From the 1880s until well into the 1950s, the offices of theatrical producers abounded in the City of New York. The theatre was a thriving coast-to-coast business, but its unofficial headquarters was in Gotham--New York City, home of Broadway.
One would usually find a number of actors sitting on benches or chairs just inside the entrance to any one of these producers' offices. The producer would often have several shows and plays in New York and on tour, sometimes with two or more companies of each. If an actor or performer left any of these companies for whatever reason, the producer's employees would have to quickly find a replacement. Thus, if any of the actors sitting in the front--especially anyone whose work was known to someone in the office--were at all right for the part in question, they would likely find themselves supplied with a script and headed to the company in question. Things theatrical in those days happened fast.
The producer might have half a dozen employees. The producer himself would be occupied, for the most part, in overseeing new productions. Casting and finding necessary replacements for the companies of older shows still playing (sometimes in New York but usually on tour) was therefore left to the employees. As time went by, the need for one person to be in charge of casting for these various companies became increasingly obvious. And so was born the casting director, a competent employee the producer would put in this position, often with a raise in salary.
As the number of companies and productions grew less and less, many producers folded their offices. The casting director would then move out and establish his or her own office--doing casting on a free lance basis. This was the origin of the modern casting director.
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