Harrigan, Edward, 1844-1911
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1941-003
Correspondence, scripts, songs, articles, programs and clippings document the life and career of Edward Harrigan. Includes extensive correspondence with his wife when he was touring with Tony Hart in the 1870s, photocopies of typescripts of a few...
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Correspondence, scripts, songs, articles, programs and clippings document the life and career of Edward Harrigan. Includes extensive correspondence with his wife when he was touring with Tony Hart in the 1870s, photocopies of typescripts of a few works in his MULLIGAN GUARD series and two handwritten scripts: DAN'S TRIBULATIONS and SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY, bound volumes of his songs and illustrated sheet music covers.
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Pastor, Tony, 1837-1908
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1995-028
3.5 linear feet (7 boxes)
Tony Pastor is considered the "Father of American Vaudeville". The collection consists of photographs (mostly of Tony Pastor), manuscript scripts and actor's sides for vaudeville skits, handbills, a limited amount of correspondence and personal...
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Tony Pastor is considered the "Father of American Vaudeville". The collection consists of photographs (mostly of Tony Pastor), manuscript scripts and actor's sides for vaudeville skits, handbills, a limited amount of correspondence and personal papers, personal memorabilia of Mrs. Tony Pastor, some clippings, and correspondence between the original purchaser of the collection, Charles Hechler, Jr., and the musicologist Sigmund Spaeth.
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Morton, Harry K.
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 2014-128
.5 linear feet (1 box, 2 volumes)
Harry K. Morton (1889-1956) was a performer in vaudeville and musical comedies. He was married to fellow vaudeville performer Zella Russell (d. 1952). Morton's parents, Harry K. Morton, Sr. (d. 1919) and Annie Duncan (1853-1902), were also variety...
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Harry K. Morton (1889-1956) was a performer in vaudeville and musical comedies. He was married to fellow vaudeville performer Zella Russell (d. 1952). Morton's parents, Harry K. Morton, Sr. (d. 1919) and Annie Duncan (1853-1902), were also variety performers. The Harry K. Morton family scrapbooks and memorabilia date from 1880 to 1950. The collection consists of a scrapbook on the life and career of Harry K. Morton, Sr. and a scrapbook and loose photographs, clippings, and programs documenting the career of Harry K. Morton. The Harry K. Morton, Sr. scrapbook contains material dating from 1880 to 1906 and includes clippings, poems, lyrics, handbills, and other ephemera concerning Morton, Duncan, and their associates. The scrapbook also contains two cabinet cards with photographs of Morton and Duncan. The Harry K. Morton scrapbook primarily documents
The Sweetheart Shop, a 1920 musical comedy; Morton and Russell appeared in the show on Broadway and toured with the show from 1920 to 1921. The scrapbook contains clippings, photographs, theater programs, and other ephemera. Loose materials include promotional photographs of Morton and Russell; clippings from the 1920s; programs for a 1950 tour of
Blossom Time; and a 1927 program published by Melbourne's Plays and Players.
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Bowman, Betty, 1906-1995
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1996-034
The Betty Bowman ephemera collection documents her life and career during the 1920's and contains photographs, clippings and a manuscript autobiography. The collection is mainly photographs of Betty Bowman, her sister Grace, her husband,...
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The Betty Bowman ephemera collection documents her life and career during the 1920's and contains photographs, clippings and a manuscript autobiography. The collection is mainly photographs of Betty Bowman, her sister Grace, her husband, bandleader Joe Smith and friends she worked with while performing in the early 1920s. Her autobiography tells of growing up out West and finally ending up in New York on the stage.
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Goldberg, Harold, 1898-1960
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-MSS 1996-005
Collection consists of correspondence, clippings, awards, programs and photographs that span Goldberg's career. The correspondence is mostly incoming, on both personal and professional matters, primarily letters of thanks, bulk dated 1950-1956....
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Collection consists of correspondence, clippings, awards, programs and photographs that span Goldberg's career. The correspondence is mostly incoming, on both personal and professional matters, primarily letters of thanks, bulk dated 1950-1956. Correspondents include Oscar and Dorothy Hammerstein, Leland Hayward and Louis R. Lurie. Programs are for the Plantation Revue, a vaudeville act, which he managed in 1923 and photographs include a shot of Goldberg with Moscow stagehands in 1926. The collection, though small, gives some sense of the range and variety of Goldberg's career.
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Milliken, J. F., (James Foster), 1847-1917
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1986-010
J. F. Milliken was an agent for vaudeville entertainers. His papers contain letters documenting vaudeville in the late 1800s.
