Background
Lewis Hallam was born in England in 1740; he was the son of Lewis Hallam, an actor.
Lewis Hallam was born in England in 1740; he was the son of Lewis Hallam, an actor.
Lewis was twelve years old at the time he left a grammar school at Cambridge to go wih his parents to America.
When bankruptcy overtook William Hallam, manager of an obscure theatre in Leman Street, London, he sent a company of players to the New World in an effort to retrieve his fortunes. As director of the expedition he appointed his brother Lewis, formerly his first low comedian. The leading lady was Lewis’s wife, likewise prominent at the London house. They were accompanied by their son Lewis. The visitors made their first American appearance at Williamsburg, Virginia, September 15, 1752, in The Merchant of Venice. Several of the colonies had already seen sporadic acting, but with this date begins the continuous history of the American theatre. On this occasion Lewis, Jr. , initiated his career by rushing from the stage in tearful panic when the time came for him to speak his one line. After two years of playing in various cities, including New York and Philadelphia, the company transferred its efforts to Jamaica for the next four years. During this time the elder Lewis Hallam died, and his widow married David Douglass.
When the reorganized company returned to America in 1758, Douglass was the manager and a principal actor. Lewis, the younger, was now leading man, assuming such roles as Hamlet, which he was probably the first to present in this country, and Romeo, which he played at least once to his mother’s Juliet. When the imminence of the Revolution forced the American Company, as Douglass’s players were now called, to suspend activities early in 1775, they set up again in Jamaica. Hallam had already gone to England, where, it appears, he gave a performance of Hamlet at Covent Garden in 1775. Later he rejoined the troupe in the West Indies. When the war came to an end, the company, much changed, returned to America. Douglass had retired in Jamaica, and Mrs. Douglass had died in or about 1774; consequently Hallam controlled the property.
After a very lean year, he entered into a stormy partnership in 1785 with a rival actor and manager, John Henry. For a time there was much moral and patriotic opposition to these so-called British players, but by degrees they gained a substantial following. Beginning in the early nineties they concentrated largely on New York, with occasional visits to Boston and other northern points, the Philadelphia field being now controlled by Wignell and Reinagle. In 1794 Henry sold his interest in the property to John Hodgkinson, a recent recruit, who, with Hallam’s connivance, had done everything in his power to drive Henry from the company. Hallam soon discovered the new partner to be a greater source of discord than the old one. Hodgkinson was greedy for authority and parts for himself and his wife. The Hallams were forced to yield, but bitter enmity was the inevitable consequence. In 1796 William Dunlap was induced to become a third partner in the concern. He endeavored to act as mediator, but peace did not result; indeed the quarrel, aggravated by Mrs. Hallam’s persistent intoxication, went so far as to form, on one occasion, an unannounced but highly diverting part of the evening’s entertainment.
In 1797 Hallam withdrew from the management but continued his connection as a salaried actor. During his final years his favorite roles were gradually usurped by younger men, until in 1806 Cooper, the new director, refused to reengage the enfeebled actor. After a few performances at Philadelphia, he died in that city.
Lewis Hallam performed nearly every important character in the dramas of his time. He played the earliest known American Hamlet and Arsaces, the hero of the first professionally produced American play, The Prince of Parthia in 1752. The theater building at Prince George's Community College in Maryland is named in his honor, the Hallam Theater.
As a theatrical manager Hallam left much to be desired. Parsimonious, crafty, and quarrelsome, he was often the cause of the troubles in which he found himself. As an actor he was much admired for many years. Of medium height, erect, and slender, Lewis Hallam was distinguished by grace and vigor. He was competent in tragedy, comedy, and pantomime, though in tragedy he was too much given to passionless declamation.
About 1793, his first wife having died after a long separation, Hallam married Miss Tuke, a young and beautiful actress whom he had introduced to the stage. About the same time his son Mirvan made his debut, but proved to be an inferior actor.
