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Guide to the Mason Opera House Playbills
MS-P040
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Title: Mason Opera House playbills,
Date (inclusive): 1912-1918
Collection number: MS-P040
Creator:
Mason Opera House (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Extent:
0.1 linear feet (1 oversize folder)
Repository:
University of California, Irvine. Library. Special Collections and Archives.
Irvine, California 92623-9557
Abstract: This collection consists of a consecutive run of approximately 175 playbills from 1912 through 1918 for dramatic and musical
performances held at the Mason Opera House in Los Angeles. During these six years, a number of Broadway musicals were performed
at the Mason, featuring noted international figures such as Maude Adams, Isadora Duncan, Minnie Maddern Fiske, Anna Held,
Helena Modjeska, and Anna Pavlova. The full-page playbills, which include some folding playbills, are mounted on 171 leaves
of a contemporary ledger. The playbills were published for the Mason by the Program Publishing Company of Los Angeles through
1916 and later by the Mason Program Company. They were apparently distributed by the Peters Bill Posting Company of Santa
Ana, California. Throughout the ledger are holograph notes in different hands recording accounting information, personal names,
and the names of bill posting companies in the Los Angeles area.
Language:
English.
Collection is open for research.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Mason Opera House Playbills. MS-P40. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Acquired, 2000.
Processed by Adrian Turner, 2001.
The Mason Opera House, located on the 100 block of South Broadway in Los Angeles, was a popular venue for internationally
known drama and opera performers from the 1900s through the 1920s under the management of W.T. Wyatt. It was centered in one
of Los Angeles's major entertainment districts on Broadway. The Mason was established some time before or at the turn of the
century, along with the Regal, the Belasco, the Princess, the Hippodrome, and other theaters.
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection consists of a consecutive run of approximately 175 playbills from 1912 through 1918 for dramatic and musical
performances held at the Mason Opera House in Los Angeles. During these six years, a number of Broadway musicals were performed
at the Mason, featuring noted international figures such as Maude Adams, Isadora Duncan, Minnie Maddern Fiske, Anna Held,
Helena Modjeska, and Anna Pavlova. The full-page playbills, which include some folding playbills, are mounted on 171 leaves
of a contemporary ledger. The playbills were published for the Mason by the Program Publishing Company of Los Angeles through
1916 and later by the Mason Program Company. They were apparently distributed by the Peters Bill Posting Company of Santa
Ana, California. Throughout the ledger are holograph notes in different hands recording accounting information, personal names,
and the names of bill posting companies in the Los Angeles area.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Mason Opera House (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Archival resources.
Opera--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources.
Musical theater--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources.
Theater--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources.
Theaters--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources.
Modjeska, Helena, 1840-1909--Archival resources.
Pavlova, Anna, 1881-1931--Archival resources.
Duncan, Isadora, 1877-1927--Archival resources.
Actors--Archival resources.
Dancers--Archival resources.
Singers--Archival resources.
Theater--Archival resources.
Playbills--California--Los Angeles.
Related Mason Opera House programs from 1909 through 1924 can be found in the Don Meadows Papers (MS-R01), Special Collections
and Archives.