SEYMOUR DURST 
 
 -t ' 'Fort nieutv ^irnflerdam- of Je JAanhatarus 
 
 "When you leave, please leave this book 
 
 Because it has been said 
 "Ever'thing comes t' him who waits 
 
 Except a loaned book." 
 
 oyt ^sa^ Box *3 
 
 Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library 
 Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library 
 
was the Drama Introduced in America ? 
 
 AN HISTORICAL INQUIRY, 
 
 ANTERIOR TO DUNLAFS HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN THEATRE. 
 
 READ BEFORE THE 
 
 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 November 3d, 1863. 
 
 By CHARLES P. DALY, LL.D. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 Wm. C. Bryant & Co., Pointers, 41 Nassau Street, cor. Liberty. 
 
 1864. 
 
WHEN WAS THE DRAMA INTRODUCED IN AMERICA? 
 
 Dunlap, the historian of the American Stage, informs us that 
 the drama was introduced in this country by William Hallam, 
 the successor of Garrick, in Goodman's Fields Theatre, who form- 
 ed a joint stock company and sent them to America under the 
 management of his brother Lewis Hallam, in the year 1752, and 
 that the first play ever acted in America was the " Merchant 
 of Venice," represented by this company on the 5th of Septem- 
 ber, 1752, at "Williamsburg, then the capital of Virginia, in an 
 old store house which they converted into a theatre within two 
 months after their arrival at Yorktown. Dunlap's familiarity 
 with the subject, the fact that he derived his information from 
 Lewis Hallam, Jr., who came out a boy twelve years of age with 
 this early company, and the circumstance that in Burke's His- 
 tory of Virginia the same statement is found, has been deemed 
 sufficiently satisfactory, and "William Hallam, whom Dunlap 
 calls u The Father of the American stage," has been accepted 
 as the person who first introduced the theatre in America. 
 
 THE FIRST THEATRE IN NEW YORK. 
 
 But Dunlap and those upon whom he relied were mistaken, 
 for there was a theatre in the city of Xew York in 1733, nine- 
 teen years before Hallam arrived in this country. It is mentioned 
 in Bradford J s Gazette of that year, in the advertisement of a 
 merchant who directs inquiries to be made of him at his store 
 " next door to the Play House." This reference is all that has 
 been found respecting it ; but in the month of February, 1750, 
 more than two years before the arrival of Hallam, a regular 
 
4- 
 
 company of actors, under tlie joint management of Thomas Kean 
 and of a Mr. Murray, came to this city from Philadelphia, and 
 applied to Admiral George Clinton, then the Governor of the 
 Province of New York, for permission to act. Governor Clinton 
 was a man of rank, the son of an Earl, and had previously held 
 a distinguished position as commander of the English fleet in the 
 Mediterranean, while his wife, Lady Clinton, was a woman of 
 great personal attractions and very agreeable manners, who had 
 moved in the first circles of London society. To these cultivated 
 persons there was nothing objectionable in the establishment of 
 a theatre, and permission was accordingly granted, though, from 
 the spirit afterwards exhibited by the local magistrates in this 
 and other places, it would probably have been refused had the 
 city authorities been applied to. It was announced through the 
 columns of the Weekly Post Boy that the company intended to 
 perform as long as the season lasted, provided they met with 
 suitable encouragement, and upon obtaining the consent of the 
 governor, they hired a large room in a building in Nassau street, 
 belonging to the estate of Rip Van Dam, formerly president of 
 the Provincial Council, and converted it into a theatre; and 
 here, on the 5th of March, 1750, they produced Shakespeare's 
 historical play of " Richard III.," as altered by Colley Cibber, 
 in which the part of Richard was performed by Mr. Ivean. The 
 performance was announced to begin precisely at half-past six 
 o'clock, and the public were informed that no person would be 
 admitted behind the scenes — an important reform, as it had been 
 the practice in London from Shakespeare's time to allow the pur- 
 chasers of box tickets free access to the staore : a custom which 
 led to many abuses and immoralities. 
 
 CAPACITY OF THIS THEATRE. 
 
