J. Austin Fynes

Keith's Union Square, where vaudeville first got classy

The career of J. Austin Fynes (1855-1920) is one of the few examples of a newspaper critic who caused a direct, important, and sustained sea change in the theatre. He wrote for The Boston Herald and the New York Clipper before being hired by B.F. Keith to manage his first New York house, the Union Square Theatre in 1893. It was Fynes who changed the public perception of the industry by attracting high-toned legitimate stage stars to vaudeville bills, thus signaling an end to the era of vulgarity (i.e., saloon variety and dime museums) that had preceded it, and allowing proper middle class people to start attending. The strategy was successful. But Fynes had many run-ins with his rival for Keith’s favor, E.F. Albee, so he finally accepted F.F. Proctor’s offer to come over to his own circuit. (One of the few times Proctor was able to best Keith).

But Fynes butted heads with Proctor as well, and left early in the new century to set up on his own as a motion picture mogul. His idea was a variation on that which he had brought to vaudeville — to bring in big stars from the stage, paying more for them, but also reaping bigger rewards. This was still the era when films were only a few minutes long and featured unbilled unknowns in the principal roles. Other producers would later come to implement this practice (e.g. Jesse Lasky), but without Fynes. He passed away in 1920.

To learn more about vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.