Notes |
If the gift of eloquence "runs in your family" mayhap it should be attributed to that Philadelphia grandfather who, in his
aspiring youth, was a shining light in some one of the once-numerous dramatic coteries of the old town. This building, depicted
in its day of humiliation as a storehouse of trade, was known to society as the Amateur Drawing Room. Its site is now occupied
by the branch post office upon Seventeenth street, above Chestnut street. It was originally an Episcopal church structure.
The Wheatley Dramatic Association, which had long held forth at Fifth and Gaskill streets, removed here in 1865, a period
when the stress of war had put an end to other organizations of the kind, and this cosey little theatre was occupied by the
"Wheatleys" until they, too, disappeared from the stage in 1881. The "Drawing Room" was much in favor, for a long time, for
general entertainment.
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