The Theater in the Victorian Age

[Tom Bogar]

Thanks for the shout-out, Bill. And Betty, kudos for a great summation! (You beat me to the punch.) I would add that the use of the "infamous third tier" (usually with a bar located conveniently behind it) was almost universally present in both England the U.S. until the 1860s, when it tapered off, largely due to principled men like John Ford and (one of the few things they agreed on) Leonard Grover, who refused to perpetuate it. Ford's idea, of calling it the "family circle," and hiring off-duty police officers to patrol its (separate stairway) entrance finally put the kibosh on the prostitution. (Plus, anyone really seeking such pleasures of the flesh merely had to head down to Ohio Drive and Murder Row, near the White House). Theatre reviewers used to use the code word "a fashionable audience" to indicate that it was safe for ladies to attend--that they would not be embarrassed (and I've found a host of anecdotes about hussies mocking proper ladies in prior eras) and that their men would not be openly solicited. (Oh, the stories I've uncovered of goings-on in that third tier--much of which is going into my current book on the Bowery Theatre in the 1830s and '40s.) Another part of the poor reputation that theatres had was a holdover from Elizabethan days (and even before, from Italian Comedia Dell-Arte troupes)--their itinerant nature ("who knew what these vagabonds were bringing into our town?") and respectable Victorian folk did like their stability. Actresses, as Betty alluded to, were not held in high repute b/c they associated with men alone while single, and spouted in public (on stage) sometimes vulgar sentiments.