Pasadena Playhouse records: Finding Aid

Series I. Administrative. Approximately 1916-2002

Physical Description: 44 boxes, 3 oversize folders

A. Board of Trustees files. 1917-1980

Box 1, Folders 1-14

Early documents, correspondence, and meeting minutes. 1917-1952

Scope and Content Note

Includes an invitation to join the Community Playhouse and rules for players, 1917; an undated document, How a Community Play is Made; and a report on the Community Playhouse's 1921-22 season; documentation of the relationship between Actor's Equity and Little Theaters, including Pasadena Community Playhouse, circa 1936-1937; State Theater of California designation, 1937: and the Red Cross's recognition of the Savoy Stock Company and Gilmor Brown, 1917; a photograph of an early board meeting, circa 1925-1929; applications to the Rockefeller Foundation (1947) and a Ford Foundation proposal and reports (1951); a report to the Board on instructional activities, including a school calendar (1946-1948); sales agreements and appraisals of properties (1943-1949); and documentation of various development initiatives (circa 1950-1952).

Box 2, Folders 1-7

Articles of incorporation, bylaws, and organization. 1933-1950

Scope and Content Note

Includes Historical and Organization Outline of the Pasadena Playhouse (1938) and specimen articles of incorporation and bylaws for Little Theater organizations; court rulings establishing the Playhouse as a non-profit, collegiate-grade institution (1945, 1950); and an undated copy of the Pasadena Playhouse Players' Manual.

Board meeting minutes and correspondence. 1952-1980

Box 3, Folders 1-9

1952-1954.

Scope and Content Note

Includes an August 20, 1953 report of the Executive Vice President to the Board describing a Pasadena Playhouse contract with the Air Force for training students in television operations; documentation from September 1954 regarding re-organization of the Playhouse; and materials describing a fundraising initiative, the Theatre Resale Plan, to rent out theater space.

Box 4, Folders 1-10

1955-1956.

Scope and Content Note

Includes Notes on Pasadena Playhouse Reorganization circa 1955, (Folder 6).

Box 5, Folders 1-8

1957-1959.

Box 6, Folders 1-8

1960-1961.

Scope and Content Note

Includes Statement of Operational Procedures and Policy for the Pasadena Playhouse and College of Theatre Arts, submitted by David M. Crandall, circa 1961 (Folder 6).

Box 7, Folders 1-6

1962.

Box 8, Folders 1-7

1963-1965.

Scope and Content Note

Includes fundraising and development study, December 1963, and an analysis of expenses, 1957-1965 (Folder 7).

Box 9, Folders 1-6

1966.

Box 10, Folders 1-8

1967-1969.

Scope and Content Note

Includes hand-drawn and annotated organization chart, circa 1968, mentioning Mid-West securities, which financed the Playhouse's reorganization in 1968 (Folder 6).

Box 11, Folders 1-9

1968-1980. Closure and reopening

Scope and Content Note

Materials in Folders 1-4 were originally found in two document cases labeled "Playhouse Closure and Reopening." Also contains brochures, correspondence, clippings, and photographs concerning the 1979 Builders Bash, a gala event to raise funds and awareness for the Playhouse's anticipated planned reopening.

B. Business records. Approximately 1916-2002

General administration. 1925-1967

Box 12

Business Office general administration binder. Approximately 1949

Scope and Content Note

Tabbed binder containing office procedures, forms, and memoranda, and including a topical index. Major categories include Auditorium; Fees and Expenses; General Administration; General Office; Library; Membership; Maintenance; Productions; Residence Hall; School; and Grading Procedure. Materials are dated from 1945 to 1949, with many undated items.

Box 13, Folders 1-5

General administrative files. 1925-1967, undated

Scope and Content Note

Includes contacts; Administrative Council meeting minutes, 1946-1947 and 1949; various other committee meeting minutes, 1955-1957; blank forms and letterhead; and unidentified ephemera and notes.

Box 14

Directory of faculty and staff. Approximately 1953

Scope and Content Note

Includes names, photographs (in most cases), titles, addresses, and date employed; the photograph is missing from Gilmor Brown's entry.

