Found 895 collections.

The Ilka Chase Papers consist of correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, scripts, scrapbooks and other material related to the career of Ilka Chase. There is also considerable material related to the career of her mother, Edna Woolman Chase, and to "Vogue" magazine. There is a large amount of personal correspondence, especially between Ilka Chase and her mother. The collection also contains the entire run of scripts from a radio program hosted by Ilka Chase from January 1951 to October 1951 and a complete run of articles for a syndicated newspaper column from 1955 to 1964. The photograph collection contains photos of Ilka Chase both in her professional career and private life, Edna Woolman Chase, and other celebrities, including Mr. and Mrs. Eugene O'Neill. less

Producers' files for a proposed pre-Broadway tryout of In the Summer House by Jane Bowles at the Westport Playhouse in August 1950 consist primarily of correspondence and contracts relating to casting by Robert T. Ingham, assistant to John C. Wilson who intended to produce the show with Oliver Smith. The show was to be directed by Garson Kanin and star Ruth Gordon, but was ultimately cancelled. Collection also includes telegrams from the producers and director, a clipping about the cancellation, a script from the 1953 Broadway production, and a thorough transcription of the entire collection prepared by the seller. 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 collection contains portraits in photographs, drawings and reproductions of drawings of individuals involved in the entertainment arts. The portraits were created by G. Maillard Kesslère from 1925 through 1952, with the bulk of them amassed from 1925 to about 1946. The subjects include actors, dancers, singers, musicians, composers, conductors, critics, writers, directors, producers, and designers for the theater, dance, ballet, opera, radio, and television. The largest group in the collection consists of approximately 858 portraits in half-length, bust, or head only formats, and includes 589 black and white photographs, approximately 30 original pastel or charcoal drawings, and some 239 black and white photomechanical reproductions of original drawings. Over 500 of the subjects in this group are identified. The collection also includes a series of black and white photos of male and female subjects who are largely unidentified, but who were likely active in society, business, or the performing arts. The collection also contains biographies of theatre and entertainment professionals, compiled from 1951-1952. less

Gene Feist (1923-) is an American artistic director, playwright, producer, director and teacher. In 1965 he co-founded the Roundabout Theatre Company, of which he served as Artistic Director until 1988. The Gene Feist Papers document the personal and professional life Gene Feist and the history of the Roundabout Theatre Company. Types of materials in this collection include personal correspondence, production files, topical files, drafts of scripts, photographs, playbills and programs, reviews, publicity materials, business files and personal ephemera. less

The Peninsula Circuit Stock Company, co-managed by Burton Mallory and Frank E. Craig, was a theatrical company formed during the summer of 1926 in order to tour the Eastern Shore states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Burton Mallory was born in 1883, and worked as an actor for many years, appearing in twelve Broadway productions. Mallory's credits include the premiere of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's ONCE IN A LIFETIME (1930), the 1950 staging of Shakespeare's AS YOU LIKE IT which starred Katharine Hepburn, and the 1950-51 revival of TWENTIETH CENTURY featuring Gloria Swanson and Jose Ferrer. Burton Mallory died in 1962. The Peninsula Circuit Stock Company papers consist mostly of correspondence from theater managers of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia concerning Burton Mallory's proposed tour for the 1926-27 theater season. Included are two detailed letters from Burton Mallory setting his terms for the tour, a map of the Eastern Shore area, a list of the towns on the Eastern Shore and their approximate populations, a list of the major newspapers of the area, and a list of plays that may have been performed on the tour or were at least considered for performance, including UP IN MABEL'S ROOM, THE BAT, SO THIS IS LONDON and THE CAT AND THE CANARY. 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

Phyllis Merrill, writer of scripts, speeches and advertising copy. Her papers include her writings from the J. Walter Thompson Co. Commercials for RCA, as well as scripts from radio and television programs form the bulk of the collection. There is also a small amount of memos and documents from the J. Walter Thompson Co. less

The Brooks Atkinson papers contain correspondence, awards, personal papers, photographs, ephemera, scrapbooks, datebooks, clippings and subject files and document his life and career as a drama critic for the New York Times. The papers span the years 1904-1980. Significant in the correspondence are letters from notables figures of the theater community including writers, actors, scholars and other journalists. Included in these are Sean O'Casey, Tennessee Williams, Thornton Wilder, Eugene and Carlota O'Neill, Robert W. Anderson, Maxwell Anderson, Clifford Odets, Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, to name a few. less

