His brother, Samuel Medex kept a cigar shop directly opposite the Princess's Theatre and his premises became something of a meeting point for London's actors and playwrights.
Charles, Duke of Brunswick, an exiled German aristocrat and London character, lent Maddox the cash to tide him over during the first few months of his management.
The chief feature of Maddox's reign were English versions of Italian operas, with productions of Anna Bolena, Lucia di Lammermoor, Otello, I puritani and Lucrezia Borgia.
It was reputed that he was in the habit of locking up his them up in a garret at the theatre, leaving them just enough cold meat, bread and alcohol as was necessary, and not releasing them until they had finished the work he had paid them for.
One of his earlier protégés was George Augustus Sala who undertook scene-painting for the theatre and later found a degree of fame writing pieces for Charles Dickens' Household Words.