The 1892 season at Elitch Gardens offered a wide variety of vaudeville entertainment in the Theatre and the park. For example, among the vaudeville acts were Eldora, the ideal juggler; Miss Vivian performing the La Serpentine dance, “which she had the pleasure of offering in all the principal cities of the United States”; and Al Newton, the most marvelous manipulator of Indian clubs, performing astounding feats of dexterity and skill as to seem almost miraculous.
The management at Elitch also presented seventeen weeks of light opera by the Aborn Opera Company, including The Merry Widow Waltz by Johann Strauss. Newspaper articles indicated that the season of light opera was successful.
Denver’s telephone directory for the year 1892 revealed that Elitch Gardens provided telephone service for its patrons. There were only 1700 telephones in Denver, and the progressiveness of Elitch in providing telephone service was appreciated by its patrons.
[Borrillo, Theodore A. Denver’s Historic Elitch Theatre: A nostalgic journey, 2012. ISBN 978-0-9744331-4-1. OCLC 823177622.]
Theatre Staff:
- G. C. Cook, Manager
Productions:
The Aborn Opera Company appeared in a season of light opera.
- Week of May 29: Boccaccio, by Franz Von Supple.
- Week of June 6: Said Pasha, by S. Marble and R# Stahl.
- Week of June 13: Three Black Cloaks, by Buccalossis.
- Week of June 20: The Merry War, by Johann Strauss.
- Week of June 27: H.M.S. Pinafore (matinees) and The Chimes of Normandy (evenings). (Also listed as The Bells of Corneville.)
- Week of July 4: Robert Macaire, or The Two Thieves, by Harry Paulton and Edward Jacobowski. (Played in New York as Erminie.)
- Week of July 11: Falka, by François Chassaigne and H. B. Farnie.
- Week of July 18: The Princess of Trebizonde, by Jules Offenbach.
- Week of July 25: The Pretty Persian.
- Week of Aug. 1: The Pretty Persian (through Tuesday, Aug. 9).
- Week of Aug. 10: Said Pasha, through Aug. 13.
- Week of Aug. 15: Princess To-To, by Gilbert and Clay.
- Week of Aug. 22: Virginia, by Edward Solomon.
- Week of Aug. 29: Boccaccio, by Franz Von Suppe.
- Week of Sept. 5: The Pirates of Penzance, by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan.
- Week of Sept. 12: La Perichole, by Jacques Offenbach.
- Week of Sept. 19: The Merry War, by Johann Strauss.
- Week of Sept. 26: Vaudeville specialties, matinees only.
