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Michael Shea

Michael Shea

"Mike Shea was one of the last of the great showmen of the old tradition. With his name the growth of vaudeville in America is inseparably linked; the greatest stars of stage and screen during the past half century knew and respected him; much of the glamor and color and zest of the most robust period of the American variety stage clung to Mike Shea and made him a more remarkable figure, in most respects, than the most famous of the stars he hired and put upon his stages. He was a peculiar titan in the business of make-believe, a two-fisted Irishman who dealt in lights and laughter, gaiety and song. His career began in the old First War, on the docks among the brawny, brawling stevedores, on the skeletons of bridges among cursing, sweating iron workers, on freight steamers among the toughest of the lake seamen."

Michael Shea was born on April Fool's Day, 1859 in St. Catharines, Ontario to Daniel and Mary Griffin Shea; the Irish family soon moving to Buffalo's old First Ward where Mike got his first job at age twelve and working as a structural ironworker on railroad bridges. He took his earnings and borrowed $2,500 from a friend to open Shea's Music Hall in 1882. His first theater would burn down 11 years later in a fire but Mike Shea would rise up to create an empire of entertainment in Buffalo, giving his name to no less than a dozen theaters.

Michael Shea was born on April Fool's Day, 1859 in St. Catharines, Ontario to Daniel and Mary Griffin Shea; the Irish family soon moving to Buffalo's old First Ward where Mike got his first job at age twelve and working as a structural ironworker on railroad bridges. He took his earnings and borrowed $2,500 from a friend to open Shea's Music Hall in 1882. His first theater would burn down 11 years later in a fire but Mike Shea would rise up to create an empire of entertainment in Buffalo, giving his name to no less than a dozen theaters.

Iron Mike, the smartest April Fool, and the Old Man

Mike Shea was admired by many and known to all, from his immigrant kin in the old First Ward to the heights of Hollywood. In his early days as an ironworker, 'Iron Mike' had a reputation for fighting atop steel bridges. Those same friends from the First Ward stayed close even after his decades of show business, with one remarking on the occasion of Mike Shea's birthday: "Mike, if you're a fool, even if you were born on April Fool's Day, then you're the smartest one I've ever met!"

To the employees of the Shea's theaters, he was "The Old Man" and many had stayed with the Shea's theaters for more than 25 years (although it was a safe bet that he has fired each of those veterans at least once every year as well). One young usher, not recognizing Mr. Shea, told him to put out his cigar in the theater - and Michael Shea took him to the manager's office, insisting on promoting the young man. Performers too, clamored to get a run at Shea's theaters.

To most at Shea's Buffalo though, Mike Shea could be found standing at the back of the theater, wearing an old hat and a mackintosh, always seeing how his show would "go over". One story recounts how seeing his audience bored with the movie playing, he marched into the projectionist booth to stop the film, and gave him a new movie just purchased from New York to put on instead, delighting his audience with the early antics of Charlie Chaplin. Even as his years in show business became decades, Mike Shea enjoyed his routines (swimming before breakfast, boxing, and walking to theaters daily), had a fondness for detective stories, and kept a 'cat account' on the books to feed the "fat and saucy" theater cats - he delighted in the occasional onstage appearances of one "Kitty Shea" at the Shea's Court Street Theatre.

"Downtown Buffalo was not long without a sign that spelled out S-h-e-a and proclaimed that refreshment and amusement were on tap within."

- The Buffalo Times

"The people of the vaudeville stage are nomads and they wander ceaselessly from metropolis to tank town, from stage to stage the country over. Their contracts are brief and hurried and they find little time to bestow their affection in passing. And yet Michael Shea, working through many years with hordes of these minstrels and troubadours, left an indeliable impression on each of them. Indeed, in the brightest days of vaudeville there was no such town as Buffalo - they called it Sheatown."

- The Buffalo Times
Michael Shea was known for his generosity - this advertisement was taken out in Variety in 1920 by a cast of performers to show their appreciation.

Photo Credit: Variety - February 27, 1920

Michael Shea was known for his generosity - this advertisement was taken out in Variety in 1920 by a cast of performers to show their appreciation.

"If you've got the show, they'll come in!"

- Michael Shea's 'theory of amusement'

"My memory of him goes back to the days of vaudeville. The old tradition used to be that if you were in love and wanted to get married, Buffalo would be the place because Mike was always there to help you. If you were feeling rotten and wanted a rest cure, Buffalo was the place because Mike Shea was there to help you. No matter what you did backstage, your friend Mike Shea was on hand. That's what made Buffalo a good show town. Mike did more for every trouper, including myself, than any other man."

- Eddie Cantor