Historic Photo Gallery: Beginnings to 1849
1820
Edmund Kean received a tremendous reception from Philadelphia audiences in
Othello, The Merchant of Venice and
Richard III (shown).
His appearance introduced the custom of bringing out the actor for a curtain call,
a practice that the theatre's manager found ludicrous. Today, the curtain call is
standard practice, but it was first introduced to American audiences at Walnut
Street Theatre. (Image courtesy of the Theatre Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia.)
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