William B. Wood in action on the stage in the role of Charles De Moor in Schiller's The Robbers, which was first played on the New Theatre stage in February of 1811. Painting by Thomas Sully.
Below: As promised, below is a map of the City of Philadelphia, a detail from a print created in 1800 in the collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia. You can see that at the turn of the 19th Century, most development in the city was still on the eastern half of William Penn's original grid plan.
The north-south street names begin with Water Street, along the docks. Second Street is rather obliterated, at this point, and Third Street barely noticeable. The first major thoroughfare is Fourth Street. The street numbers then run sequentially, all the way to the Schuylkill River. Broad Street which bisects the city plan vertically. Center Square is where Philadelphia's City Hall stands today.
The east-west streets were mostly named after American trees. This is still the case today, although some of these street names have subsequently changed. They begin at the northern border of the city with Vine, then Sassafras (now Race), Cherry, Arch, Willow (later Filbert), and then the central artery of High Street (now Market). To the south of Market are Chestnut, Walnut, Locust, Spruce, Pine, Lombard, and Cedar (now South).
I have placed three colored marks on the map to indicate the sites of the three theater building discussed in the episode.
Red is the New Theatre on Chestnut Street.
Yellow is the New Circus on Walnut Street (later the Olympic Theatre, then the Walnut Street Theatre).
Green is the Old Theatre (or Southwark Theatre) on Cedar (South) Street.
Below are portraits of William Warren and William Wood, longtime actors at the New Theatre, and co-managers of the company for over two decades. The painting of Warren by Thomas Sully, 1808, from the collection of the San Diego Museum of Art. The painting of Wood is by an unknown artist, and is in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.
Below, the untitled work by Henry Dean referenced in the episode, from the collection of the Yale University Library. Dr. Jenna Gibbs, in her 2014 work Performing in the Temple of Liberty, strongly argues that it is a copy of the Thomas Sully illuminated backdrop displayed in theaters in both New York and Philadelphia in 1807 and 1808.
Below: a handbill that Pepin and Breschard distributed around Boston, just after their first arrival in America in late 1807. They were to return to Massachusetts on one occasion a few years later, but once again did not find much of a market for their shows there, and never returned. The "Horse On Fire" is featured prominently in this advertisement.
Here we can see the ground plan of the New Circus on Walnut Street in Philadelphia, c. 1810. In this rendering, Walnut Street runs along the bottom of the page, and Ninth Street is to the left. (Collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania)
What Pepin and Breschard had in mind for their structure may perhaps be better understood if we look at the plans for the OTHER Olympic Theatre, or rather, Le Cirque Olympique, which was under construction at the same time in Paris to house the company of a rival company, Franconi.
Interestingly, this building also came into existence because of Napoleon. The original site of Astley's Circus in Paris, which then became Franconi's Circus, had to relocate in 1807 because of the construction of the Rue Napoléon that same year. The new theatre and circus between the rue du Mont-Thabor and the rue Saint-Honoré. It opened in December 1807, just two months before the New Circus on Walnut Street in Philadelphia. When Pepin and Breschard built a proscenium stage as an addition to their circus ring in 1811, they too named it "The Olympic."
The Parisian circus/theatre building on Mont-Thabor lasted only till 1816, when due to the site being needed for another government building in the post-Napoleonic period, the company relocated back to the Rue du Temple.
Below: The Walnut Street Theatre, decorated to celebrate its 200th Anniversary in the year 2009.
Selected Bibliography:
Bernard, John, Retrospections of America, 1797-1811, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1887. Digitized 2012 and available via Google Books.
Davis, Andrew, America's Longest Run: a History of the Walnut Street Theatre, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2014, pp. 23-35.
Diario de Madrid, del Martes 14 de Octubre de 1806, pp. 447-450. Digitized by Biblioteca Nacional de España.
Dominique, Denis, "Premier Cirque Olympique des frères Franconi," on Circus Parade website, dated 16 June 2018. https://www.circus-parade.com/2018/06/16/premier-cirque-olympique-des-freres-franconi/
Dunlap, William, History of the American Theatre, J. & J. Harper, 1832, pp. 277-399. Digitized 2009 and available via Google Books.
Durang, Charles, History of the Philadelphia Stage, Between the Years 1749 and 1855. Volume 1: 1749 to 1818. Arranged and illustrated by Thompson Westcott, 1868. (Available online courtesy Penn Library, Colenda Digital Repository.)
Gibbs, Jenna, Performing in the Temple of Liberty: Slavery, Theatre and Culture in London and Philadelphia, 1760-1850, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014, pp. 17-51.
James, Reese Davis, Cradle of Culture: 1800-1810, the Philadelphia Stage, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1957, pp. 36-125.
James, Reese Davis, Old Drury of Philadelphia: A History of the Philadelphia Stage, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1932, pp. 1-20.
Mease, James, The Picture of Philadelphia: Giving an Account of its Origin, Increase and Improvements in Arts, Sciences, Commerce and Revenue, Philadelphia, 1811, pp. 328-332. Digitized 2008 and available via Google Books.
Quinn, Arthur Hobson. A History of American Drama, from the Beginning to the Civil War, Harper & Brothers, 1923, pp. 136-162.
Philadelphia: a 300-Year History, R. Weigley, editor, W.W. Norton & Company, 1982, pp. 208-257.
Watson, John F., Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Old Times, Vol. I, 1850, pp. 471-474. Digitized 2008, available on the Internet Archive.
Wood, William B., Personal Recollections of the Stage, Embracing Notices of Actors, Authors, and Auditors During a Period of Forty Years. Philadelphia, 1855, pp. 83-182. Digitized 2008 and available via Google Books.
