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at Elmira." The theatre filled a "much needed want in our village-a centrally located and well appointed hall for public amusements."
Bull's Opera House opened Monday evening, March 20, 1871. The Grand Opening entertainment featured a lecture by P.T. Barnum on
Happiness," and a "Grand Concert by such musicians as Andersons from New York and Madam Alfred. Walter Russell Johnston, organist of St. Paul's Church, New York," presided at the piano. Doors opened at 7:00PM, and the show began at 8:00PM. Admittance was 75 for orchestra seats and 50 for "other parts of the house."
"The Programme" was well received, although it "embraced rather too much for one evening, and the performance were not ended until near eleven o'clock." However, the "acoustic properties of the hall were found to be excellent."
One of the great performances in the history of Bull's was the appearance of Edwin Booth, brother of presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth. Edwin Thomas Booth (1833-1893) was one of the most popular actors of his day and was a favorite touring ac such roles as Hamlet, Fago, Othello, and Romeo. His brother Junius Brutus Booth, Jr. was successful, but not to the extent of Edwin. John was described as a talented actor but lazy and undisciplined. While Edwin and Junius are largely remembered only by theatre historians, John Wilkes Booth is infamous.
In any event, when Edwin Booth played Hamlet at the Opera House on December 19, 1872, nearly 500 tickets were sold in advance. Needless to say, every seat in the house was filled. The review the next day had nothing but praise for the famous actor: "The part of hamlet might almost have been written for mr. Booth... with his grave visage, piercing eyes, noble porte, lithe and slender figure and statuesque pose, he seems like an animated picture of the melancholy Prince of Denmark just stepped form the frame upon the stage... from the moment he appears... until his death, we utterly lose the actor's identity in the character he presents to us... for... he is ever and only Hamlet the Dane."
Bull's was replaced as Middletown's principal theatre by the Casino (later the Stratton) on James and Henry Streets in the 1890's. In 1927, Irving C. Bull sold the building to the Roskin brothers, Jacob and Samuel, sporting goods dealers, for about $60,000. The newspaper commented, "For 35 years or more, Bull's opera house has been little more than the name which until recently paraded in faint yellow letters across the front of the building. I has been used by fraternal organizations and minor meetings and entertainments. The faded old hall where Edwin Booth once played in "Hamlet" will now be conscripted into use as a storage house for a wholesale sporting goods business." At some later time, this attractive brick building with arched windows was tastelessly altered to its present appearance.