Theatre Magazine

Articles, photos, ads & quotes from the magazine that brought you the theatre news from 1901 ~ 1931

[actingschoolnotes]

A student who takes part in the production of a play under really competent guidance gains a training that cannot be duplicated by any other means. It is, or should be, to him an educational experience of a high order, and no less truly educaational because it is pleasurable. His preliminary study of the character that he is to impersonate, his attempt to render that character completely in voice, action, and all the other means within his power, inevitably give him a broader and more searching knowledge of human nature - a keener sense of what is admirable and what is despicable. His imagination is quickened and developed healthily and normally. His sense of the varying values of words and of their expressivearrangement into sentences of speech is also quickened. His pronunciation of words, his articulation, and his enunciation are immensely improved (in all these the American student is notably and deplorably deficient.) His voice is also improved (the average American voice is nothing less than atrocious), and the improvement of this organ of individual expression is of the utmost value to him in society, in business, and in the development of his own personality. His use of his body and the coördination of of speech and bodily action, his bodily poise, his legitimate self-possession, all are immeasurably and beneficiently developed. Nothing can so well accomplish these very desirable results as can acting. In this light, acting becomes not a frivolous pastime, not a form of self-indulgence, not an effeminate diversion for those unable to participate in sterner activities, but an essential art, - dignified, educational, invaluable.

Twelve One-Act Plays for Study and Production by S. Marion Tucker, Ginn & Co. 1929. (via actingschoolnotes)

[theloudestvoice]

From a 1919 Photoplay magazine:

“A simple and practical scheme to give photoplay enjoyment to seriously wounded service men in several of our great base hospitals. A special type of portable projection machine has been arranged to throw its legend-laden beams vertically instead of horizontally, the ceiling acts as a very good substitute for the silver-sheet — and there you are.”

[salesonfilm-deactivated20180514]

Larry Semon as The Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (1925)

[theatremagazine]

The original film

[blackhistoryalbum]

To Be Or Not To Be | 1930s on Flickr.

Via Flickr: A group of college drama students in full makeup and costume during a dress rehearsal for Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. Howard University, Washington DC, 1930s. Addison Scurlock (1883-1964), photographer. Photo Credit: Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution Find Us On Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr

[chagalov]

Bronislava Nijinska in ‘Petrouchka’ (Ballets russes de Diaghilev), 1911 -Attributed to Eugène Atget [Nijinska was the first woman choregrapher in the history of dance]

from ATE

[theatremagazine]

The Stage Carpenter

He wanders up, he wanders down,

A phantom on the scene;

He talks to none, he does his work

With conntenance serene;

Although his purse is never fat,

'Tis like his figure - lean.

What is there he cannot construct?

An elephant to him

Is but a simple plight, or eke

A dragon fierce and grim,

And golden goblets all begemmed,

That never will grow dim.

He builds a ship, a paradise,

Where angels music speak -

Bright angels with a salary

Of just five bones a week;

And yet, in spite of genius,

His actions are so meek.

Tanks are his special workmanship,

And buzz saws meet his line;

And cottages and other things -

At these he's very fine;

And he can make a thunder cloud,

And moons that move and shine.

But who applauds this mystic art?

The bass drum wouldn't nod

At him, while on his daily rounds

The carpenter doth plod;

The manager? He knows him not -

A stranger in the fold.

I wonder if he ever thinks

Who cleverly will make

A little box for him some day,

That will not be a fake

When Life's last scene on him shall close

And Heaven's joy awake!

by Monroe H. Rosenfeld

~ The New York Clipper, November 3rd, 1894

[coolchicksfromhistory]

Thamar Karsarvina (1885-1978) danced with the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes before becoming a ballet teacher in England.  She helped establish the Royal Ballet and the Royal Academy of Dance.

[theatremagazine]

The boys from the Back of the North Wind who attend Father Christmas in Oakland’s delightful and fantastic Christmas Pageant

~ Theatre Magazine, December 1920

[theatremagazine]

How They Landed Their First Part

William Collier, star of "The Hottentot," started his stage career at the early age of eleven. He ran away from home in 1879 to land his first job.

