1.
Animal Crackers (1930 film)
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A critical and commercial success on its initial release, filming took place at Paramounts Astoria Studios in Astoria, Queens, it was the second of two films the Brothers would make in New York City. The film stars the four brothers, Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx and it was directed by Victor Heerman and adapted from a successful 1928 Broadway musical of the same title by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, also starring the Marx Brothers and Margaret Dumont. The part of Hives the butler was played by Robert Greig who also appeared with the Marx Brothers in Horse Feathers, prologue, A newspaper headline explains that society matron Mrs. Rittenhouse is holding a lavish party at her home in Long Island. The party will host renowned explorer Captain Geoffrey T. Spaulding as the guest of honor, also, as a special treat for the guests and Capt. Spaulding, revered art collector Roscoe W. Chandler will unveil his recently acquired painting by famous fictional artist Beaugard. The bulk of the consists of a succession of comedy sketches, one liner jokes. Hives instructs the servant crew on preparations for the party, Chandler arrives with the Beaugard and proceeds to set it up to be displayed. Hives announces Capt. Spauldings assistant Horatio Jameson who arrives to announce the captain, immediately, Capt. Spaulding makes a grand entrance and announces that he cannot stay and must leave immediately, uninterested in the party. Mrs. Rittenhouse begs him to stay and the guests declare their admiration for the Captain, soon after, Signor Emanuel Ravelli arrives with his colleague the professor, hired to provide music for the weekend event. After an elaborate introduction, The Professor scares the guests away with a pistol he grabs from Capt. Spauldings supplies, the Professor soon takes off chasing after a young, attractive, blonde party-goer. Mrs. Rittenhouses daughter Arabella is attending the party with her fiancé John Parker, John feels discouraged because he hasnt be able to make a living with his art in order to support himself and Arabella. Arabella suggests John do a portrait for Chandler, suggesting he would receive an impressive commission, John laughs at the idea, not believing Chandler to have a genuine appreciation for art. After the painting is unveiled at the party, they will surprise everyone, Arabella asks Ravelli to switch the paintings. Meanwhile another guest, neighbor Mrs. Whitehead thinks up the idea with her friend Grace Carpenter as a means of humiliating Mrs. Rittenhouse. They grab Graces poorly made copy that she painted and ask Hives to put it in place of the Beaugard, throughout the day a series of comedy sketches and visual gags take place, Ravelli catches the Professor chasing after the blonde girl and scolds him. Soon Mrs. Rittenhouse and Mrs. Whitehead arrive and the four proceed to play a variation on Bridge. Ravelli and the Professor run into Chandler on the staircase and recognize him as a peddler from Czechoslovakia. Chandler tries to bribe the two in order to keep quiet, but they end up taking his money, tie and garters as well as, miraculously. After a series of strange interludes while speaking with Mrs. Rittenhouse, Capt. Spaulding has a debate with Chandler outside on the balcony after his encounter with Ravelli and the Professor
2.
Bert Kalmar
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Bert Kalmar was a Jewish American lyricist, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Kalmar, a native of New York City, left school at an early age and he appeared on stage as a magician, comedian and dancer before switching to songwriting after a knee injury ended his performing career. By this time he had earned enough to start a publishing company, Kalmar and Puck. Together, they wrote the score for the Marx Brothers stage production of Animal Crackers. Their songs were featured in the Marx Brothers films Horse Feathers. Kalmars partnership with Ruby was portrayed in the 1950 MGM musical Three Little Words, starring Fred Astaire, Kalmar did, however, occasionally work with Oscar Hammerstein II, Ted Snyder and other songwriters. Bert Kalmar was married to Jessie Brown, with whom he had two children and he died in Los Angeles, California and was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. 1923, Kalmar and Rubys first big hit, I Wanna Be Loved by You 1928, a hit for Helen Kane, known as the Boop-boop-a-doop girl, and sung by Marilyn Monroe in the film Some Like It Hot. I Love You So Much 1928 Three Little Words 1930, their biggest hit, nevertheless 1931, a hit for both Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee, later done by The Mills Brothers and Frank Sinatra. Im Against It, I Always Get My Man and Everyone Says I Love You from Horsefeathers 1932, Hail, Hail Fredonia from Duck Soup,1933. What A Perfect Combination 1932, lyrics by Kalmar and Irving Caesar, music by Ruby and Harry Akst, a Kiss to Build a Dream On 1935, their last hit
3.
Harry Ruby
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Harry Ruby was a Jewish American composer and screenwriter, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Ruby was born in New York City, Ruby died in Woodland Hills, California and was interred at the Chapel of the Pines in Los Angeles. A good friend of Groucho Marx, Ruby appeared several times on his television program, in his 1972 concert at Carnegie Hall, Marx gave the following introduction before performing a song of Rubys, I have a friend in Hollywood. I think I do, Im not so sure and his name is Harry Ruby and he wrote a lot of songs that Ive sung over the years. 16 men in that orchestra, nine of them are illegitimate children, nine and a half including the director. The tie that you got Didnt cost such a lot And well give you the same tie next year. You tell us it was nice of us to bother But it really was a pleasure to fuss For they say, and you are the one for us. Songs My Mother Never Sang Random House B002B9VFCA The Four Marx Brothers in Monkey Business and Duck Soup Simon & Schuster 978-0671212735 S. J
4.
George S. Kaufman
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George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theatre director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals, One play and one musical that he wrote won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, You Cant Take It with You, and Of Thee I Sing. He also won the Tony Award as a Director, for the musical Guys, Kaufman then began his career as a journalist and drama critic, he was the drama editor for The New York Times from 1917 through 1930. Kaufman took his editorial responsibilities very seriously, according to legend, on one occasion a press agent asked, How do I get our leading ladys name in the Times. He worked with Moss Hart in 1930 on the Broadway hit Once in a Lifetime and also with Hart, wrote You Cant Take it With You, Kaufmans Broadway debut was September 4,1918 at the Knickerbocker Theatre, with the premiere of the melodrama Someone in the House. He coauthored the play with Walter C, percival, based on a magazine story written by Larry Evans. The play opened on Broadway during that years serious flu epidemic, with dour glee, Kaufman suggested that the best way to avoid crowds in New York City was to attend his play. In every Broadway season from 1921 through 1958, there was a written or directed by Kaufman. Since Kaufmans death in 1961, there have been revivals of his work on Broadway in the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s, the 2000s, Kaufman wrote only one play alone, The Butter and Egg Man in 1925. Marquand he wrote an adaptation of Marquands novel The Late George Apley. According to his biography on PBS, he wrote some of the American theaters most enduring comedies with Moss Hart. Their work includes Once in a Lifetime, Merrily We Roll Along, The Man Who Came to Dinner and You Cant Take It with You, for a period, Kaufman lived at 158 West 58th Street in New York City. The building later would be the setting for Stage Door and it is now the Park Savoy Hotel and for many years was considered a single room occupancy hotel. Musical theatre Despite his claim that he knew nothing about music and hated it in the theatre, according to Charlotte Chandler, By the time Animal Crackers opened. The Marx Brothers were becoming famous enough to interest Hollywood, paramount signed them to a contract. Kaufman was one of the writers who excelled in writing intelligent nonsense for Groucho Marx, though the Marx Brothers were notoriously critical of their writers, Groucho and Harpo Marx expressed admiration and gratitude towards Kaufman. Dick Cavett, introducing Groucho onstage at Carnegie Hall in 1972, while The Cocoanuts was being developed in Atlantic City, Irving Berlin was hugely enthusiastic about a song he had written for the show. Kaufman was less enthusiastic, and refused to rework the libretto to include this number, the discarded song was Always, ultimately a huge hit for Berlin, recorded by many popular performers
5.
Morrie Ryskind
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Morrie Ryskind was an American dramatist, lyricist and writer of theatrical productions and motion pictures, who became a conservative political activist later in life. Ryskind was born in New York City, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Ida, Ryskind was criticizing Butler for refusing to allow Count Nikolai Tolstoy, nephew of Leo Tolstoy, to speak on campus. He collaborated with George S. Kaufman on several Broadway hits, in 1933, he earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the Broadway production Of Thee I Sing, a musical written in collaboration with composer George Gershwin. Ryskind also rewrote the stage version of Room Service, the original of which did not have the Marx Brothers, during this period, Ryskind was also twice nominated for an Academy Award for his part in writing the films My Man Godfrey and Stage Door. Later, he wrote the screenplay for the successful Penny Serenade, wrote the stage musical Louisiana Purchase and his politics soon moved to the right. He maintained some ties to the Socialist Party throughout the 1940s, about this time, he became a friend to writers Max Eastman, Ayn Rand, John Dos Passos, Suzanne La Follette and Raymond Moley. Later, he would become friend to William F. Buckley, Jr. in 1947, he appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities as a Friendly Witness. Ryskind briefly joined the John Birch Society, but soon disassociated himself from the group when they began to claim that Roosevelt, Truman and he was also a vocal sympathizer with the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism. Starting in 1960, Ryskind wrote a column in the Los Angeles Times. His son, Allan H. Ryskind, was the editor of the conservative Washington. The elder Ryskinds autobiography, I Shot an Elephant in My Pajamas, The Morrie Ryskind Story, details his adventures from Broadway to Hollywood and its in the Bag. starring Fred Allen George S. Kaufman et al
6.
