History of the Philadelphia Stage, Between the Years 1749 and 1855. By Charles Durang. Volume 4. Arranged and illustrated by Thompson Westcott, 1868
Name:
Durang, Charles; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888
Date:
1868
Description:
Volume IV contains the next 40 chapters (XXIII to LXII) of the third and last series of Durang’s history, consisting of 120 pages of text. Those chapters appeared in the Dispatch between December 9, 1860 (Vol. XIII, No. 33) and September 15, 1861(Vol. XIV, No. 21). The clippings contained in the volume offer a detailed account of the management and the most notable shows performed in the Philadelphia theaters – especially the Chestnut Street Theatre, the Walnut Street Theatre, and the Arch Street Theatre – between the 1830-1831 and 1840-1841 seasons. Salient events include the rivalry between Edwin Forrest, based at the Arch Street Theater, and the members of the Kemble family, based at the Chestnut Street Theatre, in the early 1830s; the arrival in Philadelphia of the Montresor opera troupe and the first production of Italian operas at the Chestnut Street Theatre in 1833; and a detailed report of the successes and failures of several troupes and individual actors and singers who performed in Philadelphia during the decade. For most of those artists, Westcott provided at least one portrait as part of the rich collection of drawings and engravings inserted in the volume. Notable figures include, among others, William Francis Brough, Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani, Pauline Garcia (Viardot), Henry Betty, Gabriel Ravel, Sarah Siddons, Charles Kemble, Fanny Kemble, Anne Maria Tree, William Smith, Lester Wallack, Henry Placide, Thomas Placide, William Warren, Charles Kean, Elizabeth Brunton (Yates), Walter Scott, Sarah Ward, John Sinclair, Tate Wilkinson, Anaïde Castellan Giampietro, James Edward Murdoch, Edwin Booth, Charles William Macready, Andrew Ducrow, James S. Wallace, Henry Erskine Johnston, Joseph Wood, Mary Giovanna Cawse, Mary Ann Paton, Tyrone Power, Ralph Sherwin, William Evans Burton, John Howard Payne, Madame Celeste, Samuel Phelps, John Reeve, Thomas D. Rice, Tryphosa Jane Wallis, Edwin Forrest, Mary Anne Goward, Robert Keeley, Margarita Graddon, Victoria Balfe, Francis Courtney Wemyss, Robert Hamilton, Robert Campbell Maywood, Charlotte Elizabeth Vanderhoff, John M. Vandenhoff, David Garrick, Robert William Elliston, Lucia Elizabeth Vestris, Elizabeth Kemble, Samuel S. Sanford, Edward Fitzwilliam, Fanny Fitzwilliam, Fanny Elssler, Mary Anne Stirling, Charlotte Cushman, Susan Cushman, John Braham, Peter Richings, Ira Aldridge, Giuseppe De Begnis, and Giuseppina Ronzi De Begnis. Included in the volume are also a few pictures of Philadelphia and other national and international theaters, such as the Arch Street Theatre, the Academy of Music, the Northern Exchange Theatre, the Coates Street Theatre, and Sanford’s Opera House (Philadelphia), the State Street Theatre (Columbus, OH), Niblo’s Opera House (New York City), the St. Charles Theatre and the American Theatre and Arcade Baths (New Orleans), East London Theatre (formerly Royalty Theatre, London), and the Paris Opera House (Palais Garnier, Paris). The scrapbook also includes a playbill of the show "Venitian [sic] Carnival, or Punch in Good Humour," arranged by French vaudeville artist Gabriel Ravel, and an original letter by playwright, publisher, and theater manager William Evans Burton.
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