Correspondence and related materials. 1923-2002

Box 15, Folders 1-8

1923-1955.

Box 16, Folders 1-7

1956-1957.

Box 17, Folders 1-7

1958-1959.

Box 18, Folders 1-8

1960-1978.

Box 19, Folders 1-11

1980-2002.

Scope and Content Note

Materials chiefly concern the reopening of the Playhouse.

Box 20, Folder 1

Contract signing. 1981

Scope and Content Note

Contains audiocassette removed from file (Box 20, Folder 2) labeled "Closure/Reopening."

Financial records and reports. 1933-1969

Scope and Content Note

Contains Pasadena Community Guild, Pasadena Playhouse Association, and Pasadena Playhouse Association financial reports.

Box 21, Folders 1-7

Audit, proposed budget, and financial reports. 1933-1953

Scope and Content Note

Contains audit reports for 1949, 1951, and 1953; a report by Eberle Economic Service, Pasadena Playhouse Survey (mimeograph), comparing Playhouse receipts and productions with statistics on U.S. spending on recreation from 1920-1949; and proposed budget and financial reports from 1933-1953.

Box 22, Folders 1-9

Financial and budgetary reports. 1935-1969

Scope and Content Note

Contains financial and budgetary reports from 1954, 1956-1960 (January and February), and 1968-1969, plus Commissary Records, 1957-1964; correspondence with the Internal Revenue Service, 1937-1938, 1942, and 1959; and assorted receipts and invoices, 1938-1959 and 1967.

Box 23

Financial reports: bound volumes. 1933-1953

Scope and Content Note

Contains three volumes: July 1, 1934-June 30, 1937; July 31, 1937-June 30, 1940; and July 31, 1940-June 30, 1943.

Theater administration and production data. 1936-1968

Box 24

Theater administration manual. 1936

Scope and Content Note

Tabbed manual, with sections including: Recording department (accounting); Publicity Department; Service Department; Maintenance Department; Directorial; Workshop; Outside Productions; School; Warehouse; Wardrobe; Printing; and All Departments.

Box 25, Folders 1-8

Production data and calendars of events. Approximately 1934-1968

Scope and Content Note

Includes Pasadena Community Playhouse chronological list of productions from November 1917-July 1934; statistics regarding performers, 1938-1940; Pasadena Playhouse Association chronological list of productions from July 1934-circa 1937; activities records 1947-1952; and theater program data sheets from 1952-1953 and circa 1960. Also includes calendars of events dated 1950-1956, 1958-1963, and 1965-1968.

Box 26

Production ledger. Approximately 1956

Scope and Content Note

Contains data including production number, title, playwright, director, production dates, number of performances, attendance, and gross for productions by venue and format. Included are Mainstage, 1917-1956; East and West Balcony, including Senior productions, 1948-1956; Patio, Laboratory, and Workshop, 1936-1949 (date ranges vary per venue); Playbox, 1924-1953; State Theatre Players, 1947-1952; One-Act Play Tournaments, 1934-1947; radio productions, 1946-1952; and television plays produced, including by Don Lee, 1946-1951. Also includes data regarding assemblies, 1947-1952, and Coleman Concerts, 1926-1948.

Box 27

Production ledger: photocopies.

Scope and Content Note

Contains incomplete set of photocopies from ledger.

Promotion and publicity campaigns. Approximately 1916-1968

Box 28, Folders 1-6

Advertising and advertising campaigns. Approximately 1922-1960

Scope and Content Note

Contains correspondence and samples, plus several newspaper mats used in advertising.

Folder OV 1

Advertising samples. Approximately 1916-1958

Scope and Content Note

Contains newspaper advertisement samples and a promotional portfolio by publicity director Joan Caldwell entitled Pasadena Playhouse Community Promotion Format, December 1-13 (no year).

