Miner's Bowery Theatre
Miner's Bowery Theatre was a vaudeville or variety show theater opened in the Bowery of New York by Senator Henry Clay Miner in 1878.

History 
The theater was known for its method of encouraging anyone to get on stage and perform on amateur nights, and for its method of removing bad performers from the stage by yanking them off with a wooden hook.
Starting in the 1890s, a stage-prop shepherd's hook was used to pull bad performers bodily from the stage, after audience members shouted, "Give 'im the hook." The phrase, "Give him the hook" originated at Miners Bowery Theatre.

The theater is also known for its audiences, the rich in their 70-cent seats, down to the poor down on the floor, who got in for 10 cents.

Beer was served. The environment of the hall was raucous, and those with shaky talent were greeted with "jeers, whistles and catcalls." However, when the crowd was pleased, their yelling and stamping with approval literally shook the roof. The rough audience created an interactive atmosphere where members would yell to the performers.

Acts in the theater included singing, dancing and acrobatics, blackface comedy, jugglers and singing quartets. Larger groups would "burlesque" other musical shows.

The theater was destroyed by a fire August 8, 1929.

List of notable performers at Bowery's
Sam Bernard, vaudeville comedian
Eddie Cantor, comedian
Jeremiah Cohan and Helen Cohan, parents of George M. Cohan
Sam Devere, comedian for General Grant, blackface minstrel, banjoist
Lottie Gilson, Comedian
Thomas Kurton Heath of McIntire and Heath
William A. Huntley musician, banjoist
James McIntyre of McIntyre and Heath 
Kitty O'Neil, variety-theater dancer
Charles J. Ross and wife Maybel Fenton, vaudeville comedian
Alfred E. Smith
Jennie Yeamans, former child actress, sung in 1870s and 1880s

References

Demolished theatres in New York City
Buildings and structures demolished in 1929
1929 fires in the United States
Former theatres in Manhattan
Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan
Bowery