 The room which had been converted into a theatre must have 
 been a very capacious one, as it was arranged with pit and gal- 
 lery, and afterwards boxes were added. The price of admission 
 to the boxes was eight shillings, to the pit five shillings, and to 
 the gallery three shillings* The exact capacity of this theatre is 
 known from the following circumstances. Upon the occasion 
 of Mr. Kean's benefit, who was the leading tragedian, he was 
 
5 
 
 honored by a crowded house in his favorite part of Richard III., 
 and great complaint having been made that more tickets had 
 been sold than the house could hold, Kean published a card in 
 the Post Boy, which was accompanied by a certificate of Parker, 
 the publisher, to the effect that he had printed in all one hun- 
 dred and sixty-one pit tickets, ten box, and one hundred and 
 twenty-one gallery tickets, declaring that as great a number had 
 been in the house before. Kean, in his card informs the public 
 that it had been determined not to receive any money at the 
 door, but that it was impossible to carry ont that intention with- 
 out giving great offence, and that the purchasers of tickets who 
 had come after the house was filled had had their money re- 
 turned. It may be inferred from this circumstance that the 
 players found " satisfactory encouragement." " Richard III." 
 appears to have been a favorite piece, and on the 12th of March, 
 1750, it was announced that it would be acted for the last time, 
 together with the farce of the " Beau in the Suds," and that on 
 the following Saturday, Dryden's play of the " Spanish Friar " 
 would be represented. They continued to play on Monday, 
 Wednesday, and Saturday, from the 5th of March to the 30th 
 of April, 1750, when the season closed, and that the experiment 
 was successful may be inferred from the fact that they opened 
 the theatre again for another season on the 30th of December, 
 1750, and continued to play three times a week until the 8th 
 of July, 1751, closing with a succession of benefits, when the 
 company, or the chief part of them, went to Virginia. 
 
 CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT. 
 
 Before the close of the season, Kean, the joint-manager, with- 
 drew ; announcing in a formal card to the public that he had 
 resolved to quit the stage, by the advice of several gentlemen in 
 town who were his friends, and follow his employment of 
 writing ; that his co-manager, Mr. Murray, had agreed to give 
 him a night clear of all expenses for his half of the clothes and 
 scenery of the play-house, and that by his Excellency the Gover- 
 nor's permission, he would, on the following Monday evening, 
 enact the part of King Richard III. for his benefit, being the 
 last time of his appearance upon the stage, On the Monday 
 
6 
 
 following, April 29, 1751, the performance for his benefit was 
 changed to the " Busy Body " and the " Virgin Unmasked," 
 and in announcing the change he informs the public, as an ad- 
 ditional attraction, that there will be singing by Mr. Woodham, 
 and particularly the celebrated ode called " Britons' Charter," 
 closing with this appeal : " As this will positively be the last 
 time of Mr. Kean's appearing upon the stage, he honestly hopes 
 all gentlemen and ladies, and others who are his well wishers, 
 will be so kind as to favor him with their company." 
 
 PLAYS PRODUCED. 
 
 How this company were collected, or where they originally 
 came from, it is probably now no longer possible to ascertain. 
 As they were announced, upon their first appearance in ]STew 
 York, as a company of comedians who had come from Philadel- 
 phia, it is highly probable that they had played before in the 
 southern cities, and that they came originally from the West 
 Indies, where, especially in Jamaica, theatrical companies from 
 England had been in the habit of performing for some years pre- 
 viously. During the two seasons of the company in New York, 
 the following plays were given: "Richard III.," Otway's 
 " Orphan," Dryden's " Spanish Friar," Farquahr's " Sir Harry 
 Wildair," " Recruiting Officer," and " Beau's Strategem," 
 " George Barnwell," " The Beggar's Opera," " The Distressed 
 Mother," Congreve's " Love for Love," and the " Bold Stroke 
 for a Wife," with the following farces : " The Beaux in the 
 Suds," " The Mock Doctor," " The Devil to Pay," " The 
 Walking Statue," " The Old Man Taught Wisdom," "Damon 
 and Phillida," "Hob in the Well," and "Miss in Her Teens." 
 The names of the dramatis personal were not printed in the 
 play bills, for the reason, probably, that the same actor had 
 to play different parts in the same piece ; but, from references 
 made to individual performers, the following persons are 
 known to have been members of the company : Kean and 
 Murray, the joint managers ; Messrs. Taylor, Woodham, Tre- 
 main, Jago, Scott, Moore, Smith, Marks, and Master Dickey 
 Murray, the manager's son ; Miss Nancy George, Miss Osborne, 
 Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Davis, and Mrs. Osborne. Kean, Tremain 
 