Box 29, Folders 1-10

Informational materials and mailing campaigns. Approximately 1918-1969

Scope and Content Note

Folder 6 contains brochures marking various anniversaries, each providing information about achievements to date; folder also includes typed copy on the history and practices of the Playhouse, written in the form of a question-and-answer session (undated)

Box 30, Folders 1-8

News releases and publicity packages. Approximately 1938-1968

Scope and Content Note

Also includes reviews and other writings about the Playhouse, plus two ticket stubs labeled "tickets for last production of Pasadena Playhouse in 1967."

Publications. 1925-2000

Box 31, Folders 1-12

1925-1961.

Scope and Content Note

Contains Pasadena Community Playhouse Bulletin (1925); The Callboard (1960-1961); Curtain Call (1950-1962); The Playhouser (1954-1956); The Stage Whisper (student publication, May 1942); Stage Whispers (bound, 1942-1950, and individual issues, 1945-circa 1956); and the Weekly Bulletin (1939-1951, undated).

Box 32, Folders 1-5

1979-2000.

Scope and Content Note

Contains Images (1979); Stages (1980-1988); and Preview (2000).

Topical files. 1919-1961

Scope and Content Note

Contains materials found together on various subjects relating to Playhouse administration.

Folder OV 2

Awards and other. 1937-1952

Scope and Content Note

Contains a Pan American Grace Airways certificate awarded to Gilmor Brown granting him admission into the "Empyrean Realm of Jupiter Rex" for crossing the equator, 1937; an invitation to Brown for the Santa Barbara Old Spanish Days Fiesta, 1949; two copies of the Governor Earl Warren trophy for Superior Merit in the Nineteenth Annual Pasadena Playhouse Association One-Act Play Tournament ... March 1952, and early clippings related to Pasadena Playhouse, 1940s.

Box 33, Folders 1-13

Topics A-M. 1919-1975

Scope and Content Note

Materials include sample blank contracts and a brochure regarding Actor's Equity (1939); articles and studies about education, including a conference program for the Educational TV Programs Institute (1952); pamphlets regarding fundraising strategies (circa 1925-1969); brochures, fliers, and ephemera regarding membership drives (circa 1919-1975); and programs and fliers for membership meetings, 1921-1936 and undated.

Box 34, Folders 1-6

Topics S-V. 1937-1960

Scope and Content Note

Contains samples of solicitations for donations, including of original play manuscripts, and for volunteers (1937, undated); and materials relating to the veterans training program in which the Playhouse participated, including forms, applications, contracts, invoices, and correspondence regarding veteran certification and training (circa 1949-1961).

Box 280, Folders 1-9

Negatives: Various people and events. Approximately 1920-1969

Scope and Content Note

Folders 1-5 contain negatives of photographs depicting Gilmor Brown and Charlie Prickett; Lenore Shanewise; various people in groups, from Fairfax Walkup files; and portraits of unidentified people. Folders 6-9 depict special events and festivities including a Pasadena Playhouse brunch; a buffet dinner on the set of What Every Woman Knows (1931); and unidentified special events, including possibly a Midsummer Drama Festival breakfast (undated).

C. Principals. 1876, approximately 1906-1993

Scope and Content Note

Contains files of key figures in the Playhouse and its history.

Brown, Gilmor. 1876, approximately 1906-1984

Scope and Content Note

Of special significance for understanding Brown's philosophy and approach to theater are the notes on theater in Box 36.

Box 35, Folders 1-35

Biographical information and business records. Approximately 1906-1984

Scope and Content Note

Contains an address by Brown, The Drama of History (1937); address books, circa 1948-1953; brochures and announcements; marketing and publicity materials; clippings and articles relating to Brown's involvement with the Little Theater movement and theatrical organizations; photographs, including one of Brown standing outside of the Playbox (1930); Harriet Green's biography, Gilmor Brown: Portrait of a Man - and an Idea (1933); obituaries and tributes to Brown; ephemera; some personal correspondence; invoices and receipts from lodging and insurance; a memoir by Percy MacKaye and a World War II poster inscribed to Brown; and records of gifts.

Box 36, Folders 1-27

Notes on theater and writings about Brown, other. Approximately 1876-1983

Scope and Content Note

Contains typed notes, in many cases on index cards, on the importance of theater, the place of art in the commercial world, and the history of the Playbox Theatre and the Pasadena Playhouse. Also includes some programs and playbills featuring Brown; various scrapbook pages; and articles, clippings, and a booklet about Brown. Also contains list of A. E. Arnold negatives of Pasadena Community Playhouse; and notes for speeches.

Box 37, Folders 1-4

Photographs and artifacts. Approximately 1889-1959

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs, mostly later prints, of Gilmor Brown with others, in portraits, and in various roles Also includes two photographs from Brown's casting file. Also includes framed autograph of Francesca Janaushek, 1889, presented to Brown by actor Daniel Reed; buttons, tie clip, and shell (7 pieces); wallet and checkbook; Gilmor Brown Memorial plaque; and two sets of Crane's engraved bookplates, 50 plates each, with Brown's name on them.

Folder OV 3

Early career in Kansas, other. 1916, 1941, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains two programs announcing productions by Gilmor Brown in Hutchinson, Kansas, and one program for a production of Twelfth Night at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California, in which Brown played Sir Toby Belch (1941).

Box 38 , Folders 1-5

Batchelder, Crandall, Messer, Pricketts. Approximately 1935-1985

Scope and Content Note

Contains a pamphlet, An Appreciation by C. F. Shoop, regarding Board of Trustees member Ernest Alan Batchelder (after 1950); David Crandall's autobiography, Just David (1985); personal and some professional correspondence of Board member Earl Messer (1935-1950, 1965-1968), chiefly letters of appreciation from Charles Prickett for Messer's support of the Midsummer Drama Festivals; and writings by Charles Prickett, including Aids for the Formation and Management of Little Theatres (undated) and Pitfalls of Little Theatre Management (May 1938). Also includes Charles Prickett's C.V. from 1951; a life insurance policy; and clippings, an obituary, and a poem from his funeral service; plus a letter from Samuel Herrick to Ollie Prickett.

Box 39, Folders 1-15

Lenore Shanewise and Fairfax Walkup. Approximately 1920-1993

Scope and Content Note

Materials relating to Lenore Shanewise include awards and honors; clippings and correspondence; performance and portrait photographs; programs from various productions; eulogies for Eugenia Ong (1955) and Gilmor Brown (1960); and some material from her service as a member of the Board of Trustees, including Task Force Committee reports (circa March 1966) and Board meeting minutes (1967). Materials relating to Fairfax Walkup include personal correspondence (1951-1971); her reflections on Gilmor Brown (circa 1960); resumes; and honors and tributes.

Box 40, Folders 1-13

Fairfax Walkup, others. Approximately 1925-1968

Scope and Content Note

Contains Walkup's work on a production of the Oresteia (1961-1963) and on a television series (Impressions, 1965); her writings on the history of theater (Outline history of costume, 1928-1929, 1933) and the play, Jade Bracelet (1949); files documenting her work as a teacher at the Playhouse, including notes and a class grade book for a course on Manner and Customs; a press release regarding an outside teaching commitment; and topical files.

Box 282

Charles Prickett scrapbook. Approximately 1928-1962

Scope and Content Note

Title on spine: Main Stage, Pictures, Personalities, Playhouse Pictures. Charles Prickett scrapbook given to Playhouse by Maudie Prickett in 1962. Contains 76 pages of gelatin silver photographs depicting the Mainstage, its curtain (created by Alson Clark), interior and exterior views of the Playhouse, set designs and various aspects of productions, set construction, and people engaged in various activities.

D. Pasadena Playhouse Alumni and Associates. 1953-2006

Board and business records. 1953-2006

Box 41, Folders 1-10

Constitution and bylaws, board meeting minutes. 1953-1984

Scope and Content Note

Contains proposals for an alumni association (1953-1955); constitution and bylaws (circa 1956-1983); lists of board members (1968-1969 and 1982-1984); and board meeting minutes (1957-1969).

Box 42, Folders 1-9

Board meeting minutes and other business records. 1958-2006

Scope and Content Note

Contains board meeting minutes (1970-1986); board motions (1958-1980); and records concerning archival procedures, awards, fundraising and benefit programs, and the Library Committee (1960-2006).

