Found 128 collections related to Theater -- New York (State) -- New York

Tamara Daykarhanova (1889-1980) was a Russian-born actress and acting teacher. She debuted with the Moscow Art Theatre (Moskovskiĭ khudozhestvennyĭ akademicheskiĭ teatr) at age 18 and, following the Russian Revolution, went on to tour with the Chauve-Souris company (Teatr "Letuchai︠a︡ mysh´") throughout Europe. She settled in New York in 1923 where she founded the Tamara Daykarhanova School of the Stage. The Tamara Daykarhanova photographs date from 1897 to 1975 and document personal and professional activities throughout her life. Photographs include family portraits and informal family photographs in Russia, France, and the United States; headshots and production stills from her early career with Moscow Art Theatre and the Chauve-Souris company; and portraits of Russian and American actors contemporary to Daykarhanova. Some photographs are captioned in Russian with English translations. Also included is a calendar listing birthdays, anniversaries, and deaths of Daykarhanova's family members and friends. Some materials in this collection were previously cataloged under the classmarks MWEZ + n.c. 25,797 and 8-MWEZ + n.c. 25,034. less

Leona Stephens (born circa 1885) and her husband Len D. Hollister (1884-1936) were writers and actors who worked on the Broadway stage and in vaudeville in the early 20th century. Following Hollister's death, Stephens continued performing and publishing songs through the 1940s. The Leona Stephens papers date from 1878 to 1952 and contain photographs, programs, song lyrics, and sheet music that document the entirety of Stephens's career, as well as her vaudeville act with Hollister. In addition, the collection includes an 1878 program from Edwin Booth's performance in Richelieu at the Pittsburgh Opera House. less

S. Jay Kaufman (1886-1957) was a writer, director, and producer for the American stage in the first half of the 20th century. The S. Jay Kaufman photographs and ephemera date from 1917 to 1947 and contain autographed headshots of theatre and music performers as well as photographs of Italy and the Vatican. Many of the photographs in the collection depict European actress María Korda. The collection also holds souvenir tickets for the opening night of the Roxy Theatre in New York City; invitations to New York City theatrical premiers; and two letters with commendations of Kaufman's European relief work during World War I. less

Kenneth Fox (born Kenneth Duvall Tooill, 1896-1979) was an actor who performed on Broadway and in stock theatre companies during the 1920s. The Kenneth Fox papers document Fox's career and his longtime interest in theatre with contracts, programs, and photographs. Contracts originate from Fox's work on Broadway and in regional stock theatre companies from 1922 to 1926. Contracts for single productions list Fox's role and the show title. Programs, dated 1951 to 1962, are from popular Broadway musicals and plays of the 1950s and 1960s, including The Threepenny Opera. Photographs in the collection consist of autographed portraits of stage actors, some of whom were Fox's contemporaries. Photographs date from 1878 to the late 1920s and include portraits of Zelda Sears, Edith Kingdon, Fiske O'Hara, and Lotte Crabtree. less

Robert Edmond Jones (1887-1954), stage scenic designer, director, author, and motion picture production designer, collaborated on several stage productions with puppet designer and puppeteer Remo Bufano (d. 1948). After collaborating on a production of OEDIPUS REX in the early 1930s, the two men corresponded about a number of other potential projects over the ensuing years, most of which, it would appear, did not come to fruition. In the theater, Mr. Jones was closely identified with the work of Eugene O'Neill, and also designed and/or directed THE GREEN PASTURES (1930) and OTHELLO (1934). Both men found work in motion pictures, Mr. Jones designing such early Technicolor films as BECKY SHARP (1935) and THE DANCING PIRATE (1936), while Mr. Bufano contributed puppetry to the Fred Astaire musical YOLANDA AND THE THIEF (1945). Mr. Bufano had plans to bring puppetry to television in its early days, but died in 1948. The collection consists of four folders of correspondence between Robert Edmond Jones and Remo Bufano, concerning projects both realized and unrealized. Three of Mr. Bufano's early letters are in French. less

