Bird Cage Theatre

The Bird Cage Theatre was a theater in Tombstone, Arizona.[1] It operated intermittently from December 1881 to 1894. When the silver mines closed, the theatre was also closed in 1892. It was leased as a coffee shop starting in 1934.

Bird Cage Theatre
General information
Architectural styleVictorian
LocationTombstone, Arizona, United States
OpenedDecember 26, 1881
Closed1892; reopened in 1929 for the first Helldorado; reopened in 1934

History

The Bird Cage Theatre opened on December 26, 1881. It was owned by Lottie and William "Billy" Hutchinson. Hutchison, a variety performer, originally intended to present respectable family shows like he'd seen in San Francisco that were thronged by large crowds. After the Theatre opened, they hosted a Ladies Night for the respectable women of Tombstone, who could attend for free. But the economics of Tombstone didn't support their aspirations. They soon canceled the Ladies Night and began offering baser entertainment that appealed to the rough mining crowd.[2]

Entertainment
Bird Cage Poker Table where the longest poker game was played

One of the first acts at the Birdcage was Mademoiselle De Granville (Alma Hayes), also known as the "Female Hercules" and "the woman with the iron jaw". She performed feats of strength, specializing in picking up heavy objects with her teeth. Other acts included the Irish comic duo Burns and Trayers (John H. Burns and Matthew Trayers), comic singer Irene Baker, Carrie Delmar, a serious opera singer, and comedian Nola Forest. Entertainment included masquerade balls featuring cross—dressing entertainers, like comedians David Waters and Will Curlew. Miners could drink and dance all night if they chose.[2]

Longest poker game

The longest poker game in history was played in the basement of the theater. Those who wished to play had to buy-in for a thousand dollars ($1,000) up front. Among the notable people who played in this particular game was George Hearst, Diamond Jim Brady, Adolphus Busch, Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, and Wyatt Earp. Perhaps surprisingly, Buffalo Bill Cody was not present at the game. The poker game in itself was played continuously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It continued from 1881 to 1889 for a total of eight years. It is estimated that approximately $10 million was exchanged in the game during the eight years that it lasted and that the Bird Cage retained ten percent of that money.[3][4]

Further information: List of historic properties in Tombstone, Arizona

Closing

In March 1882, miners in the Grand Central Mine hit water at 620 feet (190 m). The flow wasn't at first large enough to stop work, but constant pumping with a 4 inches (100 mm) pump was soon insufficient. The silver ore deposits they sought were soon underwater.[5] Hutchinson sold the Birdcage to Hugh McCrum and John Stroufe. Bignon had managed the Theatre Comique in San Francisco and performed as a blackface minstrel and clog dancer. He refurbished the building and renamed it the Elite Theatre. He hired new acts. Bignon's wife, known as "Big Minnie", was 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 230 pounds (100 kg). She wore pink tights and sang, danced, played the piano.

The large Cornish engines brought in by the mine owners kept the water pumped out of the mines for a few more years, but on May 26, 1886, the Grand Central Mine hoist and pumping plant burned.[5] When the price of silver slid to 90 cents an ounce a few months later, the remaining mines laid off workers. Many residents of Tombstone left.[5] The Bird Cage Theatre closed in 1892.[6]

Haunting

The theater is reported to be haunted. It was featured in the paranormal investigation shows Ghost Hunters in 2006, Ghost Adventures in 2009 and 2015, Ghost Lab in 2009, and Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files in 2011.[7][8]

  • The Bird Cage circa 1940
  • The box seats
  • Stage
  • Museum
  • The basement poker room
  • Although not the original bar to the theatre, this is an original Bar to Tombstone. It was placed here in 1935, where the original bar stood.
  • "Fatima", who is advertised as a belly dancer, is actually a painting a local man M. Vaccari, and is an 1882 copy of the painting "A Dream at the Alhambra" by Henry Humphrey Moore.
  • Staircase to the Birdcage box seats
  • The dumbwaiter
  • One of the box seats
  • The original faro table
  • The faro table's "honest box"
  • Box seat
  • The original 1881 rosewood piano sits before the stage
  • One of the two downstairs dressing rooms

References
  1. Tombstone Chamber of Commerce. "Bird Cage Theatre".
  2. Agnew, Jeremy (May 3, 2011). Entertainment in the Old West: Theater, Music, Circuses, Medicine Shows, Prizefighting and Other Popular Amusements. McFarland. p. 113. ISBN 9780786486458. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  3. THE LONGEST POKER GAME
  4. Tombstone, Arizona - The Old West's Most Historic Town The Bird Cage Theater
  5. Author, Desert (September 30, 2008). "Reverend Endicott Peabody: Tombstone's Quiet Hero". Retrieved May 22, 2011.
  6. Agnew, Jeremy (May 3, 2011). Entertainment in the Old West: Theater, Music, Circuses, Medicine Shows, Prizefighting and Other Popular Amusements. McFarland. p. 115. ISBN 9780786486458. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  7. "Bird Cage Theater In Haunted Tombstone, Arizona" Archived October 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Ghost Trackers. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  8. Ghost Hunters, Season 3, Episode 1, "Tombstone". Syfy. Retrieved March 14, 2013.

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