Origin of "roll out the red carpet"

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

 First, thanks for the replies on baseball "in the clutch." --- Now to "roll out the red carpet" and what seems like a plausible origin of it that I noticed today:

   _King of Comedy_ by Mack Sennett (Doubleday, 1954), p. 27:
'[Actress] Lily Langtry demanded that a carpet be laid down from her dressing room to the stage in order to protect her flowing petticoats.  The carpet was red and the legend of "Roll out the red carpet" started right there."

Gerald Cohen