I'm back from Zenkaikon and feeling very good about the whole thing! Also a bit melancholy, but that's nothing unusual - con weekend is one of the highlights of my year. All three of my historical presentations were very well attended and my jokes landed well, which always helps; the Celtic mythology presentation is the only one that's going to be available to watch online, though, and it'll take a little time because they have a lot to upload and YouTube only allows so much at once. So hopefully I'll have a link to share within a few weeks. But it was a wonderful experience and I honestly don't think I could be more pleased with how it all went.
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| The marker stands right outside the theater, at 1212 Twelfth Street |
He didn't stay with Woolworth for very long, although the two men formed a lifelong friendship. Later that same year, the not-quite-nineteen-year-old Isaac packed a suitcase and moved to Altoona, where he worked as a rail car builder while chasing his dreams of being involved with the entertainment industry. He was encouraged by his cousin John, the founder and manager of the Reading Academy of Music. Isaac knew that in order to pursue a similar ambition, he first needed plenty of capital; to that end, he established a cigar store in downtown Altoona, later expanding it to include sporting goods. This store, next to the post office and an easy walk from the railroad shops, became a favorite haunt of many local men to play billiards. Isaac used some of his profits to promote local baseball, as Altoona was something of a hub for both amateur and minor league ball, and even once sold a player contract to Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics.
In 1891 Isaac married his first wife, a French-Irish Blair County native named Mary Drass (familiarly called Mollie). Around this time he, in partnership with his cousin John, began getting involved with the growing theater community of Blair County, which had previously seen little need for such a thing. Together they opened the Eleventh Avenue Opera House in Altoona, which had originally been a marketplace but was remodeled exclusively as a theater in 1888. After selling his cigar store, Isaac also became the manager of Johnstown's Cambria Theatre and the Johnstown Opera House, as well as a few other such establishments well outside of Blair County. Through his success he also got involved with banking, and was a co-founder of the Altoona Central Trust Company. He was known throughout the community for his friendliness and generosity, and was generally called "Doc," though no one was ever entirely certain why.
As the twentieth century dawned, Isaac hired Albert E. Westover, Sr., a renowned theater architect in Philadelphia, to design three theaters, one of which was to be in Altoona and be named for Isaac's family. He wanted this to be the most elaborate building ever seen in the area, and his architect delivered. It featured an exterior of red brick and Indiana limestone, and an interior made of luxurious marble accented with ornamental plaster. Atop the building sat a limestone balustrade, a neoclassical frieze, and a weighty cornice. The mayor of Altoona, Simon Walker, was invited to dedicate the completed building, and he praised Isaac as a public benefactor who had contributed an invaluable "ornament to the city." Ticket prices ranged from fifteen cents to two dollars, and the offerings included plays, musical performances, and Vaudeville acts.
It's important to note that, because theater fires were such a widespread problem (like the one which would later happen at the Rhoads Opera House), Isaac had taken every possible precaution available at the time to make the Mishler Theatre as safe as it could be. There were twenty exits, an automatic sprinkler system, a fireproof asbestos stage curtain, and unusually wide aisles and stairways, among other considerations. It was regarded as one of the safest theaters in the country. But just eight months after the theater's opening night, on October 19, 1906, a fire broke out in the Rothert Building across the street, and though four fire companies were fighting the blaze, the wind shifted and drove the fire to leap across the street into the Elks Home building and, then, the Mishler.
Thankfully, there was no loss of life in the Mishler. The business manager, George Burley, was almost the lone casualty of the theater fire; he ran inside to try to save the building, but the fire burned through the ropes of the asbestos curtain and caused it to fall, trapping him on the stage. Luckily, the city's treasurer Arthur Clark was able to get inside and rescue him. Meanwhile, upon hearing the news, Isaac rushed to the scene to examine the situation. Although the exterior survived largely intact, he was distraught by the terrible sight of the interior. The balconies had collapsed, the woodwork was charred, and he had spent so much of his money on building it that he didn't have the immediate means to bring it back to life.
"All the money I had in the world I put into that house," he told a reporter. "If I have sufficient money, I will rebuild it at once. I have been a little embarrassed in a financial way owing to the building of the theatre, and for that reason I am not in a position to say whether I can rebuild it myself at once."
Isaac was pleased with his contributions to Altoona's arts community, and at the age of 61, in 1923, he announced that he wanted to retire. He continued with his work for a few more years; then, in 1931, he sold the Mishler to one of his competitors, Anast Notopolous. Isaac and Mollie then set off on a seven-month tour of Europe and South America. But tragedy struck Isaac again; almost a year to the day after the sale of the theater, his beloved Mollie died.
In 1935, Isaac remarried. Alice J. Gleason Sweeney was a widow from Johnstown, and he spent his remaining years with her. They moved back to Lancaster for a time, so that Isaac could take a position as the manager of the historic Fulton Opera House, then returned to Altoona and lived at the Penn Alto Hotel, from which it was an easy walk to the Mishler Theatre. It was in this hotel that Isaac passed away on May 8, 1944, at the age of 82. His wife Alice lived for another twelve years before joining both him and Mollie in Altoona's Calvary Cemetery. As far as I've been able to determine, Isaac had no children with either of his wives.
Today, the Mishler is the home of the Altoona Community Theatre, among other things. They present annual awards known as the Isaacs to local high school drama clubs. As for Isaac, local apocrypha claims that he's never really left his theater. They say that visitors will sometimes catch the smell of his cigar smoke, even though it's a nonsmoking building. Other accounts from employees include ghost sightings, an unexplained event regarding stage lighting, and the tales of one employee's little girl who apparently has been given tours of the theater by Isaac himself.
I don't know if the Mishler is truly haunted. But I do know that Altoona loves it just as much today as they did when Isaac was running the show.
Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.
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