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The Internet Theatre Circuit Database
For more than forty years, from about 1890 to about 1930, all the major theaters around the country, and most of the Broadway theaters, were controlled by various theater circuit managers.
There were two circuits that pretty much controlled the industry. The first was the Theatrical Syndicate, which at its peak, was said to have owned, rented, leased, booked or managed some 1,000 theaters. A few years later, the Shubert Brothers, Sam, Lee, and Jacob J. did the same, establishing tight control over the nation's entertainment.
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But besides the big two, there were many more circuits. Some were also very large, such as Julius Cahn's Affiliated Theatres, which included nearly 300 theaters, or John Cort's Northwestern Theatrical Association, with 148 theaters. At the other end of the scale were mini-circuits, such as The Jackson Amusement Co. (5 theaters). Sometimes circuits joined up. While a group of theaters was stronger together, so too a group of circuits was stronger together.
In the early 1900s, there were some 8,000 theaters in 6,000 cities and towns. Certainly not all theaters were part of any circuit, and of course, which theaters were part of which circuit was constantly changing.
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In our database, we include theaters regardless of what they put on their stages. Movie theaters are not included, except that, as you will see, many live theatres moved from live to film in the early 1900s.
Where we have included a theatre built to show movies, we have tried to indicate that in the theater's details.
In addition, we have included many theaters that were primarily vaudeville houses. This is especially useful as many theaters moved back and forth between staged plays and vaudeville, and eventually, film. Vaudeville had its own circuits, principally the Keith-Albee and the Orpheum circuits. They are included here as well.
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This database concentrates on American theaters and circuits, some of which included Canadian theatres. Some British theaters and circuits are included, but no effort was made to be exhaustive. Continental and other foreign theaters and circuits are only included where there seems to be some connection to American theaters and circuits, or are particularly interesting in their own right, and so are included as a matter of interest.
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This is not a collection of every theatre in America. If that were the case, then the place to start would have been the Julius Cahn series of books. Cahn did not always identify what circuit, if any, a theatre was associated with. On the other hand, the paid advertisements in his books have been an invaluable source of information.
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In the earliest development of this database, we only included theaters that we knew were connected to a circuit. However, we found that (a) many theaters started out independent, but later joined a circuit, or left a circuit; and (b) by excluding theaters without a known circuit connection, researchers did not know if the theater was not included because there was no circuit connection, or that we simply had not found that theater. By including theaters without a circuit connection, at least the theater is reported. We also know that there is a difference between theaters that identified themselves as not part of any circuit, and theaters for which we simply do not have any information regarding their membership in a circuit. These are identified as "No information" in the name of the circuit field.
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This database does not include agencies that specialized in booking talent or shows. In this database the focus is on theater buildings. The two leading circuits, the Shuberts and the Syndicate, booked shows for their theaters. However, while the Shuberts produced many of the shows they represented, the Syndicate itself never produced at all, although their individual partners did. In short, the circuits ran theaters and needed shows to put in them. So some of the circuit managers were involved with both sides of the industry.
Aside from this Internet Theatre Circuit Database, there is no known collection of information on all these circuits; no known archives or library, not even any personal collections of this information. Consequently, this database, this website, is designed to fill that academic gap. We have collected data on over 3,500 theaters, and more than 300 theatrical circuits.
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This is an ongoing project. New material -- theaters, circuits, and textual material -- is being added and updated all the time. So keep checking in.
If you have any information that would contribute to this topic, we welcome it. Please go to our Contact Us page, and let us know.
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If there is, or was, an old theater in your town, you can look here to determine if it was ever affiliated with a circuit. If you are seeking information about a circuit you know of, you can explore it here too, and learn what theaters were affiliated with it.
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Start your search here: