I really should have known about the subject of this blog post a long time ago!When I was originally recorded the chapter from 42nd Street back in the Fall of 2023, it was meant as a Bonus Episode for our Patreon members only. Six months later, in M…
Thank you all for following along this seasons with our stories about the Tryout Town Era in Philadelphia theater history!We close the episode with a reading from out upcoming book, also called Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia!From the fo…
Vinnette Carroll, in a photo taken in 1972 during the Broadway run of Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope. (Source: The New York Public Library Digital Collections) Below, a photo of Carroll as a young actress, along with a program of her one-woman show …
The photograph and headline of the Inquirer story about the passing of actor David Burns on stage at the Forrest Theatre in March of 1970. Below, a photo taken by the Evening Bulletin, about the protests against the show Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentle…
At top, a photograph of Chita Rivera, as she rehearsed to take over the role of the Narrator in the national touring production of Zorba in 1969.Below, a cartoon by Doug Anderson that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on November 6, 1960. It acc…
Cartoon of of Robert Preston and Barbara Cook in The Music Man – from the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, Sunday, November 17, 1957.Below, Meredith Willson with Preston and Cook, in a publicity photo taken during the rehearsals for The Music Man.Abov…
A 1952 publicity photo of Audrey Hepburn in the Broadway production of Gigi (online collection of the New York Public Library).Below, an ad from the Inquirer for the world premiere tryout run of the play at the Walnut Street Theatre. Joseph Kramm (…
The cover of Damon Runyon's original 1931 collection of stories, Guys and Dolls. Above: Vivian Blaine poses for a publicity photo in Philadelphia, along with "Guys & Dolls" producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin. Below: Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows.…
Above, the "Air Corps scene" from the 1946 revue Call Me Mister. The skit satirized the fancy and adoring reception that returning Army Air Corps pilots would get on their homecoming - as opposed to the lack of ceremony that most regular GI's would …
Above, a photo of the final tableaux of Act One, from the original 1948 production of Kiss Me, Kate. Below, Albert Drake and Patricia Morrison.Below, a cartoon by Jo Metzer from the Philadelphia Inquirer, showing Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne in th…
October 26, 1942: "Getting Ready for All-Soldier Show Opening" was the caption in the Inquirer. Two servicemen/stagehands prepare for Irving Berlin's patriotic show This is the Army at the Mastbaum Theatre.Below, while in town to appear at the openi…
Above, the Mastbaum Theatre during its demolition, 1958. The Mastbaum did not meet its end until two decades after the events we discuss in Episode 71. Still, I thought this image belonged here with the rest of the photos of Lost Philadelphia Theate…
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…
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 chorus fro…
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 episode is …
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…
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 - 20…
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,…
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…
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 the t…
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 the p…
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…
Above, photo from a promotional brochure of the Theatre of the Living Arts, dating from Fall 1966. Caption: "Pointing the way to good theatre are Southwark Theatre Company campaigners (left to right) Deborah Sussel of Merion, who plays a role in the…
Above, a candid shot of the Philadelphia audience - which I believe is from the opening night of Poor Bitos in February of 1966, at the moment when the lightbulbs flashed in their eyes to momentarily distract them during the set change at the end of…
