The highlight of the 1900 season was the appearance of a leading lady of the day, Blanche Bates. She was vacationing in Europe, but Mary Elitch recounted that “special inducements” were made to bring her to Denver.
Bates performed in shows including As You Like It and A Doll’s House. For As You Like It, the rear wall of the theatre building was removed so that the stage could extend out beneath the trees.
Additionally, on July 17, 1900, Elitch Theatre celebrated its fifteen-hundredth performance by a stock company. It was estimated that 12,000 people attended the celebration.
[Borrillo, T. A. (2012). Denver’s historic Elitch Theatre: A nostalgic journey (a history of its times). Colorado. p. 45]
Theatre Staff:
- Mrs. Mary Elitch Long, President
- Walter Clarke Bellows, Director
Resident Company:
- Marion Abbott
- Katherine Field
- Ruth Holt Boucicault
- Edith Bostwick
- Holbrook Blinn
- George Soule Spencer
- John W. Cope
- William Elliott
- Sheldon Lewis
- Dewitt C. Jennings
- Edwin Fowler
- Lionel Belmore
- Heywood Mitchell
- Edwin Arden.
Productions:
- Week of May 29: The Girl of the Golden West, by David Belasco, featuring May Buckley.
- Week of June 7: La Belle Marseillaise, by Pierre Berton, featuring May Buckley and Holbrook Blinn.
- Special Performances, June 9: (Matinee and Evening)
- Rosmersholm, by Henrik Ibsen, featuring Mrs. Fiske and the Manhattan Company, including Arthur Forrest, Fuller Mellish, Albert Bruning, William A. Norton, and Mary Maddern.
- Week of June 14: Salomy Jane, by Paul Armstrong, featuring May Buckley.
- Week of June 21: The Hypocrites, by Henry Arthur Jones, featuring May Buckley.
- Week of June 28: The Rose of the Rancho, by David Belasco and Richard Walton Tully, featuring Doris Keane.
- Week of July 5: The County Chairman, by George Ade, featuring Doris Keane
- Week of July 12: A Japanese Nightingale, by william Young, featuring May Buckley.
- Week of July 19: Old Heidelberg, by William MeyerFoster, featuring Henry Woodruff and May Buckley.
- Week of July 26: Raffles, by E.W. Hornung and Eugene W. Presbrey, featuring Henry Woodruff and May Buckley.
- Week of Aug. 2: A Royal Family, by Capt. Robert Marshall, featuring Henry Woodruff and May Buckley.
- Week of Aug. 9: As You Like It, by William Shakespeare, featuring Henry Woodruff and May Buckley.
- Week of Aug. 17: The Music Master, by Charles Klein, featuring David Warfield and his company, including Taylor Holmes, Oscar Eagle, Antoinette Perry, and Ruth Gates.
- Week of Aug. 24: A Grand Army Man, by David Belasco, Pauline Phelps, and Marion Short, featuring David Warfield and his company.
- Week of Aug. 31: The Music Master, with David Warfield and his company.
- Post-Season Performances, listed as a Festival of German Drama, presented by the Ferdinand Webb Star Ensemble:
- Sunday Matinee, Sept. 6: Zwei Glueckliche Tage.
- Sunday Evening, Sept. 6: Tante Regina.
- Sunday Matinee, Sept. 13: Mauerbluemchen.
- Sunday Evening, Sept. 13: Anna-Lise
