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Vail-Leavitt Music Hall -
History
Music Hall: A Historic Journey
By Harold Smith
Revised & updated by Robert Barta
Original research by: Harold Smith, Jean Hallock and Sylvia Shaffran
Of the three theatres which existed in Riverhead, New York, in the
latter part of the nineteenth century, only one - the Music Hall -
has come down to us. Miraculously escaping the wrecker's ball due
largely to its upstairs location over two lucrative storefronts, the
Music Hall has survived not only all its contemporaries, but also a
palatial "modern" theatre built around the corner in 1920 and razed
in the early '60s.
Located on what today is known as Peconic Avenue, but then was
called Bridge Street, the Music Hall was the talk of the town when
David F. Vail, a venture-some local lumber dealer built it with the
help of his son, George M. Vail. Music Hall was but one of the Vails'
ambitious undertakings, the other being the purchase from the U. S.
Government of the decommissioned sail-powered battleship Ohio.
Displaying their flair for showmanship, the Vails planned to exhibit
the Ohio as long as the public showed interest in the old hulk-and
then to scrap it for its usable parts. Unfortunately, this plan came
to naught. Towed to Greenport harbor, the tired old Ohio sank to the
bottom before many visitors could catch a glimpse of it. It remains
there to this day.
 Music
Hall's future, however, was much brighter. The Long Island Traveler
of April 22, 1881, noted: "Numerous improvements are being made
throughout our village. The large brick building is rapidly nearing
completion and when finished will be a marked improvement over the
old rookeries which now front on Bridge Street..." A week or two
later, the Traveler reported that "Mr. J. W. Flack will soon start
embellishing and frescoing the interior." Mr. Flack was a well-known
Eastern Long Island interior decorator of the period, and an expert
in the application of gold leaf. Even today at Music Hall, we can
see gold highlights at various places in the restored interior.
The Mozart Orchestra, under the direction of Professor Arthur M.
Tyte, who had previously lent his talents to the orchestra at New
York's famed Fifth Avenue Theatre, was a staple of early-day
entertainment at Riverhead's Music Hall. Prof. Tyte's family still
survives in the area. It has been said that some of the Tyte
compositions, including the scores of several operas, are still in
existence in the possession of descendants.
After a number of previews, including a strawberry festival and
musicale, which rated rave reviews for the strawberries, but
somewhat lesser praise for the music, Music Hall opened with fanfare
on October 11, 1881.
The event was a concert with both professional and amateur talent,
sponsored by the Rough & Ready Engine Company of Riverhead. A
smashing success, the show continued until 3 A.M. It was then that
the firefighters were called to duty- to extinguish a blaze in a
barn over on Osborne Avenue, owned by Mr. Osborne. Off they went,
according to the Riverhead News, "grabbing such hats as they could
get" from the coat hooks still to be seen on the walls of the
theatre- and "leaving the ladies to wend their way home as best they
could."
 Harriet
Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," the "Gone With the Wind" of its
day and a huge hit for decades previously, was Music Hall's first
professional play. But "Uncle Tom" had come a long way since Mrs.
Stowe wrote it, and scores of succeeding road companies had
"embellished" the original text. By the time the show played Music
Hall, the Abbey Players, presenters of this version of the timeworn
classic, were desperate for novelty.
Uniqueness proved to be within their grasp. No one thus far had
thought of the idea of presenting an Uncle Tom show with two of
every character.
That thought came to the Abbeys and was swiftly put into action- two
Little Evas ascending to heaven on two ropes, two vicious Simon
Legrees brandishing two menacing horsewhips, two Elizas clutching
two babes skittering across the icefloes, even two bloodhounds and
two ponies.
The only thing there seems to have been one of was a wondrous
curiosity which was billed in the programs as "Edison's Electric
Parlor Lamp." Since electricity was still in the future as a common
lighting source, we can only surmise that the lamp must have been
battery-powered. This was Music Hall's first connection with the
name of Thomas A. Edison.
In the ensuing years, Music Hall played host to a variety of events.
One, a lecture by one Theodore Tilton entitled "The World of
Tomorrow," so stirred the Music Hall audience that the editor of the
Long Island Traveler called for the founding of a group to present
more such offerings and to give the proceeds to the Riverhead
Reading Room, located on the top floor of the yellow-brick Bank
Building still standing on Main Street. This was the start of the
Riverhead Lecture Society, which in turn brought about what we know
today as the Riverhead Free Library.