Broadway theatre
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Along with Londons West End theatres, Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, the great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggars Opera, in 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice, the company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, by the 1840s, P. T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblos Garden opened, the 3, 000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmos Opera House opened and presented opera for four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as a venue for plays under the name Burtons Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847, booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865, and would later revive the role at his own Booths Theatre. Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompsons troupe called the British Blondes, was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season, the six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years. Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, in 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Broadways first long-run musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857, New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keenes musical burletta The Seven Sisters shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keenes troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, the production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a musical comedy, Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. They starred high quality singers, instead of the women of repute who had starred in earlier musical forms. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits, as in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women
7.
Musical theatre
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Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement, since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the theatre works of American creators like George M. Cohan. Musicals are performed around the world and they may be presented in large venues, such as big-budget Broadway or West End productions in New York City or London. Alternatively, musicals may be staged in smaller fringe theatre, Off-Broadway or regional theatre productions, musicals are often presented by amateur and school groups in churches, schools and other performance spaces. In addition to the United States and Britain, there are vibrant musical theatre scenes in continental Europe, Asia, Australasia, Canada, the three main components of a book musical are its music, lyrics and book. The interpretation of a musical is the responsibility of its team, which includes a director. A musicals production is also characterized by technical aspects, such as set design, costumes, stage properties, lighting. The creative team, designs and interpretations generally change from the production to succeeding productions. Some production elements, however, may be retained from the production, for example. There is no fixed length for a musical, while it can range from a short one-act entertainment to several acts and several hours in length, most musicals range from one and a half to three hours. Musicals are usually presented in two acts, with one intermission, and the first act is frequently longer than the second. A book musical is usually built four to six main theme tunes that are reprised later in the show. Several shorter musicals on Broadway and in the West End have been presented in one act in recent decades, moments of greatest dramatic intensity in a book musical are often performed in song. Proverbially, when the emotion becomes too strong for speech, you sing, typically, many fewer words are sung in a five-minute song than are spoken in a five-minute block of dialogue. Therefore, there is time to develop drama in a musical than in a straight play of equivalent length. Within the compressed nature of a musical, the writers must develop the characters, the material presented in a musical may be original, or it may be adapted from novels, plays, classic legends, historical events or films. On the other hand, many musical theatre works have been adapted for musical films, such as West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Oliver
8.
Marx Brothers
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The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute as among the top 100 comedy films and they are widely considered by critics, scholars, and fans to be among the greatest and most influential comedians of the 20th century. The brothers were included in AFIs 100 Years.100 Stars list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classic Hollywood cinema, the group are almost universally known today by their stage names, Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo, and Zeppo Marx. The core of the act was the three brothers, Chico, Harpo, and Groucho. Each developed a highly distinctive stage persona, Harpo and Chico more or less retired after 1949, while Groucho went on to begin a second career in television. The two younger brothers, Gummo and Zeppo, did not develop their characters to the same extent. The two eventually left the act to pursue careers at which they were successful, as well as a large theatrical agency for a time. Gummo was not in any of the movies, Zeppo appeared in the first five films in relatively straight roles, the performing lives of the brothers were brought about by their mother Minnie Marx, who also acted as their manager. The Marx Brothers were five brothers born to U. S. immigrants Miene Minnie Schoenberg, the brothers are best known by their stage names, Another brother, Manfred, the first-born son of Sam and Minnie, was born in 1886 and died in infancy. Family lore told privately of the son, Manny, born in 1886. Even some members of the Marx family wondered if he was pure myth. A death certificate of the Borough of Manhattan reveals that he died, aged seven months, on 17 July 1886, of enterocolitis, with asthenia contributing, i. e. probably a victim of influenza. He is buried at New Yorks Washington Cemetery, beside his grandmother, Fanny Sophie Schönberg, the Marx Brothers also had an older sister, actually a cousin, born in January 1885 who had been adopted by Minnie and Frenchie. Her name was Pauline, or Polly, Groucho talked about her in his 1972 Carnegie Hall concert. Minnie Marx came from a family of performers and her mother was a yodeling harpist and her father a ventriloquist, both were funfair entertainers. Around 1880, the family emigrated to New York City, where Minnie married Sam in 1884, Minnie also acted as the brothers manager, using the name Minnie Palmer so that agents did not realize that she was also their mother. Gummo and Zeppo both became successful businessmen, Gummo gained success through his activities and a raincoat business. The Marx Brothers were born in New York City, the sons of Jewish immigrants from Germany and their mother Minnie Schönberg was from Dornum in East Frisia, and their father Simon Marx was a native of Alsace and worked as a tailor
9.
44th Street Theatre
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The 44th Street Theatre was a Broadway theatre located at 216 West 44th Street in New York City from 1912 to 1945. It opened and operated for three years as the Weber and Fields Music Hall and its rooftop theatre, the Nora Bayes Theatre, presented many productions of the Federal Theatre Project in the mid 1930s. Its basement club became the famed Stage Door Canteen during World War II, the 44th Street Theatre was located at 216 West 44th Street in New York City. The architect was William A. Swansea, built by The Shubert Organization in 1912, it was first named Weber and Fields Music Hall. The theatre was renamed in 1915 when the duo of Joe Weber. A theatre on the roof of the building, Lew Fields 44th Street Roof Garden, in the mid-1930s it presented Federal Theatre Project shows. In the basement of the 44th Street Theatre was a small nightclub, in 1940 the building was purchased by The New York Times Company, which leased it back to Lee Shubert. When the American Theatre Wing requested the basement club as an entertainment venue for servicemen, after Shuberts lease expired in June 1945, the building was demolished. The New York Times printing plant built to replace the 44th Street Theatre was later abandoned, productions staged at the 44th Street Theatre are listed at the Internet Broadway Database
10.
Sam H. Harris
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Sam H. Harris was a Broadway producer and theater owner. After a stint as a cough drop salesman and boxing manager, Harriss first production was Theodore Kremers The Evil That Men Do, which he co-produced with Al Woods in 1903. Harris found success in 1904 as the partner of George M. Cohan, with whom he produced eighteen Broadway musicals. From 1916 to 1919, most of these productions were in the Chandler Theater on 42nd street, renamed the Cohan, Harris separated from Cohan after a 1919 actors strike, and renamed the theater the Sam H. Harris Theatre. He sold it in 1926 to the Shubert Organization, but it continued to operate under the Harris name until 1933 when it was converted to a movie house. He proposed a musical revue to his friend Irving Berlin in 1919 and his estate held an interest in the theater through 1960. On Harriss death, most shares in the theater were sold to Berlin, Harris produced over 130 shows, including several of the biggest hits of the 1920s and 1930s. He was known for fairness to actors and writers amid the harsh treatment prevailing in the industry. Harris was portrayed by Richard Whorf in the Academy Award winning biopic, weakened by an appendectomy Harris died of pneumonia on July 3,1941. He was buried next to Cohan in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, Harris at the Internet Broadway Database
11.
