B.P.O.E. Lodge 944
Ashland Oregon

The Star Hotel, A "Free & Easy"

The poster above advertises a concert saloon, complete with live entertainment and the "waiter-girls" that were a source of controversy and scandal in mid-nineteenth Century New York City. Such was the locale where Charles Vivian, fresh off the boat from England, made his first contact with Dick Steirly, another popular performer who would help found the Jolly Corks, and hence the Elks.

"On Friday, November 15th, 1867, Charles A. Vivian, an English comic singer, landed in New York via an English trading vessel from Southampton. On the night of his arrival he dropped into the Star Hotel, a 'Free and Easy' kept by John Ireland on Lispenard Street, near Broadway. In spite of its name, the old time 'Free and Easy' was a thoroughly respectable institution. Its specialties were steaks, chops, rarebits, and ales, and the patrons were entertained during meals with songs and stories by paid or amateur performers. This form of entertainment, a forerunner of the present cabaret, was a popular institution of the day."
(Phillips, recounted in Nicholson, 1992 ed, 12)

Brooks McNamara points out that a "free and easy" was a synonym for concert saloon: "concert saloons (or 'concert halls,' or 'concert rooms,' or 'music halls,' or 'dives,' or 'free and easys,' or 'the shades,' as they sometimes were called) ..." (McNamara, 3) Nonetheless, William Phillips' concern to specify that the hotel was respectable is understandable. The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang defines "free-and-easy" as "a tavern, cheap musical hall, or brothel." (812)

Similarly, Burrows reports that concert saloons “featured traditional entertainment turns drawn from French vaudeville, Italian opera, and German beer gardens—and a novel form of audience participation, encouraged by legally mandated absence of curtains. Patrons sang along with the chorus, singers sat at tables between acts or danced with customers, and “waiter-girls” with low bodices, short skirts, and tasseled red boots took orders for drinks at the tables. They often sold sex as well, and waiter-girls, many of whom had been camp followers during the war, might accompany a guest to one of the upstairs rooms or arrange an assignation in a nearby brothel.”
(Burrows, 957)

Yet McNamara is clear that there was a great deal of latitude and variety in how such establishments were run. In other words, Phillips' assertion that the Star was a respectable establishment is entirely plausible.

"What were the concert saloons of New York City?" McNamara asks. "The answer is not too complex. Essentially, they were saloons that presented free or low-cost shows as a device to attract (chiefly male at first) customers. ... They flourished in New York City during, and for twenty years or so after, the Civil War. ...

Most--especially during the Civil War era--also had 'waiter girls' who served drinks to male customers and sat with them, receiving tokens or tickets in exchange for drinks. But, although waiter-girls were almost invariably identified as part-time prostitutes, some may have been simply bar maids and perhaps stage entertainers. Some concert saloons did have so-called "private boxes" or "private rooms," used to facilitate prostitution or assignation. But again, nobody knows how many; however it is clear that this was the beginning of the bad reputation that concert saloons carried from that time on."
(McNamara, 1-2)

In any case, while at the Star Hotel during his first evening in the States,Vivian managed to make an acquaintance, impress the hotel manager, and secure work:

"Richard R. Steirly, also of English birth, was piano player at the Star Hotel. Vivian struck up an acquaintance with him and volunteered to sing a few songs. He made such an impression of John Ireland, that the latter sent for his friend, Robert Butler, manager of the American Theater on Broadway. Vivian sang for Butler, making such a hit that he was engaged for a three weeks' run at the American." (recounted in Nicholson, 12)

Richard Steirly

See Robert Butler's American Theater

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Last updated on 3/22/03