In April of 1885, Music Hall contributed to the construction of the
pedestal of the "Bartholdi Statue," according to a Traveler item.
Mrs. Frank Baird, a local art teacher, engaged the hall for an "art
reception" with the proceeds to be allotted to what we now know as
the Statue of Liberty. Music Hall audiences and
 sponsors
came from all over the surrounding area to see the many and varied
attractions presented in Riverhead's beautiful little auditorium. On
one occasion in 1885, Quogue residents - then a day's carriage trip
away from Riverhead - presented a "literary and vocal entertainment"
for the benefit of the Quogue Church Society. And perhaps in return,
the Riverhead Harmonic Society gave a benefit at Music Hall "for
repairing the road to Quogue."
Lighting at Music Hall appears to have begun with candles. According
to a press item, the candles in the footlights started a small blaze
which was quickly extinguished. Whether these candles were a
supplement to gaslight, or whether the gaslight followed the bad
experience with candles, is not known. We do know, however, that
Music Hall had its own gas plant behind the theatre, that gas
fixtures were placed all along the horseshoe balcony, and that
gaslight continued at Music Hall until the advent of electricity
there in July of 1888.
"The people are beginning to find that the light is worth all the
money, and the prospect is that we shall have more rather than
less,'' predicted the Traveler. The very next week, Music Hall had
electric lights.
In 1898, Music Hall was the scene of a political convention, drawing
people from all over Long Island. The building was designated as
headquarters for one of the political parties, receiving election
returns by telephone from the county and state.
The Improved Order of Red Men, a fraternal organization founded by
George Washington for the purpose of assisting the American Indian
in his problems with incoming settlers, engaged Music Hall for a
six-year period beginning in 1900. Little was heard from Music Hall
during this time, except for a dance held toward the end of the Red
Men's tenure. "Last Saturday night," reported the Riverhead News,
"the electric lights went out. Joseph Long was sent to the power
house to ascertain if they would shortly be turned on again, and on
his way back, he fell in the river." Hopefully, after drying off, he
then returned to the dance.
In 1908, Thomas A. Edison's famous name returned to Music Hall for
the first time since "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It was then that the Great
Edison Show made its Riverhead bow. This was a "moving picture
show," not Riverhead's first, but surely one of the most sensational
to date, featuring as it did the Harry K. Thaw trial for the
shooting of architect Stanford White for the hand of show-girl
Evelyn Nesbit atop the old Madison Square Garden-" depicting all
phases from the shooting to the incarceration of Thaw in Matteawan."
Taking no chances, the management thoughtfully added "a number of
first-class vaudeville acts."
Later that year, George M. Vail, now sole owner of Music Hall, sold
the building to Simon Leavitt, father of the late well-known men's
clothier, Theodore Leavitt, whose widow, Mollie Leavitt, owned the
Music Hall until its acquisition by the Council for the Vail-Leavitt
Music Hall in 1982 through a grant from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development arranged by the Town of Riverhead's
Community Development officer, Robert Schemer.
From 1909 on, Music Hall became known as the Lyceum Theatre- the
Broadway theatre of the same name had been built that year and
probably inspired the change-and as such presented moving pictures,
vaudeville, occasional stock and road companies, and more rarely,
concerts and dances.
It could have been about this time that the late Ted Leavitt, then a
youth, remembered having met a young Western rope-spinner then
performing on the Music Hall stage, who taught the young haberdasher
the art of lariat-twirling in between appearances in the theatre
upstairs. The newspapers of the time mention no names-they rarely
did single out vaudeville performers. But Mr. Leavitt was often
heard to remember that the rope-spinner was none other than Will
Rogers.
In 1912, after several successful years of vaudeville, film, lecture
and concert bookings, the Leavitts leased their upstairs showplace
to Franklin P. McCutcheon, a vastly experienced showman from
Brooklyn. Mr. McCutcheon and his family appear to have been great
admirers of Thomas A. Edison- perhaps close friends. Mr.
McCutcheon's young grandson, at 8 an accomplished pianist, bore the
name of Edison Baldwin. Young Edison was frequently praised in the
press for his talent.
