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Entertainment Activities
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FAMILY PASTIMES
Family gatherings, music and singing were major forms of entertainment
for the Muller family and the families of their children and
grandchildren. They worked hard, but also knew the value of relaxing,
perhaps alone with a good book, magazine or newspaper, or together
playing games or discussing the issues of the day. Playing cards was a
pastime on rainy days and even as children in the 1960s we learned to
play bridge, sometimes outscoring our elders. During the relaxed
summer months the children would write plays and perform them at the
end of the vacation to the applause and accolades of parents,
grandparents.
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OPERA
The Heig family, from Vienna, Austria, loved the opera, and
Rudolph
Heig is said to have had a beautiful voice. There were a number of
large and small opera houses in Manhattan during the last half of the
nineteenth century, but there were also local gathering places where
the men would sing together. The two best known opera houses were the
Academy of Music on Fourteenth Street and the Metropolitan Opera House
which opened its doors on Broadway at 39th Street in 1883. The Academy
of Music catered to the highest social circle of New York society, and
it is doubtful the newly arrived immigrants were welcome at its doors.
The first performance at the Met was Faust. It is pleasant to think
that perhaps one of our ancestors was in attendance.
THE NEW YORK EXHIBITION OF THE INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS
Although only a few of our ancestors were living in New York City in
1853, those that were here probably made the trek up to Bryant Park to
the first world’s fair in New York City in 1853-54. The Crystal Palace
was itself a remarkable structure of iron and glass that housed the
fair. Within were not only beautiful and rare works of art and
furniture, but also four thousand exhibitors displaying the industrial
wares, consumer goods, and works of art of our nation. Over one
million people came to the Crystal Palace Exhibition, which set off
the first major boom in tourism in New York.
CIRCUS
In 1841, P. T. Barnum purchased Scudder’s American Museum on Broadway
and exhibited his “500,000 natural and artificial curiosities from
every corner of the globe.” He charged for the exhibit and kept
traffic moving with a sign that read “This way to the egress [exit].”
By 1872 Barnum was referring to his circus as “The Greatest Show On
Earth.” On October 30, 1873, he debuted in New York City. In 1882 he
acquired Jumbo, whom he billed as “The Towering Monarch of His Mighty
Race, Whose Like the World Will Never See Again.” The elephant
attracted enormous crowds. In 1888 “Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show On
Earth” first toured America.
ZOOS
Central Park Zoo
The Central Park Zoo was originally a menagerie that evolved as
people made gifts of exotic pets and other animals to the Park.
Located at 5th Avenue facing East 64th Street, the menagerie was given
quarters behind the Arsenal building in 1870. When officially founded
the Menagerie was the second publicly owned zoo in the United States,
after the Philadelphia Zoo, founded in 1859.
Bronx Zoo
The next zoo to open was the Bronx Zoo on November 8, 1899, with
twenty-two exhibits and 843 animals. Five years earlier the New York
Zoological Society (renamed WCS in 1993), was established. The Society
was dedicated to creating a zoological park to advance the study of
zoology, protect wildlife, and educate the public. The Bronx Zoo is
the result of their efforts.
Prospect Park Zoo
The Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn also began as a small menagerie,
established in the late 1800s. Donations to the zoo in the 1890s
include both red and white deer, bears, foxes, seals, buffalo, a
sacred cow, and peacocks. The animals were kept in pens on Sullivan
Hill. Zoological offerings continued to come in and the menagerie
formally became the Prospect Park Zoo on Flatbush Avenue on July 3,
1935.
CENTRAL PARK
 A great wave of immigration began in the 1830s, causing the population
of New York City to swell from more than 300,000 in the 1840s to over
500,000 by 1850. Most New Yorkers lived below 38th street in crowded
quarters, as did our forefathers. To escape the press of bodies and the city noise people
sought refuge in open spaces such as Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
In 1844, William Cullen Bryant called for the City to create a large
public park and, with others, pressed the city planners to set aside
land before it was developed. In 1858 the city commissioners sponsored
a public competition for the design of the Park, and chose the
“Greensward Plan” by Frederick Law Olmsted. The park would be pastoral
with sweeping meadows, lakes and irregular rocky and wooded areas to
make it more picturesque. The curving pathways gave visitors a
succession of different views as they rode or walked through the park.