Philip Van Doren Stern (1900-1984) was a historian, social critic, editor and author, best known for the short story which became the source for the 1946 film IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Elmer Harris (1878-1966) was a playwright and screenwriter, best known for his play and film JOHNNY BELINDA. The correspondence between Elmer Harris and Philip Van Doren Stern dates from April 1939 to January 1940, and concerns Harris' stage adaptation of Stern's book THE MAN WHO KILLED LINCOLN, concerning the last days of John Wilkes Booth. Also taking part in the correspondence was producer Joseph M. Gaites (1873-1940), who initiated the theatrical project and selected Harris as adaptor, and who occasionally wrote to Stern with updates on the production, and on the Hollywood producers said to be interested in motion picture rights to the play. The Stern-Harris letters discuss Booth and the historical facts concerning Abraham Lincoln's assassination, the portrayal of Booth in Stern's book and in the play, and matters concerning the production such as scenery and possible casting choices. Harris' outline which details the play scene by scene is included with an early letter. The play eventually premiered at the Longacre Theatre on January 17, 1940, but closed three days later after only five performances. No film version was made. less

The Neighborhood Playhouse was founded in 1915, by two sisters Alice and Irene Lewisohn, as part of the Henry Street Settlement House. This neighborhood theatre closed in 1927. In 1928, Irene Lewisohn in collaboration with Rita Wallach Morgenthau founded the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. Contains partial handwritten script with notes, sheet music, property plot, costume lists, rehearsal schedules, ground plans (in pieces), and a handwritten report on the 1933-1934 year at the Neighborhood Playhouse where BODAS DE SANGRE was considered a play ready for production. Also includes a poster for a memorial program for Federico Garcia Lorca at Washington Irving High School in New York City on Oct. 8, 1937. less

The New York Enthusiasts was an organization active during the Post-World War Two period, made up of persons who, in the words of the club's newsletter, "like New York, want to learn more about New York, and want to do this in the company of people with similar desires and interests." At its peak the club had several hundred members, and its newsletter ZIG ZAG was mailed out to some 2,000 subscribers. ZIG ZAG was published from July 1946 until May 1963. During that time, the Enthusiasts attended many stage productions in the city and the greater New York area, especially smaller-scale Off-Broadway plays. The New York Enthusiasts papers consist mostly of correspondence addressed to Hans Hacker, editor of the club's newsletter, ZIG ZAG, in which representatives of New York's smaller theater companies attempt to arouse interest in their productions. Several of the notes are concerned with the logistics of handling large theater parties of Enthusiasts, while others are focused on extolling the virtues of an upcoming show or season. Correspondence from the New Dramatists Committee gives a detailed description of their workshop process, and invites club members to attend readings. A 1952 note from the Oval Players announces that its next production will be directed by Joseph Papirofsky (i.e Joseph Papp). A 1949 note from a New Jersey Burlesque club invites Enthusiasts to enjoy material no longer legal in New York. Also included in the collection is the September/October 1952 issue of ZIG ZAG. less

Nathaniel Buchwald (1890-1956), drama critic, teacher, and authority on Yiddish theater, was also a co-founder of the Artef Players Collective, a Yiddish dramatic group, active in New York from the late 1920's to 1940. Born in the Ukraine, Nathaniel Buchwald came to the U.S. as a young man and studied at the University of Georgia, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and New York University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. He became a journalist, contributing pieces in Yiddish to the Jewish Daily Forward of New York, then co-founded the Morning Freiheit in 1922. Mr. Buchwald became the Morning Freiheit's drama critic, and also wrote a theater column for the monthly Jewish Life. In 1925, he and several like-minded colleagues formed the Artef Players Collective, a drama troupe dedicated to performing "plays of social import," supported by subscribers and by the players themselves. The collective staged its first production in 1927, and prospered during the Depression, but eventually experienced financial and other difficulties resulting in a two-year hiatus, 1937-9. The group resumed work with Louis Miller's CLINTON STREET in autumn 1939, but despite positive notices and popular support they disbanded in February 1940. In 1943 Nathaniel Buchwald published a book on Yiddish theater in America. He died in 1956. The Nathaniel Buchwald papers and lecture notes span 1927-1940 and consist of lecture notes, a five page ballet synopsis, a program and a handbill relating to the life and career of Nathaniel Buchwald, a critic and co-founder of the Artef Players Collective. The bulk of the collection consists of lecture notes, some encased in mylar, which date from 1927 to 1937 and pertain to the study of drama. There is also an unsigned, undated synopsis for a "proposed Purim ballet," suggested by the folk festival Purim, based on narrative material by Sholem Aleichem. Also included is a program and a handbill for a revue written by Nathaniel Buchwald, LEBEDIK UN FREILACH. less

