Season Three: The Tryout Town

Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia

We begin our third season of adventures! Here we learn about the historical originas of the "Tryout Town" in American showbiz of the early 20th Century.
We discuss the movie 42nd Street and discuss many touring shows that came through Philly on their way to and from Broadway - including George M. Cohan's Little Johnny Jones, which introduced the song "Give My Regards To Broadway" at the Walnut Street Theatre in 1904.
But we also learn that the real place that Philadelphians needed to travel, in order to catch tryout shows, was not the theaters of Broad Street but along the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey while they took their summer vacations!
A blog post about the excursions and theaters in Atlantic City can be found on our website: https://www.aithpodcast.com/blog/but-i-dont-want-to-go-to-philadelphia-theaters-of-atlantic-city/
For a free online viewing of the film 42nd Street - including the scene we reference in the podcast which comes about 40 minutes in, go to this version on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/42ndstreet1933_201908/42nd_Street_1080.mp4
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© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.

℗ All voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz.

℗ All original music and compositions within the episodes copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.