Ep. 18 - The Disappearance of Ambrose Small

The Toronto Grand Opera House was the scene of a haunting that was connected to a crime that was once dubbed the "Crime of the Century." Ambrose Small was a wealthy theater producer who mysteriously disappeared in 1919, on the same day he acquired one million dollars. He was never seen again and eventually declared dead. Could this be why he is not at rest in the afterlife?

Ambrose Joseph Small was born on January 11, 1866 in Bradford, Upper Canada. His father, Daniel Small, was an Irish Catholic who opened a hotel/saloon in Toronto. In 1880, he became the proprietor of the Grand Hotel, which was adjacent to Alexander Henderson Manning's Grand Opera House on Adelaide Street West. Ambrose went to school in Toronto at St Michael’s College and De La Salle Institute. He eventually went to work at the Grand Opera House, as an usher and bartender. He learned the theater trade and stayed there until 1889 when he got in a fight with the manager Oliver Barton Sheppard and so he moved on to the Toronto Opera House. This was a vaudeville and melodrama theatre on the circuit of Henry R. Jacobs of New York and his Montreal partner John Bolingbroke Sparrow. Here Ambrose would work his way up to manager. He also got interested in hanging out at the racetracks and soon he was gambling. He made enough money through managing and gambling to buy the mortgages on two theaters in 1892: the Toronto Opera House and the Regent Theatre.

Ambrose became very successful because he was able to adapt to what the public wanted. When people wanted theater with big stars from America and Canada, he booked them, and when vaudeville was more in fashion, he ran that. And when moving pictures became the thing, he showed those. His partner in some of his holdings was Clark J. Whitney from Detroit. Clark died in 1902 and Ambrose took the opportunity to consolidate opening up the opportunity to buy theaters in St. Thomas, Petersborough, Kingston and Hamilton. In 1904, he married Theresa Kormann. By 1906, he was elected president of the Canadian Theatrical Managers’ Association and able to get control of the theater syndicates in New York. The man was on top of the world and becoming a multi-millionaire. But, he was not without controversy.

Theresa, the woman he married, was actually the younger sister of his stepmother. He also liked to flirt with the chorus girls at the theater and if he found them cute, he gave them chocolates. And after the couple used Theresa's inheritance to buy the Grand Opera House, Ambrose had a secret chamber built inside that had a painting of a nude woman, a bar and a bed to make it easier to sleep with actresses and chorus girls. Theresa and Ambrose were well matched in business and both had an incredible desire for wealth. But they were very different people otherwise with Ambrose being considered unscrupulous and Theresa was thought of as pious. She knew her husband was sleeping with other women and looked the other way. She even took her time reporting Ambrose missing and claimed it was because she thought he ran off with some woman and she didn't want the scandal. Of course, there are those who believe that Theresa had a lover as well.

The Grand Opera House was Ambrose's passion. The Royal Lyceum had stood on this spot until it burned down in 1874. The Grand was built in its place, designed by architect Thomas R. Jackson of New York. The building was four stories, designed in the Second Empire style with Mansard roofs. The outside was covered with stone and bricks and the interior featured ornate gas lamps, carved wood trim, an arched entryway leading to a plush foyer and refreshment bars. The first floor of the building had shops and there were offices on the upper floors and Ambrose used these to rent out and cover expenses. The actual theater was domed and could seat 1323 people. The stage was large enough for big productions and there was an orchestra pit. The entire building featured steam heating. The Grand Opera House officially opened on September 21, 1874 under the management of a retired actress. And it operated at a huge loss. Three years later, a fire gutted the interior and it was rebuilt in less than two months and the seating was increased to 1750. Production costs continued to increase and Ambrose, who had become the owner, was seeking to sell his interests.

In November of 1919, Ambrose and Theresa sold their chain of theaters for $1.7 million to Trans-Canada Theaters Limited. On December 2, 1919, Ambrose got a check for $1 million with the rest to be paid in installments and he had Theresa take it to the bank, while he went shopping for a fur coat, jewelry and a Cadillac. The couple planned to retire and travel the world. Ambrose met with his lawyer that afternoon at the Grand and is thought to be the last person to see Ambrose alive. Ambrose would disappear without a trace and seemingly without any reason to do so. So the theater would be the last place Ambrose was seen. Theresa would report him missing, after two weeks, and the police wrapped up a preliminary police investigation in January of 1920. Theresa put out a $50,000 reward, which launched the case into an international hunt. A missing poster described Ambrose as being 53, 5 ft. 6 or 7 inches, weighing 135 to 140 lbs. with blue eyes, reddish complexion, brown hair and mustache streaked with grey. By 1923, the police declared Ambrose legally dead the case was officially closed in 1960 with no body ever found.

