Knickerbocker Theatre (Broadway)


The Knickerbocker Theatre, previously known as Abbey's Theatre and Henry Abbey's Theatre, was a Broadway theatre located at 1396 Broadway in New York City. It operated from 1893 to 1930. In 1906, the theatre introduced the first moving electrical sign on Broadway to advertise its productions.

History

The 1500-seat theatre was designed by the architectural firm of J. B. McElfatrick & Co. It opened as Abbey's Theatre, named after Broadway theatre manager and producer Henry Eugene Abbey, on November 8, 1893, with a production of the melodrama The Countess Valeska. In the mid-1890s, Lillian Russell starred at the theatre, including in The Queen of Brilliants, a flop.
Following Abbey's death in 1896, Al Hayman and the Theatrical Syndicate group took control of the theatre and rechristened it the Knickerbocker. In its early years, the theatre hosted productions of Shakespeare's plays and Edwardian musical comedy. Several of Victor Herbert's operettas premièred there. In 1906, the theatre introduced the first moving electrical sign on Broadway with an advertisement for its production of Herbert's The Red Mill. Operettas by European composers, such as The Dollar Princess and The Merry Widow also played there.
In 1905, Variety opened its first office at the theatre.
After World War I, the theatre continued to present a mixture of musicals, new plays and classics. Following the Wall Street crash of 1929, the theatre closed. It was demolished in 1930, along with the nearby Casino Theatre, to make way for the expanding Garment District.

Notable productions