- unitid
-
{"value"=>"*T-Mss 1961-002", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"21808", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1849-1961", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1849/1961"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Chamberlain and Lyman Brown papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"351 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"850 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.</span><div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center</span> <span class=\"addressline\">40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Chamberlain and Lyman Brown Papers are 351 linear feet and contain business and personal correspondence, scrapbooks, autographs, legal and financial papers, scripts, photographs, clipping files, and production materials documenting their work as theatrical agents, managers, and producers. The papers provide a history of the entertainment industry from the end of the 19th century through the middle of the 20th century. A number of family and personal papers are also included."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Chamberlain and Lyman Brown Papers, *T-Mss 1961-002. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Brown, Chamberlain", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Theatrical casting agents, producers, and writers, brothers Chamberlain and Lyman Brown were born in Hartford, Connecticut to Delorious T. Chamberlain and George McDuffee Brown. Chamberlain Brown was born April 1, 1892; Lyman Chamberlain Brown was born July 7, 1897. Their father operated Brown Thompson & Company, a department store in Hartford, and also ran for governor of Connecticut. Both the Brown and Chamberlain families could claim a distinguished New England lineage. The Brown family is descended from two U.S. presidents: John Adams and John Quincy Adams. The Chamberlain family could claim Civil and Mexican War generals, including the maternal grandfather of the Brown Brothers, General Samuel Emery Chamberlain.</p> <p>The brothers had two sisters who died: Frances, who was older than Chamberlain, and Anna, who was younger than Lyman. The family spent winters either in Florida or Pasadena, California, and summers mostly at Annisquam, Massachusetts. Always inseparable, the Brown Brothers began their lifelong fascination with the theater in their childhood, with Lyman, as the younger, following Chamberlain’s strong-willed lead. According to an unpublished, incomplete autobiographical manuscript (in the collection) entitled <span class=\"title\">The Brown Brothers</span>, Chamberlain began collecting posters as a young child and snuck away with Lyman to a performance at Parsons Theatre in Hartford, only to be collected by their mother, upon notification by Mrs. Parsons. Whenever a star was playing in Hartford, the brothers would put his or her poster in their window.</p> <p>At the age of eleven, Chamberlain Brown was enrolled at the Cloyne School in Newport, Rhode Island and Lyman soon followed. The Brown Brothers also attended the Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, although the dates are unknown. The brothers were separated when Chamberlain attended St. Andrew’s and Lyman was enrolled at the Pomfret School in Pomfret, Connecticut.</p> <p>Chamberlain’s collecting habit escalated to autographs, photographs, and programs. He also subscribed to many theatrical periodicals such as the <span class=\"title\">Theatre Magazine</span>, and <span class=\"title\">The New York Dramatic Mirror</span>, thus forming the basis of his extensive collection. Many of these autographs of late 18th and early 19th century performers and much of their ephemera can be found in this collection. The brothers also attended many New York performances when visiting their aunt Emma Brown Lyman (Aunt Kittie) and her husband Jack every Christmas. These performances were documented in the <span class=\"title\">Theatre Record</span>diaries kept by the Brown Brothers in their early teens. (A few of these volumes are in this collection; see also the Chamberlain and Lyman Brown Theater Diaries - *T-Mss 2002-010.) The Castle Square Opera Company in Boston became a favorite place for the Brown Brothers to visit after Lyman’s dental appointments.