Anne Merry and the beginning of stardom in the United States

Abstract

MRS. ANNE MERRY 1 so captivated a New York critic that he publicly protested in Commercial Advertiser that if she did not extend her acting engagement the charm will be dissolved and theatre prove no longer attractive. The magnetic actress usually performed only with Chestnut Street company of Philadelphia, but she had been persuaded to do a guest engagement at Park Theatre during summer of 1801. The magic sweetness of her voice charmed crowded houses, much to gratification of William Dunlap, manager, who had engaged Mrs. Merry as a featured attraction to revitalize his flagging box office. Inviting a guest artist to perform with local company was not a common theatre practice in United States at beginning of nineteenth century. But after successful appearances of Mrs. Merry it gradually became a custom better known as star system. Although she is not first performer to make guest appearances in United States, Mrs. Merry is a significant figure in history of stardom because her five guest engagements mark and illustrate beginnings of star system. The importation of a guest performer for a summer engagement was not an original idea with Dunlap but a theatre custom inherited from English. Eighteenth-century London actors often