Animal mascots on Broadway were quite popular in Old New York--almost every theater in New York City had at least one mascot. But it was Minnie, the feline mascot of the Winter Garden Theatre, who garnered the most publicity in the twentieth century. Minnie was even more popular than Miss Frothingham, who was reportedly the feline star of the show at the Winter Garden Theatre. Minnie arrived at the Winter Garden Theatre in the fall of 1928, which was the year Warner Bros. took over and converted the former theater into a movie house. (The theater returned to a live performance format in 1933.) She made her way to the Montmartre Club, which then occupied the second floor of the three-story nightclub space on the 50th Street/Seventh Avenue section of the building. The nightclub’s cook fed Minnie and made her welcome. The club had lots of mice, so there was much work to keep the kitten busy. The Montmartre shut down following the crash of 1929. Luckily, Larry McAllister, an engineer for the Winter Garden Theatre, found Minnie roaming around the deserted club. He took her back stage and fed her. Then he put her in the cellar where she reportedly captured a rat twice her size. That catch earned Minnie the title of official mascot of the Winter Garden Theatre.

According to Daily News columnist John Chapman, Minnie was a lady who never left the building. She never had a husband and she never had children. She did have lots of friends, though, especially among the 40-60 stage hands working at the theater at any given time. The stage hands also adored Minnie, and they would often bring her food and boxes of catnip. In return, any time she caught a mouse she would leave her kill just outside the stage door as a gift for her friends. Although Chapman insisted that Minnie never once walked onto the stage at the Winter Garden during a performance, other reporters told a different story. According to one newspaper, Minnie once walked on during a “mood” song and took a position downstage center. With the attention of the audience centered on Minnie, the number was ruined. Another time she reportedly chased a dog off the stage, which stopped the show. Once, someone submitted an application for Minnie for the Actors’ Equity Association. She was almost accepted until the association found out that it was a joke.

Minnie reportedly made her official Winter Garden Theatre debut in 1933, in a comedic play written by Russel Crouse (of The Sound of Music fame) called “Hold Your Horses.” According to Chapman, Minnie was used as a prop for actor Joe Cook, who “poured” the cat from a small wine goblet during one scene.

Following Minnie’s death in 1937, Crouse wrote a delightfully amusing letter to the Daily News. In the letter, he claimed that Minnie was not the feline star of his show–the real star was his own cat, Miss Frothingham. According to Crouse, Miss Frothingham was a Boston-born feline who eventually got too fat for the role and retired at his home. Crouse wrote the following: Almost three years ago she confided in me that only a family would make her life complete and that she didn’t want any stage door Johnny for a husband. I got her a husband for a couple of days—a fine upstanding cat named Rockridge Sultan, from the right side of the railroad tracks. Anyway, two years ago last Christmas, Miss F. produced a son—and took four encores. Being born on Christmas day these five children were named Gold, Frankincense, Myrrh, Peace on Earth, and Good Will to Men. They are the nicest kittens you have ever seen, although Miss F. gets pretty sick of them at times. That is due, perhaps, to the fact that they show no desire to go on the stage, being content to stay home and rip up my furniture. As for Miss Frothingham, she seems quite happy, and whenever she sulks I just take out her notices and read them aloud to her, and that seems to satisfy her. But I know she is still an actress. She likes to bite producers.

The Winter Garden Theatre was built on the site of the former American Horse Exchange building. In 1881, William K. Vanderbilt and a group of investors erected the area’s biggest building on the blockfront of 50th Street from Broadway to Seventh Avenue. This property, in an area then known as Longacre Square, had once been part of the large Hopper Farm that spread over both sides of Broadway above 50th Street. The American Horse Exchange was a place where the elite could conduct high-quality thoroughbred horse trading. On June 12, 1896, a fire swept through the American Horse Exchange. One stable hand and about 60 of the 265 horses stabled there were killed in the blaze. The New York Times reported that ”crazed animals could be seen dashing blindly about in their terror.” Those horses that were lucky to escape were later recovered from all over midtown.

Vanderbilt reconstructed the American Horse Exchange in 1897. According to the New York Times, architect A. V. Porter reused a portion of the surviving walls to create a two-, three- and four-story structure with a high covered ring 160 by 80 feet. The ring was bridged by open truss work; the brick perimeter walls featured round-arched windows as did the original building.

With automobiles becoming increasingly popular, especially among the elite, the Vanderbilt group leased the American Horse Exchange in 1910 to Lee and J. J. Shubert for their growing theater chain. By this time, Longacre Square was known as Times Square, and the area was home to several large theaters.

The Schuberts added a temple-style front on Broadway and a three-story nightclub space that extended back behind the old walls on 50th Street to Seventh Avenue.

In building their new theater, the Shuberts reused much of the original perimeter walls of the American Horse Exchange as well as the riding-ring truss work for the theater auditorium.

The Winter Garden Theatre opened March 20, 1911, with “Bow Sing” and “La Belle Paree,” which starred Al Jolson (this was the show that launched his theater career). The theater was completely remodeled in 1922, but six years later the venue switched to film when it was taken over by Warner Bros.

The Winter Garden reverted to live theater in September 1933, which is when either Minnie or Miss Frothingham made her stage debut in “Hold Your Horses.” Two years after another renovation in 1980, “Cats” opened at the Winter Garden, becoming the longest running show in Broadway history.