Margaret Dumont
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Margaret Dumont was an American stage and film actress. She is best remembered as the foil to the Marx Brothers in seven of their films. Groucho Marx called her practically the fifth Marx brother and she was born Daisy Juliette Baker in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of William and Harriet Anna Baker. Dumont trained as a singer and actress in her teens. After her husbands death during the 1918 influenza pandemic, she returned reluctantly to the Broadway stage. Dumont then came to the attention of writer George S. Kaufman, in October 1928, their next Broadway show, Animal Crackers, opened, and Dumont was again cast as the Marx Brothers foil and straight woman, Mrs. Rittenhouse, the wealthy society dowager. In 1929, they filmed the screen version of The Cocoanuts, performing with the Marx Brothers, Dumont played wealthy high-society, posh-voiced widows whom Groucho alternately insulted and romanced for their money. Groucho once said that people believed they were married in real life. An exchange from Duck Soup, Groucho, I suppose youll think me a sentimental old fluff, Dumont, A lock of my hair. Groucho, Im letting you off easy, I was gonna ask for the whole wig. Groucho, Well, that covers a lot of ground, say, you cover a lot of ground yourself. Youd better beat it, I hear theyre going to tear you down, and, Groucho, Why dont you marry me. Groucho, You take me, and Ill take a vacation, Ill need a vacation if were going to get married. I can see you now in the kitchen, bending over a hot stove. But I cant see the stove, or her age, Dumont, You make me think of my youth. He must be a big boy by now, Dumonts character would often give a short, startled or confused reaction to such insults, but would not otherwise respond and appeared to forget the insult quickly. And this, from A Night at the Opera, Dumont, Are you sure you have everything, Groucho, Ive never had any complaints yet. Decades later in his show at New Yorks Carnegie Hall, Groucho mentioned Dumonts name
12.
Hermes Pan
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Hermes Pan was an American dancer and choreographer, principally remembered as Fred Astaires choreographic collaborator on the famous 1930s movie musicals starring Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Pan was born Hermes Panagiotopoulos in 1909 in Memphis, Tennessee and his father, the Greek consul in Memphis, Tennessee was from Aigio in Peloponnese, where his family had opened the first theatre. Following the death of Pans father, his uncle held Pan, his sister and mother at gunpoint and burned all their shares and money on the grounds if he could not have them. Hermes and his sister Vasso were eventually raised Catholic by his mother, penniless, they moved to the poorest area of New York where Hermes learned his first tap dancing steps on the streets from local black children. At their lowest ebb, the family had only some potatoes and they vowed to commemorate that day and every year on June 13, they wrote down what they did and ate that day in a journal. The date became a family celebration, eventually the family headed West with Sammy, a black boy they met at a gas station, to Los Angeles, California. Pans career began with an appearance as a boy in 1928 in the Marx Brothers Broadway production of Animal Crackers. He also danced in partnership with his sister Vasso, who appeared in the chorus of many of the Astaire-Rogers pictures. He first met Ginger Rogers in 1930, when he appeared as a singer in the Broadway musical Top Speed. He retained links with his relatives in Greece and made a visit in the 1970s to meet them. He met Fred Astaire, whom he resembled, on the set of Flying Down to Rio. While Astaire was trying to out a series of steps for The Carioca number, it was suggested to him that Pan had a few ideas. Hermes Pan demonstrated a brief break he had picked up from his days in New York. He had previously received Academy Award nominations for the Top Hat and The Piccolino numbers from Top Hat, given Astaires obsessive rehearsal habits, this was no mean task. In addition, he recorded Gingers taps in post production in some numbers, Pan continued to collaborate with Astaire right up until the latters last musical picture, Finians Rainbow, which was a disaster on a number of fronts, not least for Pan himself. Eventually, Coppola fired Pan, who had a small part in the film. He appeared with Betty Grable in Moon Over Miami and Coney Island and his longest filmed dance routine is a complex tap duet with Grable in Footlight Serenade that echoes his work with Astaire and Rogers in which his similarity to Astaire is striking. He also appeared with Rita Hayworth in My Gal Sal and with Betty Grable again in Pin Up Girl, in these films he had non-speaking dancing roles and acted as choreographer
13.
Arena Stage
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Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D. C. It was a pioneer in 1950 of the Regional Theater Movement, the Artistic Director is Molly Smith and the Executive Director is Edgar Dobie. It is the largest company in the dedicated to American plays. It commissions and develops new plays through the American Voices New Play Institute, established in 1950, the company now serves an annual audience of more than 300,000. Its productions have received local and national awards, including the Tony Award for best regional theater. The theatre company was founded in Washington, DC in 1950 and its first home was the Hippodrome Theatre, a former movie house. In 1956, the moved into the gymnasium of the old Heurich Brewery in Foggy Bottom. The brewery was demolished in 1961 to make way for the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, in 1960, the company moved into its current building complex, which was built for them. The theater companys home is near the Washington, D. C. waterfront on the Potomac River, one of the founders, Zelda Fichandler, was its artistic director from its founding through the 1990/91 season. Wager succeeded her for the 1991/92 through 1997/98 seasons, the current artistic director, Molly Smith, assumed those duties beginning with the 1998/99 season. Arena Stage was one of the first not-for-profit theaters in the United States and was a pioneer of the Regional Theater Movement, in 1973, it was the first regional theater invited by the U. S. State Department to tour behind the Iron Curtain. In 1976, Arena Stage became the theater outside New York to receive a special Tony Award for theatrical excellence. A major renovation of the facility was undertaken from 2008 through 2010, the architect was Bing Thom Architects of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada who contracted Fast + Epp consulting engineers to design the main columns for the building. The Fichandler Stage and Kreeger Theater were largely untouched, but the theaters connecting structures were demolished, the two stages are now surrounded by a glass curtain wall and incorporated into a larger building. A third, new theater was added in the renovation, called The Kogod Cradle, for new. The new building includes a central lobby and the Catwalk Cafe. The entire $135 million complex has been renamed Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in honor of supporters Gilbert and Jaylee Mead. Arena Stage re-opened for the season in October 2010, the capacity of its three theatres follows, The Fichandler Stage, a theater in the round, seating 680, the Kreeger Theater, a modified thrust stage theater, seating 514
14.
Baayork Lee
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Baayork Lee is an Asian-American actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and author. Lee was born in New York Citys Chinatown to an Indian mother and she started dancing at an early age, and she made her Broadway debut at the age of five as Princess Ying Yawolak in the original production of The King and I in 1951. Yul Brynner, the king, was like a second father to her. After she outgrew the show, she first collected unemployment at age eight, while attending the High School for Performing Arts, she met fellow student Michael Bennett, and appeared in Flower Drum Song, in which she was taught to walk in high heels. When reaching her full height of four foot, ten inches, next, when offered a scholarship to Juilliard, Lee instead chose to further her career and Broadway appearances included Mr. President, Golden Boy, and Heres Love. Her next three shows were all choreographed by her old friend, Michael Bennett, A Joyful Noise, Henry, Sweet Henry, Lee was dance captain for Promises, Promises, and recreated the choreography for subsequent touring productions, starting her future path as choreographer. In 1973, she travelled to Israel to film Norman Jewisons version of Jesus Christ Superstar, in 1973, she appeared in Bennetts Seesaw and was featured opposite Tommy Tune. Again assisting with the choreography, if Bob Avian was Bennetts right hand, in 1975, Lee was invited by Michael Bennett to participate in the workshops from which A Chorus Line was developed. The role of Connie Wong was, in part, based upon her own life. Her bubbly and vibrant energy and dynamo personality were reflected in her brief solo, Lee laughingly blamed the notes written for her to sing. Along with the cast, she won the 1976 Theatre World Award for Ensemble Performance for the show, over the years she has directed or choreographed more than thirty-five international productions of the musical, including the most recent Broadway revival in 2006. Fifteen years later, along with cast member Thommie Walsh and Robert Viagas, she documented the evolution of A Chorus Line in the book On the Line, Lee had become one of Bennetts closest collaborators and helped develop the choreography in many of his shows. Starting in the 1970s, Lee stepped out on her own choreographing Wheres Charley. Since then, she has directed national and international tours of The King & I, Bombay Dreams, Rodgers and Hammersteins Cinderella, Barnum, Porgy and Bess, Jesus Christ Superstar and she was Associate Choreographer for Tommy Tune. She also has choreographed several productions for the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center and she also choreographed the ill-fated Marilyn, An American Fable when Kenny Ortega was fired during rehearsals. Other projects include becoming a talent scout for Tokyo Disneyland, opening a theater school in Seoul, South Korea. Lee was the recipient of the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Asian Woman Warrior Award from Columbia College Chicago, Lee received the 2014 Paul Robeson Citation Award presented by the Actors’ Equity Foundation
15.
