1913 Seventy-five Years Ago

More than five thousand suffragists paraded through the streets of Washington, D.C., on March 3, the eve of Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. The suffragists held banners reading “Votes for Women” and “Tell Your Troubles to Woodrow.” A mob of angry counterdemonstrators broke through police barriers on Pennsylvania Avenue and nearly brought the parade to a halt.

In his inaugural address the following day, President Wilson mentioned such weighty issues as conservation, tariff reform, and better conditions for the working classes, but not women’s suffrage. “Men’s hearts wait upon us; men’s lives hang in the balance; men’s hopes call upon us to say what we will do,” he said. “I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking men, to my side.”

Vaudeville’s premier showcase, the Palace Theater, opened on March 24. The Palace was the most opulent theater on Broadway and, at 1800 seats, one of the largest. For an unprecedented two-dollar admission, opening-night theatergoers were treated to a high-wire act, the pantomimes of La Napierkowska, Leo Fall’s operetta “The Eternal Waltz,” and the comedian Ed Wynn. The Palace lost money in its first weeks of business but quickly recouped its losses when names like Ethel Barrymore and Sarah Bernhardt began appearing on the bill.