BIG PRODUCTIONS IN A LITTLE TOWN

By T.M. Bradshaw

In 1892, a group of businessmen in Stamford proposed building an opera house. Summer tourism in Stamford had been growing for over a decade and a theater space would fill a number of needs, both for entertaining the village’s many summer guests from out of town and community functions all year long. The proposed building was to be 50 x 90 feet, three stories high, with a basement. The first floor was to be retail space for three stores. The auditorium itself was to have a 22-foot ceiling and removable chairs so that the space could be used for other functions, such as dances and fairs. As reported by the November 22 Mirror-Recorder that year, two-thirds of the estimated $12,000 construction cost had already been subscribed, with a target completion date of June 1893. The opera house was to be built on Railroad Avenue where the Hamilton House barns stood. As one Hamilton House barn still stands on that site, clearly that never happened.

Two years later the December 11 Mirror-Recorder published an editorial on the need for and advantages of having such a venue. “If a town of 1,200 people can afford to be incorporated, have two or three parks, a dozen or two big boarding houses, water works, sewerage, electric lights, a good school and two newspapers, and can’t afford $10,000 for a nice opera house then the editor is mistaken in the public spirit which governs Stamford.” Perhaps so, because it didn’t happen for another six years.

In 1899 another site was chosen, behind the Main Street bank. The choice may seem odd, but the number of Stamford businesses had grown along with the tourist population and some deeper lots had second functions. In October of that year, those interested in building an opera house met and also organized themselves into a Board of Trade. The plan for the opera house was to be like the Oneonta theater, but 20 feet wider. This plan also had more seats than the original: 1,500, which could grow to 2,000 if the stage area was utilized. The acoustics in the new theater were said to be exceptionally good. As of June 1900, the expected seats were yet to arrive, so J. D. Dean went to Kingston in search of them. He found them parked on a siding, billed to the Kingston Board of Trade. Dean had them properly redirected and they were quickly installed. These followed the original plan of removable seats—units of several attached wooden folding chairs that made either reconfiguring or removing them simple. The Harpersfield Historical Society has at least one set of the chairs in its collection.

Charles Huiest of Troy, New York, created the curtain and scenery: two interiors, a kitchen and a parlor; two exteriors, a street and a forest glen; and a drop curtain of a local scene in Stamford’s Churchill Park. According to the website curtainswithoutborders.org, work done by Huiest is as good as that of the larger scenic studios in Boston, New York, and Chicago.

The July 21 and 28, 1900 editions of the Hobart Independent reported on the opening, noting that special excursion trains with late evening returns would run between Stamford and Oneonta to accommodate theater-goers wishing to see the first production, Belshazzar, a biblical tale of ancient Babylon. Similar excursion trains connected other villages to Stamford for the event. The Independent further reported that the people of Pine Hill were annoyed, resenting Stamford’s attempt to lure tourists from other villages and had torn down the Belshazzar posters and squelched information about the excursion trains.

Other events at the venue in 1900 included a ball, a fair to benefit Sacred Heart Church, and a lecture series presented by Stamford Seminary that included art, music, and a magician. A “cakewalk” presented by the waiters of the Rexmere Hotel was declared a disappointing fizzle by the August 31 Delaware County Dairyman that year. Governor Theodore Roosevelt spoke at the opera house on October 23. In November, people gathered to hear election results received at the railroad station by telegraph and then telephoned to the opera house.

In 1901 there was a vote to authorize the village to buy the opera house. It had cost $11,000 to build but would be offered to the municipality for $3,500; the vote was 46 for the plan, 69 against. A stone walk was added to the property in 1902. The village eventually did buy it.

For New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, 1903/1904, local talent presented the comic opera The Chimes of Normandy, a translation of the French Les cloches de Corneville, directed by Prof. Thomas Peaslee.

Touring acting companies and musicians played at the Stamford Opera House, but many of the productions continued to feature the talents of local people. The list of local entertainments was varied. In addition to dances, concerts, lectures, and large meetings, they also used the space for basketball games. Two games, as reported by the Oneonta Daily Star on January 28, 1921, saw the girls’ team from the State Normal School playing against the girls from Stamford Seminary and the Delhi Aggies playing the “regular” Stamford team—presumably by regular, the newspaper article was referring to boys.

July 1919 saw the opera house leased to William Smalley of Cooperstown. Smalley used the space to show films on every weeknight that it wasn’t in use for local entertainments. Shows were at 7:30 and 9:15, with the ticket prices of 11 and 17 cents, both prices including war tax. The following spring he contracted for another two-year lease.

Smalley ran 17 theaters and several dance pavilions in Central New York. An operation of that size required multiple managers and Smalley sometimes shuffled staff around the region.

The Oneonta Daily Star reported on June 26, 1923, that “Smith McGregor has assumed the management of Stamford Opera House for Mr. Smalley, being transferred here from St. Johnsville.” In 1924, Smalley purchased a lot to build another theater in Stamford. At that time he also leased the Rip Van Winkle theater at the west end of the village.

Crime crept in here and there. In 1914, during a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s H. M. S. Pinafore, thieves lifted $15.20 from the pockets of coats left in the opera house cloak room.

In 1927, William Joseph Duffy of Kingston, under the assumed name Jean LaMar, contracted with Jack Goodwin, the manager then of the Smalley organization in Stamford, to put on a dance at the opera house featuring LaMar’s French Society Orchestra of Twelve. Duffy/LaMar never actually had an orchestra of his own, but hired musicians as needed for events, musicians who often then had to pursue Duffy/LaMar to get paid. He printed and sold tickets for the dance, appropriating the money for himself. The theater honored the fraudulent tickets and Goodwin had Duffy/LaMar arrested on a charge of larceny. According to an item from the Glimmerglass Daily, Duffy/LaMar was sentenced to 30 days during which time his mental state was to be assessed; his family had pleaded on his behalf that he had mental issues that compelled his behavior.

The Stamford Opera House was razed in 1954.

Information not attributed to a specific newspaper is from copious notes kept by Daisy DeSilva in her index of Stamford’s people, places, and businesses. The Daisy DeSilva/Anne Willis Collection is now housed at the Stamford Library.

T. M. Bradshaw shares other thoughts on history at tmbradshawbooks.com.