Official Theatrical Guides
Once touring became established and circuit managers began to organize tours, a market developed for comprehensive guides to the theaters of the day. They all had some things in common. They were organized geographically, that is, by state and city. They all provided technical information about each theatre in town, such as whether a theater would rent for a fixed fee or share the box office receipts. Seating capacity, size of stage, stock scenery available, gas lights or electric or other means of illumination. There might be the date the theater was constructed or recently remodeled, and more. Not every theatre provided the same information, so often additional details would have to be found. The guides also included information about each town, such as railroad lines, population, nearest big city, principle hotels, newspapers, bill posters, and more.
The earliest known guide is "Jno. B. Jeffrey's Guide and Directory to the Opera Houses, Theatres, Public Halls, Bill Posters, Etc. of the Cities and Towns of America." It was "Intended for the use of amusement managers and their agents, lecturers, lessees and proprietors of public halls, theatres and concert rooms, bill posters, hotel proprietors, and the traveling public generally."
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The first guide in this series was published in 1878. We know it was published as late as 1889, but we don't know how much longer it lasted.
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The Preface to the Fifth edition included the following note. "Long before the first edition was compiled, we realized that the days of 'stock companies' were past, and that a new era was dawning upon the amusement world. As we then predicted, traveling organizations are now almost the sole reliance of the amusement-loving public."
The next oldest is "Harry Miner's American Dramatic Directory for the Season of 1884-85. A complete directory of the Dramatic and Operatic Professions and a Guide to the Opera Houses, Theatres and Public Halls of America, together with much other Information of Value to the Amusement Profession." We know the book existed for the 1884-85 season, but we have not found evidence of a second edition.
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Among items of note in Miner's Directory is a guide to theaters around the world, albeit none in Europe. Instead, it included such countries as Japan, China, Ceylon, South Africa, Tasmania, Australia, and many more (not included here). There was a listing of all "Combinations Upon the Road Nov. 1, 1884." There were 206 Dramatic, 30 Operatic and Musical, 26 Variety and Specialty, 17 Minstrel, and 8 Miscellaneous, for a total of 287 traveling shows. Like all of these guides, there were hundreds of theaters identified, listed by state and city.
Beginning in 1896, Julius Cahn began publishing his Official Theatrical Guide, “containing information of the leading theatres and attractions in America."
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"Authentic Information Regarding all Cities, Towns and Villages wherein Theatrical Organizations may find a Theatre, Opera House or Hall to exhibit in as well as the Information pertaining to these places of Amusement, the Railroads, Express Companies, Newspapers, Billposters, Transfer Companies, Hotels, &c, throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Hawaii and Cuba."
Like it's predecessors, it was organized by state and city or town. The information included technical data for thousands of theaters across the country. While the information might vary slightly from theater to theater, the info typically included the population of the town, the name of the theater, the name of the theater’s manager, and the seating capacity. In the early years, a notation of power supply was included, such as “gas and electricity” or “elec. Volt., 105 alternating; direct current for calciums. General electric system.”
Names of heads of departments were usually included, such as electrician and stage carpenter. Dimensions of the stage were given, such as "Width opening, 28 ft. Height, 26 ft. Depth footlights to back wall, 30 ft. Dist. curtain line to footlights, 3 ft. Dist. bet. side walls, 60 ft. Dist. bet. fly girders, 45 ft. Stage to rigging loft, 52 ft. Depth under stage, 9 ft. 1 trap, located at center. Grooves can be taken up 22 ft. flush with fly gallery. Theatre on ground floor."
Advertising information was provided, along with hotel and railroad contacts. Such as:
"Printing required. 3 stands, 18 3-sheets, 200 1 sheets and ½ sheets . Dates to read, Opera House. J. P. Casimir, bill-poster.... Hotels —Grand Central, $1.25. City Hall, $1 .... Railroads— Houston & Texas Central, Calvert, Waco & Brazos Valley. Express Cos.. Pacific and Adams."