</p> <p>While summering in Annisquam, Chamberlain Brown produced his first plays at the Village Hall: <span class=\"title\">The Social Stew</span>(1909) and <span class=\"title\">The Chorus Boy</span>(1910). Chamberlain attended Harvard University, but dropped out when he acquired Donald Meek’s stock company in Lowell, Massachusetts (probably purchased for him by his father, George M. Brown) which Chamberlain then owned and managed. He also acted with several companies in Boston and Lowell, including the Harvard Stock Company, and the Castle Square. As well, Chamberlain Brown appeared with Margaret Anglin in <span class=\"title\">Hippolytus</span>at the Tremont Theatre in Boston (1911). He also produced and performed with the Brown-Horton Stock Company sometime around 1911.</p> <p>By 1913, Chamberlain Brown had come to New York and performed in <span class=\"title\">The Yellow Jacket</span> at the Fulton Theatre, as well as in vaudeville. In 1914, he was listed as press representative for Brown, Sullivan and Brown at Aeolian Hall, with Lyman as the Boston representative. The Brown-Peacock Exchange (business and publicity representatives) was also listed at Aeolian Hall from August 1913 to January 1914. By March 1914, the company had become the Chamberlain Brown Exchange. Lyman Brown would work with Chamberlain in the summers, finally also dropping out of school to join his brother in the business. Their first office was at Aeolian Hall; they then moved to the Fitzgerald Building (West 43rd Street and Broadway), then 156 West 45th Street, and finally, 145 West 45th Street. Their only known New York City residences included 853 Seventh Avenue from approximately 1929 to 1932 and the Hotel Belvedere from 1950 to 1952.</p> <p>Chamberlain Brown claimed to have discovered Clark Gable, Helen Hayes, Alfred Lunt, Rudolph Valentino, Leslie Howard, Jeannette MacDonald, Jack Haley, Don Ameche, Preston Foster, Robert Walker, Glenda Farrell, Carlotta Monterey, Conrad Nagel, Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Menken, Harry K. Morton, Nita Naldi and many others. The Brown agency represented such theater notables as John Carradine, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Lon Chaney, Jr., Ruth Chatterton, Constance Collier, Glenda Farrell, Dorothy Gish, Hal Holbrook, Miriam Hopkins, Otto Kruger, Fritzi Scheff, Spencer Tracy, and Tom Ewell (once an agency employee) among others.</p> <p>The agency correspondence files are extensive and range from the famous to the would-be, aspiring performer. Some of their most famous correspondents include Tallulah Bankhead, Ralph Bellamy, Sidney Blackmer, Yul Brynner, John Carradine, Charles Coburn, George M. Cohan, Joan Crawford, George Cukor, Glenda Farrell, Jack Haley, Otto Kruger, Claire Boothe Luce, Bela Lugosi, Guthrie McClintic, Helen Menken, Alla Nazimova, Clifford Odets, Ronald Reagan, Gloria Swanson, Laurette Taylor, Spencer Tracy, Sophie Tucker, Rudy Vallee, Peggy Wood, Fay Wray, and Ed Wynn.</p> <p>Chamberlain Brown also corresponded with soldiers and sailors during and after World War II, as well as with a number of prisoners, some of whom he knew before their incarceration. Lyman, the ever-dependable brother, ran the agency’s bread and butter trade: stock productions. He also managed at least two of their own stock companies in Westchester and Atlantic City.</p> <p>In addition to their agency activity, the Brown Brothers began their numerous and financially disastrous attempts at producing. <span class=\"title\">Kept</span> by Pierre Gendron, starring Minnie Dupree at the Comedy Theatre in 1926, was Chamberlain Brown’s initial Broadway production. Brown then presented Frances Starr in <span class=\"title\">Immoral Isabella?</span>by Lawton Campbell at the Bijou Theatre in 1927. (In his autobiographical manuscript, Brown claims that Clifford Odets appeared in the cast as an extra, but this is unverified.) In 1928, Brown produced two plays on Broadway: Elmer Harris’s play <span class=\"title\">The Great Necker</span> with Blanche Ring at the Ambassador Theatre and <span class=\"title\">A Lady for a Night</span> by Hutcheson Boyd at the Forty-Ninth Street Theatre. Also in 1928, under the aegis of the Chamberlain Brown Cosmopolitan Artists, at the Cosmopolitan Theatre, he presented (“at popular prices”) <span class=\"title\">Mrs. Dane’s Defense</span>, with Violet Heming, <span class=\"title\">Sherlock Holmes</span> with Gene Raymond and Fritzi Scheff, and <span class=\"title\">Within the Law</span> with Violet Heming and Claudette Colbert.</p> <p>The Brown Brothers’ first stock company in the metropolitan area was at the Greenwich Theatre in Connecticut. Under the auspices of the Chamberlain Brown Players (also known as the L. Chamberlain Brown Players), between 1929 and 1930 they presented over thirty plays such as <span class=\"title\">As You Like It</span> starring Preston Foster and Lyle Talbot, and <span class=\"title\">Parade</span> starring Spencer Tracy. <span class=\"title\">Brilliants</span>, written by Lyman Brown using the pseudonym Basil Bruce Trevino, was also scheduled for performance there. Other stars who appeared at Greenwich included Don Ameche, Glenda Farrell, Mayo Methot, Georgette Cohan, Jessie Royce Landis, and Henry Daniell.