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419. Held here her seat and ploudly brightly o'er These hallow'd boards dispensed the drama's lore ; Call up the past where all the gems of mind To crown the drama here with art combin'd. [Bell rings.]
Hark! that bell--[the curtain rises]--look! What form is that? Tis of George Fred'rick Cooke Whose tragic power o'er this life's mimic scene Passed like a meteor or some startling dream ; He held the sceptre made the stage his own And rul'd the mimic world himself alone. Another comes--a form whose princely tread Recalls the past and wakes the kingly dead-- Tis Fennell he the wild the gay the lost Who on this world by tempest's fury toss'd Lived for his friends! But when life's dream was o'er The friends of Fennell turned him from their door! Who cometh next? How sad how wild those eyes Now raised above the earth--they seek the skies-- Tis Conway the scholar--he's resting in sleep Where mermaaids their vigils eternal keep For the grave of poor Conway is low in the deep.* Whom have we here? Raise the curtain still higher And welcome the gay the dashing young Dwyer. More shadows now pass--make way there give place Ah! there is old "Jef" with his comical face : And there is young Darley and Blissett and Duff! With social old Francis and box of of rare snuff ; Ah! there's McKenzie--from his watery tomb He comes a sad spectre of untimely doom : Here's old Falstaff so jovial jolly and fat-- Old knight of the mug we to thee raise our hat; You took from old Shakspere the gem of the page And made it your triumph the pride of the stage! Oh! what were old Drury if fat laughing Jack With many a joke and as many to crack Were absent from thee--its light had all fled When the Prompter announc'd that old Warren was dead! What form now is that so meagre and thin Made all of dry bones and a covering of skin ? 'Tis roberts--ah ! yes though his wit and his life Had struggled so long death ended the strife. Once more change the scene--the Ladies appear-- Mrs. Wood Mrs. Dailey Mrs. Oldmixon too Now stand at the wing all plain to my view ; And sweet Mrs. Burke-ut let them all pass You see them as shadows in memory's glass : On on as they go all--old young and gat They have passed in their pride and sorrow away. Two names we have miss'd--no shadows are they-- Yet like thee old Drury they'll soon pass away At the sound of my voice. Hark ! will they appear Come forth from the crowd--ah ! Wood are you here ? And there is Durang with his smile and his hand : The one for the world--the other to command. But where is olf Cooper whose head silver'd o'er With the blossoms of Time--alas ! he's no more ! The past ! ah the past ! how it fritters away Like temples and men all all will decay ; The bricks and the mortar and marble may fall-- But Wood still remains the last relic of all. Last night of old Drury ! how mournful the sound ; Last night of old Drury ! let the sad words go round. Farewell to old Drury ! the shadows have pass'd ; Farewell to old Drury ! this night is the last ; Farewell to old Drury ! thy days once so bright Now close like theyself in the gloom of the night. [Bell rings.] Down down the curtain they last acts o'er And echo alone will now answer encore !
Thus after an existence of sixty-two years the curtain of the future fell for ever over the dramatic purposes of this ancient edifice. Soon afterwards it was demolised and upon its ruins arose clothing bazaars billiard saloons and in the basement negro concerts. A love for the fine arts induced the owner of the ground to give it in fee simple to Mr. Wignell for the erection of his new theatre in 1792 as we have heard. But apathetic wealth reversed the deed of the deceased proprietor. Mammon's fiat went forth and on the evening of the 1st of May 1855 a few of our old and young citizens who had received mental amusement in their hours of relaxation with in its walls quietly attended the closing per------------
*Wm. A. Conway one of the most accomplished actors and gentlemen of his day in a fit of insanity jumped overboard from the ship Niagara off Charleston bar in 1829 and perished.
McKenzie committed suicide by throwing himself into the waters of "Back Bay" at Boston now filled up and made one of the most beautiful and fashionable sections of that great Eastern metropolis. It was several days before his body was discovered.
A very popular comedian. He died in Charleston, S. C. of consumption whither he went for the benefit of his health.
This lady is now the wife of Mr. Sevier of New Orleans.
Mrs. Thomas Burke nee Miss Cornelia Jefferson died in this city in 1848. She was in her youthful days the first vocalist in America.
