fraternal orders that
existed as of that year, namely: Elks, Knights of Pythias, Order of the Eastern
Star, Improved Order of Red men, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Woodmen of
the World, and Rebeccah Lodge. By 1898, the Jubilee Lodge of B'nai B'rith and
a local Order of the Sons of Herman had also been chartered.
The
1890s became the first great decade of social display and confederation in Beaumont.
And gradually, Calder Avenue and neighboring thoroughfares were lined with the
elegant residences of the affluent lumbermen and merchants. Be it the annual Firemen's
Ball, the Masquerade Ball, or Leap Year Ball, hardly a month passed without some
classic entertainment requiring the presence of the city's socially prominent
families. And each week of the social season, a private party somewhere in town
allowed the younger set to glide to the blaring of trumpets or the gentler refrains
of waltz music.
Two social events of 1892, the New Year's Eve (Queen City)
Ball at Orange and the Leap
Year Ball at Beaumont,
should refute any assertion that either sawmill community was no more than a frontier
cowtown of little redeeming worth. Fortunately, the "Daily News" correspondent
in each city lavishly portrayed each occurrence with the flair of a modern-day
social page editor. Space will not permit a complete quote of each, but a description
of the evening apparel of the Beaumont ladies, in the writer's judgment, should
be preserved for posterity, as a contribution to the history of the fashions of
the "Gay Nineties." The Orange article lists the following ballroom attire for
the Beaumont women, as follows:
"Miss Mittie Ogden of Beaumont, blue
silk, diamond ornaments; . . .Mrs. L. M. Ogden of Beaumont, black silk warp Henrietta,
moire silk trimming; Miss Ida Jarrett of Beaumont, black brocade silk, with old
gold trimmings; Miss Seawillow Haltom, light blue-embroidered crepe du chine,
en train, diamond trimmings;...."
"Miss Ella Calhoun of Beaumont, black
crepe du chine, black lace trimmings;....Miss Johnson of Beaumont, brown surah
(?), silk velvet trimmings, natural flowers;....Miss Fannie Stewart of Beaumont,
brown Henrietta, nail head trimmings; Miss Lola Jirou of Beaumont, pale blue crepe
du chine, en train, pearl trimmings;....and Miss Mittie Johnson of Beaumont, pink
moire gown, en train."
"The Beaumont delegation were as follows: Mrs.
L. M. Ogden, Misses Minnie Bingham, Ida Jarrett, Mittie Ogden, Mittie Johnson,
Fannie Stewart, Aurelia McCue, Seawillow Haltom, Zada Cooke, Lola Jirou, Ella
Calhoun, Mona McFarland, Lizzie Caswell, and Messrs. A. B. Norvell, Perry Wiess,
Bob Russell, Cush Wiess, E. Ligon, Hal Land, H. Schwaner, Hal Blanchette, Alvin
Wiess, E. L. Boykin,...."
Three weeks later, the same newspaper affixed
the following caption to an article, as follows: "Beaumont Brilliant Leap Year
Ball A Success." Again, the lengthy article is especially noteworthy for its bountiful
account of feminine evening attire, as follows:
"The ladies of Beaumont
who made the occasion pleasant by their presence were: Mrs. Lem Ogden, black silk,
jet trimmings; Mrs. I. Bingham, black lace and jet trimmings; Mrs. J. Goodhue,
lavender, lace trimmings; Mrs. Ben Bartholomew, blue lace blue silk; Mrs. Tranchard,
black silk and passementarie (trimmings); Mrs. Sedgwick, black silk grenadine;
Mrs. O. F. Allen, green Henrietta, red trimmings; Mrs. W. H. Ives, black and jet;
Mrs. Walston, fancy Henrietta, gilt trimmings; Mrs. C. L. Nash, white China silk,
ostrich trimmings; Mrs. L. J. Kopke, black cashmere; Miss Mittie Ogden, black
and pink silk; Miss (Aurelia) McCue, white silk, en train; Miss Kate Ogden, pink
albatross and black velvet; Miss Fannie Stewart, pink velvet; Miss Hattie Chapman,
pale lavender evening dress."