Larger theaters in big cities had more information available.
The book was published almost every year between 1896 and 1921, but no book was issued for the 1911-1912 season. Volume 18 covered 1914-1915. It was apparently not published from 1915 to 1920, supposedly due to war time (WW I) restrictions. Volume 20 covered 1921 (1920-1921? 1921-1922?), but there is no record of a Volume 19, or an issue between 1915 and 1921. Volume 20 appeared in 1921. If there was a volume 21 in 1921, it has never been found, but there was a "Supplement" to volume 21 issued in 1921.
Cahn acknowledged in every edition that he was dependent on the theater owners and managers to provide him with up to date information, but if they failed to do so, their theater would not be included. (“There is a theatre at this point but management refuses to give corrected information.”) Consequently, some theaters were not included in each edition. More notably, over the years theaters came and went. It is generally possible to determine the dates of the existence of a particular theater by observing its first and last appearance in the Guide over the years. In the 1906 edition, there was an entry for the Amusement Hall in Blocton, Alabama. But in the 1913 book, the notation was “Theatre out of existence, all attractions play West Blocton, one mile.” Both editions contained information for the Opera House in West Blocton, Alabama. Or, sometimes it was just a curt “Theatre closed,” this one referring to the Ensley Opera House, which had been included in earlier editions.
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One of the problems with the Julius Cahn series, and probably that of all the others, was that because the information was constantly changing, incorrect or inconsistent information would be reported. It is usually not possible to determine where the error lies. That is, is it old information? Wrong information? Incomplete information? For example, in the 1909 - 1910 Guide, for Pittsburg, PA, the Duquesne Theatre lists "Thos. F. Kirk, Jr. Res. Mgr." in the short list. (JC 1909 @ 192.) In the more detailed listing for the theatre, in the same edition, "Emil Ankermiller, Mgr." is reported to be the manager. (JC 1909 @ 197.) Still, resident managers were not necessarily the same as manager.
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The publication evolved over the years and changed hands a few times. From its inception in 1896 until about the 1910-1911 season (Vol. 15), it was Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide. There was no edition published for 1911-1912, but in 1912-1913, Vol. 16, the title page showed “The Cahn-Leighton Official Theatrical Guide (successor to the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide)”. That arrangement only lasted two years. By 1914, Volume 18, Gus Hill took over the entire project, and it became “Gus Hill’s National Theatrical Directory.” It explained that it was now “The only authentic and complete Theatrical Directory, in existence, having just absorbed Julius Cahn’s Official Guide.” No mention of Leighton. There is no record of a Volume 19, but in 1921 Volume 20 appeared, but it was now called “The Julius Cahn-Gus Hill Theatrical Guide and Moving Picture Directory.” It kept that title for the last edition of the directory, Supplement to Vol. 21, published in 1921. For consistency of reference throughout this database and website, all citations to any version of the guide will be listed as “JC, [year] @ ___.”
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While Julius Cahn’s guides were the biggest and longest lasting, there were other guides of a similar nature that were more limited in scope.
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There was “Henry’s Official Western Theatrical Guide, 1907-1908 — Primary Source Edition.” It claimed to contain “Authentic information of theatres and attractions in the territory from Denver west to the coast, and a list of reliable hotels, transfer companies and bill posters.” At only 90 pages, it was very limited in scope, but in style very similar to Cahn.
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In a sort of preface, the Guide claimed to have been “met with most unanimous favor,” but there is no evidence that an earlier edition was ever published. Similarly, that preface said that “Each year we will improve it—keeping it always up-to-date.” But again, there is no known issue following the 1907-08 edition.
Herbert Lloyd published “Vaudeville Trails Thru the West” in 1919. Lloyd’s introduction claimed that the 1919 edition was the “second attempt at compiling a guide book,” and hoped that the 1919 edition will attain the same amount of success. Nevertheless, no earlier edition has ever been found. And no subsequent edition has ever been found either.
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