The only formal architectural design element was the grand promenade
where visitors could see and be seen. Twenty years after the approval
of the Greensward Plan, Central Park was completed in 1878.
 One can imagine our ancestors walking or biking leisurely through the
Park on a spring day with the trees and plants in bloom, ice skating
on the lake in winter, or rowing a boat in the summer. Horseback
riding classes were also available and the daughters of
Oscar Heig
learned to ride here in the 1930s.
MOVIE PALACES
Theaters have long been places for entertainment, whether an opera,
ballet, play, vaudeville act, or movie. The movie palaces, as they
were originally called, evolved from the store-front nickelodeons of
the early 1900s. These were short, one-reel films, generally ten to
twelve minutes long. They were viewed in cramped spaces, often with
just camp chairs and a piano for accompaniment At this time New York
City was the capitol of the film industry, filming throughout the city
on the subway, atop buildings and on the streets. Production soon
relocated westward to Hollywood, and it wasn’t until the late 1920s
that sound came to the film industry.
The first Movie Palace in New York City was the Regent, built in 1913,
followed by The Strand in 1914. They were very ornate theaters and
could seat hundreds of viewers. The early palaces offered promotions
such as free china, lotteries and other prizes. Each theater had a
different exotic theme – Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, Spanish, etc. They
made movie viewing a regal activity, employed velvet ropes to guide
the movie goers and hung crystal chandeliers from the ceilings.
Doormen and ushers received the movie goers and many provided
childcare while the parents viewed the screen.
SPORTS
From illustrations in Harper’s Weekly we gain insight into the types
of sports and leisure activities our ancestors may have engaged in
during the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the
twentieth: carriage or horse sleigh races in Central Park, horseback
riding and races, lawn tennis, football, ice skating, fox hunts,
archery, bicycling, tobogganing, and, of course, baseball. There were
also local competitions and races such as running, walking, shot put,
boxing, hurdles, etc. Although the more strenuous and competitive
physical activities were engaged in by the men, archery, ice skating,
bicycling and lawn tennis were also pleasures for the fairer sex.
Spectator sports, especially baseball, were attended by both men and
women and allegiance to your local team was tantamount.
Most of our people removed from Manhattan to Brooklyn in the latter
years of the nineteenth century. Baseball in Brooklyn had a long
history dating back to the mid-1850s with such amateur clubs as the
Brooklyn Atlantics, the Brooklyn Eckfords and the Brooklyn Excelsiors.
It wasn’t until after the National Association of Professional
Baseball Players was formed in 1871, that Brooklyn had a strong club.
The Dodgers were first nicknamed the “Trolley Dodgers” as they played
in two principal ballparks, Washington Park and Eastern Park. In the
1890s both fans and players had difficulty reaching the Eastern Park
because of the number of trolley lines in the area. Our family always
rooted for the Dodgers, and there were no tears spilled when the
Yankees lost. New York City had been left behind, just as the old
country had been left behind when our people immigrated here.CONEY ISLAND
The development of Coney Island spans over a century. In 1875 Prospect
Park was linked to the Coney Island resort by railroad, and two years
later the luxurious Manhattan Hotel opened on the far eastern end. In
1879 the island’s first horse racing track was opened and the
following year the New Iron Pier was built to handle steamships
arriving from Manhattan. The roller coaster, the world’s first, was
opened here in 1884 attracting large crowds. From then on the
amusement parks were built: Sea Lion Park, Steeplechase Park, Luna
Park and Dreamland Park. In 1920 the subway connected Coney Island to
Manhattan and Brooklyn and three years later the boardwalk opened.
Coney Island was a place for the masses to go for entertainment, to
cool off on the beaches, to dine and to dance. During the roaring
twenties the ballrooms attracted many of the younger crowd and were
still popular in the 1940s when our parents would go there for dinner
and dancing. The Steeplechase amusement park burned in 1907 but was
rebuilt with a $600,000 Palace of Pleasure, designed in the French
Renaissance style and capped by a central dome with a rotunda that was
sixty-five feet in diameter. Next to it was a large ballroom decorated
in Louis XIV style. Beneath the translucent glass roof was a 40,000
square foot floor that accommodated a thousand couples. Surrounding
the dance floor was a fifteen foot wide balcony with seating for
several thousand more. This is where my parents danced to the wee
hours of the morning before their marriage. |
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