Historic Photo Gallery: 1850 to 1899
1855
Renowned French actress Rachel made her only appearance at Walnut Street Theatre in November
1855 in
Les Horaces. The actress, known as the greatest tragedienne in France,
was often compared to Edmund Kean. Her tour was scheduled to play a week at the Walnut,
but when freezing weather set in on the first night and Rachel's brother, the tour's manager,
refused to pay the costs of heating the backstage area, Rachel was taken ill. She was unable
to continue with the production, and houses were thin and ticket prices were lowered
as the show went on without its star. Soon after, the pneumonia she contracted at the
Walnut developed into tuberculosis and the great actress was dead within three years.
(Image courtesy of the Theatre Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia.)
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