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1899: The Amazing Ben-Hur Chariot Race at the Broadway Theatre

One of the most difficult theater productions on Broadway of all time was Ben-Hur, which opened at New York City’s Broadway Theatre on November 29, 1899. Based on the best-selling 19th-century novel by Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur featured 120,000 square feet of scenery, a live camel trained by veterinarian surgeon Doc Martin J. Potter (and two fake camels), and what the writer William W. Ellsworth called ”one of the greatest stage contrivances of our day” —a chariot race complete with a rolling panorama of a Roman stadium to simulate Ben-Hur’s victory over Messala, and 16 live horses trained at the Thespian Horse College at Ben-Hur Stables in Gramercy Park.

A six-act extravaganza, Ben-Hur on Broadway starred Edward Morgan as Ben Hur, W.S. Hart as Massala, Henry Lee as Simonides, and 16 horses trained by Doc Potter to rise up on their haunches and run on an eight-part treadmill to create the amazing chariot race scene.

Please see the story continued with the photos below. For the complete story, including newspaper illustrations demonstrating how the chariot race worked on stage, go to the Hatching Cat NYC.

ByPeggy Gavan

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To create the thrilling Ben-Hur chariot race at the Broadway Theatre, carpenters began constructing the stage set in October 1899. They first tore open the entire stage to put in place eight of the racing machines required for the chariot race. Steel girders were also placed under the stage to make it strong enough for the horses, chariots and drivers–about 85 tons. Additional timbers were also added to the sub-cellar of the theater. Each of the four chariots were drawn by four live horses and hooked up to an electric motor built into the stage that turned the wheels while the horses ran on a treadmill. The arrangement for each chariot was built into a separate platform that could be moved individually across the stage so that the chariots might alternate the lead in the race.

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According to Bernard Hewitt’s “Theater U.S.A.: 1668 to 1957,” the way it worked was that each of the horses was led onto a separate treadmill activated by the animal’s running. Equipped with whips and racing skirts, the actors playing Ben-Hur and Messala climbed into actual chariots and the horses began running behind a darkened scrim. When the sound built to a fever pitch, the scrim flew up, exposing a chariot race in full stride. As the panoramas rolled, Messala’s treadmills were slowly shifted upstage so that the Ben-Hur chariot would appear to be gaining. In the finale, the wheels were pulled off Messala’s chariot, the horses reared, and the lights fell. Not only did the horses seem to hurdle toward the spectators, but a continuous panoramic backcloth was wound around upright rollers so that it could be made to travel rapidly in the opposite direction to the horses, and thus, create an illusion of moving scenery. Even the dust was reproduced by a narrow slot in the stage under each chariot wheel—as the wheels span, the dust was flung out behind the chariots.

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Constructed in 1887, the Broadway Theatre at 41st Street was the first major playhouse built in what has become today’s Times Square Theater District. Its first proprietors were James A. Bailey (yes, the circus Bailey), T. Henry French, and Frank W. Sanger. The first production was Sardou’s La Tosca, which opened on March 3, 1888. The building was erected on the site of the old Cosmopolitan Hall, which was built for use as a great concert hall by the Metropolitan Concert Hall Company and opened on May 26, 1890. The Metropolitan Concert Hall was renamed the Metropolitan Casino by Henry E. Abbey and Edward G. Gilmore to showcase light opera, but theatrical managers called it The Morgue.

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In 1882, J. Fred Zimmerman reopened it as the Metropolitan Alcazar, but that also failed. Next came S.M. Hickey, who called it Cosmopolitan Theatre and soon thereafter walked away. Captain Samuels of Brooklyn converted it into a skating rink during the roller-skating craze, and later it was used for fairs, flower shows, lectures, and billiards until 1887.

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The Broadway Theatre had a roof of colored glass, which could be opened for ventilation. About the framework of the roof was a garden, where people could sit and listen to music coming from the stage below in summer. According to building plans published in The New York Times, the theater was to be as fireproof as possible, and it had electric knobs that, when pushed, would open every single stage door outward so people could get out quickly. The stage was 44 x 100 feet and had seating for about 2,000 people. The last performance was a vaudeville show called Broadway Fever in January 1929. The Broadway Theatre was soon after demolished.

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