</p> <p>In 1931 and 1932, the Chamberlain Brown Players played overlapping seasons at the Riviera Theatre in New York City and at the Westchester Theatre in Mt. Vernon, New York. Productions included <span class=\"title\">Private Lives</span> with Peggy Wood at the Riviera and at the Westchester Theatre. Also at the Westchester Theatre, Ruth Gordon starred in <span class=\"title\">A Church Mouse</span> and Alice Brady starred in <span class=\"title\">Dishonored Lady</span>and <span class=\"title\">Ladies of the Jury</span>. Glenda Farrell and Cesar Romero appeared in <span class=\"title\">Strictly Dishonorable</span>. Other stars who performed at the Westchester included Fritzi Scheff, Sydney Greenstreet, Otto Kruger, Florence Reed, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Georgie Drew Mendum, and Pauline Lord.</p> <p>The Chamberlain Brown Players also played a summer season at the Apollo Theatre in Atlantic City in 1933. Productions included stock staples of the era such as <span class=\"title\">A Church Mouse</span>, <span class=\"title\">Dangerous Corner</span>, <span class=\"title\">Dinner at Eight</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Shanghai Gesture</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Vinegar Tree</span>, and <span class=\"title\">When Ladies Meet</span>. Lyman Brown appears to have run the company diligently, but by this time, the financial problems that would chronically plague the brothers had begun to predominate. However, they attempted another summer season in Atlantic City at the Earle Theatre in 1934, but it was short-lived.<span class=\"title\"> Idle Tongues</span>, a play by Chamberlain Brown, was presented at the Cedarhurst Playhouse on Long Island in 1934, after several other production attempts. In 1936, the Chamberlain Brown Players attempted another summer season including plays such as <span class=\"title\">Blind Alley</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Distaff Side</span>, <span class=\"title\">Night of January 16th</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Remember the Day</span>at the Bronxville Auditorium, but were forced to cancel one play, <span class=\"title\">Love on the Dole</span>.</p> <p>Perhaps Chamberlain Brown’s most controversial Broadway play was <span class=\"title\">Chamberlain Brown’s Scrap Book</span> that opened at the Ambassador Theatre in 1932. He classified it as a “vaudeville,” thus permitting more than eight performances a week. However, Actors’ Equity Association ruled the show a revue and demanded its members give immediate notice. A week later, the ruling was overturned, but Chamberlain Brown’s victory was short-lived, since the musicians refused to work without being paid first, causing the production to close. (This incident is documented in correspondence with Actors’ Equity Association.) His stock production of <span class=\"title\">A Church Mouse</span> ran at the Mansfield Theatre in June and July of 1933.</p> <p>The Brown Brothers also presented Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn (venue unknown, 1930), as well as a vaudeville act with Fritzi Scheff in Chicago (1930). In the late 1930s and 1940s, Chamberlain Brown’s production attempts included performances by his acting students at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1938, contests, a dance marathon, and staged benefits, including performances of <span class=\"title\">Taken from Life</span>, a play reportedly by Chamberlain Brown and Arthur Chalmers, a New York City policeman convicted of murder. Scheduled productions sometimes did not open, such as <span class=\"title\">Dangerous Corner</span> and <span class=\"title\">Outward Bound</span>at the Astor Theatre in East Hartford, Connecticut in 1949.</p> <p>Beginning in 1926, Chamberlain Brown hosted radio programs discussing the theater or presenting talent on various stations such as WINS, WMCA, and WOR. By 1948, he was paying WGYN for his radio segment without Lyman’s knowledge. Chamberlain also embarked upon a number of professional activities that dovetailed with the agency business, including founding membership clubs such as the Talent of the Hour Club (ca. 1940) and the Theatre Record Club (<span class=\"title\">ca.1940</span>). Much to Lyman Brown’s consternation, Chamberlain Brown also initiated several unsuccessful publications such as <span class=\"title\">Chamberlain Brown’s Dramatic Mirror</span>(1934-1935), <span class=\"title\">Paint and Powder</span>(1936-1937) and <span class=\"title\">Theatre Record</span>(1938-1953). Chamberlain Brown also undertook giving lectures, but without great success.