What Were Older Shows Like When They Opened?- Page 3
What Were Older Shows Like When They Opened?
#50re: What Were Older Shows Like When They Opened?
Posted: 9/24/08 at 9:11pmHmm... My reply to this seems not to have taken. Let me just say... PJ, what you wrote... tears indeed. I've worked on the board of an ASO (AIDS Service Organization) in Maine that has benefited from significant grants from BC/EFA, especially for an event that brings joy and laughter and dance to very many whom AIDS/HIV has impacted. Thank you, and bless you. I will put this photo of on the piano this December in memory of Reed. In Memory. Thanks, karl
Mamie
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
#51re: What Were Older Shows Like When They Opened?
Posted: 9/24/08 at 10:06pm
I remember you writing about Reed before, PJ. He must have been a wonderful man to hold just a large space in your heart so many years later.
Well, I grabbed the first old Playbill off the top of the stack and here's a bit out of it -
September 17, 1959 and “Much Ado About Nothing” is opening at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre. Starring (and directing) is the great John Gielgud and his costar, the wonderful Margaret Leighton.
Supporting cast includes Hurd Hatfield (The Picture of Dorian Gray), Nancy Marchand (Marty, The Sopranos, and about a million other things in between), Jean Marsh (Upstairs, Downstairs, Willow), and Mark Lenard (Star Trek).
We’ll analyze the show to death afterwards over dinner at The Russian Tea Room (from $3.50 up, ala carte from $2.25 up) and then enjoy the late show at the Copacabana with Joe E. Lewis!
Travel and transportation are big – big cars get you to your summer home and big ships give you the option of sailing to ‘the continent’. (Something I always wanted to do!)
(In the ad above you'll see young Broadway stars Bill Hayes (before he went on to a life in soap operas) and Florence Henderson (before she became mom to the Brady Bunch).
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
#52re: What Were Older Shows Like When They Opened?
Posted: 9/25/08 at 6:37am
Thank you for the scans and info! The cruise line ads in particular give me a real sense of a very different time for some reason.
And all this time I thought John Gielgud was born looking old and distinguished rather than young and Benedickish.
#53re: What Were Older Shows Like When They Opened?
Posted: 9/25/08 at 10:44amThe Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby also got the cover of Time Magazine.
Mamie
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
#54re: What Were Older Shows Like When They Opened?
Posted: 9/25/08 at 12:20pmI don't want this to get too far off-topic so I'll start a new thread - Once Upon a Time at the Theatre. I'll periodically scan these old programs and post them there. OK?
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
#55re: What Were Older Shows Like When They Opened?
Posted: 9/26/08 at 9:38pm
Pal Joey, What a touching story. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you everyone for sharing their special theatre memories. They're great fun to hear.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#56re: What Were Older Shows Like When They Opened?
Posted: 11/4/08 at 7:51am
"The sign of a quality show is the ability to be 'timeless'.. Phantom, and Les Mis in particular have lasted so long because of tourism and the quality of the piece as a whole commercially. "
Not getting into an argument about quality of show, but one reason Phantom still runs fairly well is Hal Prince rgegularly visits the NYC and London productions for fine tunning (though I have heard some complaints)
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