7 
 
 and Jago, played in tragic parts. Murray and Taylor were 
 comedians. Miss Nancy George and Miss Osborne were the 
 
 chief ladies in comedy and tragedy. Woodham and Mrs. Taylor 
 were comedians and vocalists, and Kean, like his more distin- 
 guished namesake, Edmund Kean, appears to have possessed 
 some musical talent, for on the occasion of his first benefit, he 
 announces that he will sing " an oratorio? Master Dickey 
 Murray appears to have been a favorite with the public ; the 
 other actors performed in subordinate parts. 
 
 CUEIOES ANNOUNCEMENTS. 
 
 During the second season, which lasted for six months, they 
 had repeated the same plays many times, and probably, having 
 nothing new or more attractive to offer for another season, they 
 determined to try their fortunes elsewhere. They closed with a 
 series of benefits, and some of the appeals made respecting them 
 are sufficiently curious to be noticed. Mrs. Davis announces 
 that a benefit is given to her to enable her to buy off her time, 
 and she hopes that all ladies and gentlemen who are charitably 
 inclined will favor it, closing in legal phraseology, " and their 
 humble petitioner, as in duty bound, will ever pray." It was 
 the constant practice at that time, for masters of vessels to bring 
 out passengers to New York, upon the condition that they should 
 be sold immediately upon their arrival as servants to any person 
 who would pay their passage money. They were sold for a 
 definite period of time, and were called Redemptors, a class of 
 which Mrs. Davis, from her earnest appeal, appears to have been 
 one. Mr. Jago humbly begs that all gentlemen and ladies will 
 be so kind as to favor him with their company, as he never had 
 a benefit before and is just come out of prison y and Mrs. Osborne 
 appropriately selects the play of " The Distressed Mother," with 
 the announcement that it is the first time this poor widow 
 has had a benefit, and having met with divers late hardships 
 and misfortunes she appeals to the benevolent and others. 
 
 It is stated in Clapp's Records of the Boston Stage, that 
 Otway's " Orphan " was played in Boston, in the Coffee House 
 in State street, in the early part of 1750, by two young English- 
 men, assisted by some volunteer comrades of the town ; and as 
 
8 
 
 this is about the period when Kean and Murray's company 
 began to perform in New York, it may possibly have been 
 an initiatory attempt on the part of some of the members of 
 that company to introduce dramatic amusements among the 
 people of New England. It was immediately followed by the 
 passage of an act by the General Court of Massachusetts, in 
 March, 1750, prohibiting all stage plays and theatrical enter- 
 tainments of any kind. 
 
 A NEW COMPANY IN 1751. 
 
 In the winter of 1751 another company, under the manage- 
 ment of Robert Upton, opened the theatre in Nassau street on 
 the 23d of December, 1751, with " Othello," and the farce of 
 r Lethe." According to a public statement which Lewis Hal- 
 lam, Sen , made afterwards, and with which Dunlap does not 
 appear to have been acquainted, Upton was sent to New York 
 in October, 1750, by William Hallam, to obtain permission to 
 erect a theatre and make all necessary arrangements before the 
 arrival of a company of comedians which Hallam was preparing 
 to send out. Hallam had been at a very heavy expense in en- 
 gaging actors and in procuring scenery and dresses, and had 
 supplied Upton with a considerable sum of money to accomplish 
 the purpose for which he was sent. But, says the statement, 
 Upton, upon his arrival in New York, joined a lot of pretenders 
 whom he found there, paid no artention to the business on which 
 he was dispatched, and nothing further was heard from him. 
 
 There is manifestly an error of a year in this statement. 
 Upton's name does not appear among the members of Kean & 
 Murray's company, and that he was not in New York during 
 the seasons of 1750 and 1751, when they performed there, is 
 conclusively shown by his own public statement in January, 
 1752 — that he was then a stranger in the city, and but im- 
 perfectly informed respecting the principal inhabitants. He 
 evidently came to New York in the early part of the winter of 
 1751; and finding a theatre already existing and unoccupied, 
 determined to seize the opportunity of becoming a manager 
 himself; and getting a company together — two of whom, Tre- 
 maine and the widow Osborne, had been members of the pre- 
 
ceding one — he opened the theatre in Nassau street in Decem- 
 ber, 1751, as before stated. 
 