Beatrice Lillie was an actress and comedian. The collection was created by Bruce Laffey, her biographer, and contains correspondence and photographs documenting Beatrice Lillie's career. Most of the correspondence is either to Bruce Laffey from Beatrice Lillie or about her. less

An entertainer born in Buffalo, N.Y., Bruce Raeburn began his career in vaudeville, but was primarily a pianist singer. He toured in the operettas BLOSSOM TIME and MY MARYLAND, served in the Navy, acquired a 15-minute daily radio program and, in 1944, obtained a regular engagement as a singing pianist at the Monkey Bar (New York, N.Y.) where he stayed for eight years. Raeburn also appeared in bit parts on stage and television and performed at various clubs in the United States and elsewhere including Brazil, Argentina and the Virgin Islands. The collection, which was housed in two scrapbooks, is almost entirely photographs. The first scrapbook consists of professional photographs; the second is mostly personal photographs and programs from the summer of 1953 season of the Theatre-By-The-Sea (Matunuck, R.I.), where Raeburn performed at the Theatre-Inn-by-the-Sea supper club in the evenings and posed with actors such as Marlon Brando and Carol Channing during the day. less

Burl Ives was a singer, an author and a film, television and theater actor from the late 1930s through the 1980s. This collection contains material from 1913 through 1975, but the majority of the materials are from the 1950s and 1960s. The materials in the collection cover the various aspects of Ives’ professional career. less

Actor and comedy writer, Joey Faye was born Joseph Anthony Palladino in New York City in 1910. He made his debut in vaudeville and performed in burlesque, 1931-1938. He went on to appear in plays, movies, radio, television and night clubs, had his own television show, the 54th St. Revue on CBS, and was the author of the Floogle Street sketch and other comedy pieces. Collection consists of typescript photocopies of 34 burlesque skits by Faye who also performed in them. Includes Floogle Street. 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

The Everyman Theatre was founded by Norman Macdermott in 1920 as a non-commercial, experimental playhouse which showcased the plays of Bernard Shaw. It mounted Noel Coward's first successful work, The Vortex, in 1924 and introduced many foreign dramatists to the English stage including Eugene O'Neill, Henrik Ibsen and Luigi Pirandello. In the 1930s it was used by various small companies and in 1947 it was converted to a cinema specializing in non-commercial and foreign film. Records document the performance schedule and cast for the Everyman Theatre, 1920-1923. They consist of two time books (one bound notebook and one small booklet) listing curtain times for each act of every production, one notebook of staff wages, and loose receipts, mostly for costumes. less

The Schindler papers consist of correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, pencil drawings, programmes, production schedules, and other material related to the career of Ewald Schindler. The collection includes extensive correspondence between Schindler and Liljan Espenak as well as photographic material, covering both Schindler's life and many of his dramatic roles. less

Ewing Cherry was an American stage actor with years of touring experience. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Ewing Cherry (sometimes billed as V. E. Cherry) made his stage debut in WITHIN THE LAW in Chicago in 1916. Soon afterwards Cherry was working in vaudeville in a skit called OUT OF LUCK. He went on to play juvenile leads for various stock companies in such shows as MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH and THE LITTLE SPITFIRE through the 1910s and 1920s. His Broadway credits include WHAT PRICE GLORY?, SKIDDING with Glenda Farrell, THE NIGHT BEFORE with Franchot Tone, and MARCHING MEN (1930) with Leon Ames. Cherry also acted in radio drama. After a period of retirement, he returned to the stage for a role in the Off-Broadway production of Sean O'Casey's RED ROSES FOR ME (1961), then appeared in O'Casey's MOON SHINES ON KYLENAMOE and in Nikolai Evreinov's THE CHIEF THING (1963), his last professional credit. Ewing Cherry died in New York City on March 30, 1969. The Ewing Cherry papers span 1916 to 1962, and consist of letters to Ewing Cherry from employers and friends, a number of contracts securing Mr. Cherry's services as an actor for various stock companies between 1917 and 1927, three booklets (1920-23) introducing the members of the Gene Lewis-Olga Worth stock company, photographs of Ewing Cherry in a variety of characterizations, playbills for a dozen plays in which Ewing Cherry appeared, press releases, fliers, telegrams to and from Ewing Cherry, and clippings of reviews which mention his performances. less