Publications. Approximately 1957-1987

Box 43, Folders 1-7

Savoy Star, National Newsletter. 1957-1982

Scope and Content Note

Contains the Savoy Star and other early publications (circa 1957-1960); National Newsletter (1960-1979); and National Newsletter/Stage Whispers (1980-1982).

Box 44, Folders 1-2

Stage Whispers. 1983-1984, 1986-1987

Series II. Playhouse history. Approximately 1880-1982

Physical Description: 25 boxes, 98 volumes, and 2 oversize folders

A. Historical treatments. 1934-1979, undated

Box 45, Folders 1-4

Scrapbook, book, typescripts, other. Approximately 1934-1951

Scope and Content Note

Contains Book of the Pasadena Playhouse, edited by Harriet Green, 1934; a 21-page typescript, Pasadena Community Playhouse Beginnings, 1916-1918, as Recalled Twenty Years Later, by Marjorie Sinclair, plus clippings and a typescript of the Playhouse's first program, circa 1938; a scrapbook Sinclair compiled, The Stage, Volume I, comprising printed photographs of various actors and actresses from the late 19th and early 20th centuries (undated; materials not necessarily connected to the Pasadena Community Playhouse); and an undated typescript by Margit Veszi, Theatre. Also includes two copies of the booklet, Theatre Professionals Trained at the Pasadena Playhouse, undated; typescript of a tour of the Playhouse buildings, undated; and Historical Sketch of the Organization of the Pasadena Community Playhouse, approximately 1940.

Box 46

History of the Pasadena Playhouse, Sections I and II, by Laurie Grey (Herrick). 1949

Scope and Content Note

Contains the first draft of Grey's book, Sections I and II, covering the Playhouse's early years, circa 1916-1920, from material Grey gathered from 1948-1949.

Box 47, Folders 1-5

A Historical Study of Gilmor Brown's Fair Oaks Playbox: 1924-1927 (dissertation). 1964

Scope and Content Note

Contains dissertation and research materials.

B. Photographs. 1921-1969, undated

Box 48, Folders 1-10

People. Approximately 1925-1969, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs of actors, actresses, faculty, staff, and students, most of whom are identified. Several photographs may have originally come from disbound scrapbooks.

Box 49, Folders 1-6

Events and Environs. 1921-1956, undated

Scope and Content Note

Includes photographs of special events, some identified, and various views of buildings and grounds, including exterior views dated approximately 1935-1945. Also includes prints of artists' renderings of the then-newly-constructed Playhouse by an unidentified artist, 1925, and a metal printing plate depicting the fountain.

C. Scrapbooks. Approximately 1880-1969

Box 50

The Plutocrat by Booth Tarkington. Approximately 1929

Scope and Content Note

The materials relate to a production dramatized by Arthur Goodrich and produced by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Coburn, September 10th and 21, 1929. The photographs were taken from the Auditorium during the performance by Clinton C. Clarke.

Box 51, Folders 1-7

Pasadena Playhouse Association scrapbook. Approximately 1957, undated

Scope and Content Note

Includes one disbound scrapbook covering approximately 1928-1957, plus the scrapbook of Marvin S. Alter, containing photocopies of photographs of Oliver Prickett, Gilmor Brown, and various actors and actresses, undated.

Box 52

Meg Wyllie scrapbook. Approximately 1958

Scope and Content Note

Materials are dated approximately 1940-1946 and 1958.

Box 53

Unidentified scrapbook. Approximately 1962

Scope and Content Note

Contains clippings from approximately 1950-1962, chiefly concerning alumni. Gift of Pasadena Playhouse Alumni and Associates, 1990.

Scrapbook set. Approximately 1919-1956

Scope and Content Note

The scrapbooks, which contain playbills, clippings, photographs, advertisements, reviews, various ephemera, and occasionally correspondence concerning the Pasadena Community Playhouse and Pasadena Playhouse, were compiled by an unidentified person. Many of the volumes have indexes of plays covered on title page versos. Twenty volumes from the set (Scrapbooks 59-67, 69, and 71-80) have been incorporated into Series V, Theater performance and related photographs. Note: Series V was previously known as photCL 327 or Album 327.