Mr. Collier's father and mother were both of the theatre. His father was Edmund Collier, a well-known tradegian, and his mother was Henrietta Engel, a dancer. He says that he hasn't a relative in the world that isn't connected with the theatre, so it was only natural that his earliest ambitions should have been toward a professional career.

When eleven years old, young Collier became restless and ran away from home to join Haverly's Juvenile "Pinafore" company. His salary was $3.50 a week and board. There were 101 children in the company and they played for fourteen months. Collier says that during that time he had a distraction of being the only one of the children that got a raise in his salary, but that was probably because he helped with baggage.

After the close of this engagement, young Collier was taken home and sent to school until he was fifteen. His father then obtained a position him a position at Daly's Theatre. His salary began at $7 a week. He stayed with Daly from 1883 to 1888 and was again distinguished during this perioud by getting a raise in salary to $8 a week. At first when he opened his pay envelope and found the extra $1 he thought a mistake had been made, so he decided to keep it in secret. It took several weeks for him to realize that the extra dollar was really a weekly permanent acquisition.

by Walter A. Lowenberg

~ Theatre Magazine, June 1920

[theatremagazine]

The previous poem was accompanied by this photo of David Warfield in David Belasco's new play, "The Return of Peter Grimm."

~The Theatre, December 1911

[theatremagazine]

The Player's Christmas Dream

Old Roger Dayton musing sat by his sparkling wood-fire's blaze:

'Twas Christmas and the player's heart turned back to the olden days;

Those days when Cushman made choice of him to play the haunted Thane;

And still he hears that vibrant voice bemoaning the crimson stain.

With young Booth, at Winter Garden, he divides loud applause,

While the angry Cassius vainly fumes, and calms Brutus pleads his cause.

Again he is playing Edgar to majestic Forrest's Lear.

Softly old Roger dropped asleep, with a smile and a rising tear.

He wandered, then, in a joyous realm, with the players of the past;

And blithely he roamed from group to group, in the groves and meadows vast.

He could name them all, and rank them, too: Burbage and Cibber gay,

Betterton, Macklin, Pritchard, and the folk of yesterday,

John Kemble strode in his Cato garb, Roman in all his mien;

And Quin and Garrick sauntered by, with bright Woffington between,

The voice of Kean, as Shylock cried; "A sentence! Come prepare!"

The winsome Jordan, as Rosalind, was the fairest of the fair.

Then he heard the people's voices blend in a murmur sweet and strong;

Round one stately man all the players flocked, an ardent, eager throng.

The gleam of a cheery welcome illuminated that comely face;

He greeted them all, his comrades dear, with a tender, courtly grace.

By the sturdy, genial Stratford bust old Roger knew well;

All gladly his spirit yielded to the great Enchanter's spell.

And, best of all in his Christmas dream of that sunny, joyous land -

The Player - poet smiled on him as he grasped him by the hand!

By Edward Tuckerman Mason

~ The Theatre, December 1911

[theatremagazine]

Christmas Suggestions

Herbert Tareyton cigarettes, a sofa or a chaise lounge, traveling silver medicine spoon, Lillian Russell face creams, candy in a beautiful candy box, guest room card in a charming frame, a rain and sun umbrella in all the smart colors, a pin holder that looks like a kingfisher, 17 inch tip table, Chinese gong, a box and basket beautifully made by hand, and a silk or beaded bag for her.

~ The Theatre, December 1916

[theatremagazine]

Going On The Stage

At the moment of writing I can recall three of the best women I have known among the most distinguished members of the profession who began in the ballet and were never ashamed of it. I always suspect a girl who demands exemptions from the rules that govern the profession. It is but a single step from the degradation of an art to that of the person.

