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Newcomerstown Opera House
Was Amusement Center for 75 Years
The
Coshocton Tribune: Thursday, March 17, 1932 –
To Newcomerstown, Ohio, Boy Scouts the
second floor of the town hall is only their headquarters room, but when the room
is referred to as the opera house, memories of bygone years are brought back to
old residents of that village, for they remember the time when the City Opera
House furnished practically all the village’s entertainment.
The doors of the opera house were closed in 1916, when it was condemned on
account of defective wiring after serving for nearly 75 years as the community’s
entertainment center. Since 1916 the elevated floor has been torn out and the
floor is now level. The balcony has been closed in and there is little
resemblance between the room today and the opera house of former years.
The late Emmett Heskett was the last to operate the theatre. Other managers were
William Yingling, Billie Swan and Elmer Sells.
Melodramas and
minstrel shows
were the main types of entertainment, and these were presented by high class
troupes.
Memories of the famous old Hyperion band and home talent minstrels are revived
when the opera house is mentioned by the older citizens of Newcomerstown.
Manuel
Yingling, well known trombone player, directed the band. Some of the old
blackface idols were Billie Crouch, “Bugs” Stitts, Zack Neighbor, Joe McCloy,
Sr., “Skip” Crouch, “Bo” Crouch, Oscar Nicodemus, “Limp” McCrone and Howard
Starts. The interlocutors were W.A. Beers, George A. Beers and O.J. Beiter.
School plays and other forms of public gatherings were always held in this
theatre.
Backstage can still be found some old stage scenery and posters of the following
shows of bygone days: Charley Gano, famous blackface monolog comedian, who died
at his home in Marion, Ohio, Tuesday; Vogel’s Minstrels; Donnelly & Hatfield’s
Minstrels; Sweenly, Alvido & Goetze Minstrels, company of 30 carrying a superb
band and symphony orchestra; Lynn & Flaherty Female Minstrels, featuring Miss
Margaret Marion; The San Francisco Minstrel Company; Hugh McVey, the “phenomenal
club juggler and can manipulator”; The Great Vandergold and his company of high
class vaudeville artists; Walden & Company, mighty marvels of the mystic world,
featuring the Egyptian trunk mystery; I.H. Rehan’s Polite Vaudeville Company;
“Cow Puncher,” presented by the Western Drama Company; and Leahy Brothers, ring
gymnasts. The following melodramas also are advertised: “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,”
“Tempest Sunshine,” “The Widow McCarty,” “The Folks Up Willow Creek,” “Uncle
Josh Perkins” and “Ten Nights in a Barroom.” |
Related Links:
1915: A New 800 Seat
Theatre Planned for Newcomerstown,
Newcomerstown's Ritz Theatre
Opened February 14, 1927,
Manuel Yingling and
the John Philip Sousa Band |
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