American actress on stage and film, Fannie Ward was probably most famous for her apparently successful efforts to appear forever young. Born circa 1868, she made her stage debut in 1890, was in Hollywood films 1915-1919, and called the perennial flapper, played teenagers and even a child in late middle age. Her jewelry and her social life were also of note. Collection consists of five scrapbooks of clippings and photographs of Fannie Ward, arranged chronologically, and one scrapbook of typed research notes by Glendon R. Good on her career. less

The National Service Bureau produced these lists for the Federal Theatre Project of the Works Progress Administration. The catalogs arranged by subject include play synopses and production suggestions. The types of plays are: Anglo-Jewish (religious), Irish, juvenile operettas, musical comedies, Old and New Testament plays, puppet plays and vaudeville sketches. less

Felix Mendelsohn, Jr. (1906-1991), was an advertising copy writer based in Chicago. As a young man, Mendelsohn aspired to be a journalist. He found work writing promotional copy, booklets and brochures for various companies. He died in 1991 at the age of 84. The Felix Mendelsohn scrapbook holds a number of interviews with prominent actors and actresses of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At the age of 21, aspiring journalist Felix Mendelsohn, Jr. conducted a number of interviews with famous stage performers in which he asked each one to describe the "most thrilling moment" of his or her career. Mendelsohn developed these interviews into profiles, and hoped to sell the resulting series to a newspaper or magazine, but was unable to do so. He later compiled the profiles into a scrapbook, adding photographs of all the interviewees, some of which were inscribed to him. The performers profiled were Helen Hayes, Otis Skinner, Helen Gahagan, John Drew, Irene Bordoni, Richard Bennett, Helen Menken, John Cromwell, Ina Claire, Dennis King, Fay Bainter, Laurette Taylor, Grant Mitchell, Lowell Sherman, Ruth Draper, Florence Reed, Estelle Winwood, John E. Kellard, Wilton Lackaye, O.P. Heggie, Effie Shannon, Elsie Janis, Frank Keenan, Leo Carillo, Amelita Galli-Curci, Arthur Byron, Louis Mann, Lenore Ulric, and Raymond Hitchcock. Mendelsohn also included in his scrapbook rejection notes the proposed series received from several newspapers and publishing syndicates, dated between 1927-1935. More photographs are tucked into the back of the book, mostly actors who were not interviewed by Mendelsohn and prominent personalities outside the field of theater; many of these photographs are autographed and inscribed to Mendelsohn. Subjects include Pauline Frederick, H. L. Mencken, Frank Harris, Fritz Feld, Whitford Kane, William Faversham, Fortune Gallo, James O'Donnell Bennett, Oscar Tschirky ("Oscar of the Waldorf"), and Burl Ives. less

Olive Brosell, autograph collector. Clothbound autograph book with the word "Albumn" embossed in gold on cover, 7 1/2 x 4 3/4 in., one autograph per leaf for the first twenty-five leaves, two leaves excised from the middle, final fifteen leaves blank. Consists of autographs of stage performers, including Lillian Russell, George M. Cohan, Chauncey Olcott, and H. B. Warner. Some performers include brief inscriptions to Olive Brosell. less

Ossip Dymow, playwright and screenwriter, was born in Russia. He wrote in Russian, German, and Yiddish in his early years, and became best known to English-speaking audiences for his play NJU, translated into English and staged in New York in 1917, and made into a silent film in 1924. In addition to his plays, Ossip Dymow contributed to the screen adaptation of Joseph Roth's novel JOB, which became the film SINS OF MAN in 1936. The Ossip Dymow correspondence spans 1906-1946, but the bulk of it dates from the 1930s and 40s. Most of the letters are in German, but a few are in English. A lengthy telegram from the famous German stage director Max Reinhardt, praising Dymow on his birthday, has been translated into English. less

Margaret Anglin was a Canadian-born actress, director, and producer who was considered one of the finest actresses of her day. This collection extensively covers the professional career of Anglin, who performed primarily from 1889 to 1936. Materials include correspondence both from other theatrical professionals and fans, production files, images of Margaret Anglin, and scrapbooks documenting her career. less