No one dreams of loading up the young artist or trained nurse with silly counsel about the ordinary rules for feminine conduct. All this is reserved for the embryo actress, and if she be foolish enough to accept it she will take her place on the waiting line carrying an added weight of what she has been told are "principles" that will effectually keep the door closed against her. And let her by all means refuse the chaparonage of the elderly relative while making the rounds of the managerial offices and agencies. No possible employer likes to be treated from the first as if he were a villain. She must play her hand alone, travel without a chaperon, and make friends with her fellow-players. Above all must she set her face resolutely against the oft-repeated injunction; "always remember that you are a lady."

The best thing that she can do is to forget that she is a lady, and she may console herself with the thought that real ladies seldom think about it.

By James L. Ford

~ Theatre Magazine, June 1920

[theatremagazine]

Plays that have Pleased Broadway

Estelle Winwood in “Hush” recently at The Little Theatre

Taylor Holmes in “His Majesty Bunker Bean” at the Astor

Juliette Day and Courtney Foote in “Upstairs and Down” at The Cort

Cyril Scott and Fay Bainter in “Arms and the Girl” at The Fulton

[theatremagazine]

~ The Theatre, December 1912

[theatremagazine]

A Tragedian's Christmas Dinner

To the mind of the reckless waving a welcome to dyspepsia and indigestion on the glad day of Noel, the spectacle of the actor’s enforced digestive stop gap between two Christmas performances is somewhat disheartening. Ah! the turkey and the goose, the mince pie and plum pudding, the nuts and raisins of our childhood; and alack! for the liver-clogging sweetmeats, the sip of punch that we were allowed and the fruits and pastry that distended our over-worked stomach to undue proportions crept into our nightmare when the weary day was done! Gone into the ewigkeit!

When the overheated, overdfed, overimbibed, and altogether overworked Christmas parent takes his comfortable orchestra chair at the diverting holiday play, let him not fancy that the gorgeously apparelled prince, the dainty fairy, and the button-bursting comedian are fairly throttling their effervescent spirits. They’ve all had their matinée and their hurried meal, and the pall of the day of rejoicing is upon them.

Some years ago I was playing in the company of a celebrated tragedian. Tragedians have to play on Christmas as well as comedians. We were travelling by private Pullman car, and in Cleveland we played our holiday engagement. The tragedian had given an unusually spirited and poetic interpretation of “Hamlet” in the afternoon, and we had gone back to the car to find that the porter had spread himself on holly, mistletoe, and flowers, and that the cook had achieved the ambition of a lifetime of perfection of his menu.

The star came in, looked at it all, sniffed the punch, and said, “Isn’t it a pity Christmas can’t come oftener!” Then, going to the door of his stateroom, he said, “Tell the cook to send me a cup of beef-tea and a biscuit. Enjoy yourselves; I’m going to get forty winks if I can.”

In the evening, after an exhausting performance of “Shylock;” to which an enraptured and packed theatre full of people had given tumultuous applause, the tragedian and I came down in the cab together to the station where our car lay a siding. As we walked along the platform under the smokey rafters, he said, “I’m tired of dieting and I’m tired of that confounded Pullman cooking. Let’s go in here – no one is in the restaurant. I’m going to eat what I want.”

We perched ourselves on two high stools at the counter, and while I had a sandwich and a bottle of Bass, the tragedian ate two cold hard-boiled eggs, some greasy doughnuts and drank a cup of railroad restaurant coffee.

“It’s been ages since I’ve devoured a hard-boiled egg,” he said. “and ages since I ate a doughnut. I suppose I’ll suffer for them to-night.”

Our car porter had rejuvenated the dining table, and the cook, stung with the tragedian’s apparent neglect of his carefully planned dinner, had risen to even more sublime culinary heights in his supper.

“Thank you,” said the tragedian, “I’m going to bed. I’ve had my Christmas dinner. It was great!” and Edwin Booth shut himself in his room.

By Otis Skinner

~ The Theatre, December 1904

[theatremagazine]

Muriel Window

A popular favorite recently in vaudeville and now in "The Country Girl"

~ The Theatre, December 1916