Adair, Jean, 1873-1953
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1953-001
The Jean Adair papers document the early part of Ms. Adair's career through clippings, correspondence, photographs and ephemera. The materials span the years 1914-1936, though most of the collection documents the years 1914-1928.
Sanderson, Julia
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T Mss 1962-001
The Julia Sanderson papers consist of correspondence, ephemera and scrapbooks of clippings and photographs documenting the careers of Julia Sanderson and her husband, Frank Crumit. The papers span the years 1913-1935 and contain materials...
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The Julia Sanderson papers consist of correspondence, ephemera and scrapbooks of clippings and photographs documenting the careers of Julia Sanderson and her husband, Frank Crumit. The papers span the years 1913-1935 and contain materials primarily from the theatrical careers. No material is included for their years in radio.
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Kayton Sisters
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1993-012
.4 linear feet (2 boxes)
The Kayton Sisters, Jean, Lillian (sometimes known as Babe), and occasionally a third sister, Cecyl, were dancers of the vaudeville era. They performed across the United States in the 1920s and then set up their own dancing school in the 1930s....
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The Kayton Sisters, Jean, Lillian (sometimes known as Babe), and occasionally a third sister, Cecyl, were dancers of the vaudeville era. They performed across the United States in the 1920s and then set up their own dancing school in the 1930s. The Kayton Sisters Studios, in Queens and the Bronx, continued into the 1950s. Collection consists of two scrapbooks of clippings, programs and a few photographs reflecting the careers of the Kayton sisters. There are also some loose programs for the annual revues at their studio and some unidentified photographs of their students that they received as gifts.
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McComas, Carroll, d. 1962
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1996-043
The Carroll McComas papers span the years 1914-1962 and document aspects of her life and career from the early days of vaudeville until her death in 1962. Included is correspondence about her ANTA guest artist appearance in THE GLASS MENAGERIE....
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The Carroll McComas papers span the years 1914-1962 and document aspects of her life and career from the early days of vaudeville until her death in 1962. Included is correspondence about her ANTA guest artist appearance in THE GLASS MENAGERIE. The bulk of the collection however, is photographs that represent many productions in which McComas appeared including THE JOLLY ROGER, NIGHT HAWK and the motion picture JAMAICA RUN.
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Fields, Fanny
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 2012-033
3.7 linear feet (11 boxes, 1 volume)
Happy Fanny Fields (born Fanny Furman, circa 1881-1961) was an American actress, dancer, and comedian who found great success in British pantomime theater in the first decade of the twentieth century. The collection documents Fields's professional...
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Happy Fanny Fields (born Fanny Furman, circa 1881-1961) was an American actress, dancer, and comedian who found great success in British pantomime theater in the first decade of the twentieth century. The collection documents Fields's professional life in New York and Europe, with an emphasis on her career in Britain. The bulk of the materials are scrapbooks, writings, and photographs, with contracts, letters, programs, and posters also included.
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Mack, Nila, 1891-1953
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T Mss 1953-002
The Nila Mack papers contain correspondence, personal papers and ephemera, photographs, clippings and scrapbooks. The clippings and scrapbooks provide a complete overview of her life and career and span the years 1910 until her death in 1953.
Lee, Gypsy Rose, 1914-1970
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1990-014
Papers documenting the life and career of Gypsy Rose Lee.
Stone, Harry, 1928-
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1994-004
.84 linear feet (2 boxes, 1 volume)
Harry Stone, also known as Israel Breakstone (born circa 1900), was an entertainer who worked on the vaudeville circuit in New York and Pennsylvania for about 15 years in the 1920s and 1930s. The Harry Stone papers, dating from 1915 to 1977, hold...
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Harry Stone, also known as Israel Breakstone (born circa 1900), was an entertainer who worked on the vaudeville circuit in New York and Pennsylvania for about 15 years in the 1920s and 1930s. The Harry Stone papers, dating from 1915 to 1977, hold source material for his comedic skits, photographs, scrapbooks, and an address book.
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Woolf, Stanley, 1899-1959
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1960-007
5 volumes (.75 linear feet)
Stanley Woolf was born in New York City and moved to Milwaukee as an older child. He returned to New York as an adolescent and became an avid theatre-goer. By the mid-1920s he was performing with the Keith-Albee Vaudeville circuit with his own...
