Blog Posts: Commentary and Images for Every Episode

Feb. 22, 2024

All Star Cast! Trelawny of the "Wells" - Episode 69

Cartoon by Charles Bell, published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on April 5, 1927, showing the "All-Star Company" of Trelawny of the "Wells."Below, photographs of John Drew, Jr., and Peggy Wood, taken during the 1920s.(Both from the online collection…

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Feb. 11, 2024

it's Show Time! - Notes and Images for Episode 68

An image made by the architectural firm of Hoffman-Henon as publicity for the new  Erlanger Theatre on 21st and Market.Below, the newspaper ad for the first show ever done at the Erlanger, Jerome Kern's Criss Cross, next to a photo of the …

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Jan. 26, 2024

The Shuberts and their Philadelphia theaters - Notes to Episode 67

The Brothers Shubert - Jake, Sam and Lee. (Photos from the Shubert Archives, New York)First,  a photo of Lionel Barrymore as a struggling young actor, about the time he first got hired by Sam Shubert in The Brixton Burglary.But since the e…

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Jan. 12, 2024

Green Goddess Dressing - Episode 66

The actor William Arliss, in a photo from Vanity Fair magazine (left), February 1923, and in 1921 as the Raja of Rukh (right), in The Green Goddess (collection of the City Museum of New York).Below, a newspaper advertisement for the World Premiere o…

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Dec. 22, 2023

Hitchy-Koo to You - and a Happy New Year! Notes to Episode 65

  The ad in the Philadelphia newspapers for Hitchy-Koo, an Intimate Revue - December 1917. Raymond Hitchcock is shown playing a tuba in a sketch from the show.Here are images of events and people that we talk about in Episode 65, "Holiday Show…

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Dec. 8, 2023

Two Ethels, a Juggler, a Judge, a Stooge, and a Perfect Fool - Notes to Episode 64

Above, an advertising card for W.C. Fields, early in his career.You might note that this entry has rather less text than we usually share in our blog - but after all, we put so much into the episode itself! (It's the longest one we've ever released,…

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Nov. 24, 2023

The Exciting New Vaudeville Theaters of Sleepy Old Philadelphia - Notes to Episode 63

Above, the cover for the sheet music for "The Philadelphia Drag," as it was performed by a chorus - including a young Mae West (left) at the Folies Bergere Revue in 1911. And here's the clipping from a Philly newspaper announcing her subsequent book…

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Nov. 8, 2023

"The Birth of A Nation" in The Birthplace of the Nation - Notes to Episode 62

In the newspaper advertisement, published in the Philadelphia Inquirer of November 1915, we can see how the movie The Birth of a Nation was marketed to the public. In fact, the PR team for the film used techniques that any theater publicist of …

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Oct. 20, 2023

"But I don't WANT to go to Philadelphia!": Theaters of Atlantic City - Notes to Episode 61

  Above, vacationers stroll along the Atlantic City boardwalk in front of the entrance to the Savoy theater, which was advertising a grand concert in September of 1909. It looks like the weather had turned a bit autumnal and breezy, because …

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Sept. 15, 2023

Penelope Reed photos

It's a busy time of year for us, so we don't have a lot of time to make one of our usual extended blog posts! But here are a few photos and newspapers clippings about our interview subject in Episode 60, Penelope Reed:First, an April 1954 article ab…

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