Talk:Chestnut Street Opera House

Article expansion
4meter4, thank you for expanding the article, do you want to be credited as cowriter on the nomination? TSventon (talk) 18:11, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

@ No problem. I'm enjoying working on it. I'd be happy to be named as a co-writer. Thanks.4meter4 (talk) 18:23, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
 * the University of Pennsylvania history says that Bennett bought the property on which the theatre stood so I have edited the text to say that, hope that makes sense. Presumably the PAFA had kept the land until then. TSventon (talk) 21:16, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I'm not entirely certain. Tracking theatre purchases (and real estate in general) is always tricky because they can mean the land, the building, or the lease; or a combo of some or all of those components. Unfortunately the sources aren't specific enough to know for certain. It would require finding the legal documents of sale to know for sure.4meter4 (talk) 21:27, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
 * as I am sure you know, Wikipedia prefers secondary sources. The history says "In 1881 he [Bennett] bought the property on which Fox's Theatre stood" and Andrew Davies says "Mrs. Goodwin sold them [Nixon and Zimmerman] the lease on the Chestnut Street Opera House", which support what the article now says. The Philadelphia Inquirer of Sat, Sep 18, 1880 describes on Page 2 a "Reception for the Inspection of the Chestnut Street Opera House" on the previous day, where Goodwin and Bennett (and Zimmerman) were involved, so I agree that we don't have the whole story. TSventon (talk) 22:08, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I'm satisfied with the way you have presented the information. I think it's the best we can do with the sources we currently have access to.4meter4 (talk) 22:19, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I expanded the lead. If you could give it a look over I would appreciate it. I tried my best to find some performances to highlight. Obviously a lot happened at the theatre during its nearly 70 year history. Unfortunately I was not able to locate a source that gave a performance overview, so I had to do my best to select events of interest based on sources that talked about individual shows or people that worked at the theatre.4meter4 (talk) 22:49, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I will have a look tomorrow. Do you have access to Glazer's Philadelphia Theatres, A-Z? On page 82 he mentions Ben Hur in 1900 and "Sarah Bernhardt, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, [Helena] Modjeska, [Richard] Mansfield, Eva Le Gallienne and the Lunts". Also vaudeville from 1904, drama and musicals back by 1918 with "interims for hard ticket reserved seat movies". TSventon (talk) 23:23, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
 * according to wikt:unexceptionable the meaning is Beyond reproach; unimpeachable, so I disagree with your edit of 00:02, 22 April 2024. TSventon (talk) 00:12, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I agree. I initially mistakenly interpreted it as a synonym for not exceptional. I don’t have access to the book by Glazer. 4meter4 (talk) 00:27, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Glazer is mostly about the buildings, I have summarised what he says about performances at the theatre above. Fortunately fluent 19th-century English is not required for editing Wikipedia. TSventon (talk) 01:40, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I have tweaked the mention of film in the lead and the body of the article. I also think Stephen Rush Jr was too obscure for the lead. According to philadelphiabuildings.org he was an architect, while Sr was a builder. TSventon (talk) 21:13, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Looks good.4meter4 (talk) 21:54, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I am not entirely convinced by "portions of the PAFA building were altered and incorporated into the structure of Fox's New American Theatre". The article text looks like WP:SYNTHESIS to me as reference 3 says "The building was demolished in 1870" and reference 4 "The building was formerly the Academy of Fine Arts, being changed into a theatre after extensive alterations and preparations by Robert Fox, in 1870". Also I think the detail about the PAFA building would be more relevant to the PAFA article. TSventon (talk) 13:31, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Do what you think best with the text. You have my support.4meter4 (talk)