There were weeks during the pandemic when Tim's Broadway Up Close virtual tours became our lifeline to the outside world. Though we are only an hour and a half outside of Broadway, at the time the Great White Way felt years away. Tim would optimistically end his tours with "One Day Closer to Broadway," 18 months later that day finally came.
When I learned Tim was doing a talk in person at the Montauk Club in Brooklyn, Don and I signed up. It didn't really matter that it was the day after I returned home from Belgium, his talk would give me the incentive I needed to come home.
Though I had just come home, I forgot to bring a notebook to jot thoughts down. I was able to get a piece of paper from the talk organizer and wrote in my smallest handwriting completely filling the backside. If we hadn't just gone on the tour of the Hudson Theater, I would have run out of space.
Much of his talk was reminiscent of stories he told on his virtual tours.
From 1880-1890, Broadway was located in Herald Square. Today Keen's Steakhouse remains from that era. Keen's was three townhouses blued together. The surrounding theaters would pour into it during intermission, where the actors would get drunk before act 2. They are also famous for having a collection of 45,000 pipes in the ceiling and another 45,000 in the basement. When a patron dies, the lore goes that their pipe is cracked. Sadly, that rumor was debunked.
The 1899 Victoria Theater (now the New Vic) was the first Broadway theater. In 1930 they were a Burlesque theater. The rule was as long as the performers stood still, they could show any (and every) body part. Gypsy Rose got her start here. When they renovated the theater they removed seats to bring it down to 499 seats, or just one less than is required to be considered Broadway.
In the early days, it was popular to have theaters on the roofs. Air conditioning was not a thing and it was often cooler up there. One theater owner pumped hot air into their elevator so when patrons got to the roof it felt much cooler. Yes, theater people are really showmen. One theater had a farm on the roof with a river and a windmill. I just can't imagine!
Theater people are superstitious, this is how the tradition of the ghost light started. On March 11, 2020 all the theaters turned on their ghost lights to shut down for "two weeks." Eighteen months later, all of the lights still worked (thanks to LED technology).
We heard about Olive Thomas at the New Amsterdam theater -- a story we once heard from Steve, the security guard who had the gift for gab. We miss seeing him on our trips.
Theater tidbit: thanks to school performances, the 1991 show "The Secret Garden" recently finally recouped their original expenses. They are struggling to find all of their original investors to give them their royalty checks. Hard to track down investors when the list was created over 30 years ago before anyone had an email address.
Hopefully my teasers interest you enough to check out one of Tim's tours. They are all excellent.
What was the biggest surprise to us was the venue, the Montauk Club in Brooklyn. My jaw dropped walking inside and seeing the Gilded Age style interior design. I can see why it is often used as the setting for movies. One of the owners nearly has us convinced to join as non-locals only pay $275 a year for membership and can visit clubs around the world as well as attend events for free year-round. We paid $60 to hear this talk. That's a dent in the membership. If we thought we would go at least every other month, I think we would join. If we find more events we will attend, we will join. Members are allowed to bring a guest for free.
The real highlight was after the tour we took the subway back to the PATH station with Tim and his mother. They are both so sweet and kind.