A theatrical organization founded by a group of writers and artists whose common aim was the production of new and experimental plays, the Provincetown Players began performing in 1915 in members' homes in Provincetown, Mass. In 1916 the Players took up residence in Greenwich Village, NY and launched the career of Eugene O'Neill with a production of his Bound East for Cardiff. Called the first minute book; contains constitution, resolutions, meeting minutes, membership lists, correspondence and financial reports, both typed and handwritten. less

Shirley De Me was an actress whose appearances included the role of "Mary" in the silent film BONDWOMEN (1915). Jeanne De Me was an actress whose stage appearances included LOOSE ANKLES (1926) and DIVIDED HONORS (1929). The Shirley De Me ephemera consists of family letters, congratulatory telegrams to Jeanne De Me wishing her success in the show LOOSE ANKLES (1926), and bank books covering her savings account between 1926 and 1933. less

Lester Vail was a stage and screen actor, most active during the 1920s and 1930s. Vail's stage appearances included CAUGHT (1925), George S. Kaufman & Herman J. Mankiewicz' THE GOOD FELLOWS (1926), Maxwell Anderson's GYPSY (1929), and Sophie Treadwell's HOPE FOR A HARVEST (1941), with Fredric March and Florence Eldridge. Vail's film credits include DANCE, FOOLS, DANCE with Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, I TAKE THIS WOMAN with Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard (both 1931), and BIG TOWN (1932). Lester Vail was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1899, and died in Los Angeles, California, on November 28, 1959, at the age of 60. Consists of 19 congratulatory telegrams to Lester Vail from friends and relatives, dated between 1925 and 1928, on the opening nights of various shows in which he was appearing. There is also one calling card inscribed with complimentary remarks. less

Townsend Walsh (1872-1941) worked as a press agent for various theatrical companies beginning in 1898. He was also a drama critic, playwright, collector, theater and circus historian, and sometime actor. Scrapbook, predominately clippings, also programs and ephemera, documents a musical production of THE WIZARD OF OZ presented by Frederick R. Hamlin, staged by Julian Mitchell, with book and lyrics by L. Frank Baum and music by Paul Tietjens. The extravaganza, starring Anna Laughlin, Fred A. Stone and David C. Montgomery, played at the Grand Opera House in Chicago in the summer of 1902, then toured various cities including Memphis, St. Louis and Toronto, before serving as the opening production of the new Majestic Theatre in New York City in January 1903. less

Adeline Leitzbach, also known as Adelaine Leitzbach, was a playwright and screenwriter who often worked in collaboration, and was active from the 1910s through the 1940s. Plays written by Adeline Leitzbach include THE WOMAN HE LOVED, FADED ORANGE BLOSSOMS, A WOMAN OF MYSTERY, SUCCESS (1918), which starred Helen Holmes, and was co-authored with Theodore J. Liebler, Jr., and BEYOND THE GATES OF PARADISE, co-authored with Henry Belmar. Adeline Leitzbach wrote the screenplays for a number of silent films, including DIAMONDS AND PEARLS (1917), STOLEN HONOR, THE HEART OF ROMANCE, HER PRICE, and THE LIAR (all 1918), and also provided the original story for several later films, including COUNTERFEIT LOVE (1923), MANHATTAN KNIGHTS (1928), THE PEACOCK FAN (1929), and NOTORIOUS BUT NICE (1933). In the later years of her career Adeline Leitzbach attempted to adapt her writing skills to the requirements of radio drama. The Adeline Leitzbach papers span 1924 to 1949, and consist primarily of letters to Ms. Leitzbach from radio station WOR, New York, N.Y., concerning her script submissions and program ideas. There is one handwritten letter written by Adeline Leitzbach in German, dated 1924, and a press packet from the Chesterfield Motion Picture Corporation touting new releases of 1929, including THE PEACOCK FAN, based on a story by Adeline Leitzbach. less