Goodspeed Musicals
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Goodspeed Musicals is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theater and the creation of new works, located in East Haddam, Connecticut. A distinctive feature of the view from the Connecticut River, the Goodspeed Opera House is the birthplace of some of the worlds most famous musicals, including Annie, Man of La Mancha, the Opera House was originally built by a local merchant and banker, William Goodspeed. Construction began in 1876 and finished in 1877, despite the name, it was not in fact an opera house, but rather a venue for presenting plays. Its first play, Charles II, opened on October 24,1877, the building is unique for a theater. The theater itself is located on the top two floors of the building making for interesting and sometimes difficult scenery and show load-ins. Scenery is loaded-in from the area up a vacant elevator shaft that is now outfitted with a winch system to haul the scenery up to the stage level. Much care has to be taken in order to get the scenery up the shaft without scratching or ruining the scenery, Goodspeed Musicals was formed in 1959 by a group of concerned citizens after the state of Connecticut had condemned the building. The state agreed to sell the building to the group for one dollar, provided they acquire enough funding to restore, the restoration project took nearly four years, and the Goodspeed Opera House was rededicated on June 8,1963. The first performance in the new house was Oh, Lady. Under the direction of Michael P. Price since 1968, Goodspeed Musicals has sent 19 productions to Broadway, in 1984, Goodspeed Musicals added a second performance venue—the Norma Terris Theatre—in nearby Chester, Connecticut. While the main stage presents a mixture of revivals and new musicals as part of its 3 production season, several original plays debuted there or at the opera house before going on to Broadway and winning Tony Awards. Goodspeed Musicals has also built state-of-the-art production facilities including shops, costume shops. Critic fellows from the Eugene ONeill Theater Center in Waterford, CT travel to the Goodspeed each summer to practice reviewing full productions, tours of many of the Goodspeed facilities can be scheduled in advance for a small fee. Tickets to the house or theatre productions should be ordered in advance as most performances in the relatively small theater sell-out quickly
16.
Paper Mill Playhouse
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Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theater with approximately 1200 seats, located in Millburn, New Jersey. Due to its close location to Manhattan, it draws from the pool of actors who live in New York City. Paper Mill was officially designated as the State Theater of New Jersey, Mark S. Hoebee serves as the Artistic Director and Todd Schmidt serves as the Managing Director. In 2016, the received the Regional Theatre Tony Award. In March 1795, Sam Campbell built The Thistle Paper Mill on land along a brook in the town of Millville, Campbell ran his business for about 20 years until he was forced to close down due to a fire. The building remained vacant for years and ownership changed several times. In the late 1870s, Diamond Mill Paper Company took over the property, writer and performer Antoinette Scudder, along with actor and director Frank Carrington formed a partnership in the late 1920s to create their own theater. The eventually found the vacant mill, and spent many working on it. Another fire in 1980 changed the course of the theater, on October 30,1982, the Paper Mill reopened for their first theatrical production since the fire. This period of time became the point of a lawsuit between the theater and Millburn on whether or not they would be exempt from property taxes during the time the property was not in use. Founded in 1934, Paper Mill Playhouse raised the curtain on its first performance with Gregorio Martinez Sierra’s The Kingdom of God on November 14,1938. By the end of the first year, Carrington had coaxed entertainer Irene Castle out of retirement to make her debut in Noël Coward’s Shadow Play. The first few years featured a variety of classical and modern plays, by 1941, the Playhouse had begun to specialize in operettas, which it continued until the early 1950s. Change marked this period in Paper Mill’s history, especially with Miss Scudder’s death in 1958, angelo Del Rossi joined as Associate Producer in 1964, working closely with Carrington until his death in 1975. Del Rossi became Executive Producer and remained in that role for nearly 40 years until their death in August 2014, in 1971, the New Jersey Ballet staged its first production of The Nutcracker at Paper Mill with world-renowned dancer Edward Villella in the role of the Cavalier. The Nutcracker production has been produced annually at Paper Mill since then, in 1972, Governor of New Jersey William Cahill proclaimed Paper Mill the Official State Theater of New Jersey. The theater has been cited as a State Center of Artistic Excellence and as a Major Impact, in April 2003, Michael Gennaro, former Executive Director of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater, joined Paper Mill as President and CEO. Paper Mill Playhouse was one of the first theaters to begin the regional theater movement in the United States
17.
West End theatre
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West End theatre is a common term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of Theatreland in and near the West End of London. Along with New York Citys Broadway theatre, West End theatre is considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London, in 2013, ticket sales reached a record 14.4 million, making West End the largest English speaking audience in the world. Famous screen actors frequently appear on the London stage, helen Mirren received an award for her performance as the Queen on the West End stage, and then stated, theatre is such an important part of British history and British culture. Theatre in London flourished after the English Reformation, the first permanent public playhouse, known simply as The Theatre, was constructed in 1576 in Shoreditch by James Burbage. It was soon joined by The Curtain, both are known to have been used by William Shakespeares company. In 1599, the timber from The Theatre was moved to Southwark and these theatres were closed in 1642 due to the Puritans who would later influence the interregnum of 1649. After the Restoration, two companies were licensed to perform, the Dukes Company and the Kings Company, performances were held in converted buildings, such as Lisles Tennis Court. The first West End theatre, known as Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, was designed by Thomas Killigrew and built on the site of the present Theatre Royal and it opened on 7 May 1663 and was destroyed by a fire nine years later. It was replaced by a new designed by Christopher Wren and renamed the Theatre Royal. Outside the West End, Sadlers Wells Theatre opened in Islington on 3 June 1683. Taking its name from founder Richard Sadler and monastic springs that were discovered on the property, it operated as a Musick House, with performances of opera, as it was not licensed for plays. In the West End, the Theatre Royal Haymarket opened on 29 December 1720 on a site north of its current location. The Patent theatre companies retained their duopoly on drama well into the 19th century, by the early 19th century, however, music hall entertainments became popular, and presenters found a loophole in the restrictions on non-patent theatres in the genre of melodrama. Melodrama did not break the Patent Acts, as it was accompanied by music, initially, these entertainments were presented in large halls, attached to public houses, but purpose-built theatres began to appear in the East End at Shoreditch and Whitechapel. The West End theatre district became established with the opening of small theatres and halls. South of the River Thames, the Old Vic, Waterloo Road, the next few decades saw the opening of many new theatres in the West End. It abbreviated its name three years later, the theatre building boom continued until about World War I
18.
Lyric Theatre, London
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The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It was the theatre to be constructed on this stretch of Shaftesbury Avenue and is now the oldest in the street. The foyer and bars were refurbished in 1932–33, and the facade was restored in 1994, at present it seats 967 on four levels, although it originally was designed with a seating capacity of 1,306. The theatre still uses a pump to operate its iron curtain. Early in the history, it staged mostly comic operas. The theatre retains many of its features and the theatre was Grade II listed by English Heritage in September 1960. The Lyric Theatre still uses water to operate its iron curtain, the water was originally pumped from the river Thames to all West End theatres and hotels and used to hydraulically operate heavy machinery lilke lifts. Curtain in The Lyrics Theatre is now operated via electric pump, the Lyric Theatre is owned by Nimax Theatres from 2005 when Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer purchased it. In 2005 they established Nimax Theatres, 124–5 ISBN 0-7136-5688-3Whos Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, tenth edition, revised, London,1947, pps, 477–478. Lyric Theatre history with archive programmes and many images Lyric Theatre website
19.
Goodman Theatre
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The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicagos Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the citys oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization, part of its present theater complex occupies the landmark Harris and Selwyn Theaters property. The Goodman was founded in 1925 as a tribute to the Chicago playwright Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, the opening ceremony on October 20,1925 featured three of Kenneth Sawyer Goodmans plays, Back of the Yards, The Green Scarf, and The Game of Chess. Two nights later the theater presented its first public performance, John Galsworthys The Forest, in 2000, the company moved into its new building at 170 N. Dearborn in Chicagos theater district. It has two fully modern auditoriums, named the Albert and the Owen, after two members of the Goodman family who continue to be major donors. In August, Associate Artistic Director Michael Maggio died and they renamed the Michael Merritt Award for young designers the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award in his honor, in 1992, the theatre company received the Regional Theatre Tony Award, joining Steppenwolf Theatre as Chicago-based recipients of the award. The Goodman has also won many Joseph Jefferson awards, with the production of Radio Golf in 2007, the Goodman became the first theater to mount a production of each of the ten plays in August Wilsons Pittsburgh cycle. The theater has presented A Christmas Carol annually in December since the 1970s, the Light in the Piazza, I Am My Own Wife, and Rabbit Hole. “Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, Plays and Cultural Work in an Institutional Theatre. ”Chicagos Goodman Theatre, thomas Wood Stevens Contributions to American Art Theatre With Emphasis on the Kenneth Sawyer Goodman Memorial Theatre, 1922-1930, PhD dissertation, The Louisiana State University,1973. Official website 20347,77902,73504,77899 Goodman Theatre at the Internet Broadway Database Kenneth Sawyer Goodman Papers and Goodman Family Papers at The Newberry Library
20.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
21.