Scrapbook 1

1919-February 1921.

Scrapbook 2

February 1921-June 1922.

Scrapbook 3

July 1922-October 1923

Scrapbook 4

October 1923-May 1924.

Scrapbook 5

June 1924-June 1925.

Scrapbook 6

July 1925-March 1926.

Scrapbook 7

May 1926-December 1926.

Scrapbook 8

December 1926-August 1927.

Scrapbook 9

November 1927-March 1928.

Scrapbook 10

April 1928-August 1928.

Scrapbook 11

August 1928-Marc, 1929.

Scrapbook 12

April 1929-October 1929.

Scrapbook 13

January 1930-May 1930.

Scrapbook 14

May 1930-December 1930.

Scrapbook 15

January 1931-May 1931.

Scrapbook 16

June 1931-October 1931.

Scrapbook 17

October 1931-March 1932.

Scrapbook 18

April 1932-October 1932.

Scrapbook 19

October 1932-April 1933.

Scrapbook 20

April 1933-April 1934.

Scrapbook 21

April 1934-April 1935.

Scrapbook 22

May 1935-January 1936.

Scrapbook 23

January 193[6]-June 1937.

Scrapbook 24

September 1937-January 1938.

Scrapbook 25

1938.

Scrapbook 26

1939.

Scrapbook 27

1939-1940.

Scrapbook 28

1940-1941.

Scrapbook 29

1941-1942.

Scrapbook 30

1942-1943.

Scrapbook 31

1943-1945.

Scrapbook 32

1943-1944.

Scrapbook 33

1945-1946.

Scrapbook 34

1946-1947.

Scrapbook 35

1946-1947.

Scrapbook 36

1947-1948.

Scrapbook 37

1948-1949.

Scrapbook 38

1949-1950.

Scrapbook 39

1950-1952.

Scrapbook 40

(General Only), 1949-1952.

Scrapbook 40a

1950-1951.

Scrapbook 41

1951-1952.

Scrapbook 42

1952-1953.

Scrapbook 43

1953-1954.

Scrapbook 44

1954-1956.

Scrapbook 45

1955-1956.

Scrapbook 46

Midsummer Drama Festival 1935.

Scope and Content Note

The Chronicle Plays of Shakespeare.

Scrapbook 47

Midsummer Drama Festival 1936.

Scope and Content Note

The Greco-Roman Plays of Shakespeare.

Scrapbook 48

Midsummer Drama Festival 1937.

Scope and Content Note

The Story of the Great Southwest.

Scrapbook 49

Midsummer Drama Festival 1938.

Scope and Content Note

Seven from Shaw.

Scrapbook 50

Midsummer Drama Festival 1939.

Scope and Content Note

Maxwell Anderson.

Scrapbook 51

Midsummer Drama Festival 1940; 1945.

Scope and Content Note

James Matthew Barrie (1940); Eight Great Living American Playwrights (1945).

Scrapbook 52

Midsummer Drama Festival 1941-1942.

Scope and Content Note

Modern American Comedy (Kaufman Series). Eight Great Laugh Plays (Comedy Series).

Scrapbook 53

Midsummer Drama Festival 1943-1944.

Scope and Content Note

Booth Tarkington; Sidney Howard; Cavalcade.

Scrapbook 54

Midsummer Drama Festival 1946-1947.

Scope and Content Note

Clyde Fitch Parade; Milestones in Playhouse History.

Scrapbook 55

Midsummer Drama Festival 1948-1949.

Scope and Content Note

Favorite Plays of the "Gold Rush Days", California Playwrights.

Scrapbook 56

Midsummer Drama Festival 1950-1951.

Scope and Content Note

Modern Playwrights, George M. Cohan.

Scrapbook 57

Midsummer Drama Festival 1952-1953.

Scope and Content Note

Great Americans / Shakespeare Comedies.

