Travis Louie, Phantom of The Regency Theatre, 2014, acrylic on board, 15 1/4 x 10 1/2"
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The Regent Theatre on the upper west side is said to be haunted by the ghost of Elisa Pembroke who was short changed by the box office in 1914. This 11 year old was so enraged by not getting her proper change that she vowed to get her revenge. Taking a cue from Gaston Leroux's Phantom of The Opera, she donned a mask and wore a costume made from the scraps at the bridal dress shop her mother worked for. Rumor had it that she was the cause of the theatre's financial difficulties during its first few years in operation. The reality was that the overhead of this new theatre was mishandled and it had to be rescued by new ownership. Her threats to terrorize the patrons and her demands to hold two balcony seats were mostly ignored. Over the years, there have been reports of people seeing her masked figure wandering the balcony seats. |
