
They appeared to work cautiously around the lights and received no reproof from the chief. Chief Gicquel watched closely the scene shifters after the curtain fell on the first act. There is no spaceīetween the stage and the roof through which fire could be conducted to the auditorium, as there is in Similar openings in the ceiling of the auditorium which measure 18 feet by 22 feet. The manager explained that if a fire should occur at any time on the stage the holeĬould be opened and the flames would be carried away from the auditorium by the draft. The proscenium frame is twentyįeet high and twenty-four feet wide, and on each side of it is a space about five feet in width.Ībove the stage is a covered well-hole, 15 feet by 12 feet, which can be opened by ropes on each Where a number of ropes are used to adjust the curtains and scenery. The building is done on the right-hand side of the stage, There are no rigging lofts, as the top of the theatre isĭirectly under the roof of the building. When the stage was examined it was found to be one of the smallest in the city, and every inch of The same was true of the floor of the auditorium. In many places between the walls by posts. The timbers supporting the stage, the manager said, ran from wall to wall, and were propped up Very great weight on the stage, and he thought the beams were amply sufficient for the purpose. Stage were sufficient to support a very great weight. McCaull, if he thought the props that held up the Into a number of small rooms for the players, and under the stage is a vacant space.Ĭhief Gicquel asked the manager, John A. The cellar was formerly used as a bowling alley. Wood's Broadway Theatre, Wood's Opera House, Broadway Opera House, and Bijou Theatre) - 1239 Broadway / New York -įrom a 1881 fire inspection report - the earliest description of the original theatre I could find: "The theatre was entered by the stage door, which is in Sixth-ave, under an oyster place.Ī long passageway leads to the cellar of the house, which is fitted up as dressing rooms. Cohan performed for large audiences in Poli's magnificent theaters throughout the Northeast.AKA: Brighton Theatre, Thomas' Opera House, St.

Players like Houdini, Sophie Tucker and George M. In 1907, the 1,430 seat Bijou Theater, considered to be an outstanding example of theater architecture in its day, opened. It was at the Wonderland that Poli showed the first motion pictures in New Haven using the French cinemagraph.
#Bijou theatre nyc movie
This proved to be the start of one of the largest and most lucrative chains of East Coast vaudeville and movie theaters. In 1893, Poli’s Wonderland Theater was opened in a building originally used as a church and until 1874, was the location of St. opened Poli's Eden Musée which featured wax figures he had created in Italy. The Polis settled in New Haven in 1892 and S.

met and married Rosa Leverone of Genoa, Italy, and together they had five children.

Dublex, and parlayed his talents into a grand theatrical empire in his adopted home of New Haven. He came to America in 1881 with little more than the ability to carve lifelike figures from wax, a skill gained through apprenticeship under French sculptor M. Soon after, his family moved to neighboring Piano di Coreglia.

Sylvester Zefferino (S.Z.) Poli was born in Bolognana, Gallicano, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy in 1858.