"Miss Mittie Bingham, white brocade and
crepe du chine; Mrs. McCall, Grecian costume of white and gilt, diamonds; Miss
Alice Weber, white satin, en train, swansdowne; Mrs. I. R. Bordages, old rose
satine; Miss Seawillow Haltom, white cashere, en train; ... Miss Laura Blanchette,
black and pink satine; Miss Lizzie Caswell, white silk and sash; Miss Ella Calhoun,
black silk, lace; Miss Ida Jarrett, pink with white velvet bodice; Miss Skip McFaddin,
brown brocade silk; Mrs. Capt (F. A. Hyatt), black silk; Miss Nona McFarland,
pale blue, white lace trimmings; Miss Lola Jirou, pale blue en train; Miss Maude
Watson, white and gilt; Miss Mattie Gray, white silk, en train; Miss Mittie Johnson,
cream cashmere, silk ruches (strips of lace net); Miss Evelyn Thompson, Nile green
and white tulle overdress.....
"The ladies deserve great credit for the
success of the ball. Misses Haltom and Thompson deserve special mention for their
zeal in making it pleasant for their visiting friends and for other favors..."
Also in the 1890's, the number of social and intellectual clubs proliferated
until it would become tedious to attempt to name them. Even the card players sometimes
organized by their trade or religion, such as the Lumbermen's Whist Club or the
Jewish Whist Club. And of course, the Women's Club must be nearing their centennial
anniversary.
|
| | Kyle
Opera House in Beaumont
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/
%7Etxpstcrd/ | |
|
Although
the writer is tempted to label the "gay '90s" decade as a "golden age" of sorts,
the great age of public entertainment was still in the future. While the Kyle
Opera House existed between 1901 and 1930, the finest and most world-renowned
talent that money could buy visited Beaumont.
And yet another writer, Mrs. Jeannette Robinson, considers the years 1929 to 1931
as constituting the "Golden Era for The Performing Arts" in Beaumont.
John McCormick, Paul Whiteman, Ignace Paderewski, Marian Talley, Fritz Kreisler,
and the United State Marine Band were among many of the world's most gifted artists
who performed in Beaumont during the latter years. In fact, John Philip Sousa,
either with the Marine Band or his own band, played in Beaumont on four different
occasions between 1890 and 1930. And if I recall correctly, I think my music teacher
at Port Neches about
1928 told us she had attended a concert of Madame Schumann-Heinck here.
In truth, one can make of early-day Beaumont
either a frontier cowtown or a cosmopolitan community, whichever he or she so
chooses, and there are sources to support both opinions. The first public hanging
in Jefferson County was here in November, 1856, but so was the Beaumont Debating
Society, which existed from 1855 until 1880. There were also eight saloons and
a jail in Beaumont in 1881, but nearby stood eight churches, seven schools, five
lodges, a militant Temperance Society, a newspaper, a sheriff's department, and
a police station, all dedicated to keeping the transient log rafters, cattle drovers,
or any lawless element in check. |
| | Nicaragua
Steamer in Beaumont Texas
1912 Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/
%7Etxpstcrd/ | |
|
In addition, there
were other sources of pleasure, steamboat excursions, union school and Sunday
School picnics, and numerous other holiday celebrations and parades, which space
will not allow any elaboration of. In fact, during the middle 1880's, steamboat
excursions from Beaumont,
Orange and Sabine
Pass usually met each July 4th at the present-day Port Neches Park, where
they picnicked, played baseball, or else explored the nearby Indian burial mounds
for arrow heads and other artifacts. Early Beaumonters worked hard -- of that
there can be no denial, but they played hard as well, to the fullest extent that
their primitive frontier circumstances and economic status would permit.
©
W. T. Block, Jr.
"Cannonball's
Tales" July
17, 2006 column | |
|
