Benjamin Franklin Keith

Keith, B[enjamin] F[ranklin] (1846–1914), manager. Born in Hillsboro, New Hampshire, he left his family farm to join a circus but by the early 1880s had moved into the realm of theatre management, taking over the Gaiety Musée in Boston in 1885. Keith claimed that a dream convinced him of the value of continuous vaudeville, which he initiated at the theatre. His policy's success was immediate, and he soon owned a series of theatres east of the Mississippi. At the turn of the century he enlarged his chain by merging with F. F. Proctor, at the same time forming the United Booking Office to control the hiring and firing of performers. At its height his organization controlled well over a hundred theatres, many of them named after him.

• Genres: Vocal Music

Biography

While entertainment innovators like Benjamin Franklin Keith have faded into American entertainment history, and the popular distraction know as vaudeville has long been replaced by movies and MTV, Keith's efforts on behalf of vaudeville would help make it a forerunner of these contemporary pastimes. As the Civil War came to a close in 1865, Americans clamored for new and more exciting forms of entertainment. While the minstrel show remained vastly popular after the war, theater owners like Keith and Edward Franklin Albee institutionalized and expanded old ideas to create entertainment for the masses. Through his innovations, Keith became the father of vaudeville. Benjamin Franklin Keith was born in Hillsboro Bridge, NH, on January 26, 1846. He joined his first circus troupe after attending a performance of Van Ambrug's Circus, and would learn the art of entertainment working as a grifter and barker during the 1870s. Keith also found work in dime museums such as Bunnell's in New York City, and served stints in both the P.T. Barnum and Forepaugh circuses. In 1883 he partnered with Colonel William Austin, opening a curio museum in Boston featuring "Baby Alice the Midget Wonder." All of these activities provided Keith a rich education in the industry and a sturdy foundation for his next, and most important, adventure. In 1885, as he neared his 30th birthday, Keith formed a partnership with Albee and founded the Boston Bijou Theatre. Unlike earlier stage shows, the partners conceived of a continuous program, repeating itself between 10 a.m. each morning and 11 p.m. each night. This allowed audiences to visit the theater at a convenient time and leave once the program began to repeat itself. Keith was a purveyor of "family entertainment" before the media-savvy term existed, eliminating offensive language, poor taste, and short skirts. Even the Catholic Church approved of Keith's enterprise and helped fund its expansion. "Keith's triumph as a showman," noted one commentator, "lay chiefly in his ability to bridge the gulf between notions of 'high' and 'low' entertainments...." Keith's vaudeville theaters also played a key role in a new entertainment industry, motion pictures. In June 29, 1896, he and Albee sponsored the Lumiere Cinematographe in the Union Square Theatre in New York City. After securing exclusive American rights to Lumiere's output in America, the partners opened theaters in Boston and Philadelphia along with a number of smaller theaters, creating a chain. In 1906 the partners created the United Booking Artists, establishing a talent clearinghouse and collecting five percent interest on anyone seeking employment at member theaters. While many vaudeville chains were built during the 1890s, Albee and Keith used both United Booking Artists and the Vaudeville Manager's Association to create a virtual monopoly that continued beyond Keith's death in 1914. Keith retired in 1909 and married Ethel Bird Chase in 1913. He died the following year on March 26, a date The New York Times noted as the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Boston Bijou Theatre. In 1928 the Keith-Albee company merged with Orpheum Circuit and later formed a cornerstone of RKO studios. ~ Ronald D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide

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