Under the McCutcheon management, in 1914 came one of the Lyceum's
most exciting times. For several years, Thomas Edison had been
working on a new development in entertainment- talking motion
pictures. At the same time, the talents of the great inventor were
devoted to another experiment in nearby Quogue- extracting iron from
the sands of that ocean resort, where on many occasions the ocean
would wash up quantities of ferrous metal mixed with silica.
Edison's iron-from-sand experiments never proved successful. But
talking pictures were destined for success beyond anyone's wildest
dreams- even though the final fruits of that success eluded the
great inventor.
In 1914, an advertisements appeared in the Riverhead News to the
effect that "The Eighth Wonder of the World" was coming to the
Lyceum Theatre in Riverhead- "Thomas A. Edison's Talking Pictures."
The all talking program featured John J. McGraw, then manager of the
New York Giants; Van & Schenck, popular musical comedy stars; a
scene from "Faust"; Edison's Minstrels; "Julius Caesar" and an
all-star feature program. "No silent pictures shown," declared the
Lyceum ad.
In its next issue, the Riverhead News raved about Edison's
experiment.
"The talking movies at the Lyceum here last week was a show that
greatly pleased large audiences," stated the enthusiastic reviewer.
"Most of the people present declared it a marvelous performance. The
accurate timing of the words, music, dancing and various sounds with
the pictures produced results practically perfect, and there was
hardly any flicker to the pictures themselves. It was hard to
believe that live persons were not on the stage contributing to the
program."
Despite the success of the Edison sound experiment at Riverhead's
tiny Lyceum, talking films had to wait for 14 more years to achieve
the skyrocketing popularity that came eventually. The problem was
chiefly amplification. While the 300-seat Lyceum must have been
ideal for the mechanically-reproduced sound of 1914, such primitive
methods of sound reproduction must have left a great deal to be
desired when attempted in the cavernous houses of Broadway and
elsewhere. Still, a spark had been ignited- and Edison's Lyceum
experiment helped kindle the flame.
In the years following the Edison
experiment until the outbreak of World War in 1917, the Lyceum
continued its successful career as a purveyor of motion picture
entertainment. After the retirement of the elderly McCutcheon,
Robert A. Blumberg succeeded as manager. Under his direction, the
Lyceum negotiated exclusive contracts with the top film producers of
the day- Universal, Metro, Vitagraph, Paramount, and several other
giants now in obscurity.
But war's outbreak, plus a foreboding announcement of a palatial new
theatre to be called the Riverhead Capitol, seemed to throw a pall
over activities at the Lyceum. Almost simultaneously with the
threatening hostilities being chronicled on page one of all the
papers, news of the Lyceum's screen and stage events seemed to fade
from view. On July 4, 1917, we learn that a ball presented by
Riverhead's black community was featured at the old hall. After
that, the records are silent.
It is known that after the war, the old theatre was converted into
the Imperial Restaurant, a lavish eating place. However, in 1925,
that enterprise came to a sad end when a kitchen fire damaged an
area that had been the stage, but was prevented from spreading
elsewhere by a wall that had been erected between the stage and the
auditorium. Thus were preserved the ornate box tiers and the notable
horseshoe balcony as well as the elaborate plaster mouldings of the
ceiling.
A short career as a pool hall, and an even shorter one as a betting
parlor ending in an eviction notice from the Leavitts, were the last
public activities in Music Hall. A fire, unruly pool sharks and
shady bookies were enough for Mr. Leavitt, who vowed from then on
that nothing would occupy the space over his store, but storage. And
that was the way it was, from 1925 until 1978.
Since about 1967, Ted Leavitt had told Harold Smith about the
theatre over his store upstairs. Both men were too busy to visit the
old showplace- Mr. Leavitt with his men's wear business, Harold with
his printing establishment around the corner, which he ran while
maintaining his status as a veteran actor dating from 1929.
Finally, when a date was arranged, Smith was astounded. Here,
perfectly preserved save for the stage floor which had been removed
for the kitchen, was a late 19th century opera house, the kind once
prevalent across small-town America, but now a rarity, so precious
that the few remaining examples are as scarce as prized jewels.
At first, Mr. Leavitt was reluctant to allow the present-day public
to see his old theatre. It was only after much persuasion by Mr.
