On Chapel Street, in New Haven, Connecticut, opposite the Old Campus: from the time of glaciation, cultivated by the Quinnipiac; in 1614, charted by a Dutch explorer; in 1638, colonized by the Puritans; throughout the American Revolution, home of the signer, Roger Sherman, his second wife Rebecca Prescott-Sherman, their fifteen children, and the family store; in 1860, industrialist Gaius Fenn Warner's Italianate villa, by Henry Austin; in 1880, Marshal Peter R. Carll's Opera House; in 1884, the Republican League; in 1887, the Hyperion; in 1903, the Union League addition, by Richard Williams; in 1926, the Roger Sherman Theater; beginning in 1976, a tradition of French fine dining, that continues today. While the Roger Sherman house is no longer standing, it holds up all right.
"In the 1991 book 'Ticket to Paradise: American Movie Theaters and How We Had Fun' (Bullfinch Press/Little Brown and Co., $29.95), writers John Margolies and Emily Gwathmey rhapsodize about the lost era of the movie palaces. (The first, they write, was New York's Regent, built in 1913.) 'The buildings were ceremonial structures in which we… Continue reading An Acre of Seats in a Garden of Dreams
"'Ben Hur' with its horde of people, and all its paraphranalia arrived in the city yesterday by special train from Hartford. The organization numbers 300 people, and they carry twelve horses and a camel. The livestock of the organization was unloaded immediately at the arrival of the company, but the scenery and effect of the… Continue reading The Klaw & Erlanger Co. stupendous production of Gen. Wallace’s mighty play, Ben Hur
-Image courtesy of the Yale Library, “The Yale Banner, Vol. 43,” 1884 "Music at Yale took an unexpected turn in the spring of 1884. The Glee Club, ever a generous brother to the physically rugged but financially ragged University Crew, staged a minstrel show on behalf of the Yale Navy. The event was put on… Continue reading Yale’s first Banjo Club, by Marshall Bartholomew
"In New Haven in 1919, spring really did burst out all over in the most memorable and bloody town-and-gown riot of modern time. It lasted for three days and three nights, several innocent bystanders were killed, and several score were hospitalized. And, except for the casualties, everybody concerned had a marvelous time which is why… Continue reading “It Takes All Kinds of Freshmen,” by Ralph Mcallister Ingersoll
"While anti-billboard women pursued a grassroots 'outside' strategy, anti-billboard men commenced an 'inside' effort to influence policymakers, planners, and political elites. These men, such as Frederick Law Olmsted, J. Horace McFarland, and in New Haven, George Dudley Seymour, led the City Beautiful movement, and as such formed the moderate wing of the anti-billboard effort. An… Continue reading The Hyperion Theatre’s Flashy Electric Sign
"On April 7, 1894, the Hyperion Theater in New Haven, Connecticut, presented a performance of one of the era's most popular musical comedies, 'A Trip to Chinatown.' Having made its debut in New York in 1891, the show already had established the record for longest-running Broadway musical, a mark it held for nearly three decades.… Continue reading Charles Ives and “After the Ball”
"The curtain was just going up on the evening performance of 'The Record Breakers,' burlesque show at the Hyperion Theatre, in New Haven, the other night, when some one called the theatre on the telephone and asked for Manager W. D. Fitzgerald. 'This is Mr. Frederick F. Brewster,' said a dignified voice when Mr. Fitzgerald… Continue reading Wild Night of the Bogus Multi-Millionaire
"New Haven’s colonial founders established a 9-square plan, dating to 1638, with each square occupying about 16 acres. The original squares were subdivided starting in the late 18th century, but this process still left large, square-shaped blocks. The result is that we see a lot of action in the 'Mid-Block.' Consider this image from the… Continue reading Theaters at the Mid-Block, by Elihu Rubin
"I began my current project of photographing old, neglected buildings and aging industrial machinery in 1998 when a friend arranged to get me into the Hyperion Theatre, a magnificent old structure, slated for demolition. I was instantly hooked. Construction sites had always fascinated me, and I found that this crumbling building offered much of the… Continue reading “A magnificent old structure, slated for demolition.”
"Three Yale students were arrested toward the close of a show given by Gaby Deslys at the Hyperion Theatre last night during a disturbance, in which missles were thrown at the star. She was struck with pennies, cigarette boxes, and finally a bag of peanuts, the latter landing squarely on her forehead."