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Stanley Woolf was born in New York City and moved to Milwaukee as an older child. He returned to New York as an adolescent and became an avid theatre-goer. By the mid-1920s he was performing with the Keith-Albee Vaudeville circuit with his own comedy and dance act called "The Vest Pocket Revue," and later in an act titled "Clowning's Quite Clever." In 1932 he began working as an indedendent booking agent for the vaudeville circuit and later with the Columbia Entertainment Bureau. In 1933, Woolf was arrested and then paroled on federal charges of passing counterfeit money. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1942 and worked as an actor-director during his service. He also directed the Orpheum Players of the Orpheum Theatre in Reading, Penn., in the early 1940s. After World War II, Woolf directed the Civic Drama Guild, which toured plays and musicals, and later established the Stanley Woolf Players and the Stanley Woolf Circuit, which took theatrical performances to summer resorts in the Eastern United States. Woolf, named "the Belasco of the Borscht Belt," died in 1959. The two earliest scrapbooks document theatrical performances Woolf attended in New York City between 1912 and 1919. The three later scrapbooks document his performances as a vaudevillian, his service in the Army, and his work as an producer-director in the 1940s The scrapbooks contain primarily clippings, with some ticket stubs, programs, and promotional materials; there are three photographs in Volume 3.
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Marks, Edward B. (Edward Bennett), 1865-1945
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 2013-147
.71 linear feet (3 boxes)
E. B. Marks (1865-1945) was an American music publisher who founded the Edward B. Marks Music Company. The E. B. Marks collection of photographs and ephemera consist of clippings, publications, photographs, programs, promotional material, and...
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E. B. Marks (1865-1945) was an American music publisher who founded the Edward B. Marks Music Company. The E. B. Marks collection of photographs and ephemera consist of clippings, publications, photographs, programs, promotional material, and other materials. Most of the clippings and publications date from about the 1930s to the 1940s and concern television and radio broadcasting, music, and film. There are programs from the first annual conference of the Television Broadcasters Association in 1944. Clippings concern the early development of television, film advertising, and individual musicians, among other topics. There are also clippings on theater from about the 1910s to the 1920s, and one folder of clippings on the evangelist Billy Sunday, dating to the 1910s. The collection contains programs for performances and lectures, which date from 1875 to 1911 and come from American theaters. The photographs in the collection are mostly of performers. There are a large number of photographs of vaudeville minstrel Eddie Leonard, as well as caricatures of Leonard, and a photograph of his wife, Mabel Russell. The collection contains one photograph identified as E. B. Marks. The collection includes several play scenarios, script excerpts, and song lyrics, including two scenarios in French by Charles Méré. The collection also contains a booklet produced by NBC's Radio-Recording Division, called "Family Album" and showing photographs of the division's employees; brochures and posters for "Lest We Forget," an educational radio series about American history and government created by the Institute of Oral and Visual Education; and a pedigree for a Jersey bull, Gold Dust the Fourth, dated 1882.
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Stephens, Leona
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 2004-009
.21 linear feet (1 box)
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...
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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.
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Morey and Eaton
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1993-037
.67 linear feet (2 boxes)
Dorothy Morey and Harry Eaton were variety performers who had a singing, talking, and dancing act that they performed in vaudeville theaters across the United States. The pair, who were married, performed as Murray and Fayne (or Fane) in the 1920s...
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Dorothy Morey and Harry Eaton were variety performers who had a singing, talking, and dancing act that they performed in vaudeville theaters across the United States. The pair, who were married, performed as Murray and Fayne (or Fane) in the 1920s and 1930s, and began performing as Morey and Eaton in the 1940s. The Morey and Eaton papers contain scripts, scores, notes, clippings, correspondence, ephemera, and photographs dating from 1926 to 1953. The collection contains scripts, notes, and scenarios for sketches written by Eaton and Morey; several sketches by Jack "Snooze" Kinneard; and sketches by unidentified authors. There are two proposals for television game shows, written by Eaton, dating to the early 1950s. Scores include songs by Eaton such as "I Wish I Could Afford to Live the Life I'm Livin'"; songs by Eaton and Anne Barry including "You Helped Me to Forget" and "How Can I Ever Tell Him"; "I Want to Be an Iceman" by Dorothy Murray; and songs by Anita La Pierre. Clippings contain reviews and advertisements for Morey and Eaton from the 1930s and 1940s. The collection includes a small amount of correspondence and ephemera, mostly pertaining to Eaton, including contracts and letters regarding bookings. There is a pedigree for one of Morey and Eaton's pet Chihuahuas; their Chihuahuas sometimes appeared in their act. The collection also contains three promotional photographs and a printing plate depicting Morey and Eaton.
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Burian, Grayce S.
