A collection of stories and fascinating facets of theater history in Philadelphia.

From the founding of The Walnut Street Theatre and the beginning of the American circus to the world premiere performance of Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, and from censorship and opposition to riots and deadly fires, this engaging collection of short, focused narratives introduces the reader to the often overlooked and frequently underappreciated topic of the history of theater in Philadelphia, and offer a new way of approaching the wider history of this unique and important American city.

The stories are populated by some of the many notable visitors to the city’s theaters, including Oscar Wilde, Edmund Kean, John Wilkes Booth, Sarah Bernhardt, Ayn Rand, Tennessee Williams, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Muhammad Ali, Paul Robeson and Joseph Papp; and the stories of heroes of local theater including Edwin Forrest, Pearl Bailey, Molly Picon, and Charles Fuller and Kevin Bacon. Also putting in appearances are the mostly forgotten, but no less fascinating Annie Kemp Bowler “the Original Stalacta,” May Manning Lillile the Quaker Cowgirl, and tennis champion William (“Big Bill”) Tilden.
All together, these lively and vivid stories—many of them little-known or unexplored—serve to form a larger narrative of the role that theater has played, and continues to play, in shaping and reflecting the texture of life in an American city.

• Cover page
• Dedication
• Title page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Map
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• List of Images and Illustrations
• Part One: Only in Philadelphia
  • Durang’s Hornpipe
  • 36 Indian Chiefs and Warriors at the Olympic
  • “A Young Gentleman of this City”
  • Miss Philadelphia of 1896
  • “Three Cheers for Captain Sigsbee!”
  • Freedom at the Sesqui and The Miracle at the Met
  • Shakspere in the Parkway
  • Shakespeare’s Birthday at the Edwin Forrest Home
  • Won’t You Come Home, Pearl Bailey?
  • The Show Rescued by a Helicopter
  • Philadelphia ’76
  • The Return of Lady Day
• Part Two: The Wicked Stage
  • William Penn Sees a Play
  • The Friends of Virtue
  • Theater Is Illegal in Philadelphia
  • The Moral Structure of the Academy of Music
  • “Let Us Live to See the Theatres All Deserted”
  • The Battle of Salome in the Opera War
  • Let My People Come on South Street
  • Hugh Hefner in Old City
• Part Three: Playhouses
  • The Mysterious Case of the Stolen Spikes at the Old Theatre
  • The New Theatre on Chestnut Street
  • Ricketts’ Circus, Benedict Arnold, and the Death of Major Andre
  • The Spanish Consul and the New French Circus on Walnut Street
  • Farewell to Old Drury
  • Mrs. John Drew’s Arch Street Theatre
  • Opening Night at Hammerstein’s Opera House
  • The Adventures of Chlora on Delancey Street
  • Snake Hips at the Lincoln
  • The Invention of the Wilma
  • The Arden in Old City
  • A Great Day on South Broad Street
• Part Four: Local Heroes
  • Edwin Forrest Plays Richelieu
  • The Heron Takes Wing
  • The Little Tycoon
  • May Manning Lillie, Quaker Cowgirl
  • Blythe Spirit, or All Them Barrymores
  • Imogene Coca in Manayunk
  • One of the Kelly Boys
  • They All Want Something from Big Bill Tilden
  • “The Girl Who Falls Down”138
  • Molly Gets Married
  • Charles Fuller’s Inspirations
• Part Five: Visiting Stars
  • George Frederick Cooke
  • Edmund Kean Takes a Bow
  • Fanny Kemble Makes a Fateful Debut
  • Rachel Gets a Cold Reception
  • Bunthorne in the Quaker City
  • Sarah Bernhardt and the Mummers
  • Katharine Hepburn’s Philadelphia Story
  • Paul Robeson’s Hammer
  • Peter Brook Finds the Empty Space
• Part Six: Disputes, Deaths, and Disasters
  • Kean’s Riot
  • Charlotte Cushman Sends Too Many Flowers
  • The Marble Heart of John Wilkes Booth
  • The Death of Annie Kemp Bowler, the Original Stalacta
  • The Temple Theatre Catches Fire
  • The Fall of Apollo
  • Curtain Time, Minus Zero
  • Zsa Zsa Gabor Gets Fired
• Part Seven: The Tryout Town
  • The Marx Brothers Stay for the Summer
  • Mrs. Penfield Backs Fioretta
  • Lysistrata—Modern Abdominal Merriment
  • Ayn Rand Writes a Play
  • Brando on Walnut Street
  • World Premiere of Death of a Salesman
  • Something Wild in the Country Orpheus Descending
  • Philadelphia, Here I Come!
  • The King and Oy
  • Muhammad Ali vs. Big Time Buck White
  • The Line of Least Existence—Last Days of the TLA
  • Auntie Mame Leaves Early
• Part Eight: The Manning Street Theatre
  • Hamlet in the Rafters
  • The Two Joes
  • The Orphan
• Epilogues
  • Ghost Light
  • Love Unpunished
• Permissions
• Bibliography
• Notes and Sources
• Index