Thomas A. Cooper died at Bristol Pa. April 21st 1849 aged 73. ----------
formances. The audience was meagre. There were few ladies present either to smile or weep. After the national hymn "The Star Spangled Banner" our young native comedian I. Wayne Olwine stepped forward to the centre of the stage to close the farewell ceremonies After a very neat and an appropriate preface he read with nice elocutionary emphasis and feeling the farewell address. "The Last Days of Old Drury" was a sad plot to dramatize. The burst of applause that accompanied the poetical apostrophes that to the "mind's eye" portrayed the shades of the several old histrions that once in pride and glory trod its boards were felt and "appalauded to the very echo that should applaud again." At the last fall of the curtain a calm silence ensured. The few spectators departed with all the grave demeanor of a funeral cortega having inurned a dear object in the home of the dead. For a while they lingered in the lower lobby exchanging sentiments of regret on its fate and shaking hands in token of adieu they silently descended the oft-trod marble steps.
That old dramatic temple was hallowed by many pleasing memories of other days. On that site our first President and members of Congress had often assembled in company of our fashionable old families from 1794 to 1800. It was there that the pure and polished drama was sustained by classic taste and plearning. Impressed with these old-fashioned notions in which feeling very few sympathized I determined to witness the obsequies of this ancient domus. I remember it was on the spring election night and the State House bell was sounding its final tolls to the voters. To me it was a divided tintinnabulum--a death-knell of "Old Drury !" I sought the back stage-door and in ascending the steps met James Rees bent on the same pilgrimage.
We were permitted to enter with a gentleman of the Philadelphia Bar who was impelled thither by the same feeling and were ushered into the dingy green-room where we were left to moralize in a Jacques vein upon its history and melancholy sequel. Our mind reverted to the great old performers whose witty tongue once enlivened its walls with laughter or animated the cultivated mind with polished professional conversation. The old clock in the corner whose index of time was often looked at by all as the regulator of their movements on the stage and the old cracked mirror on the mantelpiece were the only relices left of the first theatre burnt down in 1820. Alas ! well might I remember that mirror for in that I often adjusted my dancing dress when a boy and cut some boyish caper never dreaming then Cooper Cooke Kean the elder Warren Duff Booth Jefferson Francis &c. Mrs. Merry Mrs. Whitlock Mrs. Wood Mrs. Duff Mrs. Francis and other magnates of that day appeared as living beings between 1803 and 1818 with other stella lights of the London stage who subsequently adorned it. I had seen them standing before that glass arranging their robes and head ornaments as they were summoned by the call boy to the stage. All these visions pressed vividly upon my imagination. There was still the old stuffed chair often used upon the stage which was kept in the
green-room whereon old Mr. Jefferson in his gouty days was wont to rest his weariness. The last time I ever saw him was reclining in that chair. An actor who deserves the highest eulogy ; an actor concerning whom the late Chief Justice Gibson in a letter to Mr. W. B. Wood relative to his erecting a monument to his memory thus writes :
"I look back with pleasure on the days when my relish for theatricals had the freshness of youth and when the stage was a classic source of gratification. To the memory of Mr. Jefferson who with others beguiled Judge Rogers myself and the playgoing public of many a heavy moment we owe a debt of gratitude which we are anxious to repay."
A tribute so just emanating from a source so distinguished for learning and judicial wisdom should silence bigoted prejudice and canonize the actor.
Very few relics of the theatre burnt down in 1820 were saved with the exception of the articles mentioned. The only external ones were the figures of Tragedy and Comedy which were carved by our native wood carver of ship figures William Rush whose Indian chiefs and other effigies of notable merchants in old-fashioned costume of full statue size at the bows of our mercantile ships were the admiration of the European world. These dramatic igures he executed for the first Chesnut Street Theatre. They stood in niches in its facade. Being preserved from the first they decorated the front of the new theatre of 1822. On its demolition Mr. Edwin Forrest purchased them for $300 as mementoes. The comtemplation of those figures when a boy led him to inquire their meaning and finally he went into the theatre to witness a play and to become enamored of the profession. They now adorn the picture saloon of his mansion out Broad street. All Rush's figures should be preserved. These things of the past flitted before ourimagination like realities. "They came like shadows and so departed." Thus wrapped up we sat like the Last Man contemplating our strange destiny where we hand once beheld father mother brothers sisters and friends not one of whom lived to witness the closing scene of a place held sacred by them all. We could not help exclaiming :
"Our revels now are ended. These our actors As I foretold you were all spirits and Are melted into thin air : And like the baseless fabric of this vision The cloud-capp'd towers the gorgeous palaces The solemn temples the great globe itself Yea all which it inherit shall dissolve ; And like this unsubstantial pageant faded Leave not a rack behind."
