The Arch Street Theatre, popularly referred to as The Arch, was one of three Philadelphia-based theaters for plays during the 19th century; the other two were the Walnut Street Theatre and the Chestnut Street Theatre. [1] The Arch Street Theatre opened on October 1, 1828, under the management of William B. Wood. The building's architect was John Haviland. [2]
The building which housed the Arch Street Theatre was located between 6th and 7th Streets at 819 Arch Street. Performers at the venue included Fanny Davenport, Joseph Jefferson, and Charlotte Cushman, others. [3] John Wilkes Booth joined the theatre's stock company in 1857 and played for a full season. He appeared occasionally at the Arch during the 1850s and early 1860s. [4]
In the 1830s, Edwin Forrest played many successful roles at the Arch, and several original plays written at his request debuted there. [5]
In 1832, the Arch Street Theatre had an entire company of American actors, which was a first for American theater companies. [6] The managers were William Forrest, William Duffy, and William Jones. [7] The company included James E. Murdoch. [6]
In 1860, the stockholders of the Arch suggested that Louisa Lane Drew should assume the management, and in 1861 the theatre was opened under the name "Mrs. John Drew's Arch Street Theatre". Louisa Lane Drew was the grandmother of Lionel, Ethel and John Barrymore. [8] During the third season under Drew's management, Lester Wallack, E. L. Davenport, and Edwin Booth acted at the Arch. [9]
In the summer of 1863, the theatre was pulled down and rebuilt with red plush seats and crystal chandeliers from the stage to the façade; [9] the seating capacity was one thousand, nine-hundred eleven. [10]
In 1875, the theatre became the venue for the first performance of a work by Gilbert and Sullivan in America when Alice Oates staged an unauthorised and approximate performance of Trial by Jury here. [11]
After Drew's departure in 1892, the stature of the Arch Street Theatre slowly declined. [2] In 1898 Morris Finkel rented the building and presented Yiddish theater for several months, including one week of performances by Keni Liptzin. The prolific Yiddish theatre composer Joseph Brody, recently arrived from Russia, got his American start there as well. [12] However, Finkel soon abandoned the project and the Arch returned to vaudeville.
In 1909, Mike (Mordechai) Thomashefsky took over the Arch and presented both vaudeville and Yiddish theatre until his death in 1932. [13] [14]
The Arch Street Theater was rented in 1921 as a hall for Jewish High Holiday services. [15]
The Arch Street Theatre was demolished in 1936. [16]
John Drew was an Irish-American stage actor and theatre manager.
John Drew Jr., commonly known as John Drew during his life, was an American stage actor noted for his roles in Shakespearean comedy, society drama, and light comedies. He was the eldest son of John Drew Sr., who had given up a blossoming career in whaling for acting, and Louisa Lane Drew, and the brother of Louisa Drew, Georgiana Drew, and Sidney Drew. As such, he was also the uncle of John, Ethel, and Lionel Barrymore, and also great-great-uncle to Drew Barrymore. He was considered to be the leading matinee idol of his day, but unlike most matinee idols Drew's acting ability was largely undisputed.
The Shubert Organization is a theatrical producing organization and a major owner of theatres based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by the three Shubert brothers in the late 19th century. They steadily expanded, owning many theaters in New York and across the United States. Since then it has gone through changes of ownership, but it is still a major theater chain.
Boris Thomashefsky, born Boruch-Aharon Thomashefsky, was a Ukrainian-born Jewish singer and actor who became one of the biggest stars in Yiddish theater.
Theater in the United States is part of the old European theatrical tradition and has been heavily influenced by the British theater. The central hub of the American theater scene is Manhattan, with its divisions of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway. Many movie and television stars have gotten their big break working in New York productions. Outside New York, many cities have professional regional or resident theater companies that produce their own seasons, with some works being produced regionally with hopes of eventually moving to New York. U.S. theater also has an active community theater culture, which relies mainly on local volunteers who may not be actively pursuing a theatrical career.
John Edward McCullough was an Irish-born American actor.
Bessie Thomashefsky, born Briche Baumfeld-Kaufman, was a Russian-born Jewish American singer, actress and comedian, a star in Yiddish theater beginning in the 1890s. She was the wife and stage partner of Boris Thomashefsky, the most popular Yiddish leading man of his era. Probably her most famous role was the title role of Oscar Wilde's Salomé at the People’s Theater in 1908.
