Today's Birthdays 11/9
Today's Birthdays 11/9
#1Today's Birthdays 11/9
Posted: 11/8/07 at 10:11pm
Ivan Turgenev 11/9/1818 - Sep 3, 1883 Playwright and novelist is born in Russia. His most notable play is A Month in the Country, but he will make a bit of history in 2002 when his 150-year-old play Fortune's Fool makes its Broadway debut, and, by virtue of its never having been eligible before, gets nominated for a Tony Award as Best Play. It loses to The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia?
Stanford White 11/9/1853 - 6/25/1906 American architect, lover of Evelyn Florence Nesbit, son of Richard Grant White - Architect of Madison Square Theatre. Murdered by Harry Thaw, the jealous husband of Evelyn Nesbit
Marie Dressler 11/9/1869 - 7/28/1934 Writer, Director, Performer, Lillian Russell's bosom buddy - The Passing Show of 1921; film's Tugboat Annie; Dinner @ 8; & my fav Emma
Edna May Oliver 11/09/1883 - Nov 9, 1942 performer - orig & 1932 Show Boat; film's Pride & Prejudice, Drums along the Mohawk, Hildegarde Withers movies THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER, MURDER ON A HONEYMOON, Murder on the Bridle Path
Ed Wynn 11/9/1886 - 6/19/1966 Producer, Writer, Lyricist, Composer, Director, Performer, father of Keenan Wynn - Ziegfeld Follies 1915 & 1916, Hooray For What!; film's Toy Land
Mabel Normand 11/9/1892 - 2/23/1930 performer, source mat'l - Mack & Mabel
Kay Thompson 11/09/1903 - Jul 2, 1998 Liza's godmom, married twice, once to bandleader Jack Jenney and once to producer William Spier, arranger, dancer, a singer, a pianist, a composer, a choreographer, & Eloise author - film's Funny Face, The Pirate, Ziegfeld Follies, Good News
Roger Edens 11/09/1905 - Jul 13, 1970 Composer, arranger - Take A Chance; Judy Garland; Singing In The Rain
Dorothy Dandridge 11/9/1923 - 9/8/1965 performer, sister of Vivian Dandridge, wife of Harold Nicholas (1942 - 1949) divorced - Swingin' the Dream; film's Carmen Jones
Ronald Harwood 11/09/1934 writer - The Dresser; Taking Sides (Ed Harris)
Mary Travers 11/09/1936 performer - Peter, Paul & Mary From Bleeker to Broadway
John Megna 11/09/1952 - Sep 5, 1995 performer, brother of Connie Stevens, uncle of Joely Fisher - Greenwillow (Anthony Perkins); All the Way Home (Lillian Gish, Colleen Dewhurst, Arthur Hill); tv's & film's To Kill a Mockingbird; Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte; Skag; The Ratings Game (Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Ron Rifkin, Kevin McCarthy, Huntz Hall)
Ellen McLaughlin 11/09/1957 performer - Angels In Amer, Parts I & II; tv's & film's The Bed You Sleep In; Law & Order; Everything Relative
Robert Duncan McNeill 11/09/1964 performer - 6 Degrees of Separation (Stockard Channing); tv's & film's Star Trek: Voyager; Masters of the Universe; Homefront; Infested
SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:
1925 Opening night of The Last of Mrs. Cheyney starring Ina Claire and Helen Hayes at the Fulton Theatre. It runs 385 performances, and the Fulton is later renamed for Ms. Hayes.
On this day in 1938, 24-year-old Mary Martin made her Broadway stage debut in the musical comedy Leave It to Me. She brought down the house as she sang My Heart Belongs to Daddy. And the critics raved about New York’s bright new star.
1955 A Hatful of Rain opens at the Lyceum Theatre. Ben Gazzara, Anthony Franciosa, and Shelley Winters star in Michael V. Gazzo's daringly drug-themed play. Frank Corsaro directs the 50-week run.
1997 The Scarlet Pimpernel - Douglas Sills, Christine Andreas, Terence Mann, Sutton Foster was in the ensemble
ON THIS DAY IN:
1938 - On this night and into the wee hours of the next morning, glass store and house windows were smashed throughout Jewish neighborhoods in Germany. Thousands of books -- volumes of history, philosophy, poetry and religion -- fueled bonfires throughout the ghettoes. Synagogues and the Torah scrolls inside them were burned to the ground. 91 Jews were killed and over 30,000 arrested. It was Kristallnacht (Crystal Night), a sign of the unconscionable, and unforgivable death and destruction soon to come at the hands of the Nazis.
1953 Author-poet Dylan Thomas died in New York at age 39.
1964 Price Berkley publishes the very first issue of Theatrical Index, which to this day offers a wealth of information to the theatre industry about current and upcoming shows in New York and on the road.
1965 - A huge blackout in the northeast U.S. left millions without electricity. 800,000 people wound up trapped in New York subways, elevators and skyscrapers. Rioting broke out in New York City. Dramatic photos showed the eery sight of a moonlit, electric lightless, Manhattan skyline. Power was not restored until the next morning. This Tuesday evening sees most shows as “dark” as a blackout robs much of the Northeast of electricity. The New York Times gets an 8-page issue out, while Variety misses its deadline, having had a clean record of not doing so for 60 years. The opening of The Zulu and the Zayda is postponed until the next day, creating a response from producer Dore Schary of “I never thought the Cort (where the show was playing) would go dark before the opening.” The blackout will last until the middle of the night. Matinees are on for tomorrow, but attendance is very low.
1997 Frank Wildhorn tries to follow up his Jekyll & Hyde success with a lighter piece, The Scarlet Pimpernel. Reviews are brutal and grosses insufficient for this musical adaptation of Baroness Orczy's novel. Nevertheless, the show not only runs, but new producers step in a year later and rework the book and choreography, to generally better reviews. A third revision also will have a short Broadway run. "They see him here. They see him there. Those Frenchies see him everywhere. Is he in heaven. Is he in Hell. That damned ellusive Pimpernell." LOOOOOVED THIS SHOW!
2000 A Class Act opens Off-Broadway tonight after a brief delay to polish up the show at Manhattan Theatre Club. Lonny Price plays real-life lyricist Ed Kleban. Price also directs and co-wrote the new musical's book, about the life and work of the late contributor to A Chorus Line. The show featured unpublished songs (music and lyrics) written by Ed Kleban. Most have only rarely been performed, until now. The songs were "inherited by his friends when he died in 1987," according to a release. Kleban died of cancer before he matched the success he had contributing lyrics to 1975's A Chorus Line, his best-known work. A prominent fund in his name (The Kleban Award, from The Kleban Foundation, Inc.) doles out annual cash prizes to up-and-coming lyricists and book writers. A Class Act would also go on to an acclaimed but brief Broadway run.
(sources: IBDB, IMDB, NYT's ON THIS DAY, 440.com’s Those Were The Days, Playbill.com)
Milla
#2re: Today's Birthdays 11/9
Posted: 11/9/07 at 12:13am
Happy 10th birthday, Pimpernel!
Happy 7th birthday, A Class Act!
[title of show] on Broadway. it's time. believe.
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