Broadwayite
A “Broadwayite” is someone who works on Broadway or who goes to Broadway shows. The term “Broadwayite” has been cited in print since at least 1863, but New York City’s theaters were did not move to the area of Broadway in the West 40s until the 1890s. “Broadwayite,” in this theater use, has been cited in print since at least 1901.
The “Broadwayite” term appears to have been popularized in The Morning Telegraph, a widely read entertainment newspaper in the 1900s. The book The Damon Runyon Story (1948) by Edward Horace Weiner was also titled, “Life and Times of a Broadwayite.” Broadway’s influence on American culture declined by 1950 and “Broadwayite” is mostly of historical interest today.
“Tin Pan Alleyite” is a similar term for the music publishing industry (called “Tin Pan Alley”).
Wikipedia: Broadway (Manhattan)
Broadway /ˈbrɔːdweɪ/ is a road in the U.S. state of New York. Broadway runs from State Street at Bowling Green for 13 mi (21 km) through the borough of Manhattan and 2 mi (3.2 km) through the Bronx, exiting north from the city to run an additional 18 mi (29 km) through the municipalities of Yonkers, Hastings-On-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, and Tarrytown, and terminating north of Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County.
(...)
Broadway in Manhattan is known widely as the heart of the American theatre industry, and is used as a metonym for it.
22 April 1863, Reading (PA) Daily Times, pg. 2, col. 2:
A LARGE WAGER was won in New York recently in this style: From ten o’clock in the morning until sunset, the Broadwayites were edified with the appearance upon the crosswalk of one of the streets intersecting Broadway just above Grace Church, of a very distingue sweeper, whose costume, excepting his coat, hat, and boots, was that of a fashionable gentleman.
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
8 September 1901, The Sunday Telegraph (New York, NY), ‘Rural Visitor Attends Revival at Sheepshead,” pg. 4, col. 1:
“Mr. Reuben Glue, which, of course, is not his real name, had a list of points of interest that he insisted upon visiting, which was calculated to knock a Broadwayite like myself a twister.”
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
1 January 1902, The Morning Telegraph (New York, NY), pg. 7, col. 3:
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN’S MOODS ARE REFLECTED BY THE HATS HE WEARS
The Broadwayite Cites an Incident Which Goes to Show that the Average Pedestrian on that Thoroughfare is Superstitious and Avoids Ill Omens.
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
5 February 1902, The Morning Telegraph (New York, NY), “Frank Daniels Turned Tables on Joking Friend,” pg. 5, col. 2:
Here, just after Mr. Kyrle Bellew appropriates Nat Goodwin’s valet, comes a story from Robert Hilliard, ex-actor, but now a financier and always Broadwayite.
6 March 1902, New York (NY) Times, pg. 2, col. 6 ad:
Another Broadwayite.
YOUNG’S HATS
At 849 Broadway.
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
3 August 1902, The Sunday Telegraph (New York, NY), “Fanciful Chatter About the Wayfarers Along the Great White Highway of Manhattan,” pg. 3, col. 3:
ROTHWELL A BROADWAYITE.
4 March 1903, Cleveland (OH) Leader, pg. 2, col. 2:
MAYOR JOHNSON REGARDED AS A “BROADWAYITE” IN NEW YORK
(Illustration caption.—ed.)
TOM L. JOHNSON.
He’s a Broadwayite, Even if He Does Live in Cleveland.—Kansas City Journal.
10 April 1904, Pittsburgh Gazette, “New York Theaters” by George C. Jenks, pg. 45, col. 2:
How great that praise is everyone will know, who knows anything about the carping disposition of the average Broadwayite, when matters theatrical are under discussion.
27 October 1906, The Billboard (New York, NY), pg. 28, col. 4:
A Broadwayite saw an actress friend going into a pawn shop jut off the main street the other day, and an hour later, meeting her, offered to loan her money. (...)—New York Daily Globe.
OCLC WorldCat record
The night side of Europe as seen by a Broadwayite abroad,
Author: Karl K Kitchen
Publisher: Cleveland, The David Gibson Company, 1914.
Edition/Format: Print book : English
OCLC WorldCat record
Brennan & Butler in You don’t know the half of it
Author: Murray Roth; Brennan & Butler.; Vitaphone Corp.
Publisher: United States : Vitaphone, [1929]
Series: Vitaphone.; Vitaphone, 833.
Edition/Format: Film : Film Visual material : English
Summary:
“Scene: Drawing room. Here’s howls! Get the latest lightest snappy chatter from two bright Broadwayites. Jay Brennan of the famous team Savoy and Brennan now has his goofy gal ‘Margie’ impersonated by Ann Butler (how that gal gathers the snickers!) Wild wisecracks!
OCLC WorldCat record
“Broadwayites”. (Un coup de foudre). Pour piano.
Author: David Mendoza
Publisher: Paris : Chappell, 1938.
Edition/Format: Musical score
OCLC WorldCat record
The Damon Runyon story
Author: Edward Horace Weiner
Publisher: New York : Popular Library, ©1948.
Edition/Format: Print book : English : Popular library ed
Other Titles: Life and times of a Broadwayite