Joey Slotnick
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Joey Slotnick is an American film actor and voice actor. Slotnick was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Chaparral High School in Las Vegas and his film roles include computer industry pioneer Steve Wozniak in the film Pirates of Silicon Valley, and a part in the 1996 blockbuster Twister. In 2011 he completed the suspense film Elevator, in which he one of several people trapped in a New York elevator with an evil presence. Additionally, he was on the cast of the television shows Boston Public in 2000-2001, The Single Guy from 1995–1997, in 2009, Slotnick played Groucho Marxs role of Captain Jeffrey Spaulding in The Goodman Theatres production of Animal Crackers. The performance was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for best actor, Slotnick has logged several guest appearances on a number of popular television shows. He also does work, ads for the NBA, 21st Century Insurance, Staples
22.
Williamstown Theatre Festival
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The theatre festival was conceived as a way to use the Adams Memorial Theatre on the Williams campus for a resident summer theatre company. At the request of Renzi and Bryant, established Actress and Broadway Theatre World Award winner Marcia Henderson, nikos Psacharopoulos, a professor at Yale Drama School and a co-founder, became the executive artistic director and guided the company for over thirty years. He mentored his associates and assistant directors, such as Tom Brennan, Arvin Brown, Keith Fowler, Peter H. Hunt, Paul Weidner and he attracted well-known actors including E. G. Marshall, Frank Langella, Rosemary Harris, Blythe Danner, and he has managed to achieve a national theater. Following a 35th season run by a troika of Peter H. Hunt, Austin Pendleton and George Morfogen, Hunt was named Artistic Director for the 36th season, ritchie was succeeded in 2005 by Roger Rees. Former WTF resident director Nicholas Martin served as Artistic Director from 2008-2010, former Associate Producer Jenny Gersten led the Festival from 2011-2014 and Mandy Greenfield assumed the role of Artistic Director in September 2014. In 2002, the American Theater Wing awarded WTF Americas highest theatrical honor, the festival transferred several successful shows to Broadway, including One Mo Time, Hedda Gabler, The Man Who Had All the Luck, and The Bridges of Madison County. Williamstown Theatre Festival official website Williamstown Theatre Festival at the Internet Broadway Database
23.
The Cocoanuts (musical)
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The Cocoanuts is a musical with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and a book by George S. Kaufman, with additional text by Morrie Ryskind. The Cocoanuts was written for the Marx Brothers after the success of their Broadway hit Ill Say She Is, the Cocoanuts is set against the backdrop of the 1920s Florida Land Boom, which was followed by the inevitable bust. Groucho is a proprietor, land impresario, and con man. Groucho pursues a wealthy dowager ripe for a swindle, played by the dignified Margaret Dumont, produced by Sam H. Harris, the musical was given a tryout in Boston on October 26,1925, then Philadelphia. The Broadway run opened at the Lyric Theatre on December 8,1925, the production was directed by Oscar Eagle, with musical staging by Sammy Lee. After the Broadway closing, the brothers took the show on tour, on June 10,1926, four new songs and other changes were introduced in the show. The new version, referred to as the 1926 Summer Edition, featured the Brox Sisters, a brief Broadway revival played at the Century Theatre from May 16,1927 to May 28,1927 with the same creative team. The more famous film adaptation was released by Paramount Pictures in 1929, scene 1 – Lobby of The Cocoanuts, a hotel in Cocoanut Beach, Florida. The hotel guests love Florida, but not the hotel, Eddie, a bellhop, asks Jamison, a hotel desk clerk, when the staff will get paid. Jamison gives a response and suggests that he ask Mr. Schlemmer. Harvey Yates enters, followed shortly by Mrs. Potter, Mrs. Potter wants her daughter, Polly, to marry Harvey, since she has known his family for a long time. She exits as Penelope Martin enters, Penelope and Harvey know each other from their backgrounds in thievery. Penelope suggests to Harvey that he can strike it rich by marrying Polly, Polly soon enters and makes it clear that she is romantically interested in Bob Adams, an architecture student who is currently the chief clerk of the hotel. But Mrs. Potter wont allow Polly to be seen with Bob and she comments, One who clerks, Polly, is a clerk. After Mrs. Potter exits, Polly laments the restrictions placed on her, the owner of the hotel, Henry W. Schlemmer, enters, and the bellboys go after him asking for their wages. Through fast double-talk he is able to distract them and send them on their way and he has his eyes on Mrs. Potter, trying unsuccessfully to convince her to buy the hotel. Meanwhile Bob and Polly discuss their predicament and he has a plan to build housing on a particular lot in Cocoanut Manor. The bellhops try to convince Bob that hes fortunate, Schlemmer and Jamison are at the desk discussing business when Willie the Wop and Silent Sam enter and start to wreak havoc
24.
Lyric Theatre (1903 New York City)
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The Lyric Theatre was a prominent Broadway theatre built in 1903 in Manhattan, New York City in the 42nd Street Theater District. It was one of the few New York houses having two entrances, at 213 West 42nd Street and 214-26 West 43rd Street. In 1934, it was converted into a theatre which it remained until closing in 1992. In 1996, its interior was demolished and the space was combined with that of the former Apollo Theatre to create the Ford Center, both the 42nd and 43rd Street facades of the original Lyric were preserved and today form the front and back entrances of the modern Lyric Theatre. The theatre was built by developer Eugene C. Potter as a home for composer Reginald De Kovens American School of Opera. However, the school went bankrupt before construction was finished, and Potter leased the theatre and it had eighteen box seats, nine on each side of the auditorium. These were considered far too many for a theatre of its size, and six. The busts shown on the 2nd floor of the facade are of W. S. Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, the Lyric Theatre hosted many notable shows in the early decades of the 20th century. Many plays by William Shakespeare were produced, sometimes multiple times, the most popular being The Merchant of Venice, both Hamlet and Othello were produced three times between 1907 and 1914. Other Shakespearean classics included The Taming of the Shrew, The Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Macbeth, sarah Bernhardt appeared at the Lyric in 1906. In 1918, Sigmund Rombergs popular operetta Maytime was produced, in 1925, the Marx Brothers appeared in one of their earliest Broadway shows, The Cocoanuts, which in 1929 was adapted into an early sound film, the brothers first feature film. Florenz Ziegfeld produced at least three shows there, including Rio Rita in 1927 and The Three Musketeers in 1928, cole Porters musical Fifty Million Frenchmen opened in 1929. Notes Lyric Theatre at Internet Broadway Database, with historic photographs Lyric Theatre at the New 42nd Street
25.
Vaudeville
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Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment. It was especially popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, a typical vaudeville performance is made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. A vaudeville performer is often referred to as a vaudevillian, Vaudeville developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrelsy, freak shows, dime museums, and literary American burlesque. Called the heart of American show business, vaudeville was one of the most popular types of entertainment in North America for several decades, the origin of this term is obscure, but is often explained as being derived from the French expression voix de ville. A second speculation is that it comes from the songs on satire by poet Olivier Basselin. Some, however, preferred the term variety to what manager Tony Pastor called its sissy. Thus, vaudeville was marketed as variety well into the 20th century, with its first subtle appearances within the early 1860s, vaudeville was not initially a common form of entertainment. The form gradually evolved from the saloon and variety hall into its mature form throughout the 1870s and 1880s. This more gentle form was known as Polite Vaudeville, in the years before the American Civil War, entertainment existed on a different scale. Certainly, variety theatre existed before 1860 in Europe and elsewhere, in the US, as early as the first decades of the 19th century, theatregoers could enjoy a performance consisting of Shakespeare plays, acrobatics, singing, dancing, and comedy. As the years progressed, people seeking diversified amusement found a number of ways to be entertained. Vaudeville was characterized by traveling companies touring through cities and towns, a significant influence also came from Dutch minstrels and comedians. Vaudeville incorporated these various itinerant amusements into a stable, institutionalized form centered in Americas growing urban hubs, pastors experiment proved successful, and other managers soon followed suit. B. F. Keith took the step, starting in Boston. Later, E. F. Albee, adoptive grandfather of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, circuits such as those managed by Keith-Albee provided vaudevilles greatest economic innovation and the principal source of its industrial strength. They enabled a chain of allied vaudeville houses that remedied the chaos of the booking system by contracting acts for regional and national tours. These could easily be lengthened from a few weeks to two years, Albee also gave national prominence to vaudevilles trumpeting polite entertainment, a commitment to entertainment equally inoffensive to men, women and children. Acts that violated this ethos were admonished and threatened with expulsion from the remaining performances or were canceled altogether
26.
