Tickets Please!
- venangomuseum
- May 21
- 7 min read
In honor of our upcoming Silent Film Series here at the museum, our staff wanted to discuss the rich entertainment history of Venango County and the notable entertainers who traveled through the region. Venango County was once home to multiple theaters which grew – and contracted – with the harnessing of oil in the region. Notably, there was the Latonia Theater, the Orpheum Theater, Murphy’s Theater, and so many more! With these notable and impressive theaters came notable and impressive stars who visited the area to perform for the leagues of people flocking to the promise of wealth in the oil fields.
The Teamsters, Coopers, Lease-Traders, Roughnecks, and Merchants of Pithole
In December 1865, Miss Eloise Bridges performed in Pithole at Murphy’s Theater. The theater was the largest building in the town, towering over the other structures with decorum and affluence. Bridges, one of the most famous actresses of her time, had come to perform as Lady Macbeth in a reproduction of the Shakespearean play. Pithole was said to have been a “a town of more than 30,000 teamsters, coopers, lease-traders, roughnecks, and merchants.” Despite this, Murphy’s Theater was said by many to have such a beautiful atmosphere and swanky amenities that it competed with many of the show rooms in large cities. The theater sat 1,100 attendees and often hosted nationally renowned dramatic companies. Performances ranged from “East Lynne” to Shakespearean tragedies, such as what Eloise Bridges acted in.
On the night Bridges performed, the Pithole crowd enjoyed her so fervently that they called her back for multiple curtain calls. Bridges, who kept returning to see the fans, was eventually showered on the 40-foot stage with money from the crowd. In total, she received $500. She was the “acclaimed darling” of the Pithole stage. Eight months after she left Pithole for Ohio, the oilfield where she had been so beloved ran dry and Pithole collapsed into a ghost town.
Pithole did not only have Murphy’s Theatre, however. When referencing Pithole’s cultural interests, it was said that Pithole had “Two fine theaters and several lesser houses [...]” The Metropolitan Theater in Pithole provided brighter varieties and comedies as opposed to Murphy’s Theater. There was also the Athenaeum Theater, where police were in attendance to keep order due to more boisterous audiences and more shocking acts appeared. All of these Pithole theaters were equipped with large stages and orchestra boxes, with the Murphy Theater notably having six carpeted boxes and elaborate Tiffany chandeliers. Around these three theaters were “a half dozen bowling alleys and billiard halls and an uncounted number of gambling establishments.”
Buffalo Bill Need Not Return
William F. Cody, who used the stage name “Buffalo Bill,” was another notable entertainer who performed in the region. His first appearance was in 1873 with Ned Buntline’s “Buffalo Bill.” The play was only in Oil City for one night, and found itself involved in a great deal of controversy. Reviews had called the show “atrociously poor,” and accused the company of swindling attendees after claiming that the lower part of the house was completely reserved and charging a dollar admission to all seats but the gallery. Mr. Cody was threatened by upset locals that if he were to ever return to Oil City, he would suffer the “loss of his scalp.”
However, Mr. Cody did return and made it clear that his absence was not due to his fear of the threats, but rather because he had been fighting in the Indian Wars. His return in 1877, was the same year that the Oil City Opera House had been reconstructed and renamed as the Grand Opera House. He performed a new play called “The Red Right Hand,” also known as “Buffalo Bill’s First Scalp for Custer.” The play chronicled his experiences during the battles in which he fought. The people of Oil City – who had once threatened Mr. Cody – filled the opera house to capacity to witness his return.
He came again in 1879 with another new play and was eventually a regular visitor to Venango County. Mr. Cody and the company he performed with labeled each of their tours to be their “Farewell.” Later into his career, Buffalo Bill found himself involved with Tammen and Bonfills – the wealthy publishers of the Denver Post and owners of a circus – who loaned Mr. Cody $20,000. Mr. Cody was unable to repay his debt and thus, Tammen and Bonfills foreclosed and Mr. Cody lost his livelihood. Mr. Cody returned to Franklin and Oil City for the last time in 1931.