Anderson Lawler was a stage and screen actor, later a producer. Born in Russellville, Alabama, in 1902 (some sources say 1904), Anderson Lawler acted in several stage plays in the 1920s, went to Hollywood in 1929, and acted in a number of films over the next ten years, including BE YOURSELF! (1930) with Fanny Brice, George Cukor's GIRLS ABOUT TOWN (1931), Frank Capra's AMERICAN MADNESS (1932), RIPTIDE (1934) with Norma Shearer, and EVER SINCE EVE (1937) with Marion Davies. Lawler also worked as a talent scout, and after 1939 he gave up acting and served as an associate producer for 20th Century Fox, for whom he produced Joseph L. Mankiewicz' SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT (1946). Returning to New York in the 1950s he produced several plays, including OH MEN, OH WOMEN. Anderson Lawler died of a heart attack on April 6, 1959. The Anderson Lawler correspondence spans 1927-1959, and consists mostly of telegrams, most of them from Lawler to his mother sending best wishes on various holidays and other occasions, and sometimes giving updates on his career. In addition to the notes from Lawler, there are brief messages and invitations from such Hollywood notables as George Cukor, Janet Gaynor, and Tallulah Bankhead. A late 1920s program from the Mayfair Club of Los Angeles displays two pencilled caricatures of actress Lupe Velez. less

Anne Nichols was a playwright best known for the highly successful comedy ABIE'S IRISH ROSE, which opened on Broadway in 1922, ran for five years, and inspired two movies and a radio series. Born in Dales Mill, Georgia, in 1891, Anne Nichols became an actress as a teenager and appeared on stage and in two early silent movies by the age of 20. Her first full-length work as a playwright was HEARTS DESIRE, written with Adelaide Matthews, with whom Nichols also co-authored JUST MARRIED (1922). Writing alone, Nichols provided the libretto for the musical LOVE DREAMS (1921). ABIE'S IRISH ROSE, a comedy about the romance between an Irish girl and a Jewish boy and the inter-family clash that results, received poor reviews from most critics when it opened in 1922, but audiences loved it, and kept the play running for over 2,300 performances until October 1927. A silent film adaptation starring Buddy Rogers was released in 1929, and a sound version, produced by Bing Crosby, in 1946. The premise was also adapted into a radio series, which ran from 1942 to 1944. Anne Nichols wrote several other plays and directed as well, and later managed property for the Actors' Fund. She died in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on September 15, 1966, at the age of 74. The Anne Nichols papers contain correspondence and writings documenting a portion of her career, with the emphasis on ABIE'S IRISH ROSE. Other materials include legal files dealing with the will of William de Lignemare. There are also files and correspondence dealing with property belonging to the Actors' Fund that Anne Nichols managed for them. less

The Betty Wharton Papers contain photographs, programs, scrapbooks and correspondence documenting the careers of Ms. Wharton and her husband. Ms. Wharton's papers include photographs, scrapbooks and programs from 1917-1947. The papers of her husband, John F. Wharton, include business correspondence and papers from 1962-1978, and a theatrical scrapbook from 1921-1922. less

