How a Young Showman Changed the Nature of the Broadway Show

In ‘This Week in History,’ a showman got his start during the 1893 Columbian Exposition and soon changed Broadway with a 1907 summer performance.

A Time magazine cover of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. in 1928. Public Domain

An alarm bell rang around midnight on May 21, 1866. The Academy of Music had caught fire. New York firefighters rushed to the scene in an attempt to put out the blaze, but 15 minutes after the first alarm bell rang, the Academy was a lost cause. The firemen scrambled to keep the fire from spreading, but that proved to be a lost cause as well, as adjacent buildings—the University Medical College, the Ihne & Son pianoforte factory, the Dutch Reformed Church, St. James Lutheran Church, and various other buildings—burned.

Two firemen died from the conflagration. Financially, J. Grau, the manager of the Academy of Music, suffered the most. Along with the music house, Grau lost the company’s “wardrobe … [which was] contained in 48 large boxes.” Altogether, it was a loss of about $100,000 (nearly $2 million today). Grau, however, was stoic in response to the fire: “With patience and perseverance, I trust to be able to surmount this misfortune … and purchase a new and splendid wardrobe for my next season.”

The First American Musical

The Academy of Music was in the middle of its season. An Italian opera company had just completed Fromental Halévy’s opera “La Juive.” A Parisian ballet troupe had just arrived in New York to perform “La Biche au Bois.” Though the fire had canceled their performance, another opportunity presented itself.