The Derrick once wrote of Mr. Cody: “Thus, it can be recorded in the history of this city that the great Bill Cody was here; that he was first scorned, then he was praised and finally he was caught up in a world filled with competitive business.”
The "Little Tramp" in Oil City
Chaplin had begun acting as a young boy when his mother was committed to the asylum. To avoid returning to an orphanage, he worked with The Eight Lancashire Lads to support himself. Eventually, Chaplin began working with Fred Karno, a former acrobat, and debuted with his Troupe in 1908 at age 17. In 1910, Karno selected Chaplin to join him and other members of the Troupe on their tour in America.
In 1913, Chaplin performed with Fred Karno’s Vaudeville Troupe at the Orpheum Theater. Another member of the troupe was Stan Laurel who went on to form the iconic Laurel and Hardy duo – although there is no record of Laurel appearing in Oil City. It was said that the “Karno routines provided Chaplin with his comedy apprenticeship. Several conspicuous examples from Chaplin's Karno days invaded his later motion picture work.”
Chaplin’s debut film, “Making a Living,” premiered in 1914, just a year after his appearance in Oil City. He did not return to the city to perform again, however, the Orpheum Theater, which had been the first theater to present motion pictures in Oil City, showed more than 85 films Chaplin starred in and 74 that he directed.
Touring Dresses and Headlining Assassins
Other notable actors included Laura Keene and John Wilkes Booth. Both actors were mentioned in the Museum’s previous Abe Lincoln blog, so be sure to read more in depth about them there!
Laura Keene, one of the biggest actresses of the late 19th century, was performing the night President Lincoln was assassinated and her dress had become stained with Lincoln’s blood. After the President’s death, Keene had begun touring with the dress so patrons would be able to see the spectacle. The audience turned out not only for her acting, but also with a morbid curiosity. Keene visited the Oil Region in 1873, where she displayed her dress in the theaters she performed in while here.
John Wilkes Booth, both actor and assassinator, had once come to Venango County in an attempt to become an Oil Man. He arrived in the Summer of 1864, but his attempts at a successful oil career quickly soured. He left the oil region with depleted wealth and few prospects. It was at this time that the Lincoln Conspiracy began to take shape. In April 1865, just under a year after his failed oil attempts, John Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. with a Baby Philadelphia Derringer gun. Booth's accomplices included Mary Surratt, Lewis Payne, George Atzerodt, and David Herold.
Keeping the Latonia's Legacy Alive
Here at the Museum, our staff are partial to the Latonia Theater due to our possession of the original 1928 Wurlitzer Organ which first had its home in the Latonia, as well as the decorative peacocks which were original to the Latonia as well!
The Latonia opened on March 4, 1929 and was called “a dream come true.” It carried a hefty half-million dollar price tag and was a grand, state of the art theater. There was seating for up to 1,520 patrons, with 960 seats in the orchestra, 500 in the balcony, and an additional 60 in the loge. The Latonia was decorated with 800 light bulbs, including a chandelier that was 26 feet high and weighed 2 tons. The theater was also equipped with a 1928 Wurlitzer 3 manual 8 rank organ, which is now housed in the Venango Museum!
The Latonia Theater was independently owned until 1942 when the Warner Brothers Circuit Management Corporation took over operations due to financial difficulties. Following this, the Latonia remained operational as a theater until 1969, when the final movie was shown.
The Museum currently holds numerous pieces of the Latonia in its collection, including the two gilded peacocks and their Austrian crystal beaded feathers as well as the Wurlitzer. This year, we will be hosting a Silent Film Series with showings of silent films accompanied by the Wurlitzer organ, as they would have been seen in theaters like the Latonia! Tickets to these films can be purchased online or by calling our front desk. We will also be offering two free silent films, and reservations for those can be made on our website or by calling the front desk.
Thanks for reading!
Did you enjoy this post? Stop in to see our new exhibit, Oil Boom Spectacular! Entertainment in the Oil Region to learn more about the theaters, actors, and cultural interests in Venango County's history and witness the surviving pieces of the original Latonia Theater for yourself!
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