Smith that he consented to letting small groups of visitors climb
the old stairs to view this glimpse of Riverhead's past.
Present-day Riverhead's first look at the 1881 Music Hall (the name
of Lyceum had by then been abandoned) came at the time of one of the
early Riverhead Country Fairs. The result was consternation. "No
such place exists!" was the contention of some old-timers until they
came up and saw for themselves. There it was-crying aloud for
restoration.
As an early member of Riverhead Townscape, a group dedicated to the
improvement of the Riverhead community and the development of all
its potentials, Smith succeeded in interesting the membership in
establishing a sub-committee to revitalize the old Music Hall. First
meeting of the new group was held in November of 1978. The
committee's activities broadened, and it was not long before
Townscape decided that its offshoot should become an independent
body, providing sufficient funds for its incorporation as such.
An application was made to the Riverhead Town Board for funds for
acquisition of the building. At first, it was proposed that the Town
buy the building and appoint a board to run it. The Town Board
demurred and proposed instead that the new corporation, the Council
for the Vail Leavitt Music Hall, accept the building through a HUD
Small Cities block grant. This was accomplished in April 1982.
In that period, the Hall's Council raised over $100,000 in cash and
in-kind contributions to operate and restore Riverhead's historic
hall. In September 1985, after several years of work on applications
and interviews, Music Hall was placed on the National Register of
Historic Places.
The first phase of Music Hall's restoration began with the opening
of the Music Hall Mini-Cine in the former Leavitt's Men's Shop in
1984. Prior to the opening, Council members volunteered their
services in rebuilding the former haberdashery into an 84-seat
cinema.
A generous contribution from a council member provided the funds for
the purchase of 500 theatre chairs from the old Freeport Theatre
which was to be razed.A Laurel & Hardy Film Festival opened the
Music Hall Mini-Cine in the spring of 1984. Revival films were very
popular in the early '80s, and it seemed the public couldn't get
enough of Bogart, Cable, Garbo, Monroe and perhaps most especially,
the MacDonald/Eddy operettas.
However, by the 1990's the home video advent spelled the end of
revival films in theatres, and the Council was finding it
increasingly difficult to maintain & operate the Mini-Cine
profitably. As a result, upstairs restoration was put on hold. Town
government, growing impatient with the lack of progress, would not
release allocated funds until a viable plan of action was presented
to them.
In early 2002, after public hearings called attention to the cause,
several new members joined the Council. Notable among them was Vince
Tria, the owner of radio station WRIV. A former general contractor,
Tria became the organization's treasurer and brought his experience
in engineering and local politics to bear on the restoration
project. In just over a year, major renovation took place, including
pouring of a foundation floor, structural improvements, fine
carpentry restoration, installation of plumbing and electrical
systems, construction of restrooms and a dressing room, carpeting
and flooring, painting...a complete overhaul of the Music Hall.
Modern heating and air-conditioning were installed while maintaining
the Music Hall's original interior decor. To supplement air flow,
ceiling fans were added which are faithful reproductions, cast from
original 1895 fan fixture molds.
The Mini-Cine was converted into a "black box" theater for live
performances. A new archway was built to permit direct access from
the downstairs lobby to the grand staircase, as well as a cloak room
and office space.
Recognizing the importance of the Vail-Leavitt to revitalization of
downtown Riverhead's arts district, the Town Board allocated
$150,000 of mitigation fees received from construction of the Tanger
Outlets specifically to the restoration efforts. This provided the
necessary capital to speed renovation efforts, while allowing
increased handicapped accessibility and satisfying current fire and
safety codes.
The Music Hall's exterior received attention as well. Originally,
the Hall's brick walls were unpainted, while its cast iron
first-floor front sported a coat of gray-blue. Research and expert
consultation advocated repainting the exterior rather than
attempting paint removal which could damage the soft brick. A rear
entry ramp, along with an elevator, made the Music Hall
handicap-accessible for the first time in its long history.
After finishing touches and spectacular interior painting by local
artisan Mary Cox, the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall re-opened in the
summer of 2003. Since then, it has hosted numerous performances by
local and internationally recognized performers and serves as a
symbol of Riverhead's cultural and artistic history heritage.
The Council continues its fundraising efforts to further promote the
arts in downtown Riverhead. We appreciate the support and patronage
of our community.
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