Chandos Sweet (1882-1960) worked as a company manager, business manager, and general manager for numerous plays, touring companies and theaters in a show business career which lasted over four decades. At various times in his career Chandos Sweet worked as an actor and also served as an agent for actors, but by the late 1930s he was employed primarily as a manager, and remained active in that capacity almost to the end of his life. Sweet formed an especially close friendship with Gertrude Lawrence. Chandos Sweet died in March 1960. The Chandos Sweet papers consist mostly of correspondence, including brief notes from actress Gertrude Lawrence or her husband Richard Aldrich. There is also paperwork concerning a loan made to Sweet by actor-director Sidney Olcott in 1916, three contracts securing Sweet's services as manager for various companies, a Certificate of Merit from the Actors' Fund, and a fold-out document some 65 inches long, dated 1954 and signed by numerous members of the Lambs Club "with affectionate memories of Chandos Sweet." Signees include Frank Fay, Smith & Dale, Elliott Nugent, Harry Blackstone, Ed Begley, and Frank McHugh. less

Bessie Breuer (1893-1975) was a journalist, novelist, short story writer and playwright whose only produced play, SUNDOWN BEACH (1948), was one of the first efforts of the Actors Studio. After an early career in journalism as reporter and editor, Breuer began publishing short stories and, in 1935, her first novel, MEMORY OF LOVE. During World War II she wrote radio scripts for the Office of War Information. After the war a health crisis compelled Breuer to go south to recover, and in Florida she met the recuperating Air Force fliers who became the central figures of her play SUNDOWN BEACH. In later years Breuer continued to write novels. She died in New York City in September 1975 at the age of 81. The Bessie Breuer papers consist of documents concerning the Broadway run of Breuer's play SUNDOWN BEACH, which opened at the Belasco Theatre on Sep. 7, 1948, and closed on the 11th after seven performances. Directed by Elia Kazan, SUNDOWN BEACH marked the first Broadway venture of the newly-formed Actors' Studio. The cast featured several young actors who went on to notable careers, including Julie Harris, Cloris Leachman, Martin Balsam, Nehemiah Persoff, and Phyllis Thaxter. The play concerned the rehabilitation of World War II fliers suffering from combat trauma. Despite some public support, the play received mostly negative reviews and closed in less than a week. Much of the Bessie Breuer collection consists of letters offering emotional support in the wake of the production's failure. Among the correspondents are writers John Dos Passos and Stark Young, as well as Julie Harris. There are also several typed pages of notes from Breuer to director Elia Kazan, apparently written during the play's rehearsal process; Kazan's replies to Breuer are pencilled in the margins. less

Carl Henkle was the author of two plays produced on Broadway, DECISION (1929) and PAGE PYGMALION (1932). Henkle's play DECISION opened at the 49th Street Theatre on May 27, 1929, and ran for 64 performances. PAGE PYGMALION opened at the Bijou Theatre on Aug. 3, 1932, and ran for 13 performances. The Carl Henkle papers consist of a small amount of correspondence and five tablets of pencil sketches of female figures by an unknown artist. The correspondence includes three telegrams wishing Henkle good luck on his first Broadway play, DECISION, including one from an actress in the cast. The other letters involve a dispute concerning the bill for a kimona used in PAGE PYGMALION, Henkle's second Broadway play. The unsigned and unlabelled sketches of women appear to be student work, but might have been preliminary costume sketches for one of Henkle's productions. less

Actor-Managers, Inc., was a New York theatrical production organization which in February 1928 staged Simon Gantillon's French play MAYA (1924), in an English translation by Ernest Boyd, with Aline MacMahon in the lead role of a prostitute. City authorities contacted the producers and demanded that the show close, lest the owners of the theater, the Shuberts, be penalized under the provisions of the 1927 "Wales Padlock Law," a morals act which gave the authorities the right to close a theater whose owners were deemed in violation of the law for up to one year. The producers of MAYA offered to make textual cuts, and received letters of support from various prominent critics, actors, and other citizens, but the play was closed. The Actor-Managers, Inc. files on the censorship of Simon Gantillon's play MAYA span 1927-1928, but are mostly concentrated in February and March 1928, during the height of the controversy. Included is a copy of the 1927 law which became known as the "Wales Padlock Law," by which the production of MAYA was closed, several drafts of letters from the producers to the city District Attorney's office, defending MAYA and challenging the order to close it, numerous letters of support to the producers, two letters withholding support, a letter from playwright Simon Gantillon offering biographical material about himself and the stage history of his play MAYA, a letter from Lee Shubert confirming the closing date of the New York production, articles about the MAYA controversy, a petition to repeal the Wales Padlock Law signed by a number of prominent theatrical figures, including Harold Clurman, Leo G. Carroll, and Louis Calhern, and several press releases from the Actor-Managers organization about the controversy. less

