Wallack's Theater

Wallack's Theatre formally came on the scene in 1852 when James William Wallack (1891-1864), known as "the elder Wallack," took John Brougham's two year old theatre on the corner of Broome Street and Broadway, lavishly redecorated and refurbished it, and christened it Wallack's Lyceum. From that time until 1887, a Wallack's Theatre was a prominent fixture in New York.

In fact, the Wallack name had long been associated with the theatre in America and England. The Elder Wallack's parents had been associated with Astley's Amphitheatre in London playing leading roles.

James William, the elder, (left) had appeared in London, notably at Drury Lane in parts like Laertes, Richmond, Iago,Young Absolute, and Joseph Surface. He had thus worked with the great John Phillip Kemble and his sister Mrs. Siddons, the leading actors of the day, and is said to have brought their influence here with him. He came to New York in 1818, and toured extensively. But he seems to have been a restless spirit. One source says he crossed the Atlantic thirty-five times. Handsome, possessed of a "rich, sonorous voice," he was, according to one critic in 1825, the "best practical actor in the world. He has all the acquirement of the pantomimist, without the display of that acquirement, and he has attained that perfection of art, the power of concealing his art." Still, some critics saw his acting as cold, mechanical. One critic called him a "weak imitator of Macready." His Richard III(right) was "worse that Booth's, Young's, and Bennett's," his Hamlet, "unoriginal," and his Romeo, "beyond all question, the best of the day--so is his Rolla..." Murdoch said of him that he

In any event, the elder Wallack was, by all accounts, a light comedian of the first order, a trait that was to be attached to the Wallack name for some time.

"The Elder's" elder brother, Henry John (1790-1870) followed his brother to America in 1819, playing heroic drama and tragedy in Baltimore and New York. By 1824, he was the leading man at the Chatham Street Theatre, but he returned to London and Covent Garden some time later.

In 1836 or 1837 (sources differ), the elder Wallack leased the National Theatre at the corner of Church and Leonard. His brother Henry returned from England to "stage manage." When that theatre burned to the ground a year later, he moved his operations to Niblo's Garden and finally toured, instituting a repertory of Shakespeare for about the next ten years. Henry surface in 1847 as Sir Peter Teazle at the Broadway Theatre before returning to a career in England.

September 8,1852, as mentioned above, "the elder" opened Wallack's Lyceum with The Way to Get Married and a farce The Boarding School. The comapny included himself, Mr. Lester (Lester Wallack); Laura Keene, who debuted in The Will September 20; a Mr. Stuart (E.A. Sothern) who was to make his debut under his own name in 1854; and Mrs. John Brougham. The new operation soon rivalled Burton's Theatre in popularity.

The Wallack tradition was continued in grand style by handsome, charming Lester Wallack. For the next three decades, Wallack's was the most fashionable theatre in New York. Wallack himself starred in a seemingly unending string of plays that catered to the fashions of the time. Most were English imports, or English in flavor, leading to the criticism that he did not adequately support American playwrights. This was no doubt true, but he was catering to the carriage trade, and his audience did not yet want to see ordinary Americans on the stage, but wanted to escape (as they so often do) into a glamorous world of dashing men and beautiful women. Wallack provided copious doses of such entertainment with extremely high production values. It was for others to tackle weighty themes.

Lester Wallack ca. 1855

As Leon Delmar in The Veteran

As Eliot Gray in Rosedale, a play he wrote for himself. It held the stage for thirty years and was continued by Joseph Haworth.

As Lester Wallack aged, his popularity only increased. He continued to play the leading man, acquiring greater depth along the way, but always taking care never to overburden his audience with too much angst. Melodrama is one thing; tragedy quite another...

Along the way, he continued to introduce new talent who would become stars in their own right, eg. Diplomacy in 1878!.

As Charles Marlow in She Stoops to Conquer

As Benedick

As the title character in John Garth

JAMES W. WALLACK, "THE YOUNGER"(1818-73)

Lester Wallack's cousin, James William Wallack, The Younger Wallack as he was called, was born in London, February 24, 1818.

"Handsome of face a person, like all of the Wallack blood, and capable, like most of the name, of appearing to the best possible advantage where elegance of mien, picturesqueness of attitude, and spirited declamation produced the most telling effect, he has been extremely popular with a certain class of play-goers, and in a minor class of theatres is recognized as a star of the first brilliance." (Ireland, vol II, p.193)

Wallack the Younger as Benedick

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