</p> <p>Perhaps because of an inability to evolve professionally with the changing times, or Chamberlain Brown’s lifestyle, the Brown agency floundered, despite family financial support for the brothers. Chamberlain declared bankruptcy in 1934 and was the defendant in numerous lawsuits for collection of funds spanning several decades.</p> <p>Chamberlain Brown died suddenly on November 12, 1955 in New York City at the age of sixty-three. Lyman Brown died in New York City on March 31, 1961 also at the age of sixty-three.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Chamberlain and Lyman Brown Theatrical Agent Records are approximately 351 linear feet and contain business and personal correspondence, legal and financial papers, scrapbooks, production materials, clipping files, scripts, and photographs covering the history of the entertainment industry from the end of the 19th century through the middle of the 20th century. The bulk of the agency records spans more than a fifty year period beginning in 1903 and ending in 1959. Much of the material in the papers pertains to Chamberlain Brown and his activities from his early career as an actor to his death in 1955.</p> <p>Chamberlain and Lyman Brown represented many famous actors including Spencer Tracy, John Carradine, Lon Chaney, Jr., Tom Ewell (who worked in the agency office), Hal Holbrook, Ruth Chatterton and Constance Collier, among others. The Brown Brothers also claimed to have launched the careers of Clark Gable, Helen Hayes, Alfred Lunt, Jeanette MacDonald, Tallulah Bankhead, Don Ameche, Jack Haley, Preston Foster, Rudolph Valentino, Robert Walker, and Glenda Farrell.</p> <p>From their childhood, the Brown Brothers also collected theatrical materials consisting of autographs and ephemera from actors and actresses during the late 1800s. The collection contains a large number of these items, either collected or purchased by the Brown Brothers, for many 19th and early 20th century performers. The agency files are also included in the collection. There are also a number of papers relating to actress and singer Fritzi Scheff, a particular favorite of the brothers. The agency correspondence and associated ephemera documents the range and changes in the performing arts industry for almost half a century. The collection contains extensive materials on 19th and 20th century theater including over six hundred scrapbooks, correspondence from many famous, as well as now forgotten actors, singers, vaudevillians, burlesque performers and managers, extensive newspaper clippings, autographs, signed photographs, and programs. The Brown Brothers continued to correspond with many of these performers, including Mrs. Leslie Carter, Marie Curtis, and Amelia Bingham, after their retirement from the stage.</p> <p>There are also materials relating to Edward Everett Horton, Claire Boothe Luce, members of the Barrymore and Drew families, Clark Gable, Ray Bolger, Joe E. Brown, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, Rosalind Russell, and Barbara Stanwyck. These as well as many other actors and actresses, both famous and unknown, are represented in the correspondence of the collection. Also included in the collection is correspondence from producers, directors and managers such as George M. Cohan, Lee Shubert and George Cukor. While working as an actor, playwright Clifford Odets corresponded with Chamberlain Brown and wrote an in-depth profile titled “The Great God Brown” (1928). Extensive correspondence from stock company managers and professional associations, particularly Actors’ Equity Association, also exist in the files. Chamberlain Brown’s correspondence with World War II servicemen, as well as with incarcerated men, is also included in the collection.</p> <p>Legal and financial papers document the ever-present financial difficulties that beset the Brown Brothers. Some personal and family papers and photographs can also be found in the collection.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Chamberlain and Lyman Brown papers are arranged in eleven series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21808#c481010'>Series I: Personal and Family Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1849 - 1960, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains correspondence to and from the Brown and Chamberlain families, as well as some family documents. There are also personal records belonging to Chamberlain and Lyman Brown.