Elsie Janis (1889-1956) was a performer in musical comedy, vaudeville, and motion pictures, and also a composer and screenwriter. Born Elsie Bierbower in Columbus, Ohio, March 16, 1889, Elsie Janis made her stage debut at the age of eight in THE CHARITY BALL, and quickly rose to popularity in vaudeville as "Little Elsie." She made her Broadway debut in THE VANDERBILT CUP in 1906, and also appeared in THE HOYDEN (1907), THE FAIR CO-ED (1909), THE SLIM PRINCESS (1910) and THE LADY OF THE SLIPPER (1912). Silent film appearances by Elsie Janis included THE CAPRICES OF KITTY (1915), 'TWAS EVER THUS (1915) and THE IMP (1919). Known as the "Sweetheart of the A.E.F" for entertaining Allied troops during World War I, Elsie Janis continued performing in vaudeville through the 1920's. After talking pictures were introduced she contributed songs and dialogue to several films, including MADAME SATAN (1930) and THE SQUAW MAN (1931) for Cecil B. DeMille, and REACHING FOR THE MOON (1931) for Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Aside from a brief return to the screen in WOMEN IN WAR (1940), Elsie Janis retired from show business after the death of her mother in 1932. She died in Los Angeles on February 26, 1956. The Elsie Janis diaries consist of five yearbook volumes covering the years 1920, 1921, 1923, 1924, and 1928, with one page devoted to each day. Most entries are written in ink, a few in pencil. The latter portion of the volume for 1920 is water-damaged. Elsie Janis was intimate with many of the stage and screen notables of her day, but references to them are sketchy. Her journal entries are brief and superficial, and read more like those found in datebooks than in diaries. less

Gladys Malvern was an author who wrote articles and several books about the theater, including biographies of performers Joseph Jefferson, Katharine Cornell, and Harry Lauder, as well as dancer Anna Pavlova. The majority of the Gladys Malvern papers consists of an undated and untitled 87-page typescript on the history of world theater, from the Greeks and the Elizabethans to the modern era. The typescript, which is heavily emended, appears not to have been published. Internal evidence suggests that it was written in 1945. Also in the collection is a 12-page typescript of an article about actress Helen Hayes, written during the spring of 1944 and submitted to AMERICAN GIRL magazine. Malvern corresponded with Hayes' secretary prior to writing the piece, and that correspondence is included. Also present are four 2-page pieces apparently written for a radio series which featured celebrated New York restauranteur George Rector, in which Rector reminisces about famous theater people he has known such as Sarah Bernhardt and Eddie Foy. It is unclear whether the pieces were ever broadcast. Three letters written to Malvern during 1957 are also included, and concern her conversion to the Christian Science faith. less

