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The American Career of George Alexander Steven's Lecture of Heads

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2010

Gerald Kahan
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Extract

At 12:30 P.M. on Monday, 30 April 1764, the curtain parted on the stage of the Little Theatre in the Hay-Market in London and revealed George Alexander Stevens about to begin his celebrated Lecture on Heads. For the remainder of the century this presentation became a staple in the English speaking theatre. It amassed a fortune for its creator, was copied and adapted by dozens of performers, and went through 30 published editions, authentic and spurious.

Type
Research Article
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , November 1977 , pp. 60 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1977

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References

NOTES

1 Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, 26 April 1764.Google Scholar

2 The earlier printed editions of the Lecture are undoubtedly pirated and it would be impossible to reconstruct the original text. The quotations given here are from the Woodward edition (p.3) "with Additions, As delivered by Mr. Charles Lee Lewes." It was published in London in 1808 but contains a preface by Lewes dated 22 July 1785. In it Lewes states "that the original Lecture was never before published until this opportunity which I have taken of thus submitting it to the Public for their approbation and patronage. . . ." Even this edition contains variations and interpolations by Lewes to accommodate his own style of presentation and the changing times. Thus, while not historically accurate, the quotations do provide a reasonably clear sense of what transpired on opening night.

3 Ibid.., p. 14.

4 Stone, George Winchester (ed.) The London Stage, (Carbondale, 1962), Part IV, Vol. 2, 1155.Google Scholar

5 Rankin suggests that this was a pirated edition for "it was not published in London until the following year." Rankin, Hugh F., The Theatre in Colonial America, (Chapel Hill, 1960), p. 107Google Scholar . An edition was published the previous year, 1765, in Dublin, and was undoubtedly spurious. As a matter of fact, a great deal is made in subsequent years of the fact that all editions published before 1785, and there were at least 8 of them, were pirated and/or unauthorized.

6 Thus, Douglass in the earliest stages of the history of the Lecture has become critic, censor, and adaptor. He should not be faulted, however, since Charleston playgoers were considerably different from their London counterparts and Douglass had been in the business long enough to know how to turn materials to his advantage. He was cautious enough not to embark on this venture without some kind of box office guarantee.

7 Odell, George C. D., Annals of the New York Stage (New York, 1927), I, 103-4.Google Scholar

8 Odell, p. 145.

9 Boston Post-Boy Advertiser, 17 July 1769.

10 Pollock, Thomas Clark, The Philadelphia Theatre in the Eighteenth Century (Philadelphia, 1933), p. 26CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Rankin, p. 139.

12 Clark, John L., "Educational Dramatics in Nineteenth Century Colleges," The History of Speech Education in America, ed. Wallace, Karl L. (New York, 1954), p. 527.Google Scholar

13 Pollock, p. 130.

14 Wright, Richardson, Revels in Jamaica (New York, 1937), pp. 161-2, 204-5.Google Scholar

15 Odell, p. 220.

16 Hazard, Samuel (ed.), Pennsylvania Archives (Philadelphia, 1852), First Series, IX, 573.Google Scholar

17 Dye, William S., Jr., "Pennsylvania versus the Theatre," The Pennsylvania Magazine, Vol. LV, No. 4 (1931) 361.Google Scholar

18 Pollock, p. 42.

19 Patrick, J. Max, Savannah's Pioneer Theatre (Athens, Georgia, 1953), pp. 10–12Google Scholar.

20 Columbian Herald and Independent Courier, 6 July 1786.

21 Charleston Morning Post and Daily Advertiser, 12 July 1786.

22 Columbian Herald and Independent Courier, 13 July 1786.

23 Willis, Eola, The Charleston Stage in the XVII Century (Columbia, South Carolina, 1924), p. 143Google Scholar.

24 Odell, p. 270.

25 Federal Gazelle and Philadelphia Evening Post, 30 January 1789.

26 Ibid.., 2 February 1789.

27 Mary Julia Curtis, "The Early Charleston Stage: 1703-1798," (Unpublished dissertation, Indiana University, 1968), pp. 307-8.

28 Odell, II, 344.

29 Ibid.., p. 514.

30 Ibid.., pp. 573-4.