A brief epitome of our theatrical history may not be uninteresting. The first company of comediands that ever came to this city or to the then colony of Pennsylvanis was the Hallam corps. They opened in 1754 in Mr. William Plumstead's storehouse in Water street at a corner of an alley just above Pine street. Of this we have spoken in our first papers. Much opposition was made to this rude theatre by the enemies of the stage. In July 1759 five years after this company repeated their visit and opened at the southwest corner of South and Vernon streets which went by the name of the "Theatre on Society Hill" being out of the city bounds and consequently beyond the power of the city authorities. Mr. Douglass was then stage manager. The Hallams were the leading performers. This company had acquired so much popularity that a new theatre of larger
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420. dimensions was found necessary ; and a large frame building with a brick basement of some ten feet high was erected in the year 1760 wich was since known as the old South Street Theatre. It was at the corner of Crab or Apollo street above Fourth street south side. The brick basement remains to this day surmounted with new brick walls and used as a grain distillery. The theatre and scenery not being ready in 1760 the company did not occupy it at this period but went on their Southern circuit which was then very profitable. Old Mr. Hallam said that the opposition was so very great to its opening that the performers thought it best to employ themselves elsewhere where no antagonistic feeling existed against them and to leave the Philadelphia prejudices to cool off by their absence and the calm relections which might be thereby superinduced. The managers when it opened were Hallam and Henry. During the Revolutionary war the company went to the West Indies.
At the commencement of the Revoluton Mr. Wignell in 1774 arrived in this city from London to make his professional fortune in the new world. He recollected old Carpenter's Hall in Chesnut street below Fourth when the first Congress convened in 1774. It was all open to Chesnut street. An avenue of trees led up to it. He was induced to approach the isolated dark brick house and went into the hall while the members were in session. He was struck with the grave and dignified mien of the men who composed it. Their dress and manner bespoke intelligence and high-toned breeding ; while their eloquence and grace of action struck him with wonder and delight. He had seen the House of Lords in their stately robes and polished etiquette but it did not seem as imposing as this body of Colonial Representatives assembled in Freedom's cause. Mr. Wignell remained some ten years in Jamaica where it was his fortune to have secured the goodwill and friendship of the distinguished statesman Alexander James Dallas of the Biddles Mr. H. Hill Mr. John Vaughan Mr. Meade subsequently a merchant of distinction in our city and a patron of the arts. After the peace of 1783 he came to New York where he became a citizen of the United States and joined the old American company about 1790. Difficulties occurred in this company upon which event several of the leading actors seceded from its government and among them Mr. Wignell. The South Street Theatre was deemed unworthy of the growing wealth of Philadelphia by her enlightened inhabitants and the former Puritan spirit against the drama had in a great measure become obliterated. Besides its location was remote and its neighboring surroundings most objectionable. Hence the idea of the erection of a new theatre was suggested and carried out through the influences of the Hon. Alexander James Dallas Mr. Meade the Biddles and others of that circle. Mr. Wignell became with Mr. Rienagle (a musician and composer of eminece) the managers. Hence arose the Chesnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.
Thus we have sketched the two eras of this theatre in a desultory way. It only remains to us to close its dying eyes with all due reverence and grace having reached our assigned limits.
Enlightened sentiments thus imbuing the intelligent minds of the gentlemen we have just mentioned in connection with Mr. Wignell they welcomed and planted the drama and its temples in "Young America." Under their influence the corner-stone of the Chesnut Street Theatre was laid in 1792 by them and their genial friends. It was a sacred site to memory-near th Independence Square where our sires and matrons did often happily congregate "for useful mirth and salutary woe." Its erection and its history have deserved this lengthened record. It was the first great theatre built in this country on a legitimate aud metropolitan scale and so far as sterling acting and private worth may be deemed essential as conservative of the drama in its literary mission and in its sustained moral reflections from the mirror of a pure stage certainly no similar institution of Europe of America equaled or surpassed this classic dramatic temple. Candor urges us thus t speak having appeared as a boy in it and having lived many years since to behold all the theatrical changes incident to the institution.
