Bartering with Robert Porterfield

Dublin Core

Title

Bartering with Robert Porterfield

Subject

Abingdon, Va.: Attractions, History, Historic District, Arts, Culture, Tourism
The Barter Theatre: Robert Porterfield, Repertory Actors
The Great Depression

Description

Saltville native Robert Porterfield was an out-of-work actor in New York City when he decided to return to southwestern "Virginia in 1932. He brought with him twenty-two other unemployed actors, and together they founded Barter Theatre, allowing patrons to pay the forty-cent admission price with produce, livestock, or dairy products. Porterfield and his partners accepted almost anything as payment, including toothpaste, snakes, and underwear. A pig was worth ten tickets, while two quarts of milk bought one ticket."

Creator

The Barter Theatre

Source

Heinemann, Ronald. "Great Depression in Virginia" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 02 Nov. 2022

Publisher

Virginia Humanities

Date

Early to mid 1930s

Contributor

William Stein

Rights

Barter Theatre

Relation

Anne Carter Lee, "Barter Theatre", [Abingdon, Virginia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-02-WS10.

Format

Still photo

Type

Still Image
Website

Identifier

https://bartertheatre.com/