 The new company were either inferior to the former, or 
 the public had become indifferent, for Upton, after a perform- 
 ance of three weeks, announced, that to his great disappoint- 
 ment, he had not met with encouragement enough to support 
 the company for the season, and that he would bring it to an 
 end by giving a few benefits. Some doubt of the merits of 
 the new performers seems to have prevailed, as he assured the 
 public in a card, that the company ''were perfect, and hope to 
 perform to satisfaction." It was the custom then, for the actors 
 to wait upon all the principal inhabitants and solicit their pa- 
 tronage ; and fearing that he had been held accountable for some 
 remissness of duty in this particular, he begs the public to re- 
 member that "he is an absolute stranger in the city, and if, in 
 his application, he has omitted any gentlemen or ladies' house or 
 lodging, he humbly hopes that they will impute it to his want of 
 information, and not to a want of respect.'' But though he pro- 
 duced several pieces not yet played in Xew York, such as the 
 " Fair Penitent," " Venice Preserved," " The Provoked Hus- 
 band," and " Othello," it was of no avail. A few benefits were 
 given — for a Mr. Leigh, for the widow Osborne, and for Mr. 
 Tremaine — and on the 27th March, 1752, the last performance 
 took place for the benefit of Mrs. Upton, the manager's wife. 
 Upton delivered a farewell epilogue, and in a few days after he 
 left in a vessel either for some other part of the colonies or for 
 London. 
 
 THE DRAMA IX VIRGINIA AXD MARYLAND. 
 
 The prior company, after performing in Virginia, went to 
 Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, and erected a small theatre 
 there, which they opened on the 22d of June, 1752, with the 
 "Beggar's Opera," and the farce of the " Lying Valet." This 
 was a few days before the arrival of Hallam and his company in 
 Virginia. Annapolis was at this period a place of considerable 
 trade and commerce, with a thriving population, including many 
 wealthy merchants, and beiug the capital of the province, was 
 the residence of the leading officials, and a general place of re- 
 sort for opulent planters and their families. There was among 
 
10 
 
 the people a great deal of refinement and cultivation. They 
 were much more disposed to enjoy the recreation of the theatre 
 than the mixed English, French and Dutch population of New 
 1 ork, and, consequently, the theatre became there a permanent 
 institution for many years. The company represented the 
 same plays which they had before acted in New York, with 
 the addition of " Cato " and the "Busy Body" ; and after play- 
 ing for a season they gave representations in other parts of Mary- 
 land— at Chester, in Kent county ; at Upper Marlborough, at 
 Pisscatoway, upon the western, and at some other places upon 
 the eastern shore. Some new names appear among the mem- 
 bers, such as Eyarson, Wynell and Herbert, while many of the 
 old members had left, a circumstance warranting the supposition 
 that there was either another company then performing in the 
 : South, or that these actors had returned to England or to the 
 West Indies. Among the remaining members were Murray. 
 'Scott, Miss Osborne, and Kean, who, despite his formal farewell 
 in New York, and declaration of his intention to resume his 
 original occupation of a writing-master, was again among them, 
 representing principal parts. 
 
 Nothing having been heard from. Upton, the company formed 
 by William Hallam were kept waiting in London until April, 
 1752, when, making the acquaintance of a Captain Lee, who was 
 about to sail for Virginia, they took passage in his vessel, and 
 arrived at Yorktown on the 28th of June, 1752. 
 
 Having established themselves at Willi amsburgh, as before 
 stated, they continued there for eleven months, meeting, accord- 
 ing to their own account, " the greatest encouragement, and 
 performing with universal applause " They were then advised 
 to go to New York. We were told, says the statement before 
 referred to, that a theatre already existed there ; that the in- 
 habitants were generous and polite, fond of rational diversion — 
 particularly that of the theatre — and that we would undoubtedly 
 meet with a most favorable reception. They accordingly left 
 for New York, and arrived there in the month of June, 1753; 
 when, greatly to their surprise and disappointment, they found 
 a strong sentiment prevailing against the theatre, and an indis- 
 position on the part of the magistrates to allow them to act. 
 This led them to print an appeal to the public, in which they 
 set forth the circumstances under which they had come to the 
 