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1996-045
2.18 linear feet (6 boxes)
Aileen Stanley was a popular singer and vaudeville performer active from the 1900s through the 1930s. The Grayce Burian collection of Aileen Stanley materials (1898-1983) was assembled by Burian in the preparation of a biography of Stanley. The...
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Aileen Stanley was a popular singer and vaudeville performer active from the 1900s through the 1930s. The Grayce Burian collection of Aileen Stanley materials (1898-1983) was assembled by Burian in the preparation of a biography of Stanley. The collection includes correspondence, research notes, scrapbooks, photographs, promotional materials, and other memorabilia from Stanley's career.
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Doyle, Little Buddy
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 2006-018
.88 linear feet (3 boxes); 22.19 gb (645 computer files)
Peggy Hoover and her husband, Buddy Doyle, were American vaudevillians and performers for Broadway and film. The collection (1905-1949) documents their careers through scrapbooks, photographs, and sheet music.
Locke, Robinson, 1856-1920
Billy Rose Theatre Division | NAFR+
107.94 linear feet (518 volumes, 574 other items)
The Robinson Locke collection consists of scrapbooks and portfolios containing clippings, programs, photographs, prints, letters and other ephemera documenting American theater history.
Hoffman, Aaron, 1880-1924
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 2007-023
13.86 linear feet (33 boxes)
Aaron Hoffman (1880-1924) was a playwright, best known as a writer for vaudeville. The Aaron Hoffman papers (1900s-1926) contain scripts, synopses, notes, and background material for Hoffman's plays, vaudeville acts, and films. The papers also...
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Aaron Hoffman (1880-1924) was a playwright, best known as a writer for vaudeville. The Aaron Hoffman papers (1900s-1926) contain scripts, synopses, notes, and background material for Hoffman's plays, vaudeville acts, and films. The papers also hold a small number of scripts written by other authors.
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Mandel, Harry, 1902-1988
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1993-025
1 linear foot (2 boxes)
Primarily printed material and business papers documenting the career of vaudeville and movie promoter, Harry Mandel, from the 1920s to the1960s at RKO and its predecessors.
De Grossart, Frances
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 2001-047
1.09 linear feet (3 boxes)
Frances De Grossart and Muriel Window were vaudeville singers who toured together as Muriel and Frances from 1912 to 1914. De Grossart retired from vaudeville after marrying George Ebey, manager of the Fulton Playhouse in Oakland, California. The...
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Frances De Grossart and Muriel Window were vaudeville singers who toured together as Muriel and Frances from 1912 to 1914. De Grossart retired from vaudeville after marrying George Ebey, manager of the Fulton Playhouse in Oakland, California. The Frances De Grossart and Muriel Window photographs, clippings, and ephemera include publicity photographs for De Grossart and Window, together and alone; a scrapbook documenting Window's performance career from 1906 to 1914 (box 3, folder 4); and a large number of photographs of De Grossart and her family. The De Grossart family photographs date from the 1870s to the 1950s; the bulk were taken between the 1910s and early 1930s in Oakland and Los Angeles. There is also a small number of letters, postcards, and loose clippings related to De Grossart's family
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Ray, Happy
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1997-005
2.2 linear feet (5 boxes, 1 oversized folder)
Happy Ray was a burlesque and vaudeville comedian active from the 1920s to the 1950s. The Happy Ray scripts (1920s-1950s) contain over 150 stage plays, musicals, and skits produced by his companies.
Overman, Lynne, 1887-1943
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 2013-140
.84 linear feet (2 boxes)
Lynne Overman (1887-1943) was a comedic actor who was active in vaudeville and on Broadway between 1907 and 1933. His collection of scripts dates from about 1915 to 1933, and consist of scripts for comedic plays and sketches, many of which Overman...
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Lynne Overman (1887-1943) was a comedic actor who was active in vaudeville and on Broadway between 1907 and 1933. His collection of scripts dates from about 1915 to 1933, and consist of scripts for comedic plays and sketches, many of which Overman performed in. There is also one radio script. Some of the scripts have handwritten changes or annotations. Scripts for one-act plays and sketches include "Mary's Ankle" by May Tully, "Dog Eat Dog" by Homer Mason, "Good Time Charlie" by Paul Gerard Smith, "The Highest Bidder" by Everett Ruskay, and "The Professional Fool" by Eric Blore. Ruskay's and Blore's scripts have extensive handwritten changes. Scripts for longer plays include
Farewell Performance by James Ramsey Ullman;
Button, Button by Maurice Clark;
The Death Ray by Harry Mountford; and two different versions of
Snare Drum by Louise Closser Hale (accompanied by a short note from Hale). There is one script for a proposed Canada Dry Ginger Ale radio program.
