Broadway’s ‘Mr. Abbott’ Delivered Beer in Wyoming
By Phil Roberts
When Broadway’s “Mr. Abbott” died in February, 1995, at the age of 107, few remembered his Wyoming origins.
George Abbott first acted on Broadway in 1913 and then wrote and directed a long series of smash theater hits like On Your Toes and Damn Yankees. He also directed motion pictures and discovered such stars as Carol Burnett and Gene Kelly.
Even though Abbott’s name was practically synonymous with Broadway theater for 80 years, he was reared in Cheyenne in a trim white single-story cottage at 20th and Capitol Avenue. Abbott was 11 when his family moved to Cheyenne where his father accepted work in the public land office.
Young Abbott got an after-school job as a messenger for Western Union. About half of his “messages” consisted of beer deliveries to addresses around town. On call, the messenger boy would appear at a customer’s home to pick up a beer bucket and race to the nearest saloon to get it filled. The messenger boys had a system worked out. Any order for 50 cents would yield only 40 cents in beer with the messenger pocketing the remainder as a tip. If fact, regardless of the amount the customer requested, the boys kept a dime.
One cheap patron named Helen, a brothel owner, called and ordered only 15 cents worth of beer. Abbott got the call, picked up the bucket and took it to the nearest saloon. When he ordered just a nickel’s worth, the bartender responded, “For old Helen, isn’t it?” He winked at Abbott and barely wet the bottom of the bucket. Abbott made the delivery but never answered a call to her house again.
He lived in Cheyenne until his parents sent him to military high school in Kearney, Neb. By the time he graduated, his parents had returned to New York. When Abbott last visited Cheyenne in the 1970s, he said he barely recognized the town. His old neighborhood, once residential, was the heart of downtown.