Walnut Street Theatre, founded in 1809 at 825 Walnut Street, on the corner of S. 9th Street in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia, is the oldest operating theatre in the United States.
Herbert Arthur Chamberlayne Blyth, known professionally by his stage name Maurice Barrymore, was an Indian-born British stage actor. He is the patriarch of the Barrymore acting family, and the father of John, Lionel and Ethel.
Louisa Lane Drew was an English-born American actress and theatre owner and an ancestor of the Barrymore acting family. Professionally, she was often known as Mrs. John Drew.
The Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre is an annual, nationally-recognized award program that is sponsored by Theatre Philadelphia for professional theater productions in the Greater Philadelphia area. Each season culminates with an awards ceremony.
Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Drew were an American comedy team on stage and screen. The team initially consisted of Sidney Drew and his first wife Gladys Rankin. After Gladys died in 1914, Sidney Drew married Lucille McVey (1890–1925), and the two performed as Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew.
Niblo's Garden was a theater on Broadway and Crosby Street, near Prince Street, in SoHo, Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1823 as "Columbia Garden" which in 1828 gained the name of the Sans Souci and was later the property of the coffeehouse proprietor and caterer William Niblo. The large theater that evolved in several stages, occupying more and more of the pleasure ground, was twice burned and rebuilt. On September 12, 1866, Niblo's saw the premiere of The Black Crook, considered to be the first piece of musical theater that conforms to the modern notion of a "book musical".
The Yiddish Theatre District, also called the Jewish Rialto and the Yiddish Realto, was the center of New York City's Yiddish theatre scene in the early 20th century. It was located primarily on Second Avenue, though it extended to Avenue B, between Houston Street and East 14th Street in the East Village in Manhattan. The District hosted performances in Yiddish of Jewish, Shakespearean, classic, and original plays, comedies, operettas, and dramas, as well as vaudeville, burlesque, and musical shows.
John Frederick Zimmerman Sr. (1843–1925) was an American theatre magnate. He was one of the members of the Theatrical Syndicate, which monopolized theatrical bookings in the United States for several years.
Mount Vernon Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 3499 West Lehigh Avenue in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was established in 1856, is 27 acres in size and contains over 18,000 graves. It was neglected for decades by an absentee landlord. No plots have been sold since 1968, it was not open to the public, many graves fell into disrepair and the cemetery became heavily overgrown. In 2021, a Philadelphia judge ordered the cemetery be placed in conservatorship due to neglect.
Forrest Robinson was an American stage and silent era actor. He was a leading man at the Boston Museum Theater and acted in numerous theatrical productions in New York. He also appeared in numerous films.
Florence Weiss was a Russian-born American Yiddish theatre, Vaudeville and film actor, recording artist, and soprano who was active from the 1920s to the 1960s. She worked and performed with such artists as Moishe Oysher, Alexander Olshanetsky, Boris Thomashefsky, Fyvush Finkel, and Abe Ellstein. The height of her popularity was during the 1930s, when she often toured and performed with her then-husband, Moishe Oysher, and appeared in three Yiddish-language films with him: The Cantor's Son, The Singing Blacksmith, and Overture to Glory.
Philip Laskowsky was a Polish-born American composer, arranger, bandleader, comedian and actor of the Yiddish theatre. He collaborated with a number of well-known figures of the American Yiddish theatre such as Boris Thomashefsky, Louis Gilrod, Isidore Lillian, Jacob Jacobs, and Rubin Doctor. He is sometimes credited with having written the music for the well-known Yiddish song Oyfn veg shteyt a boym, although this is disputed.
Arthur McKee Rankin (1841–1914) was a Canadian born American stage actor and manager. He was the son of a member of the Canadian Parliament. After a dispute with his father he left home to become an actor. He made his stage debut in Rochester, New York in 1861 using the name George Henley. In 1863 he was seen at Wood's Theatre in Cincinnati in the play The Stranger as The Count. During this time he was engaged by Mrs. John Drew at her Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Rankin, a Canadian, had no role or participation in the American Civil War. In 1866 he appeared at the Olympic Theatre in London run by Mrs. John Wood. Rankin increasingly became popular in the melodramas of the period and in 1867 was in a play called The Hunchback. In 1870 he appeared with Lydia Thompson in Mosquito and was a leading man from 1873 to 1875 at the famous Union Square Theatre. Having married Elizabeth Blanchard better known as Kitty they acted together in the 1870s appearing in the smash hit play The Two Orphans in 1874.