America's Longest Run

Contents

List of Illustrations

Prologue: America’s Oldest Theatre

1 The Beginnings of Theatre in Philadelphia, 1682–1809

2 Circus and Spectacle at the Walnut Street Theatre, 1809–1820

3 The Era of the English Star, 1820–1829

4 The Walnut in the Age of Jackson, 1829–1840

5 The Marshall Era, 1840–1849

6 Respectability, 1849–1860

7 The Civil War Years, 1860–1867

8 The Last Years of Stock, 1867–1879

9 A Combination House, 1879–1895

10 The Syndicate Years, 1896–1920

11 Boom and Bust, 1920–1940

12 A Tryout House, 1941–1954

13 The Shuberts in Decline, 1954–1969

14 Performing Arts Center, 1969–1982

15 A Subscription House, 1982–1999

16 The State Theatre of Pennsylvania, 2000 and Beyond

Notes

Bibliography

Index

“Davis describes the remarkable growth and development of the Walnut over the past several decades. This narrative is among the book’s most useful contributions to the institution’s history. Another important feature of Davis’s chronicle may be found in the way that it documents the central role of the nondramatic in the various activities that took place in and around nineteenth-century American playhouses.

“America’s Longest Run provides a rare opportunity to survey the development of an important American institution that has borne witness to much of the nation’s history.

“Davis’s work will be a welcome addition to the library of anyone interested in the history of Philadelphia or the American theatre.”

—Aaron Tobiason, Pennsylvania History