The first Chesnut Street Theatre was finished in 1793 by Wignell and Reinagle--a very large and talented company having been engaged at London to open it in September 1793. On their arrival here the great yellow fever of that year was raging with terrific havoc. The town was literally deserted and Mr. Wignell had to place the corps in different quarters in the Jerseys. Therefore the Chesnut Street Theatre did not open till in February 1794--a musical entertainment or concert having preceded the dramatic opening. Of this we have fully spoken in our early annals. This theatre was burnt down on Easter Monday April 2d 1820--there being no performances in it at that time. The corps had gone a few days before to Baltimore. The new theatre of the end of which we have just spoken first opened on the 2d of December 1822 with "The School for Scandal." Mr. Wood delivered William Sprague's beautiful address selected from among a host of competitors. We beg to give the cast of this never-tiring comedy at that time as it was very excellent : Sir Peter Teazle Mr. Warren ; Sir Oliver Surface Mr. Francis ; Charles Surface Mr. Wood ; Joseph Surface Mr. Henry Wallack ; Sir Benjamin Backbite Mr. Johnson ; Crabtree Mr. Jefferson ; Rowly Mr. Hathwell ; Moses Mr. Burke ; Careless Mr. Darley ; Trip John Jefferson ; Snake John Greene ; Lady Teazle Mrs. Wood ; Lady Sneerwell Mrs. Lafolle ; Mrs. Candor Mrs. Francis ; Maria Mrs. H. Wallack ; Maid Mrs. Greene.
The afterpiece was the "Wandering Boys" --Count de Croissy H. Wallack.
Neither the first nor the second Chesnut Street Theatres were fortunate in their career. The management was fully twenty thousand dollars in debt ere the curtain arose on its first night--the result of a large imported opera and dramatic corps. Mr. G. Gillingham was leader of the orchestra. Some splendid drop scenes were painted by Richards Hodges and Rooker--artists of the first reputation of that day in England. The paintings were however a present ot Mr. Wignell by those gentlemen and were burnt in the fire of 1820. The wardrobe was rich and of great
extent embracing the whole of the dresses of great value from Lord Barrymore's theatre as well as those of French manufacture at Paris. The court dresses in the Barrymore wardrobe were of the most superb quality of satin and velvet with gold and silver trimmings. The library and music were valued at three thousand dollars. There were two grand pianos which cost one hundred guineas each in London with a splendid organ which stood over the proscenium stage door on the O. P. side and gave impressive effects to all solemn music used in chapel scenes &c. Probably the Chesnut Street Theatre was the most perfectly furnished theatre that ever was opened in this country. It was an epitome of the great London theatres. At the time of the destruction of the house in 1820 the stockholders property consisted of the walls only ; the entire scenery wardrobes &c. belonging to the lessees. Thus to Warren & Wood the loss was heavy and irretrievable.
Mr. Wignell's case was peculiary hard. By the articles of agreement made in London the performers were entitled to their salaries on their arrivsl here.
For the first ten years the success of the theatre was often checked by the sudden visitation of the yellow fever. In 1797 the company removed to the New York Circus near the Battery where one of the most splendid stock companies that this country ever beheld illustrated the old comedies tragedies and English opera.
In 1798 from the same cause they sought shelter at Annapolis Maryland. A very formidable opposition in 1795 sprang into existence opposite to the theatre in the shape of Ricketts's Amphitheatre each doing injury to the other. The city's population at that period could not maintain two such places of amusement at the same time. Eight years before the Chesnut Street Theatre was burnt down the Walnut Street Circus presented a strong opposition to the oooo Chesnut Street house. The new Chesnut Street Theatre built in 1822 for Warren & Wood although opened under favorable auspices with its old fashionable patrons to foster its course was soon doomed to trouble internally and externally. Powerful rivals soon arose to overshadow its ancient prestige and finally to annihilate its name and very site. Mr. Wood's retirement from the old firm gave birth to a new theatre in Arch street while the old Walnut Street Circus was converted into a splendid theatre through the enterprise and ingenuity of Joseph Cowell and the talented architect John Haviland.
In 1837 Cooke came with his equestrian novelties from England and erected a circus on the present site of the Continental Hotel which Mr. Burton in 1840 converted into a very splendid commodious theatre under the title of "The National" which in conjunction with the other theatres gave the coup de grace to "Old Drury."
Here then we conclude our annals of the Philadelphia Stage which dates from the period of 1754 when the first regular theatrical company opened in Philadelphia. Within that period a consecutive list of the managers the names of the performers and a record of events and seasons have been faithfully given
