CHAPTER I.

1745-1752.

Introduction of the Drama into America.

WHEN the future historian of the American drama

begins his hitherto neglected work, he will find, though not required to extend his researches much beyond the middle of the eighteenth century, that his initial chapter must be one of speculation and surmise, rather than of authenticated record. To whom belongs the honor of founding the theatre in the new world, where the first play was produced, what it was and who performed it, are questions which, though answered with great exactness of detail by some writers, are still open to debate, and likely always to remain so.

William Dunlap, to whom the aforesaid future historian must perforce acknowledge himself much indebted, unhesitatingly confers the honor upon Hallam, and says further that the first theatre opened in America by a company of regular comedians, was in Williamsburgh, then (September 5, 1752) the capital of Virginia; that the play was the "Merchant of Venice," followed by "Lethe," a farce by Garrick. Since Mr. Dunlap's book was written, however, it has been ascertained beyond question, that Hallam was not the first in the field of management in this country, and although the above mentioned performances took place as stated, the occasion was not the initiation of the drama in America, notwithstanding the date thereof was honored with a grand centennial observance at

Castle Garden, Monday, September 6th, 1852 (when the original bill was carefully reproduced). On the contrary, the very building in which the Hallam company made their debut had been erected for dramatic purposes two years previous, and presumably occupied by the "Philadelphia company," who, previous to 1752, also built a theatre in Annapolis, Md. This Philadelphia company Dunlap only alludes to contemptuously as "some idle young men " who, perpetrating the murder of sundry plays in the outskirts of the town, were arrested, and on confessing the crime and promising to spare the poor poets in the future, were bound over by the Philadelphia authorities for good behavior. It is probable that in 1748, they were only professionals in embryo, but their leader, Thomas Kean, preceded his great name-sake (a curious coincidence), by being the first American Richard, and was probably the manager of the company which produced the play in Nassau street, New York, March 5th, 1750, and he was certainly associate manager with Murray at the same place in the following September, when they played to crowded houses. It is thought by some (but this is merely surmise), that Murray and Kean may have been the two young Englishmen who, about this time, shocked all New England by playing, with the assistance of volunteer talent, Otway's tragedy of "The Orphan, or Unhappy Marriage," at a coffee house in State street, Boston, a proceeding which led the great and general court of Massachusetts to pass an act in March, 1750, To Prevent Stage-Plays and other Theatrical Entertainments.

Still another authority (Bernard), asserts that John Moody founded the American stage in the Island of Jamaica, about 1745, with an English company brought over by him; that in four years he made a small fortune, and going to England, recruited a second company, but instead of coming back with them, was induced by Garrick to remain at Drury Lane, where he became celebrated as an Irish actor. The company, however, came over, and were the second dramatic organization

to cross the Atlantic, thus making Hallam's company third, instead of first, as claimed by Dunlap.

But of all the actors who preceded Hallam's company, next to nothing is known. They strutted their little hour upon the stage, no doubt affording amusement to thousands, and then were heard of no more, it being by accident only that the names even of a few of them, have come down to us, with such meagre information as to their performances as scant advertisements in the newspapers of the day afford.