The Boston Museum

Originally opened as the Boston Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts by Moses Kimball (1809-91) in 1841, the Boston Museum housed a large auditorium on the top floor which was intended to serve as a sort of lecture hall. Hardly a model of extravagant luxury, the original auditorium was reached by two steep flights of "breakneck" stairs; at the door was a huge stump of a tree with the top hollowed out to hold programs for the patrons who could stay for the platform entertainments if they wished after they had looked at the museum's other offerings. Seating in the auditorium was on crudely built benches. Programming originally consisted of a forerunner of what was to become "vaudeville" in the 20th Century: olio acts consisting of singers and musicians of various peculiar instruments, trained canaries and other "curiosities." The first theatrical performance was held there in 1843, and proved so successful that a new building specifically to house plays had to be erected on Tremont Street between School and Court Streets.

The first stage manager was William H. Smith, "an able, scholarly, and sterling actor."