Pantomime traditions, especially "Peter Pan", are performed quite often, and a few American theatre companies produce traditional British-style pantomime as well as American adaptations of the form. According to Professor Russell A. Peck of the University of Rochester, the earliest pantomime productions in the US were "Cinderella" pantomime productions in New York in March 1808, New York again in August 1808, Philadelphia in 1824, and Baltimore in 1839. A production at Olympic Theatre in New York of "Humpty Dumpty" ran for at least 943 performances between 1868 and 1873, (one source says 1,200 performances), becoming the longest-running pantomime in history. In
Pantomime to the marriage of the young lovers, she would transport the whole company to a grand final scene. Despite its visible decline by 1836, the pantomime still fought to stay alive. After 1843, when theatres other than the original patent theatres were permitted to perform spoken dialogue, the importance of the silent harlequinade began to decrease, while the importance of the fairy-tale part of the pantomime increased. Two writers who helped to elevate the importance and popularity of the fairy-tale portion of the pantomime were James Planché and Henry James Byron. They emphasized puns and humorous word play, a tradition