Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 1, Number 4, March 1990 Page: 109
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The Glory Days of the Stafford Opera House
publication in 1889, advertises twelve productions mounted
in the Weimar Opera House in the season of 1889-1890. Of
the twelve, only one, that of the Stuttz New York Theatre
Company in A Celebrated Case, had played in either
Galveston or Houston that same season. Significantly, the
same production had played the Stafford Opera House four
days earlier, and all six of the productions known to have
played in Columbus that season had also played Galveston
or Houston or both.4
The Stafford Opera House had its grand opening
on October 28, 1887, with Louise Balfe in The Planter's
Wife. Balfe had opened the season at Pillot's Opera House
in Houston in Dagmar, a drama in which she starred at the
Stafford Opera House on its second night, October 29. The
Colorado Citizen described Balfe as a woman with a "fine
figure, expressive face and graceful carriage".6 The same
newspaper a week later favorably reviewed her perform-
ances and reported that nearly seven hundred people, a less
than capacity crowd, attended the premiere. The Planter's
Wife had been presented in Columbus before, probably at
Ilse's Hall, a circumstance which may have held down the
size of the audience. A smaller audience saw the same play
presented at a matinee the next day, but a house "little less
numerous" than that of the previous evening saw Dagmar.
Bob Stafford himself seems not to have been in attendance.
He had embarked on a vacation some weeks before and did
not return until after his opera house had opened.
The appearances of Lizzie Evans, Katie Putnam,
McIntyre and Heath's Modern Minstrels, and the Men-
delssohn Quartet were the artistic highlights of the first
season. Evans was, if anything, more of a success with the
Columbus audience than the highly touted Balfe had been.
Putnam played to a small audience, but the Citizen called her
play "the best theatrical performance we've had this sea-
4 In all, 65 of the 82 known productions that played the Stafford
Opera House in the years between 1887 and 1894 also played in either
Houston or Galveston in the same season.
5 Colorado Citizen, October 27, 1887109
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Nesbitt Memorial Library. Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 1, Number 4, March 1990, periodical, March 1990; Columbus, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151377/m1/9/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Nesbitt Memorial Library.