Found 6 collections related to Performing arts -- United States

Nathan "Nate" Salsbury (1846-1902) was producer and manager of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, a highly successful show business enterprise that toured the United States, Europe, and elsewhere from the 1880s well into the 20th century, and featured William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Born in Illinois in 1846, Nathan Salsbury entered the U. S. Army while still in his teens, first as a drummer boy and eventually as a soldier with the 89th Illinois Regiment of Infantry, fighting in Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas. After the war, he became an actor in various stock companies, appeared for a time with his own troupe, Salsbury's Troubadours, then retired from performing in 1887. Meanwhile, in 1883, Salsbury had been a key figure in the launch of Buffalo Bill's Wild West, an outdoor extravaganza that dramatized frontier life, built around the personality of onetime soldier, scout and hunter William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917). The show, which also starred sharpshooter Annie Oakley and, for one season, Chief Sitting Bull, was a worldwide success for many years, outlasting its producer and manager Nate Salsbury, who died on Christmas Eve of 1902, at the age of 56. His daughter Rebecca Salsbury James (1891-1968) was an artist who lived for most of her life in Taos, New Mexico. Consists of a typescript of Nate Salsbury's reminiscences, much of which concerns his Civil War experiences, his life as a touring actor, and, briefly, his years with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. In addition to Salsbury's memoir, there are four folders of correspondence, mostly written to Rebecca Salsbury, although there is one telegram to Cody and Salsbury from actor Henry Irving. There is one letter dated 1917 to Rebecca's brother Milton Salsbury from actor James O'Neill, and a number of condolence letters to Rebecca upon Milton's death in August 1927, including one from James' son, playwright Eugene O'Neill. There is also a two-page account, written in 1943 by Wild West Show factotum Harry Tarleton, of a musical production Nate Salsbury mounted around 1895 called Black America, which featured an all African-American cast, and toured several cities in the U.S. before it disbanded. less

Fred H. Wilson was a professional stilt-walker, who performed at fundraising events and in other venues in the New York area during the 1920s. Consists of eight letters written to stilt-walker Fred H. Wilson, most of which pertain to his annual performances at the New York Police Department's September Field Day event. There is also a letter from motion picture industry spokesman Will Hays, thanking Mr. Wilson for his performance at a charity drive. The Hays letter includes a tiny snippet of film printed onto paper stock, featuring several frames depicting a stilt-walker, presumably Wilson. There are also two letters from the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York, arranging Wilson's appearance in a 1924 production of Rimsky-Korsakov's COQ D'OR. less

The George DeMott papers consist of correspondence, some diaries/appointment books, contracts, photographs, and scrapbooks. This material is almost all business related, and there are no significant personal papers. The papers are divided into two distinct parts, with some overlap: items such as contracts and correspondence that relate to the career of Mr. DeMott, and items such as posters, brochures, etc., that he collected, and placed into scrapbooks. The section of the DeMott papers devoted to Booking Agencies and Agents (Series IV) is divided into 18 sub-series, and contains a great deal of correspondence detailing the difficulties George DeMott and his wife Fanny faced booking their act into schools. The scrapbooks comprise the bulk of the collection and contain a variety of items, including clippings, posters, brochures, correspondence, handbills, fliers, photographs, and programs. The oversized material includes a poster and a road map. less

Lew White (1902?-1955) was a keyboard musician who specialized as an organist, touring theaters and college campuses across the United States, performing on radio, in short films, and recording for various companies. Born in Philadelphia, Lew White studied violin as a boy with his father, a prominent music teacher, and later graduated from the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. In the silent movie era White provided accompaniment for films, and for a time was in charge of the 'Mighty Wurlitzer' organ at New York's Roxy Theatre, accompanying live stage shows. During the period when talkies were replacing live entertainment White continued to tour the United States as a successful attraction. In addition to his performing, White also maintained a studio in New York, the White Institute of Organ, Inc., where he gave music lessons and sold organs. Lew White was also active in the development of new electrical keyboard instruments such as the Electrovox. Lew White died in New York in March of 1955 at the age of 52. The Lew White papers consist mostly of correspondence concerning White's career as a touring performer in the mid-1930s. Although White had an agent who managed his bookings, it appears that he nonetheless handled much of his own business and promotional correspondence himself. Most of his letters concern the business side of touring, such as scheduling, fees, ticketing, advertising, etc. There is also material pertaining to a 1934 variety show radio broadcast in which Lew White participated as performer and director. less

Clyde Earl was a radio announcer, night club comic, violinist, and vaudeville performer. The Clyde Earl scrapbook consists of clippings, photographs (some of which are inscribed), postcards, menus, and other ephemera, pertaining to Clyde Earl's career as a master of ceremonies, comic, and musician, on radio, in night clubs, on cruise ships, and other venues. less

The Breen family was one of the popular performing families of American show business, playing the stages of America, Australia, and elsewhere during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Patriarch Thomas D. Breen, born of Irish immigrants in Massachusetts in 1868, fled his hometown as a teenager with a travelling medicine show. After a brief spell as a blackface minstrel, Breen honed his juggling skills and began touring the vaudeville circuits of the United States and the music halls of Europe. Breen and his first wife had four children, and, after her death, he remarried and had five more, one of whom died in infancy. Seven of the surviving Breen children joined their father in his stage act, either juggling, dancing, doing acrobatics, playing a musical instrument, or some combination of these skills. After the family act broke up around 1921, the younger Breens formed a number of specialty acts, either solo or with partners from outside the family, and continued performing in vaudeville, musical comedy, nightclubs, movies, and in the circus. Consists of a bound typescript written by Charles Breen (b. 1908), the youngest and only non-performing member of the Breen Family, accompanied by a portfolio of photographs of the various Breens. The typescript was apparently written during the late 1980s/early 1990s, completed in 1993, then privately bound under the title MEMOIRS AND STUFF. The text is divided into two sections, the first of which, entitled "The Show Business Breens," gives a general history of the Breens' professional careers, as a group and as solo performers. The first section is 75 pages and ends with a Breen family career chronology. In Book 2, "The Maverick," Charles Breen explains why he chose not to join the family act, and details his own career, first as a jazz musician, later as an electrical engineer. This section consists of 164 pages plus one errata slip. The portfolio of photographs includes pictures of all the performing Breens, and also includes a photo inscribed to the Breens by silent film star Ramon Novarro. less