GREAT STUFF FROM OLD BROADWAY W/PIX

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:25pm

I'm putting up some graphics from old-time Broadway. Some are from my collection, a few from the web. This is some of the interesting history of Broadway.

First up is an ad for "Girl Crazy," the 1930 musical by the Gershwins that introduced Ethel Merman, who was a nobody before the curtain went up and a superstar when it came down.

The star role was played by Ginger Rogers (her second and last show before Hollywood) and a very popular comic named Willie Howard who specialized in playing "ethnic roles" which usually meant some incredibly politically-incorrect travesty of an accent and insult to a minority group. In Howard's case, it was Jews, who he turned in Vee and Vya You Zay Zat European clowns. Amazing what passed for entertainment back then.

On the other hand the music was superb, with hit after hit including "Bidin' My Time", "I've Got Rhythm" "Embraceable You" and "But Not For Me."

The show was adapted, stretcted, resewn and restages as "Crazy For You" in the 1980's.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:27pm

Ad for the original cast of Showboat from 1926. Of course, Paul Robeson was not in the show. He did the London Production and the '32 revival but a man named Jules Bledsoe created the role of Joe.

You'll note in the small print the name Aunt Jemimah. That was an Italian woman named Tess Gardella who specialized in "playing black" - in other words in blackface as a character named "Aunt Jemimah" Pancakes of Shame, anyone?

Updated On: 1/19/08 at 09:27 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:31pm

This was the insert folded into every program for the original production of Showboat. A neat tie-in, it's intended to look like Capt'n Andy's Show Boat program. I have the New York and London version.

Updated On: 1/19/08 at 09:31 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:34pm

Theatres were not air conditioned in the 20's and well into the 30's. Some were "air cooled". This was a series of vents that blew air into the theatre that passes across giant vats of ice. It was cooler than outside, but could gt very humid. Another method was to provide fans, with ads or sometimes with the program itself.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:34pm

Another fan

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:36pm

"Okay ladies, flash the gams"

This is not a staged photo. This is what passed for the first audition in the 20's for chorus girls. Legs first. Then the dance audition

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:37pm

Four weeks, you rehearse and rehearse...

This is the final result of the gams flash.

Updated On: 1/19/08 at 09:37 PM

[george95]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:38pm

I wonder if there is a way to figure out which theater that audition pic comes from.

[sing_dance_love]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:38pm

Thank you so much for sharing these! They're wonderful.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:43pm

This one is very cool. You won't recognize her. I sure didn't, and I knew who she was.

This is a big Broadway star of the 30's without her makeup.

Updated On: 1/19/08 at 09:43 PM

[biggest CHENO fan]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:45pm

I love this! It's refreshing to see this on the boards!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:46pm

And this is her with makeup. Her name was Claire Luce (no, not Claire Booth Luce who wrote "The Women.")

Claire had the distinction of being a star of a number of very big musical hits: she was a Ziegfeld girl and Fred Astaire's partner in "Gay Divorce" AND she was the original Curly's Wife in "Of Mice and Men" one of the biggest legit play hits of the 30's.

Love those Mabeline eyebrows....

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:48pm

Where the hell did her nose go? Thanks for the great pics!

[lusciouslace]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:48pm

These are all really cool!! :) Thanks for posting.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:49pm

Georg 95, it's the New Amsterdam. I'm trying to remember the name of the dance captain. He did all of Ziggy's shows. At first I thought it was Zeke Colvig, but it's not him.

[lovelyspotlight]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:51pm

Awesome. Love these!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:52pm

This is off topic,but

Things like this are always on eBay when I have no money. This went for a small fortune. It's the RKO desin dept. sketch for the "Big White Set" at the end of "Top Hat." All the early Astaire/Rodgers movies ended with a BWS.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:54pm

Let's cross the pond for a few minutes

This looks familiar but also strange, doesn't it?

It's the British production of "Camelot" at Drury Lane. The sets are based on but improved from the Broadway Version.

That's Laurence Harvey and Elizabeth Larner as Art and Gwen.

[aliciag]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:55pm

These pictures are awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 9:57pm

This is the magazine to collect (along with "Stage") if you want to know about musical theatre in the 1920s and 30s. It is one of the best mags ever published. Each issue featured a 16 page insert about one show, with ooodles of photos and cast info. These things can be found on ebay and are worth the few bucks they charge.

Updated On: 1/19/08 at 09:57 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 10:01pm

Here's the amazing Lupino Lane, a comic, actor, singer, dancer, juggler, producer and bartender who was the most famous comic in England during the 30's and 40s. In the 20s, he starred in films in Hollywood with Doug Fairbanks and Chaplin. In the thirties, he produced and starred in a little musical called "Me And My Girl." He only played the role of Bill Snibson 5,000 times (seriously).

This is Lane as Snibson. The ladies are the gams from the chorus.

Updated On: 1/19/08 at 10:01 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 10:05pm

No study of musicals of the 30s would be complete without Jessie Matthews, the Sutton Foster of London. She starred in many musicals, often with her husband, Sonny Hale.

Updated On: 1/19/08 at 10:05 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 10:07pm

All British stage actresses had to endure the Ponds skin creams commercial. Here's Jessie's

Updated On: 1/19/08 at 10:07 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 10:09pm

Here's Gertrude Lawrence, the most beloved of all British stage stars.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/19/08 at 10:10pm

I'll end tonight's posts with Gertie from 1934.