Record of payment from
Jonson
to
Philip Henslowe
(c . 1555-1616, entrepreneur and theatre
owner)
,
28 July 1597 , in Henslowe's diary. Thaler (1921)
suggests that the payment may have been from
Jonson
's share of the daily admissions
takings in lieu of debt to Henslowe. This interpretation of the entry is dependent
upon
Jonson
having been an actor-sharer in the Admiral's Men, or, as Greg argues in
his response to Thayer (1921),
Pembroke
's Men.
Eugene Giddens
[fol. 24]
Received of
Bengemenes Johnsones Sharre as Foloweth
1597
Received the 28 of Iuly 1597
iijs
ixd
Bibliography
Thaler (1921), 61-5
Greg (1921), 323
Henslowe's Diary, ed. Greg, 47
JAB, p. 1
H&S 11.307
Henslowe's Diary, 52
Henslowe
Papers (facsimile)
Henslowe was originally a dyer by trade, and was unusual among theatre managers of the day in never having been an actor. He built the Rose Theatre in Southwark in 1587, presumably as an extension of his earlier financial enterprises, which included starch making and money-lending. His career as a theatre manager appears to have taken off in 1592, when his stepdaughter married Edward Alleyn the actor. Henslowe's primary connection to his theatres was financial and administrative rather than artistic; he took a percentage of the ticket sales, and his account books for 1593-1603 (known as his 'Diary') also record payments for licences, costumes, and to playwrights. His 'Inventory' (of costumes, properties etc.) of 1598 also survives.