</p> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1 – Family Correspondence</li> <li>Sub-series 2 – General</li></ul></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21808#c481148'>Series II: Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1858 - 1961, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series is comprised of agency correspondence, largely to and from both professional and aspiring performers, but also from, producers, directors, managers, stock companies playwrights, and professional organizations such as Actors’ Equity Association. Chamberlain Brown’s correspondence to a number of soldiers and sailors during World War II and also to prisoners is also included in this series. Autographs collected and/or purchased by the Brown brothers are also contained in this series.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21808#c485101'>Series III: Professional Projects</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1909 - 1955, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series comprises the theatrical productions, including the stock companies run by the Brown brothers, as well as radio programs, clubs, lectures, and publications founded, produced, or performed by Chamberlain Brown. Writings include manuscripts by both Chamberlain and Lyman Brown. The General files contain materials for projects ranging from proposed (but unproduced) stock seasons to ideas for giving acting lessons.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21808#c1641807'>Series IV: Scripts</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1899 - ca. 1958, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains playscripts, many undated, which may have been sent by aspiring playwrights, or possibly used for plays cast by the Brown brothers. They range from <span class=\"title\">Whirligig: A Dramatic Conundrum in Two Guesses</span> by Edgar Smith, music by John Stromberg, and lyrics by Harry B. Smith (1899) to <span class=\"title\">Brook Hollow</span> by George Batson (ca. 1958). There are several radio scripts such as <span class=\"title\">American Youth</span> by Normand A. Archimbault (undated), <span class=\"title\">New Tomorrows</span>(1945) and <span class=\"title\">Youth Promenade</span> (1945) by Elsa Larabee Andrezen. Of special interest are <span class=\"title\">Angel</span> by Melchior Lengyel, English version by Guy Bolton (1934) and a one-act version of <span class=\"title\">A Tale of Two Cities</span> also by Guy Bolton (undated). There is also an undated script for the play <span class=\"title\">Between Us Two</span> by actress Florence Auer. Reader reports, synopses, fragments, and unidentified scripts are also contained in this series. One Lyle Leverich was a script reader for the Brown agency.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21808#c1641960'>Series V: Legal and Financial Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1899 - 1961, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series consists of contracts, commission cards and sheets for clients, bank statements, correspondence and legal documents for collection actions against the Brown brothers, invoices, and receipts relating to their business and personal finances, which were almost always intertwined. Documents from family wills and trusts are included in this series.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21808#c1642272'>Series VI: Office Files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1908 - 1955, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Included in this series are contact cards for performers and stage managers, stock theater schedules, bulletins, and notes by Lyman Brown, and administrative office files.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21808#c1642404'>Series VII: Fritzi Scheff Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1905 - 1955, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series is comprised of extensive correspondence between Scheff and the Brown brothers, from 1920 to 1955, manuscript drafts of a biography, programs, ephemera, and clippings. There are also contracts, some financial papers, and a few publicity materials for a 1930 vaudeville tour of Fritzi Scheff and Company, presented by Chamberlain Brown.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21808#c1642431'>Series VIII: Photographs</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1886 - 1956, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains both personal and family photos, as well as agency photos of performers and of other theatrical subjects, and photos either sent to or purchased by the Brown brothers. Some photos are autographed.