a venue, the Palace Theatre. Beck's representatives initially said the Palace would not be part of the Orpheum interests and, therefore, would not be used to show vaudeville. However, Beck subsequently recanted, saying he would use the Palace for vaudeville. In February 1912, Kirchhoff & Rose and Gavigan filed plans with the New York City Department of Buildings for a theater building at Broadway and 47th Street. Due to the truce between Orpheum and Keith–Albee, Edward Albee initially said any vaudeville act that played the Palace would not be allowed on the Keith–Albee circuit. Albee demanded that Beck turn over three-quarters ownership to use acts from the Keith–Albee circuit, to which Beck acquiesced. Albee moved the B. F. Keith office to the fifth floor, and the UBO office moved to the office wing as well. Furthermore, Willie Hammerstein held the exclusive franchise to vaudeville performances around Times Square. Because of the vaudeville restriction, Werba & Luescher obtained an option on the new theater in mid-1912. Hammerstein initially refused to sell his exclusive vaudeville franchise to Albee, but Hammerstein agreed to a $200,000 settlement in May 1913, after the theater had opened. The Palace's programming was still unknown to the public until February 1913, when The New York Times announced the theater would be "something along the lines of English music halls", with events such as ballets, rather than "strict vaudeville". Vaudeville The theater finally opened on March 24, 1913, with headliner Ed Wynn. Tickets cost $1.50 for matinees and $2.00 for nighttime performances. The screenwriter Marian Spitzer wrote of opening day: "The theatre itself, living up to advance publicity, was spacious, handsome and lavishly decorated in crimson and gold. But nothing happened that afternoon to suggest the birth of a great theatrical tradition." Rather, the public mostly considered its $2 admission fees to be expensive. The media widely mocked the opening bill; four days after the Palace opened, Variety magazine printed an article entitled "Palace $2 Vaudeville a Joke: Double-Crossing Boomerang". Also problematic was the presence of Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre, a much more successful and established vaudeville venue. The Variety article noted that, while the Victoria had played to capacity two days in a row, the Palace had to give out free coupons to half the guests and still struggled to fill the balcony seats. The Palace's first success was the one-act play Miss Civilization, featuring Ethel Barrymore, six weeks