Jerome "Jerry" Mayer (1910?-1965) was a director, producer, playwright and stage manager, who, though born in Kansas City and based primarly in New York, also served as Managing Director of the Honolulu Community Theatre of Honolulu, Hawaii, from 1956 to 1959. Born into a wealthy family, Mayer was just out of Yale when he first worked on Broadway, as assistant stage manager for the Alfred Lunt-Lynn Fontanne production of ELIZABETH THE QUEEN (1930). In 1933 he took part in a Theatre Festival Tour of the Soviet Union conducted by Harold Clurman. By his mid 20s Mayer was producing such Broadway plays as NOAH (1935) and GOOD HUNTING (1938), the latter of which he also directed. He wrote a play, GOODBYE IN THE NIGHT (1940), which was produced and directed by George Abbott but ran for only eight performances. In later years Mayer worked in Puerto Rico and Australia as well as Hawaii. At the Honolulu Community Theatre Mayer staged eighteen plays and musicals, but he returned to New York in 1960, and directed several plays for the Westchester Arts Festival, Chappaqua, N.Y., between 1961 and 1964. On February 23, 1965, Jerome Mayer was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Manhattan and died without regaining consciousness on March 4, at the age of 55. The Jerome Mayer papers consist mostly of correspondence pertaining to theatrical activities in Honolulu, Hawaii, especially the East-West Center of Hawaii University. In his later years, after he had returned to New York from Hawaii, director-producer Mayer attempted to raise funds to start a new theater troupe in Honolulu. The majority of the collection pertains to these efforts, which appear to have been unsuccessful. Also in the collection is a detailed itinerary of the Theatre Festival Tour of Soviet Russia, May 18 to July 7, 1933, conducted by Harold Clurman under the auspices of The Open Road, Inc. Mayer was present on this tour, and saved a Russian hotel bill as well as two postcards to friends written during the trip. There is also paperwork pertaining to NOAH, Mayer's first Broadway production. less

Lep Solomon served as treasurer of the Sam H. Harris Theatre, the Music Box Theatre, and of the Lambs Club in a career lasting from the 1910s into the 1950s. Solomon also served as president of the Treasurers Club of America, and was manager of City College of New York's Lewisohn Stadium. Although he was based in New York throughout his life, Lep Solomon happened to be visiting his daughter in Beverly Hills, Calif., when he died suddenly in August of 1957, at the age of 69. The majority of the Lep Solomon papers consist of documents related to his membership in the Lambs Club. There is also material concerning his other activities and affiliations, such as a certificate proclaiming Solomon's lifetime membership in the Actors' Fund of America. Of interest are several lengthy sheets of paper signed for Lep Solomon by his fellow members of the Lambs Club on special occasions. The earliest of these documents dates from 1931, and includes the autographs of Joe E. Brown, William Gaxton, Smith & Dale, and Harry Blackstone. Later examples, given to Solomon prior to travel or as Get Well messages during hospitalizations, include signees DeWolf Hopper, Fred Stone, Thomas Meighan, Ed Begley, Pat O'Malley and Royal Dano. Also in the collection is a special program printed on cloth for a one-night-only benefit performance for the Relief Fund of the Treasurer's Club of America. The performance took place at the Hudson Theatre on April 6, 1924, and featured Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice, Jack Benny, Robert Benchley, Jack Buchanan, and others. less

The Leopold Badia papers consist of a variety of materials reflecting a long acting career, including contracts, salary stubs, portions of scripts, sheet music, some correspondence, and a complete radio script from 1945. Contracts for stock productions make up the bulk of Leopold Badia's papers, but there are also several "sides" representing his character's lines from plays, including SPEAK EASY and THE GENTLEMAN FROM ATHENS, and brief notes from colleagues such as José Ferrar, Fredric March, and Sam Levene. The radio script is from a series called ONE MAN'S DESTINY, celebrating the lives of prominent people. This episode is devoted to New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. less

Claire Raphael Reis (1888-1978) was a music promoter, teacher, and author of works on American composers. Born in Brownsville, Texas, on August 4, 1888, Claire Raphael was educated in New York, France, and Germany. She married Arthur Reis in 1915. From 1912 to 1922 Claire Reis was involved with the People's Music League of the People's Institute of New York, an organization which provided free concerts for immigrants and public school students. In 1914 Reis helped establish the Walden School. She became a kindergarten music teacher, and adapted Montessori teaching methods to music. Working with several composers she helped establish the League of Composers in 1923, and served as executive director for twenty-five years. Claire Reis wrote AMERICAN COMPOSERS OF TODAY in 1947, and revised the book under the title COMPOSERS IN AMERICA: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES in 1977. She also published COMPOSERS, CONDUCTORS, AND CRITICS in 1955, and a number of articles. Reis was secretary of the board of directors of the New York City Center of Music and Drama, and was also a founder of the City Center. Claire Raphael Reis died in New York on April 11, 1978, at the age of 89. Letters to Claire R. Reis consists primarily of notes from scenic designer Robert Edmond Jones (1887-1954). Jones' notes touch on contemporary music and theater, as in one undated letter written during European travel in which he speaks of seeing Max Reinhardt's Shakespeare productions, Giacomo Puccini conducting his own work, etc. There are also brief notes from Helen Hayes, director Rouben Mamoulian, and puppeteer Remo Bufano. less

