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John Baptist Schoeffel (May 11, 1846 - d. Boston, 31 August 1918), was an American theatre manager and producer, and hotel owner. With Henry E. Abbey he was involved presenting European theatrical stars in the US, including Sarah Bernhardt, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry: and with Maurice Grau he and Abbey managed opera singers as Adelina Patti, Christina Nilsson, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Francesco Tamagno and Fyodor Chaliapin in their tours of opera houses in Boston, Chicago and New York.

Career

John B. Schoeffel was born in Rochester, New York on May 11, 1846. He began his career in the theatre business working as an usher at the Hayes Opera House in his native city. In 1876 he co-founded the theatre management and production firm of Abbey and Schoeffel with fellow impresario Henry E. Abbey. Together they managed the Academy of Music in Buffalo, New York from 1876 until it was destroyed by fire in 1882. They also co-managed Abbey's Park Theatre in Manhattan.

Schoeffel was resident manager of the Park Theatre, Boston when it was built in 1879, and manager of the 1889 Tremont Theatre, Boston until his death. Abbey and Schoeffel managed the 10-year-old Josef Hofmann when he toured the US, but he was stopped from playing because of overwork. A letter from Schoeffel from the Tremont Theatre dates from this period. Hofmann's agent in London was Narciso Vert, whose business became the well-known firm of Ibbs and Tillett.

Fellow theatre manager and producer Maurice Grau began collaborating with Abbey and Schoeffel as early as 1880 when the three men co-produced and managed actress Sarah Bernhardt's first tour of the United States. Grau did not officially join the firm of Abbey and Schoeffel until 1887 after Bernhardt's second tour under their management which is when Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau was officially established. When Abbey became the first managing director of the Metropolitan Opera (the Met) in 1883, Schoeffel was not involved with the Met at this time. Grau was hired by Abbey to run the business affairs of the Met during its first season; although he did not have an official title or role on the staff of the Met at this point. Later Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau were appointed co-managers of the Met in 1891; a role they maintained until Abbey's death in 1896. The firm was in a financially bad state at that time, and it was disestablished in 1897 at the conclusion of the Met's 1896-1897 season.

Schoeffel produced some plays at Daly's Theatre on Broadway in 1904 after Grau retired. One of these, Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, starred Nance O'Neill, a close friend of Lizzie Borden.

Personal life

In 1885 he married the Australian actress Agnes Booth (née Marion Agnes Land Rookes) (4 October 1841? - 2 January 1910), the widow of Junius Brutus Booth Jr., (brother of John Wilkes Booth and Edwin Booth, owner of Booth's Theatre) as her second husband.

Together they managed the huge Masconomo hotel in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts until her death in 1910. He purchased the property outright at public auction in 1911, which changed hands before its complete destruction by fire in 1919.

Death

Schoeffel died at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, on 31 August 1918 after a stroke two weeks earlier. He was buried at the Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, NY.

Disambiguation

John Baptist Schoeffel is not to be confused with Lt. John Bernard Schoeffel, 9th Infantry, (1874–1940) who fought at the Battle of Manila in the Spanish–American War, and later in the Battle of Peking during the Boxer Rebellion.

References

1. ^ "John B. Schoeffel dies in Boston at 72" (PDF). New York Times. 31 August 1918. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
2. "Impresario Grau Is Dead". The Sun. New York City. 15 March 1907. p. 9a.
3. ^ "John B. Schoeffel". Musical America: 32. September 7, 1918.
4. Leavitt 1912, p. 302.
5. ^ Eisler 1984, p. 35.
6. Smith 1884, p. 544.
7. Autograph letter signed from John B. Schoeffel, Boston, to unidentified recipient, 4 September 1888. OCLC 319887020. Retrieved 23 April 2017 – via Worldcat. Schoeffel indicates that they are not currently making dates for Master Hofmann, presumably Josef Hofmann, who was represented by Schoeffel and Abbey. Addressed "Dear Sir" and signed Jno. B. Schoeffel. On letterhead of the Park Theatre, Abbey & Schoeffel, lessees & managers, Boston.
8. The contract between Abbey and Vert is reproduced in: Fifield, Christopher (2017). Ibbs and Tillett: The Rise and Fall of a Musical Empire. Routledge. pp. 53–5. ISBN 9781351125727.
9. Duckett 2023, pp. 34–35. sfn error: no target: CITEREFDuckett2023 (help)
10. ^ Eisler 1984, p. 39.
11. Eisler 1984, pp. 209–210.
12. Eisler 1984, pp. 210.
13. "John B. Schoeffel". IDBD. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
14. James, James & Boyer 1971, pp. 202–3.
15. Tolles 2008, pp. 98–9.
16. "Lt. John B. Schoeffel". Manchu: 9th Infantry Regiment. Retrieved 23 April 2017.

Sources

• Eisler, Paul E. (1984). The Metropolitan Opera : The First Twenty-Five Years, 1883-1908. North River Press. ISBN 9780884270461.
• James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul S., eds. (1971). Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 3. Notable American Women Series. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674627345.
• Leavitt, M. B. (1912). Fifty Years in Theatrical Management. New York: Broadway Publishing Co.
• Smith, Henry Perry (1884). History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Volume 2. D. Mason & Company.
• Tolles, Bryant Franklin (2008). Summer by the Seaside: The Architecture of New England Coastal Resort Hotels, 1820–1950. Hanover and London: University Press of New England. ISBN 9781584655763.

• 1846 births
• 1918 deaths
• American theatre managers and producers
• Businesspeople from Rochester, New York
• Metropolitan Opera people
• 19th-century American businesspeople