1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,599 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class as a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:09,799 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: show that raises the curtain on everyday history and lets 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: it take a bow. I'm Gay Blusier and today we're 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: looking at a banner day for theater fans and the 6 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: Keystone State, the time when lawmakers finally did away with 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: a prudish and xenophobic law that had hindered artistic expression 8 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: for nearly ten years. The day was March second, seventeen 9 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 1: eighty nine, the Pennsylvania legislature lifted a decade long ban 10 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 1: on live theater. Prior to the Revolutionary War, many people 11 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: in the northern colonies disapproved of theater and of other 12 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: popular forms of entertainment on religious grounds. That was especially 13 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,880 Speaker 1: true in colonial Pennsylvania, where the Quaker founders drew a 14 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 1: hard line against recreations that they associated with vice, idleness, 15 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:14,040 Speaker 1: and decadence. The list of taboo activities included cock fighting, 16 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: horse racing, juggling, non religious singing, and of course, live theater. 17 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: For the Quaker settlers, those amusements were vestiges of their 18 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: old life back in Europe, where they often went hand 19 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: in hand with card playing and hard drinking. To help 20 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,399 Speaker 1: keep those unsavory elements out of their new community, the 21 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: Common Council of Pennsylvania passed multiple laws prohibiting theater and 22 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:43,760 Speaker 1: other public amusements. However, each time they did so, the 23 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:47,480 Speaker 1: laws were invariably repealed by the British, to whom the 24 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: colonies still belonged. That back and forth didn't make much 25 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 1: difference in the early eighteenth century, as the citizens of 26 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania were mostly in agreement and there was little danger 27 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: of anyone actually building a theater or staging a play. 28 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: It was a different story though, by the mid seventeen hundreds. 29 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: At that point, Philadelphia was the largest most developed city 30 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,600 Speaker 1: in British North America, making it the perfect breeding ground 31 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: for show business. The first theatrical performance on record there 32 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:23,120 Speaker 1: took place in seventeen forty nine. Naturally, the Common Council 33 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: was against it. Members warned that theater could have quote 34 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: very mischievous effects on the public, and that it was 35 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: nothing but a sinful enterprise designed to draw quote great 36 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:40,119 Speaker 1: sums of money from weak and inconsiderate persons. As long 37 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 1: as the British were in charge, the Council couldn't do 38 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: much beyond voicing its displeasure, but that was a fairly 39 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: effective tool in its own right. In seventeen fifty four, 40 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: for instance, the Lewis Hallam Theater Company arrived from London 41 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:59,080 Speaker 1: and requested permission to show plays in Philadelphia. Governor Hamilton 42 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: granted a license on the condition that he put on 43 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: a clean show, But for local residents and members of 44 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: the council that wasn't good enough. They wrote letters to 45 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,520 Speaker 1: the governor and to the press condemning the lewed lifestyles 46 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: of actors and warning of the potentially harmful influence that 47 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: such foreigners might have on their communities. The opposition didn't 48 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: squash Hallam's plans completely, but it did force him to 49 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: hold his performances outside the city's borders. Five years later, 50 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: a similar situation played out when David Douglas's London Theater 51 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: Company received permission to build a theater on the outskirts 52 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: of Pennsylvania. Five years later, a similar situation played out 53 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: when David Douglas's London Theater Company received permission to build 54 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: a permanent theater on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Once again, 55 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: religious groups complained, prompting the colony's legislature to institute a 56 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: new ban on theater. The governor held off on signing 57 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: that law until January of seventeen sixty, as he had 58 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: already agreed to let the company perform. In the end, 59 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: though the delay hardly mattered, as the British Crown once 60 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: again declared the law null and void. Pennsylvania's war on 61 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: theater hit a brick wall for the next decade and 62 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: a half, but after the United States declared independence from Britain, 63 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:25,480 Speaker 1: the fighting quickly resumed. On March thirtieth, seventeen seventy nine, 64 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,599 Speaker 1: the Pennsylvania Assembly passed the first law against theater that 65 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: couldn't be overturned by England. Many colonists welcomed the band enthusiastically, 66 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:39,040 Speaker 1: viewing it as a concrete sign of their independence, not 67 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:42,359 Speaker 1: only from British role, but from the frivolous aspects of 68 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: British culture. In the decade that followed, the ban on 69 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: theater was widely enforced. For the first time. Actors and 70 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: managers who had fled Philadelphia during the war now found 71 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: themselves more unwelcome than ever. Upon their return. Local authorities 72 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: refused to let them stage even a one night performance, 73 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 1: but As the seventeen eighties marched on, attitudes in Pennsylvania 74 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:11,839 Speaker 1: gradually began to shift. There were numerous petitions to repeal 75 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: the band, as well as ones calling for the establishment 76 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: of a permanent theater within Philadelphia. Those measures were eventually defeated, 77 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: but they showed that people were beginning to question the 78 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:27,600 Speaker 1: merit of a law that effectively banned entertainment. After all, 79 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,760 Speaker 1: the desire to be entertained doesn't belong to a single 80 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 1: country or culture. It's innately human and not something you 81 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:39,280 Speaker 1: can stamp out or repress, at least not forever. That 82 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: reality is what eventually led the Pennsylvania legislature to finally 83 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: repeal the law of its own accord, which it did 84 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: on March second, seventeen eighty nine. By that point, the 85 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:53,359 Speaker 1: tide had truly shifted, and those who opposed the Theater 86 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: Band now outnumbered the ones calling for its enforcement. That 87 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 1: wellspring of support turned Philadelphia into the theatrical capital of 88 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: the US for the next several decades, until New York 89 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: City took over the role. During that time, most Pennsylvanians 90 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 1: were still worried that the vices of the old world 91 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:16,720 Speaker 1: might sully the promises of the new one. They often 92 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: didn't like the kind of material performed or even the 93 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: people performing it, but they no longer tried to suppress 94 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: the entire art form. In that way, the citizens seem 95 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:29,919 Speaker 1: to have learned a valuable lesson about what it means 96 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:33,039 Speaker 1: to live in a democracy, that the laws have to 97 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: suit the needs of the people, including the need to 98 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: be entertained. Or in other words, you don't have to 99 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: watch it, and you don't have to like it, but 100 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 1: in a free country, the show must go on. I'm 101 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: Gay Blusier, and hopefully you now know a little more 102 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. If you have 103 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 1: a second and you're so inclined, consider keeping up with 104 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Can find us at 105 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:05,159 Speaker 1: pdi HC Show. You can also rate and review the 106 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: show on Apple Podcasts, or you can send your feedback 107 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:12,119 Speaker 1: directly to me by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia 108 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler May's for producing the show, 109 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back 110 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: here again tomorrow for another day in History Class.