George Arliss (1868-1946), English stage and screen actor, was best known for portraying historical figures such as British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, Alexander Hamilton, Cardinal Richelieu, and French author Voltaire. Following Arliss' success with the stage version of Louis Napoleon Parker's DISRAELI (1911), authors E. Lawrence Dudley and George Gibbs attempted to fashion a similar vehicle based on the life of Voltaire, but the project ran into difficulties, eventually causing a rift between the collaborators, and the play was never staged. More than a decade later, after Arliss won a Best Actor Oscar for the film version of DISRAELI (1929), Dudley and Gibbs contributed to the screenplay of the Warner Brothers' film version of VOLTAIRE (1933). Consists of 23 handwritten letters from George Arliss to E. Lawrence Dudley, 1 note from Arliss to George Gibbs, and 1 undated Christmas card from Mr. and Mrs. Arliss. Arliss' unhappiness with Dudley and Gibbs' work on their script for the play VOLTAIRE becomes clear in the course of the correspondence, and the primary reasons for his eventual break with his collaborators is laid out in a long and heated letter of Oct. 22, 1920. less

Fay Tunis (1887-1967) was a dancer who appeared in two Broadway shows in the 1910s, and later danced in various burlesque houses in New York and elsewhere. In addition to her stage appearances, Fay Tunis appeared in at least one silent film, a 1915 version of CARMEN which starred Theda Bara. Most of the Fay Tunis correspondence consists of fan mail from persons who had seen her dance, and wanted to meet her. The majority of the fan letters are from men, but one is from a woman who notes that she was recently divorced. There are five postmarked envelopes from a man named George W. Pughe which feature elaborately colored cartoon art, but the letters are not present. There is also a job offer from Nickel's Gayety, "Baltimore's Famous Burlesque Theatre." All but one of these items date between 1926 and 1931, the exception being a brief note from producer Max Gordon dated 1951, in which he remarks that he remembers Miss Tunis and recalls "how he used to chase her.". less

Maria Astrova, also known as Marie or Masha Solomonik, was an actress who studied with Stanislavki, toured Europe, then came to New York in 1940, where she and her husband Alexandre Solomonik were central figures in the Theatre of Russian Drama, a troupe which performed in Russian. During her time with the Moscow Art Theatre in the 1920s, Maria Astrova toured Europe as a member of the Prague Troupe. She left in 1930 to settle in Paris, and married Alexandre Solomonik there the following year. She continued acting with a troupe in Paris until she and her husband moved to Brussels. As the war approached, the couple moved to London, then emigrated to the United States in 1940. During the 1940s Maria Astrova and her husband staged Russian drama in New York, Astrova as an actress and Alexander Solomonik as producer and chief financial backer of the Theatre of Russian Drama. The Maria Astrova papers consist primarily of newspaper clippings from Russian language newspapers of the 1940s and 1950s, mostly Russky Golos as well as the Novoye Russkoye Slovo, in which the productions and activities of the Theatre of Russian Drama are described. In addition to the newspaper clippings, there are two programs from performances of works by Gogol, MARRIAGE (1944) and THE INSPECTOR GENERAL (1949), featuring Maria Astrova. Aside from one 1970 clipping, all other news material dates from between 1941 and 1952. There is one brief letter in Russian, dated 1952, from Vladimir Zelitsky, director of the Theatre of Russian Drama. There is a booklet dated 1946 with text in Russian and a number of pictures of dancers. There is also a watercolor of three costume designs, with two swatches of fabric attached. less