The Cocoanuts
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The Cocoanuts is the Marx Brothers first feature-length film. Produced for Paramount Pictures by Walter Wanger, who is not credited, the musical comedy stars the four Marx Brothers, Oscar Shaw, Mary Eaton, and Margaret Dumont. It was the first sound film to more than one director. Five of the tunes were composed by Irving Berlin, including When My Dreams Come True, sung by Oscar Shaw. The Cocoanuts is set in the Hotel de Cocoanut, a resort hotel, mr. Hammer runs the place, assisted by Jamison, who would rather sleep at the front desk than actually help him run it. Chico and Harpo arrive with empty luggage, which they plan to fill by robbing and conning the guests. Mrs. Potter is one of the few paying customers and her daughter Polly is in love with struggling young architect Bob Adams. He works to support himself as a clerk at the hotel, Mrs. Potter wants her daughter to marry Harvey Yates, whom she believes to be of higher social standing than the clerk. This suitor is actually a con man out to steal the diamond necklace with the help of his conniving partner Penelope. The plot is almost beside the point, and the story, the film is notable for its musical production numbers, including techniques which were soon to become standard, such as overhead shots of dancing girls imitating the patterns of a kaleidoscope. The musical numbers were recorded live on the soundstage as they were shot, rather than pre-recorded, the main titles are superimposed over a negative image of the Monkey-Doodle-Do number photographed from an angle that does not appear in the body of the film. One of the more famous gags in the film has Groucho giving directions to Chico, in another sequence Groucho is the auctioneer for some land of possibly questionable value He has hired Chico to inflate the sale prices by making phony bids. To Grouchos frustration, Chico keeps outbidding everyone, even himself, during the auction, Mrs. Potter announces that her necklace has been stolen and offers a thousand dollar reward, whereupon Chico offers two thousand. Still another sequence has Groucho, Mrs. Potter and Harvey Yates make formal speeches, Harpo repeatedly walks off, with a grimace on his face, to the punch bowl. Another highlight is when the cast, already dressed in traditional Spanish garb for a theme party, an earlier scene shows Harpo and Chico abusing a cash register while whistling the Anvil Chorus from Il trovatore, a piece also referenced in several other Marx Brothers films. In fact, this did not occur to director Florey until 27 takes had been made, Florey finally got the idea to soak the paper in water, the 28th take of the Viaduct scene used soaked paper, and this take was quiet and used in the film. The ink that Harpo drank from the hotel lobby inkwell was actually Coca-Cola, filming took place at Paramounts Astoria Studios in Astoria, Queens. Their second film, Animal Crackers, was shot there
27.
Kaufman Astoria Studios
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The Kaufman Astoria Studios is a historic movie studio located in the Astoria section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is home to New York Citys only backlot, which opened in December 2013, the studio was originally built by Famous Players-Lasky in 1920 to provide the company with a facility close to the Broadway theater district. Many features and short subjects were filmed there between 1920 and 1933, the first two Marx Brothers films were shot there, The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers, before the team moved to Los Angeles. The first Sherlock Holmes sound film, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, was made at the studio by the British producer Basil Dean. The Dance of Life was a film shot on sound stages. It was also known as Astoria Studio and Paramount Studio, all the films starring Tango icon Carlos Gardel made in the United States were shot at the Kaufman Astoria. The property was designated a historic district and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The district encompasses six contributing buildings, in 1982, the property was taken over by real estate developer George S. Kaufman and renamed Kaufman Astoria Studios. Motion pictures filmed there include the musicals Hair and The Wiz, in 1984, The Jacksons music video Torture was filmed there as well. The 1986 movie The Money Pit starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, many sequences, especially the visitation sequence in 2002 TV mini series Angels in America, were also shot there. A2009 remake, The Taking of Pelham 123, in 2011, the remake of Arthur filmed a few scenes there. Television shows filmed at the studio include Sesame Street, Onion News Network, Johnny and the Sprites, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego, and its successor Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego. WFAN, a sports radio station owned by CBS, was formerly based at the studio before moving to lower Manhattan in the fall of 2009. Kaufman Astoria Studios has seven sound stages including the new Stage K, in 2008, Marty Robinson, who plays Aloysius Snuffleupagus, Telly Monster, and Slimy the Worm on Sesame Street married Annie Evans, a writer for the show on the Sesame Street set. The ceremony was performed on the steps of 123 Sesame Street, on December 3,2013, a 34,800 square foot backlot was dedicated. It is the studio backlot in New York City. In 2014 Kaufman Astoria Studios has announced plans to build a new 18, Kaufman Astoria Studios recently contracted to have a Photovoltaic Array installed on the roof of their facility. The project was developed by Lionshead Energy of Queens, NY, while the installation is being handled by Solar Landscape, based in Neptune, notes Media related to Kaufman Astoria Studios at Wikimedia Commons Official website Historic American Buildings Survey No
28.
Astoria, Queens
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Astoria is a middle-class and commercial neighborhood with a population of 78,793 in the northwestern corner of the New York City borough of Queens. Located in Community Board 1, Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods, Long Island City, Sunnyside, and Woodside, Astoria is patrolled by the New York City Police Departments 114th Precinct. The area now known as Astoria was originally called Halletts Cove, after its first landowner William Hallett, beginning in the early 19th century, affluent New Yorkers constructed large residences around 12th and 14th streets, an area that later became known as Astoria Village. Halletts Cove, incorporated on April 12,1839 and previously founded by fur merchant Stephen A. Halsey, was a recreational destination. The area was renamed for John Jacob Astor, then the wealthiest man in America with a net worth of over $40 million and he only invested $500, but the name stayed nonetheless, as a bitter battle over naming the village finally was won by Astors supporters and friends. From Astors summer home in Hell Gate, Manhattan—on what is now East 87th Street near York Avenue—he could see across the East River the new Long Island village named in his honor, Astor, however, never actually set foot in Astoria. During the second half of the 19th century, economic and commercial growth brought increased immigration from German settlers, mostly furniture and cabinet makers. One such settler was Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, patriarch of the Steinway family who founded the piano company Steinway & Sons in 1853, later on the Steinways built a sawmill and foundry, as well as a streetcar line. The family eventually established Steinway Village for their workers, a town that provided school instruction in German as well as English. Astoria and several surrounding villages, including Steinway, were incorporated into Long Island City in 1870. Long Island City remained an independent municipality until it was incorporated into New York City in 1898, the areas farms were turned into housing tracts and street grids to accommodate the growing number of residents. Astoria also figured prominently in early American filmmaking as one of its initial centers and that heritage is preserved today by the Museum of the Moving Image and Kaufman Astoria Studios. Today, much of the Astoria waterfront is being redeveloped and underutilized industrial sites in historic neighborhoods are being revived. The development will include new waterfront parks, a supermarket, retail shops and restaurants. These waterfront projects were designed by a New York architectural firm, in conjunction with private developers, city agencies and landscape architects. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Astoria was 78,793, covering an area of 902.94 acres, the neighborhood had a population density of 87.3 inhabitants per acre. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 49. 2% White,4. 5% African American,0. 2% Native American,16. 2% Asian,0. 0% Pacific Islander,1. 2% from other races, and 2. 2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 26. 5% of the population, Astoria was first settled by the Dutch and Germans in the 17th century
29.
Oh By Jingo!
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Oh By Jingo. is a 1919 novelty song by Albert Von Tilzer with lyrics by Lew Brown. The song was featured in the Broadway show Linger Longer Letty, while the song lyrics say it is set in the land of San Domingo, no geographic nor anthropological accuracy is found nor intended in the silly lyrics, set in a generic exotic and primitive location. The song was much imitated over the next decade, the song was performed by Betty Hutton in the film Incendiary Blonde, sung in the I Love Lucy TV show, and sung by Hugh Laurie in P. G. Wodehouses Jeeves and Wooster. In the land of San Domingo, Lived a girl called Oh, by Jiminy youre the one for me. Dick Jacobs & Harriet Jacobs, published by Writers Digest Books,1993
30.
Robert Greig
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Robert Greig was an Australian-American actor who appeared in more than 100 films between 1930 and 1949, usually as the dutiful butler. Greig was born near Melbourne, in 1878, and made his Broadway debut in 1928 in an operetta and his next production was the Marx Brothers comedy, Animal Crackers, in which he portrayed Hives the butler. He reprised the role in the 1930 film version, Animal Crackers became his film debut and set the pattern for much of his career, as he was often cast as a butler or other servant. Although he appeared in other productions on Broadway, the last in 1938. He worked again with the Marx Brothers in 1932s Horse Feathers, in which he played a biology professor, in the 1940s, Greig was part of Preston Sturges unofficial stock company of character actors, appearing in six films written and directed by Sturges. His performances in Sullivans Travels, The Lady Eve and The Palm Beach Story, greigs last film was Bride of Vengeance, a 1949 Paulette Goddard vehicle, in which he played the uncredited part of a Councillor. Greig died in Los Angeles on June 27,1958 at the age of 78, he is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California
31.