11 
 
 country; the ions: iourney they had made; the conduct of 
 Upton ; and the heavy expense they had incurred. They urged 
 that their harmless calling, instead of being productive of any 
 injury, would prove to be a public advantage and a pleasure ; 
 that they were not cast in the same mould as their theatrical 
 predecessors, either in the habits of their private life or in their 
 public qualities ; that as it was their design to give an elegant 
 and instructive entertainment, and to support it with proper 
 dignity and decorum, they had anticipated a very different re- 
 ception, little imagining in a city so polite as Xew York that 
 the Muses would be banished, and that the works of Shakespeare 
 and of others — the pride of English literature — would be denied 
 admittance. This appeal produced the desired effect. Public 
 •sympathy became enlisted in their favor, the magistrates inter- 
 posed no further objections, and Hallam proceeded to take 
 measures for the permanent establishment of the company. 
 
 Finding the old theatre in Nassau street inadequate to his 
 purpose, he took the building down and erected upon the 
 same spot what the newspaper of the day, Parkers Gazette, 
 describes " as a very fine, large and commodious new theatre/' 
 which he opened on the 17th of September, 1753, with Steele's 
 comedy of the " Conscious Lovers " and the farce of " Damon 
 and PhiHida.*' Dunlap says that it was erected on the spot 
 afterwards occupied by the old Dutch church (the present Post- 
 office.) In this he was also mistaken, for the church was erected 
 on the place where the building now stands in 1729. The thea- 
 tre which Hallam built, and the one before it, was on the east 
 side of Xassau street, between Maiden Lane and John street. 
 
 HALLAm's NEW THEATRE IX NASSAU STREET. 
 
 Hallanrs company was far superior to any that had preceded it. 
 Mrs. Hallam was not only a beautiful woman, but she was an 
 actress of no ordinary merit. Dunlap, in his youth, heard old 
 ladies speak in raptures of her beauty, grace and pathos. Hallam 
 was himself an excellent comedian, and two other members of 
 the company, Pigby and Malone, were actors of established rep- 
 utation upon the London boards. The arrival of a complete 
 company like this, who were not only practised in their art but 
 amply provided before their departure with dresses, and all that 
 
12 
 
 was necessary for effective dramatic representation, was some- 
 thing too formidable to contend against. They seem, therefore, 
 to have entirely supplanted the earlier pioneers, of whom nothing 
 further is known except that some of their number, Murray, 
 Tremaine, Scott and Miss Osborne, played in Hallam's company 
 afterwards, when it was under the management of Douglass. 
 
 After performing in New York for the winter, Hallam went 
 with his company to Philadelphia in April, 1751, and from there 
 to the West Indies, where he died. In 1758, the company re- 
 turned to New York, under the management of Douglass, who 
 had married Hallam's widow. During the four years that they 
 had been absent the theatre remained unocupied, and a short 
 time before their arrival a cono;reo;ation of German Calvinists 
 had been formed, and being in want of a place of worship 
 they purchased the theatre for §1,250, and fitted it up as a 
 church, which they continued to occupy until 1765, when the 
 building, which had not been a very substantial one, becom- 
 ing decayed, they took it down and erected another edifice upon 
 the syjot, which was standing fifteen years ago, and was famil- 
 iarly known as Gosling's Eating House, Nos. 61 and 66 Nassau 
 street. 
 
 Finding that the theatre had been converted into a church, 
 Douglass built another one upon Cruger's Wharf, a large pier, 
 with houses upon it, which at that time extended from Pearl 
 street into the East River, between Old and Coenties slip. In 
 the following year, 1759, Douglass went to Philadelphia, where 
 he erected a small theatre, and from there to Annapolis, where 
 he built a very fine one of brick, capable of accommodating be- 
 tween five and six hundred people, which he opened on the 3d 
 of March, 1760. 
 
 THE BEEKMAN STREET THEATRE. 
 
 In 1761, Douglass returned to New York, and abandoning the 
 theatre upon Cruger's Wharf, erected one in Beekman street, a 
 few doors beloAV Nassau street. This was torn down in a riot in 
 1761. Three years after, the theatre in John street, between 
 Nassau street and Broadway, was built, which continued to be 
 the principal one until the erection of the old Park theatre, in 
 1797.