Where did Ambrose go and if someone murdered him, who and why? There are a few people who could be suspects. First, Ambrose was known to rig races at the horse track and there were many people who probably wouldn't mind seeing him gone. One person who knew Small and his reputation was Toronto journalist Hector Charlesworth. In his 1928 book "More Candid Chronicles" he wrote, "If I heard once, I heard a score of times the ominous words: ‘Somebody will get Amby some day.’"

Our second suspect is Small's personal assistant named James Doughty. He had a bad relationship with Ambrose and had even told someone that he would kill the man. James Doughty had worked for Small for years and had often complained about his tiny salary. Doughty disappeared soon after Small did.  He took with him $100,000 in bonds from Small’s safety deposit box in the Dominion Bank. Informants reported to police that Doughty had often talked about devising plots to kidnap or murder Small. The law finally caught up with Doughty in Oregon and he was arrested. He confessed to stealing the bonds and was sentenced to some time in prison. Police were unable to charge him with murder because they had no proof that Small was dead.

And then there was Theresa, Ambrose's wife. Small’s two sisters, Gertrude and Florence, thought that their sister-in-law Theresa had conspired in some way to have their brother murdered. The police did investigate Theresa, but they could find no evidence that she had done anything. Part of that investigation involved digging up the basement of the Small's mansion. Gertrude and Florence hired a private detective unsatisfied with the police investigation. The detective couldn't find Small, but he did carry out a smear campaign against Theresa.

The police searched the Grand Opera House thoroughly, even digging up the basement looking for Small. During the early years of the 20th century, the opera house lost its popularity because of competition from the Royal Alexandra and the Princess Theatres on King Street. The Grand Opera House was forced to closed and it was demolished in 1927. Small had another theater that he opened in 1901 and this was his favorite, the New Grand Opera House located in London, Ontario. Today it's known as the Grand Theater. The spirit of Ambrose Small is said to haunt it. Just a month after his disappearance a night watchman at the New Grand Opera House reported seeing a ghost that looked like Mr. Small. That was only the beginning. Patrons, cast members and crew have experienced seeing the apparition of Ambrose Small.

Small is often seen in his favorite balcony box sitting in his favorite seat. And sometimes it's not his spirit that is seen, but the seat of the chair is seen going down and popping back up as though someone had been sitting in it. There was a 1960 rehearsal of Gore Vidal's "Visit to a Small Planet" and it was halted when a theatre seat suddenly flipped down for something unseen. Cast member Don Fleckser said, "After a few minutes the seat went back to its original position. Now, you can tell me the seat just fell down, but you can't tell me it fell back up again." The claim is that he never misses an opening night. He is also often spotted walking the theatre's catwalks and phantom footsteps have been heard for years around the theatre.

A ladies man in life--Small is said to still be partial to the ladies. Several actresses that have performed at the theatre over the years state that they heard their name whispered in their ear and have felt something messing with the hem of their gowns. Actors have even reported seeing him floating above the heads of the audience during performances. In 1927, comedian Beatrice Lillie saw Small's ghost beckon to her during a performance. It is said as she moved toward him a prop chandelier crashed down almost hitting her. In the summer of 1957, a teenager named Jay Campbell, who later was to become a local television meteorologist, and his girlfriend saw a figure climbing a ladder off stage. Jay said, "It really didn't look like a person, but from the waist up it had the form of a person." Actor Charmion King saw a man standing at the foot of a stairway that lead to her dressing room. When she saw a photo of Small later, she said that was the man who had been near the stairs. King later denied telling the story, but did say that the theatre's fly tower would "sing" on the night of a good performance.

The theatre's electrical equipment often malfunctions. These occurrences are always blamed on Small. But Small is considered a benevolent ghost and he performed an excellent service for the theatre in 1977, which many appreciate. At this time the theatre was undergoing an extensive renovation. A backhoe that was being used to knock down a wall came to close to the theatre’s historic west wall arch mural. This painting if destroyed, could not be replaced. It is said this machine stalled without cause just seconds before this wall came crashing down. It is felt Small stopped this machine. To this day the theatre displays the two remaining bricks that kept this arch in place.

The Grand presented "Grand Ghosts" in 2022, a play about Ambrose Small. During rehearsals for the play, they couldn’t get the light off in the balcony. A technician would get it off and then the rehearsal would start again and the light would be on again. This leads us to ask if Small is indeed haunting the theater, still waiting to be found and to have justice. That is for you to decide!