Zeppo Marx
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Herbert Manfred Marx, better known by his stage name, Zeppo Marx, was an American actor, comedian, theatrical agent, and engineer. He was the youngest of the five Marx Brothers and he appeared in the first five Marx Brothers feature films, from 1929 to 1933, but then left the act to start his second career as an engineer and theatrical agent. Zeppo Marx was a due to his engineering efforts. Zeppo was born in Manhattan, New York City on February 25,1901 and his parents were Sam Marx, and his wife, Minnie Schönberg Marx. His mother was from East Frisia in Germany, and his father was a native of France, Zeppos ex-wife Barbara Sinatra repeated this in her 2011 book, Lady Blue Eyes, My Life with Frank. His brother Harpo offered a different account in his 1961 autobiography, claiming that there was a popular trained chimpanzee named Mr. Zippo, and that Herbie was tagged with the name Zippo because he liked to do chinups and acrobatics, as the chimp did in its act. The youngest brother objected to this nickname, and it was altered to Zeppo, Zeppo appeared in the first five Marx Brothers movies, as a straight man and romantic lead, before leaving the team. According to a 1925 newspaper article, he made a solo appearance in the Adolphe Menjou comedy A Kiss in the Dark. Although no copy of the film is known to exist, according to newspaper reviews, Zeppo was supposed to go out that night with a Jewish friend of his. They were supposed to take out two Irish girls, but Zeppo had to cancel to board the train to Texas. His friend went ahead and went on the date, and was shot a few hours later when he was attacked by an Irish gang that disapproved of a Jew dating an Irish girl. As the youngest and having grown up watching his brothers, Zeppo could fill in for and he was so good as Captain Spaulding that I would have let him play the part indefinitely, if they had allowed me to smoke in the audience, Groucho recalled. However, a persona of his own that could stand up against those of his brothers did not emerge. As critic Percy Hammond wrote, sympathetically, in 1928, One of the handicaps to the enjoyment of the Marx Brothers in their merry escapades is the plight of poor Zeppo Marx. While Groucho, Harpo and Chico are hogging the show, as the phrase has it, their brother hides in an insignificant role, peeping out now and then to listen to plaudits in which he has no share. He also played a role as the love interest of Ruth Hall in Monkey Business. The popular assumption that Zeppos character was superfluous was fueled in part by Groucho, according to Grouchos own story, when the group became the Three Marx Brothers, the studio wanted to trim their collective salary, and Groucho replied Were twice as funny without Zeppo. Offstage, Zeppo had great skills and was largely responsible for keeping the Marx family car running
32.
Groucho Marx
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Julius Henry Marx, known professionally as Groucho Marx, was an American comedian, stage, film and television star. He was known as a master of quick wit and is considered one of the best comedians of the modern era. His rapid-fire, often impromptu delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers and imitators and he made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born. He also had a solo career, most notably as the host of the radio. His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included such as an exaggerated stooped posture, glasses, cigar. Julius Marx was born on October 2,1890, in Manhattan, New York City. Marx stated that he was born in a room above a shop on East 78th Street in Manhattan, New York City, Between Lexington & 3rd. The Marx children grew up on East 93rd Street off Lexington Avenue in a neighborhood now known as Carnegie Hill on the Upper East Side of the borough of Manhattan, in New York City. The turn-of-the-century building that his brother Harpo called the first real home they ever knew was populated with European immigrants, just across the street were the oldest brownstones in the area, owned by people such as the well-connected Loew Brothers and William Orth. The Marx family lived at this location for about 14 years, Grouchos mother was Miene Minnie Schoenberg, whose family came from Dornum in northern Germany when she was 16 years old. His father was Simon Sam Marx, who changed his name from Marrix, minnies brother was Al Schoenberg, who shortened his name to Al Shean when he went into show business as half of Gallagher and Shean, a noted vaudeville act of the early 20th century. According to Groucho, when Shean visited he would throw the local waifs a few coins so that when he knocked at the door he would be surrounded by adoring fans, Marx and his brothers respected his opinions and asked him on several occasions to write some material for them. Minnie Marx did not have an entertainment industry career but had ambition for her sons to go on the stage like their uncle. While pushing her eldest son Leonard in piano lessons she found that Julius had a pleasant soprano voice, juliuss early career goal was to become a doctor, but the familys need for income forced him out of school at the age of twelve. By that time young Julius had become a reader, particularly fond of Horatio Alger. Marx would continue to overcome his lack of education by becoming very well-read. Marx reputedly claimed that he was hopelessly average as a vaudevillian, by 1909 Minnie Marx had assembled her sons into a forgettable-quality vaudeville singing group billed as The Four Nightingales. The brothers Julius, Milton and Arthur and another boy singer, Lou Levy, after exhausting their prospects in the East the family moved to La Grange, Illinois, to play the Midwest
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Chico Marx
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Leonard Marx, known professionally as Chico Marx, was an American comedian, musician, bandleader, actor and film star. He was a member of the Marx Brothers and his persona in the act was that of a charming, dim-witted albeit crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat. In virtually every film that includes the trio of the Marx Brothers, Chico is seen working with Harpo Marx. Leonard was the oldest of the Marx Brothers to live past early childhood, in addition to his work as a performer, he played an important role in the management and development of the act in its early years. He was born on March 22,1887 in Manhattan, New York City, billing himself as Chico, he used an Italian persona for his onstage character, stereotyped ethnic characters were common with vaudevillians. His non-Italian-ness was specifically referred to three times on film, in Duck Soup, when Chico impersonates Groucho but retains his accent, Margaret Dumont asks what happened to his voice. Chico replies, Well, maybe sometime I go to Italy, to which Dumont replies, Your dialect is perfect. Fiorello, Well, I wouldnt know about that, Im a stranger here myself. Quentin Quayle, Can you talk Indian. Joe Panello, I was born in Indianapolis, hammer asks him if he knew what an auction was, in which he responds I come from Italy on the Atlantic Auction. He originally started playing only his right hand and fake playing with his left. Chico eventually acquired a better teacher and learned to play the piano correctly, as a young boy, he gained jobs playing piano to earn money for the Marx family. Sometimes Chico even worked playing in two places at the same time and he would acquire the first job with his piano-playing skills, work for a few nights, and then substitute Harpo on one of the jobs. In the brothers last film, Love Happy, Chico plays a piano, Lyons plays some ornate riffs on the violin, Chico comments, Look-a, Mister Lyons, I know you wanna make a good impression, but please dont-a play better than me. In a record album about the Marx Brothers, narrator Gary Owens stated that although Chicos technique was limited, the opposite was true of Harpo, who reportedly could play only two tunes on the piano, which typically thwarted Chicos scam and resulted in both brothers being fired. Groucho Marx once said that Chico never practiced the pieces he played, instead, before performances he soaked his fingers in hot water. He was known for shooting the keys of the piano and he played passages with his thumb up and index finger straight, like a gun, as part of the act. Chico became the manager of the Marx Brothers after their mother, Minnie. As manager, he cut a deal to get the brothers a percentage of a films gross receipts—the first of its kind in Hollywood, for a while in the 1930s and 1940s, Chico led a big band. Singer Mel Tormé began his career singing with the Chico Marx Orchestra
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Harpo Marx
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Arthur Marx, known professionally as Harpo Marx, was an American comedian, actor, mime artist, and musician, and the second-oldest of the Marx Brothers. In contrast to the mainly verbal comedy of his brothers Groucho and Chico, Harpos comic style was visual and he wore a curly reddish blonde wig, and never spoke during performances. He frequently used such as a horn cane, made up of a lead pipe, tape, and a bulbhorn. Harpo was born on November 23,1888 in Manhattan, New York City and he grew up in a neighborhood now known as Carnegie Hill on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, on East 93rd Street off Lexington Avenue. The turn-of-the-century building that Harpo called the first real home they ever knew was populated with European immigrants, just across the street were the oldest brownstones in the area, owned by people like David L. Loew and William Orth. Harpos parents were Sam Marx and his wife, Minnie Schoenberg Marx and his mother was from East Frisia in Germany, and his father was a native of Alsace in France and worked as a tailor. Harpo received little education and left grade school at age eight during his second attempt to pass the second grade. In January 1910, Harpo joined two of his brothers, Julius and Milton, to form The Three Nightingales, later changed to simply The Marx Brothers, multiple stories—most unsubstantiated—exist to explain Harpos evolution as the silent character in the brothers act. Harpo gained his name during a card game at the Orpheum Theatre in Galesburg. The dealer called him Harpo because he played the harp and he learned how to hold it properly from a picture of an angel playing a harp that he saw in a five-and-dime. No one in town knew how to play the harp, so Harpo tuned it as best he could, starting with one basic note and tuning it from there. Three years later he found out he had tuned it incorrectly, but he could not have tuned it properly, if he had, Harpos method placed much less tension on the strings. Although he played this way for the rest of his life, he did try to learn how to play correctly and they spent their time listening to him, fascinated by the way he played. In the autobiography Harpo Speaks, he recounts how Chico found him playing piano to accompany silent movies. Harpo had changed his name from Adolph to Arthur by 1911 and this was due primarily to his dislike for the name Adolph. The name change may have happened because of the similarity between Harpos name and Adolph Marks, a prominent show business attorney in Chicago. His first screen appearance was in the film Humor Risk, with his brothers, although according to Groucho, it was screened once. Four years later, Harpo appeared without his brothers in Too Many Kisses, four years before the brothers first released film, in Too Many Kisses, Harpo spoke the only line he would ever speak on-camera in a movie, You sure you cant move
