In

dramas and other military pieces were all that the public at this time could be induced to patronize. September, J. H. Leonard and John T. Raymond endeavored to manage the place, and Eddy, Charles Bass, Mary Shaw, Helen Western and S. W. Glenn appeared, the season closing October 20th. In March, 1862, the building was opened as a music hall, and with the exception of a little time in May, when, with H. A. Hotto as stage manager, there was an attempt to revive the legitimate, it was thereafter beneath notice in a history of the stage. Even this transient return to respectability was the result of prohibitive legislation in relation to waiter-girls, who were an important feature of the business as then conducted.

IN

CHAPTER XXIV.

1863-1867.

The Academy of Music under John M. Trimble.

'N 1863 Albany was again without a respectable theatre. The old Museum was used for commercial and business purposes, as it is yet. The old Green street theatre and the little Gayety had both degenerated into concert halls, and the drama was without shelter. It was at this time suggested to Mr. John M. Trimble, of New York, who was sojourning for a time at Middleburgh, Schoharie county, that being out of business on account of blindness, but having some money, he come to Albany and change the old Pearl street theatre, then used as a church, back again into what it was originally designed for. The people were represented as hungering and thirsting for the legitimate drama; it was in war times, money was plenty and the project seemed feasible and proved so.

Mr. Trimble's career as a builder has been already alluded to in connection with his enlargement of the Museum in 1848. The last work he sketched was for the interior of Wallack's theatre, as it is at present. The design was carried out by Mr. Thomas R. Jackson, of New York, a student of Mr. Trimble's, and who now came on and drew the plans for the new theatre. The property had been bought at auction for $14,000 a year or two previous, by Mr. Hugh J. Hastings, now of the New York Commercial Advertiser, and then of the Albany Knickerbocker. Of him it was bought by Mr. Trimble, who paid some $5,000 in cash, and gave a $10,000 mortgage for the remainder, which was paid

off, by the way, only about thirty days before the building was destroyed in 1868.

The work of changing the church into a theatre was carried forward rapidly, and cost about $26,000. The arrangement of the interior was similar to that of the Leland opera house at the present time, although the decorations were not nearly so elaborate. The dressing rooms were in the building adjoining on the south, instead of on the opposite side, as at present. The drop curtain, of which a very long-limbed female was the central feature, was painted by Arizoni. There was no bar-room attached to the theatre, and every thing about the place indicated a high-toned establishment, such as Albany had not had for dramatic purposes, in many a day.

The manager, in his announcement, stated that he had concluded to abolish, so far as he was concerned, the ruinous "starring" system, and depend entirely on his stock company, which included the following: Annie Waite, from the Washington theatres; Kitty Fyffe, from St. Louis; Mrs. A. W. Ayling, the Albany favorite; Miss H. Hampton, from Cincinnati; Mrs. E. J. Le Brun, from New York; Saidee Cole, from New York Mrs. M. Smith, from Buffalo; Mrs. S. W. Ashley, from Chicago; Celia Williams, Kate Glenn, Lizzie Simpson, Nellie Wilkins; Mr. E. T. Stetson, and S. W. Ashley, from Buffalo; Geo. Ryer, from California; F. Page and E. J. Evans, from Niblo's; F. T. Murdoch, from Philadelphia; J. Delmon Grace, from the Haymarket, London; E. F. Swain, John Thomas, C. Ferris, W. E. Davis and Sidney Smith.

The Academy of Music, as it was called, was opened Tuesday evening, December 22d, 1863, under the nominal management of J. M. Trimble, Jr.; stage manager, Sidney Smith; treasurer, C. S. Hoffman; counsellor, J. C. Cook; scenic artist, John R. Wilkins; leader of orchestra, Prof. Warwood. Admission, 75, 50 and 25 cents.

Young Trimble was then only eighteen years old, and hardly fitted for the responsible position in which

he found himself placed by the infirmity of his father, and was continued there only one season. He subsequently married Miss Morey, of Pittsfield, and went into business in New York, where he died in March, 1878. .

The opening entertainment began with the singing, by the company, of the National Anthem-whatever that may be and the recitation by Annie Waite, of the following opening address, written by James D. Pinckney, of Albany:

ADDRESS.

As breaks the brilliant scene upon the sight,

This throng of manhood brave, and beauty bright,
As sweeps the eye this vast assemblage o'er,
Impulsive memory turns to days of yore,
And through the past will retrospective flow,
Back to the by-gone hours of "long ago."
Those "good old days" ere discord came to mar
Fraternal love, and forge the bolts of war;
Ere wild fanatic zeal and Southern pride
Our fertile fields with brothers' blood had dyed;
Ere Treason dared its felon blade to draw,
And strike at Union, Liberty and Law -

Those days when our own Clinton, good and great,
Held with impartial hand the reins of State;

When came the Nation's guest from Gallia's shore
To visit his adopted home once more;
And braved the perils of the stormy sea
To greet a people he had fought to free;
When Erie's flood first mingled with the main,
And Plenty crowned each smiling hill and plain,
When Love did much abound, and joys increase,
And all our paths were Pleasantness and Peace;
Then rose this fane- then sprang this lofty dome,
The haunts of Genius, and the Drama's home;
And then Albania's youth and beauty here
Dispensed their smiles, the actors' hearts to cheer,
While manhood's prime and hoary-headed age,
Combined to foster and maintain the stage.
Here Gilfert catered to the public taste
With choice selections, undefiled and chaste.
Here, Edwin Forrest winged his youthful flight
Towards the goal he reached on Glory's height;
Here, Charlotte Cushman bound the buskin on,
To tread the path where fadeless fame was won.
Here Booth, the elder, and the peerless Kean,
Reigned matchless monarchs of the tragic scene;
Cooper and Conway have entranced the heart,

And lesser lights, a galaxy of Art

(Each Star revolving in its proper sphere),
Shed the effulgent light of Genius here.

But Life's experience proves the adage true,
That "tempora mutantur-nos mutamur" too;
Times change- we change—and every germ of joy
Contains the seeds which poison and destroy.
A few short years-our ancient city's pride,

The Drama lived - then languished, drooped and died.
Then fled Melpomene, oppressed with grief,
And mourned to find her bright career so brief;
Thalia lingered with a tear-dimmed eye,
And even merry Momus breathed a sigh;
Euterpe vanished with her weeping train,
And Tacita held undisputed reign.

For years the drama slept - but not for aye;
And now the dawning of a brighter day,
Flashes the glad assurance on the heart,
That love still lingers for the Scenic Art;
And thus assured, discarding doubt and fear,
We now, in Faith and Hope, this temple rear;
Spread on its boards an intellectual feast,
And bid our friends the mental banquet taste.
This house and its appointments, fair to view,
To-night, dear friends, we dedicate to you;
While we, to please, exert our humble powers.
The Stage, with all its hopes, is yours, not ours;
Yours to sustain, to cherish and defend-
On you its future weal and woe depend;
Your will our rule- and your desires our laws,
We claim no guerdon save your kind applause.

Then welcome all, this night, together met,
Each rank, each sex, from gallery to parquette;
We give you welcome, and it gives us joy
Our humble gifts and talents to employ,

To have you here, while we, each passing night,
Still strive to minister to your delight;
To chase the shadows from the brow of care,
And set the seal of full enjoyment there.

And when the Play of Life shall close at last,
Time's brief act o'er, its fleeting pageant past;
"When we are called to make our exit here,'
May each, translated to a brightest sphere,
In higher, holier, happier scenes than this,
Enjoy an endless afterpiece of bliss.

"The Lady of Lyons" was then played, cast as follows:

Claude Melnotte.

E. T. Stetson