</p> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1 – Personal and Family</li> <li>Sub-series 2 – Performers and Clients</li> <li>Sub-series 3 – General</li></ul></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21808#c1642494'>Series IX: Clippings</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1902 - 1961, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series consists of the voluminous newspaper clippings on performers kept by the Brown brothers on numerous stage and screen personalities through 1961, the year of Lyman Brown’s death. The clipping files include some of the Brown brothers’ favorite stars such as Alice Brady, Violet Heming, Helen Menken, Blanche Ring, and Frances Starr, as well as some of their discoveries such as Clark Gable and Helen Hayes. There are also files for Billie Burke, Louis Calhern, Eddie Cantor, Claudette Colbert, Ann Corio, William Gaxton, Al Jolson, Elsa Maxwell, Burgess Meredith, Barbara Stanwyck, Sophie Tucker, Rudy Vallee, Orson Welles, Robert Young, and others.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21808#c1642788'>Series X: Scrapbooks, ca. and [Bulk Dates]</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains a most extensive collection of scrapbooks kept by Chamberlain and Lyman Brown from their childhood through their adulthood, mostly documenting a large array of 19th and 20th century performers, as well as other theater subjects. There are also several personal scrapbooks relating to Chamberlain Brown. A number of the scrapbooks contain programs for miscellaneous productions seen by the Brown brothers at theaters such as the Hartford Opera House, Parsons Theatre also in Hartford, Connecticut, and on trips to New York City. Several scrapbooks also cover miscellaneous actors and actresses. The <span class=\"title\">Theatre Record</span>scrapbooks (1903 – 1914) include two volumes of the playgoing diaries kept by Chamberlain and Lyman Brown, while several other volumes appear to have been purchased. (See also Related Materials – Chamberlain and Lyman Brown Theatrical Diaries.)</p> <p>Included in the scrapbooks are mostly clippings, but also programs, a number of photographs, and other ephemera for the performers. In some instances, there are multiple scrapbooks for the star, such as Edith Ellis, Violet Heming, Elsie Janis, Helen Menken, Tom Mix, Marjorie Rambeau, and Joseph Schildkraut to name but a few. Some of the most notable personalities include Maude Adams, Humphrey Bogart, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Clark Gable, Helen Hayes, Edward Everett Horton, Bert Lahr, Fredric March, Carlotta Monterey, Antoinette Perry, William Powell, Fritzi Scheff, Clifton Webb, and Peggy Wood.</p> <p>The Chamberlain Brown scrapbooks provide some of the only information in the collection on his early career. His summer productions of <span class=\"title\">The Social Stew</span> (1909) and <span class=\"title\">The Chorus Boy</span> (1910) in Annisquam, Massachusetts are well-documented in the scrapbooks. The two Westchester Theatre scrapbooks document the 1931-1932 productions there by the Chamberlain Brown Players.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21808#c1643331'>Series XI: Oversized</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1890s - 1953, undated, 1920s, 1909, 1910, 1936, 1929, 1931</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series is comprised of lists of stock productions, scrapbook fragments for stars such as Kenneth MacKenna, Paul Muni, Ethel Shutta, and Ernest Truex, photographs, posters, publicity materials, and clippings, some of which are autographed. The lists and schedules of stock productions appear to have been filled-in by the Brown office. Photographs include a portrait of Chamberlain Brown (ca. 1920s), as well as a photo of Emma Brown Lyman (Aunt Kittie).</p> <p>Of particular note are the posters for some of Chamberlain Brown’s early productions, including <span class=\"title\">The Social Stew</span>and <span class=\"title\">The Chorus Boy</span> at the Village Hall, Annisquam, Massachusetts (1909, 1910), and for <span class=\"title\">Night of January 16th</span> at Bronxville Auditorium (1936), as well as newsletters for the Brown brothers’ stock companies at the Greenwich Theatre, Greenwich, Connecticut (1929) and Riviera Theatre, New York City (1931). There are also clippings autographed by Bennett Cerf, Charles Laughton, and <span class=\"title\">Winged Victory</span>cast members.