- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1919-1935", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1919/1935"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1919
- date_inclusive_end
-
1935
- keydate
-
1919
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Rose McClendon scrapbooks"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"6", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"2 flat boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. <span class=\"subarea\">Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span></span> <div class=\"address\"><span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Rose McClendon was one of the most famous black dramatic actresses of the 1920s and 1930s. Although she did not become a professional actor until she was in her thirties, she consistently won critical acclaim for many of her acting roles and influenced the careers of many aspiring black actors of the period."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Rose McClendon Scrapbooks, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"McClendon, Rose, 1884-1936", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Rose (Rosalie) V. McClendon was born in Greenville, South Carolina in 1884 and with her parents, Sandy and Lena Jenkins Scott, migrated to New York City around 1890. At the age of twenty she married Dr. Henry Pruden McClendon, a licensed chiropractor, who claimed he supplemented his income by working as a Pullman porter. McClendon's interest in the theatre first found expression in the church where she directed and acted in cantatas at Saint Mark's African Methodist Episcopal Church in Manhattan. In 1916 she won a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts at Carnegie Hall under the tutelage of Franklin Sargent, and subsequently began her stage career.</p> <p>McClendon made her professional debut in Justice (1919-1920), a play starring writer, director, and actor Butler Davenport. Four years later she appeared in Roseanne (1924) with Charles Gilpin (and later Paul Robeson). In 1926 she gained prominence for her acting in Deep River, where she earned rave reviews, and in Paul Green's Pulitzer prize-winning folk tragedy, In Abraham's Bosom that starred Jules Bledsoe in the title role. Her reputation grew with her portrayal of Serena in Dubose and Dorothy Heyward's Porgy (1927) for which she received the Morning Telegraph Acting Award the following year (along with Ethel Barrymore and Lynn Fontanne). After a long run of one year in New York City, McClendon went on tour with Porgy to Chicago (nine weeks), London (approximately six weeks), Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Washington, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, the northwest, and Canadian cities. Other plays she appeared in include Green's House of Connelly (1931), Black Souls, an all black production of Never No More and The Cat and the Canary (1932), Brain Sweat (which had a black cast) and Roll Sweet Chariot (1934), and Panic (1935). Her last starring role was as Cora in Langston Hughes' Mulatto (1935) which ran for 375 performances on Broadway, the second-longest run by a black playwright at that time. Hughes created the role of Cora specifically for her, unfortunately, McClendon left the cast in December when she became ill.</p> <p>Her love of the theatre inspired McClendon's stewardship of other African American's involvement in the theatre. From 1923 to 1925 McClendon was active in the Ethiopian Art Theatre. Also by the mid-1920s, she was a director for the Negro (Harlem) Experimental Theatre located at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library and, in addition, worked in a supervisory capacity with the Federal Theatre Project (Negro Unit), ca. 1935-1936. Furthermore, she served as a board member for the Theatre Union, which governed the Civic Repertory Theatre on West 14th Street.</p> <p>While working with the Federal Theatre Project, McClendon developed her vision of a black theatre company. Together with Dick Campbell she founded the Negro People's Theatre in 1935. Members of the advisory board included: Cheryl Crawford, Clifford Odets, Paul Green, Albert Bein, Countee Cullen, Herbert Kline, and Lena Bernstein. Officers of the small thirty-five member company were: Morris McKenney (chairman and director of the executive board), Campbell (vice chairman), Lena Bernstein (play reader), and Alston Burleigh (musical director). The company produced one play, Odets' Waiting for Lefty, prior to McClendon's untimely death of pneumonia in 1936. Two years later, Campbell, his wife, actress Muriel Rahn, and George Norford established the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem in her honor.</p>"}
- custodhist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of George Mosse, Dr. Hilde Mosse' husband, who donated the files to the Schomburg Center at Dr. Mosse's request after her death. The files were rescued and kept by Dr. Mosse following the closing of the clinic.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Rose McClendon Scrapbooks consists of two volumes, dating from 1916 to 1935, that were donated by her husband, Dr. Henry Pruden McClendon's estate in 1950. They contain articles, reviews of plays, playbills, programs, telegrams, photographs, poems, and correspondence, arranged chronologically by her most ardent supporter and fan, Dr. McClendon. Opening night telegrams were sent to her from Leigh Whipper, Harry Burleigh, Countee Cullen, and Jules Bledsoe as well as her husband; Carl Van Vechten and Walter White, among others, sent letters.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Rose McClendon scrapbooks are arranged in two series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20736#c649503'>Volume 1</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The scrapbooks are arranged by play; volume 1 is dated 1919 to 1931, and volume 2 covers 1932 to 1935. Volume 1, the larger of the two scrapbooks due to its date coverage, contains more reviews of McClendon's work than volume 2. In volume 1, the identification of the newspaper and magazines in which reviews appear is not always available. Most reviews of McClendon's early work, including: Roseanne (1924), Deep River and In Abraham's Bosom (1926); The Cat and the Canary and Porgy (1927) are from New York newspapers. Reviews in the Public Ledger and The Evening Bulletin (Philadelphia), Providence Journal, Variety, The Evening Telegram (Toronto) Inter-State Tattler, The Christian Science Monitor, McCalls, Theatre World, and the Tatler are also represented. Reviews of Porgy are more numerous due to its more extensive run. Articles about McClendon, letters, telegrams and poems to her, programs of the plays she appeared in, and photographs are dispersed throughout this volume.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20736#c649516'>Volume 2</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Volume 2, 1932 to 1935, consists of newspaper and magazine reviews covering the latter part of her career in the following productions: House of Connelly, Never No More, Black Souls, Brain Sweat, Roll Sweet Chariot, Panic, and the radio presentation of John Henry: Black River Giant. Coverage was provided by New York City newspapers, the Pittsburgh Courier, Variety, Chicago Daily News, Chicago Defender, Philadelphia Independent, the Toronto Daily Star, and the Tatler for these plays. With the exception of John Henry, McClendon usually received over half dozen telegrams for each of the aforementioned productions. Although some plays (Black Souls and Panic) received negative reviews, McClendon's performances were always highly acclaimed by theatre critics.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Rose McClendon Scrapbooks are organized in the following series:</p> <ul> <li>Volume 1</li> <li>Volume 2</li></ul>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Dr. Henry Pruden McClendon's Estate</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Paula Williams; revised by Latchmi Bishunnath; machine readable finding aid created by FAKER.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Paula Williams, January 1999.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Researchers are restricted to microfilm copy.</p>"}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"Sc MG 524", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"20736", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- physloc
-
{"value"=>"Sc Micro R-6634", "type"=>"local_call", "supress_display"=>true}
- altformavail
-
{"value"=>"<p>Microfilmed Northeast Document Conservation Center Sc Micro R-6634</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
6 linear feet (2 flat boxes)
- date_start
-
1919
- date_end
-
1935