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Hennessy, Roland Burke, 1870-1939
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 2004-020
.67 linear feet (2 boxes)
Roland Burke Hennessy (1870-1939) was an editor, publisher, drama critic, and poet. He founded the theatrical publication the New York Star and was its editor from 1908 to 1936. He became editor of the more
Roland Burke Hennessy (1870-1939) was an editor, publisher, drama critic, and poet. He founded the theatrical publication the
New York Star and was its editor from 1908 to 1936. He became editor of the
Vaudeville News, a publication of the Keith circuit, when it merged with the
New York Star. He was also publisher and editor of the periodical
Radio World. The Roland Burke Hennessy papers (1858-1935, bulk 1900-1930) contain photographs of vaudeville performers, producers, and other associates of Hennessy's; letters, cards, and telegrams to Hennessy; clippings; programs; and miscellaneous other materials. The bulk of the programs are for vaudeville shows and plays in New York City theaters. Subjects of the letters include Hennessy's poems, publications, writings, and other activities. There are letters regarding his poem
Liberty Aflame, which was adapted into a vaudeville spectacle in 1917. Photographs include images of E.F. Albee, Lew Dockstader, Blanche Ring, and Maude Adams as Peter Pan. Hennessy was friends with actor Louis Mann, who is represented in the collection by photographs, letters, clippings, and programs. There are also programs and clipings from the career of Hennessy's wife, Muriel McArthur, who acted with Mann in
Julie Bonbon (1906). The collection includes printed copies of two poems by Hennessy. The earliest item in the collection is an 1858 program for a Philadelphia performance of
An Unequal Match and
Blanche of Brandywine. The collection includes some photocopies and annotations by Hennessy's daughter, Cecile Burke Barnett.
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Kingsley, Walter J.
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 2005-020
1.4 linear feet (1 box, 7 volumes)
Walter J. Kingsley was an American press agent and journalist. He reported for the New York
Telegraph and for the London
Daily Express before beginning his career as a press agent in the 1900s....
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Walter J. Kingsley was an American press agent and journalist. He reported for the New York
Telegraph and for the London
Daily Express before beginning his career as a press agent in the 1900s. From the 1910s until 1928, Kingsley was the general press representative for United Booking Offices and B.F. Keith theaters in New York. In 1928, he became press representative for Florenz Ziegfeld. The Walter J. Kingsley papers date from 1899 to 1935 and contains clippings, correspondence, and photographs and caricatures of Kingsley. Most of the material is mounted in scrapbooks, but some is loose. The first scrapbook in the collection documents Kingsley's early work as a journalist, notably his reporting on Alberto Santos-Dumont's dirigible flights in 1901. The scrapbook also documents a hoax that Kingsley orchestrated that same year, in which he convinced many American newspapers that a British syndicate had wagered $150,000 against a Pittsburgh syndicate over the outcome of a yacht race. Scrapbooks dating from the 1910s to the 1920s contain Kingsley's articles on the Keith-Albee vaudeville circuit and other entertainment topics, as well as his writings on being a publicist and his published poems (often on entertainment topics). Kingsley's name appeared frequently in newspapers, and the scrapbooks contain many articles about his activities, including theater-related anecdotes and his involvement in the Manhattan Cheese Club in the 1920s. Materials dating after Kingsley's death in 1929 include letters to his widow, Francesca Carmen, poems by his daughter Gloria Kathleen Kingsley, and a comedy sketch by his daughter from his first marriage, screenwriter Dorothy Kingsley. The collection includes a manuscript of an unpublished biography of Kingsley by Edward Morley Barrows. The biography spans Kingsley's whole career, including his time covering the Russo-Japanese War for the
Daily Mail under the pen name "Stephen England," and his work as a war correspondent during the Boer War. The collection also contains poems signed by Edwin Markham, a letter sent to the
Daily Express in 1900 by a representative of Markham's, and a biographical pamphlet about Markham.
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Rowley family
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1997-039
.3 linear feet (1 box)
The collection consists of scrapbook pages of clippings, photographs, and programs documenting the careers of the Rowley theatrical family, especially that of actor Edward M. Rowley.
Kidder, Edward E., 1846-1927
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 2014-103
4.2 linear feet (10 boxes)
The Edward E. Kidder scripts, dated c. 1883 to 1911, document his career as a playwright for Broadway and touring companies.