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Internet Broadway Database
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The Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It was conceived and created by Karen Hauser in 1996 and is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, the website also has a corresponding app for both the IOS and Android. This comprehensive history of Broadway provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre in the 18th century up to today, details include cast and creative lists for opening night and current day, song lists, awards and other interesting facts about every Broadway production. Other features of IBDB include an archive of photos from past and present Broadway productions, headshots, links to cast recordings on iTunes or Amazon, gross. Its mission was to be an interactive, user-friendly, searchable database for League members, journalists, researchers, the League recently added Broadway Touring shows to the database for ease of tracking shows that play in theatres across the country. It is managed by Karen Hauser, Michael Abourizk, and Mark Smith of the Broadway League, Internet Theatre Database – ITDb Internet Movie Database – IMDb Internet Book Database – IBookDb Lortel Archives – IOBDb The Broadway League Official website Broadway League website
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Beggar on Horseback
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Beggar on Horseback is a play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. A parody of the expressionistic parables that were popular at the time, the play rails against the perils of trading ones artistic talents for commercial gain. At its core is Neil McRae, a poor, young classical composer, unfortunately, the man also favors the Tin Pan Alley school of musical composition, against which McRae is staunchly opposed. Conflict arises when he is offered a job making widgets at a salary if he agrees to give up his foolish interest in the classics. The original Broadway production opened on February 12,1924 at the Broadhurst Theatre, the cast included Roland Young, Osgood Perkins, Spring Byington, and Frederic Richard Sullivan. The play was revived with most of the original cast a mere 7 months later, opening on March 23,1925 at the Shubert Theatre, where it ran for 16 performances. Forty-five years later, after 13 previews, another opened on May 14,1970 at Lincoln Centers Vivian Beaumont Theater. The cast included Leonard Frey and Susan Watson, on August 24,1925, Paramount Pictures released a silent film version directed by James Cruze and starring Edward Everett Horton. Only three reels of this film exist. Beggar on Horseback at Internet Broadway Database
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The Royal Family (play)
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The Royal Family is a play written by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. Its premiere on Broadway was at the Selwyn Theatre on 28 December 1927 and it was included in Burns Mantles The Best Plays of 1927–1928. The character Tony Cavendish, a womanizer, represents John Barrymore. Julie Cavendish is the prima donna Broadway star Ethel Barrymore, in England, Noël Coward directed the West End version of the play in 1934, with a cast that included Laurence Olivier as Tony. Before moving to Broadway, the play had successful out-of-town try-outs in Newark, the Royal Family opened one day after the revolutionary musical Show Boat, based on Ferbers novel of the same title. Directed by Ellis Rabb, it starred Rosemary Harris as Julie Cavendish, George Grizzard as Tony, Rabb received the 1976 Tony Award for best director. The production was telecast on the PBS series Great Performances on November 9,1977 and this version was released on DVD. The play was revived as part of Chicagos Steppenwolf Theatres 2001–02 season with Amy Morton, another revival ran from September to December 2009 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. It starred Rosemary Harris as Fanny, Jan Maxwell as Julie Cavendish, in 2001, Emily Blunt made her debut opposite Judi Dench in Sir Peter Halls production of the play. The play was adapted in 1930 by Herman Mankiewicz for the film The Royal Family of Broadway released by Paramount Pictures, the film was directed by George Cukor and Cyril Gardner and stars Ina Claire and Fredric March. Awards 1975 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play 2010 Nominated for Best Revival of a Play Kaufman, George S. Ferber, the Royal Family, A Comedy in Three Acts. Garden City, New York, Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc
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Once in a Lifetime (play)
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Once in a Lifetime is a play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, the first of eight on which they collaborated in the 1930s. The satirical comedy focuses on the talking pictures have on the entertainment industry. On the train they meet gossip columnist Helen Hobart, who introduces them to megalomaniac film mogul Herman Glogauer when they arrive in Hollywood, Hart had written the original draft of the play himself in 1929. Producer Sam Harris arranged then for Kaufman to work with him on several substantial rewrites and it was the first of their many collaborations. The original Broadway production, directed by Kaufman, opened at the Music Box Theatre on September 24,1930, a Broadway revival directed by Tom Moore opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre on June 15,1978 following 21 previews and ran for 85 performances. Nunn was nominated for an Olivier Award for his direction, a London production directed by Edward Hall opened at the Royal National Theatre on December 5,2005, and ran until March 11,2006. It featured David Suchet as Herman Glogauer, Adrian Scarborough as George Lewis, in November 2016 a production at the Young Vic theatre in London marked the stage debut of television comedy performer Harry Enfield in a version Directed by Richard Jones. It is scheduled to run until January 2017, the play was sold to Hollywood. The film version was released by Universal Studios in 1932, starring Jack Oakie, Sidney Fox, Louise Fazenda, Aline MacMahon, Once in a Lifetime at the Internet Broadway Database Once in a Lifetime at the Internet Movie Database
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The Band Wagon (musical)
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For the film, see The Band Wagon The Band Wagon is a musical revue with book by George S. Kaufman and Howard Dietz, lyrics by Howard Dietz and music by Arthur Schwartz. It first played on Broadway in 1931, running for 260 performances and it introduced the song Dancing in the Dark and inspired two films. The revue opened on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre on June 3,1931 and closed on January 16,1932, produced by Max Gordon, staging and lighting were by Hassard Short, choreography by Albertina Rasch, and scenic design by Albert R. Johnson. The cast included Fred Astaire, Adele Astaire, Helen Broderick, Tilly Losch, according to Steven Suskin, very few people are around who saw The Band Wagon, but they all seem to insist that it was the finest Broadway revue ever. According to Furia and Lasser, The Band Wagon is arguably the greatest of the revues of the 1930s. Ken Bloom states that The Band Wagon is considered the greatest of all revues, the show introduced one of the best Schwartz-Dietz songs, Dancing in the Dark, which was also the title of one of the two motion pictures made from this show. This was the first New York production to use the double revolving stage for the songs, although it had incomparable dancing by Fred and Adele Astaire, it was the last time the brother and sister team appeared together. In 2011, Lost Musicals, aka The Lost Musicals Charitable Trust, ian Marshall Fisher, director, Jason Carr, Music Director. A parody of the set pieces of the show, involved moonlight seranade, the waltz number. In the Pour le Bain sketch, Helen Broderick is a Westchester matron shopping for bathroom fixtures in a store, including bathtubs. Noting that there was no mention of the fixture, the salesman replies with a line of poetry from Keats -- Heard melodies are sweet. Frank Morgan, a Southern colonel in The Pride of the Claghornes, throws his daughter out because she never did anything wrong, percy Hammond repeatedly noted about the attractive chorus girls They look, as Miss Laurette Taylor used to say, as if they all had mothers. In Good Old Nectar, instead of cheering the football star, in October 5,1931, RCA Victor pressed a two-sided record cut at 33 1⁄3 RPM of the Band Wagon score, featuring Fred and Adele Astaire, composers Dietz and Schwartz, and Leo Reismans Orchestra. This record was one of the first commercially recorded at that speed, Furia, Philip and Lasser, Michael L. Americas songs, CRC Press, ISBN 0-415-97246-9 The Band Wagon at the Internet Broadway Database Digital Gallery, The Band Wagon, New York Public Library
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