The Prince's Theatre was opened in 1864 on a site near the corner of Oxford Street and Lower Mosley Street. The businessmen, who had funded the theatre in the hope of tapping into a new audience in a theatrical world dominated by the Theatre Royal and the Queen's Theatre, secured the services of Manchester's most celebrated actor-manager, Charles Calvert. His Shakespearean productions became synonymous with the Prince's and did indeed bring profits, leading to an extensive reconstruction of the theatre in 1869. However, the Prince's most successful period was probably during the twenty years leading up to the First World War when it developed a reputation for staging remarkable pantomimes, which were a high point in Manchester's cultural calendar and did much to further the career of 'Little Tich'. The innovations continued with the Prince's being the first to install 'tip-up' seats and the first to introduce 'early doors' whereby patrons could buy a more expensive ticket which allowed them to enter the theatre early and avoid the crowds.