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Series I: Personal and Family Papers<ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1 – Family Correspondence</li> <li>Sub-series 2 – General</li></ul></li> <li>Series II: Correspondence <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1 – General</li> <li>Sub-series 2 – Actors’ Equity Association</li> <li>Sub-series 3 – Soldiers and Sailors</li> <li>Sub-series 4 – Prisoners</li> <li>Sub-series 5 – Autographs</li></ul></li> <li>Series III: Professional Projects<ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1 - Productions</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - Radio</li> <li>Sub-series 3 – Clubs</li> <li>Sub-series 4 – Lectures</li> <li>Sub-series 5 – Publications</li> <li>Sub-series 6 – Writings</li> <li>Sub-series 7 – General</li></ul></li> <li>Series IV: Scripts</li> <li>Series V: Legal and Financial Papers<ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1 – Contracts</li> <li>Sub-series 2 – Commission Records</li> <li>Sub-series 3 – Loose Financial Records</li> <li>Sub-series 4 – General</li></ul></li> <li>Series VI: Office Files <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1 – Contact Cards</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - Stock Theaters</li> <li>Sub-series 3 - General</li></ul></li> <li>Series VII: Fritzi Scheff Papers</li> <li>Series VIII: Photographs<ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1 – Personal and Family</li> <li> Sub-series 2 – Performers and Clients</li> <li> Sub-series 3 – General</li></ul></li> <li>Series IX: Clippings</li> <li>Series X: Scrapbooks</li> <li>Series XI: Oversized</li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
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{"value"=>"<p>The Chamberlain and Lyman Brown Papers were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division after Lyman Brown’s death in 1961.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Chamberlain and Lyman Brown Clipping Files at The Billy Rose Theatre Division</p> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Abbott and Costello</li> <li> Abel, Walter</li> <li> <span class=\"title\">Abie’s Irish Rose</span></li> <li> Adler, Larry</li> <li>Adler, Luther</li> <li>Albert, Eddie</li> <li>Albertson, Frank</li> <li>Alexander, Katherine</li> <li>Allen, Fred</li> <li>Allen,Gracie</li> <li>Allyson, June</li> <li> Ameche, Don</li> <li> <span class=\"title\">Amos and Andy</span> (Radio)</li> <li> Anderson, Eddie</li> <li>Anderson, Judith</li> <li> Appleby, Dorothy</li> <li>Arlen, Richard</li> <li>Aumont, Jean-Pierre</li> <li>Autry, Gene (2)</li> <li>Ayres, Lew</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Barrymore, Diana</li> <li>Barthelmess, Richard</li> <li>Baxter, Warner</li> <li>Benny, Jack</li> <li>Blackwood, George</li> <li>Blair, Janet</li> <li>Boyd, William Henry</li> <li>Brice, Fanny</li> <li>Bruce, Virginia</li> <li>Buzzell, Eddie</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Cagney, James</li> <li>Carroll, Madeleine</li> <li>Carter, Mrs. Leslie</li> <li>Chatterton, Ruth</li> <li>Clark, Wallis</li> <li>Collier, Constance</li> <li>Collier, William Jr. (“Buster”)</li> <li>Craig, James</li> <li>Craven, Frank</li> <li>Crawford, Broderick</li> <li>Crewes, Laura Hope</li> <li>Crosby, Bob</li> <li>Crosby, Juliette</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Dale, Violet</li> <li>Della Chiesa, Vivian</li> <li>Dietrich, Marlene</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Etting, Ruth</li> <li> <span class=\"title\">Everyman</span> (Hollywood Bowl)</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Fairbanks, Douglas Jr.</li> <li>Fairbanks, Douglas Sr.</li> <li>Farrell, Charles</li> <li>Farrell, Glenda</li> <li>Feldman, Gladys</li> <li>Fellowes, Rockliffe</li> <li>Foster, Claiborne</li> <li>Foster, Donald</li> <li>Foster, Preston</li> <li>Fox, Harry</li> <li> Francis, Kay</li> <li>Franklyn, Maude</li> <li>Frederick, Pauline</li> <li>Freeman, Helen</li> <li>Frohman, Daniel</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Gable, Clark</li> <li>Gahagan, Helen</li> <li>Gallagher, Skeets</li> <li>Garfield, John</li> <li>Gargan, William (Bill)</li> <li>Garland, Judy</li> <li>Garson, Greer</li> <li>Gateson, Marjorie</li> <li>Gaul, George</li> <li>Gaxton, William</li> <li>Gaythorne, Pamela</li> <li>Gish, Dorothy</li> <li>Goddard, Paulette</li> <li>Grant, Cary</li> <li>Granville, Bonita</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Hall, John</li> <li>Halliday, Robe</li> <li>Hardie, Russell</li> <li>Harding, Ann</li> <li>Hart, William S.