The first actor on Broadway to say ‘Goddamn’ had to turn his back to the audience!
Tully Marshall was born on April 10, 1864, and first began acting in 1887. It would be in 1902 that Tully Marshall made an extremely remarkable performance in Clyde Fitch’s Broadway play ‘The City’. It was in this play, that Tully Marshall became the first every actor to say “Goddamn” on Broadway. When Marshall did this, he had to turn his back to the audience for a very simple reason.
He was the first ever actor to say “Goddamn” while performing on Broadway, so people were not accustomed to hearing such foul language. He turned his back to the audience because facing them while he said it would have been far too shocking! Learn more about this actor in the source