</li> <li>Hartman, Paul and Grace</li> <li>Healy, Ted</li> <li>Heflin, Van</li> <li> <span class=\"title\">Hellzapoppin</span></li> <li>Henie, Sonja</li> <li>Henreid, Paul</li> <li>Henry,William (Bill)</li> <li>Holden, William</li> <li>Holt, Tim</li> <li>Hope, Bob</li> <li>Houston, George Fleming</li> <li>Howard, Arthur</li> <li> Howard, Esther</li> <li>Howard, Leslie</li> <li>Huston, Philip</li> <li>Huston, Walter</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>James, Harry</li> <li>Jaus & Whalen</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Kelly, Charles</li> <li>King, Charles</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li> Ladd, Alan</li> <li>Lamour, Dorothy</li> <li> Landi, Elissa</li> <li>Landis, Carole</li> <li>Larrimore, Francine</li> <li>Laughton,Charles</li> <li>LeGallienne, Eva</li> <li> Lederer, Francis</li> <li>Lee, Gypsy Rose</li> <li>Leslie, Joan</li> <li>Levene, Sam</li> <li>Lewis, Joe E.</li> <li>Lindsay, Howard</li> <li>Loftus, Cecilia</li> <li>Lombard, Carole</li> <li>Lowe, Edmund</li> <li>Lyon, Wanda</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>McDowall, Roddy</li> <li>MacMurray, Fred</li> <li>March, Fredric</li> <li>Martin, Mary</li> <li> Martin, Tony</li> <li>Mason, Edgar</li> <li>Mature, Victor</li> <li>Merivale, Phililp</li> <li>Merman,Ethel</li> <li>Miller, Ann</li> <li>Miller, Marilyn</li> <li>Mix, Tom</li> <li>Montez, Maria</li> <li>Montgomery, Douglass</li> <li>Montogmery, George</li> <li>Montgomery, Robert</li> <li> Moore, Grace</li> <li>Moore, Tom</li> <li>Morgan, Dennis</li> <li>Morgan, Frank</li> <li>Morgan, Ralph</li> <li>Morgan, Russ</li> <li>Morley, Karen</li> <li>Morley, Robert</li> <li>Morris, Chester</li> <li>Mortimer, Dorothy</li> <li>Morton, Charles</li> <li>Muni, Paul</li> <li>Murphy, George</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Nelson, Ozzie</li> <li>Niven, David</li> <li>Nolan, Lloyd</li> <li>Norman, Karyl</li> <li>Norton, Barry</li> <li>Novarro, Ramon</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>O’Brien, George</li> <li>O’Brien, Pat</li> <li>O’Brien-Moore, Erin</li> <li> O’Connor, Donald</li> <li>O’Hara, Maureen</li> <li>O’Neill, Nance</li> <li>O’Ramey, Georgia</li> <li>Olsen & Johnson</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Page, Paul</li> <li>Paige, Robert</li> <li>Parks, Valerie</li> <li>Patrick, Gail</li> <li> Paxinou, Katina</li> <li>Pemberton, Virginia</li> <li>Pendleton, Nat</li> <li>Penner, Joe</li> <li>Picon, Molly</li> <li>Pidgeon, Walter</li> <li>Pitts, Zasu</li> <li>Post, Guy-Bates</li> <li> Powell, Eleanor</li> <li>Powell, William</li> <li>Power, Tyrone</li> <li>Preston, Robert</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Raft, George</li> <li>Reagan, Ronald</li> <li>Rennie, James</li> <li>Ring, Blanche</li> <li>Robson, Flora</li> <li>Robson, May</li> <li>Rogers, Ginger</li> <li>Rooney, Mickey</li> <li>Ruggles, Charles</li> <li>Russell, Rosalind</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sanders, George</li> <li> Schildkraut, Joseph</li> <li> Schwartz, Maurice</li> <li>Scott, Randolph</li> <li>Shannon, Effie</li> <li>Shaw, Artie</li> <li>Shaw, Oscar</li> <li>Sheridan, Ann</li> <li>Shirley, Anne</li> <li>Shore, Dinah</li> <li>Sidney, Sylvia</li> <li>Skelton,Red</li> <li>Skinner, Cornelia Otis</li> <li>Smith, Kent</li> <li>Sondergaard, Gale</li> <li>Sothern, Ann</li> <li>Sothern, Georgia</li> <li>Stanwyck, Barbara</li> <li>Starr, Frances</li> <li>Stone, Fred</li> <li>Swarthout, Gladys</li> <li>Swanson, Gloria</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li> Taylor, Laurette</li> <li> Taylor, Robert</li> <li>Tellegen, Lou</li> <li> Tierney, Gene</li> <li>Trevor, Claire</li> <li>Truex, Ernest</li> <li> Turner, Lana</li> <li>Ulric, Lenore</li> <li>Underwood, Frances</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Vail, Lester</li> <li>Valaire, Valerie</li> <li>Vallee, Rudy</li> <li>Varconi, Victor</li> <li>Vermilyea, Harold</li> <li>Vosselli, Judith</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Wagstaff, Joseph</li> <li>Walker, Charlotte</li> <li>Wallace, Regina</li> <li>Walton, Florence</li> <li>Ware, Helen</li> <li>Waring, Fred</li> <li>Watson, Lucile</li> <li>Wayne, John</li> <li>Webb, Clifton</li> <li>Weissmuller, Johnny (2)</li> <li>Weston, Ruth</li> <li>Wilson, Marie</li> <li> Winchell, Walter</li> <li>Winwood, Estelle</li> <li>Wood, Peggy</li> <li>Zender, Marguerite</li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Ziegfeld, Flo</li> <li>Zorina, Vera</li></ul> <p>T-Cabinet</p> <ul class=\"list\"> <li> 2 wooden blocks with Chamberlain Brown and Lyman Brown’s names printed in black ink. Names are written in English and in Japanese.</li></ul>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Camille Croce Dee; Machine-readable finding aid created by Camille Croce Dee.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Chamberlain and Lyman Brown Theater Diaries - *T-Mss 2002-010</p>"}
- date_start
-
1849
- keydate
-
1849
- date_end
-
1961
- date_inclusive_start
-
1849
- date_inclusive_end
-
1961