Scrapbook 58

Portraits of Players, Vol. I, undated.

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs of Mrs. A. H. Palmer (Adelle Adams); Maurice Wells, with list of plays; Marjorie Sinclair (photo missing); Mrs. Hinds (photo missing); Samuel S. Hinds; Margaret R. Clarke; Victor Jory; Irvin Pichel; Arthur Lubin; C. Pardee Erdman; and many others, some unidentified. Also includes note inside book by unidentified person to Community Players instructing them to put their photographs and a list of plays in which they have performed in the book.

Scrapbook 68

Commercial Photographs of Pasadena Playhouse, undated.

Scope and Content Note

Title from first page. Contains exterior and interior views, many stamped with Pasadena Community Playhouse Association. Also contains prints depicting dorm life, a makeup session, rehearsals and classes, leisure study, Gilmor Brown, eurythmics, fencing, the dining hall, set design, costume design, and more. Most photos are by W. Albert Martin, Pasadena, and a few are by Hiller Studio.

Scrapbook 70

Photographs of Productions, Vol. 3, 1925.

Scope and Content Note

Contains empty portfolios for Playbox plays and index pages.

Scrapbook 81

Special Activities; El Pablo Players, approximately 1940.

Scope and Content Note

Contains correspondence, fliers, programs, announcements, press releases, programs, blank forms, ticket stubs, and other ephemera relating to the El Pablo Players and to a drama conference, One-Act Play Tournaments, Playhouse Day, and State Theatre of California performances.

Scrapbook 82

Mimeograph Scrapbook to 1936.

Scope and Content Note

Contains blank and sample forms for operational undertakings including reports, tests, and balance sheets. Also contains bylaws, student's manuals, rules, announcements, voting forms, memos, sheet music, exam questions, faculty credentials, announcements, press releases, and programs.

Scrapbook 83

Mimeograph Scrapbook 1936-1938.

Scrapbook 84

Mimeograph Scrapbook 1939[-1940, undated].

Scope and Content Note

Also contains a bibliography concerning radio and several syllabi.

Scrapbook 85

Multigraph Scrapbook, 1928-1936.

Scrapbook 86

Multigraph Scrapbook, 1936-1938.

Scrapbook 87

Multigraph Scrapbook, 1939[-1940, undated].

Scrapbook 88

Multigraph Scrapbook, 1943-1945.

Scrapbook 89

Printing, Scrapbook, to 1936.

Scope and Content Note

Contains programs, fliers, announcements, brochures, forms, stationery, booklets, and ephemera.

Scrapbook 90

Printing, Scrapbook, 1936- .

Scrapbook 91

Printing #1, January 1, 1941.

Scope and Content Note

Contains news releases, announcements, blank stationery, fliers, membership and fundraising letters, blank forms for production work, floor plans, standard rental contract, production organization charts, and other materials.

Scrapbook 92

Pictures for Advertising, undated.

Scope and Content Note

Contains numbered thumbnail and larger line drawings, prints, and photographs of Playhouse affiliates including Gilmor Brown, Lenore Shanewise, students, and others, as well as characters and historical figures including Shakespeare. Also contains imagery including the Pasadena Community Playhouse Association logo, palm trees, and more.

Scrapbook 93

Pictures for Advertising, undated.

Scope and Content Note

Contains materials similar to those in Scrapbook 92.

Scrapbook 94

Pictures for advertising (General Scrapbook), 1945-1951.

Scope and Content Note

Contains materials similar to those in Scrapbook 92.

Scrapbook 95

Cuts, 1939.

Scope and Content Note

Contains materials similar to those in Scrapbook 92.

Scrapbook 96

Form Records, 1942-1948.

Scope and Content Note

Contains blank and sample forms including for rules, registration books, directors' assignments, office funds, and the like.

Scrapbook 97

Membership, 1936-1939, undated.

Scope and Content Note

Contains membership forms; brochures; letters, including for membership campaign 1936-1937; and pamphlets.

Scrapbook 98

School of the Theatre, Catalogs and Letters, undated.

Scope and Content Note

Materials are from schools around the United States, especially New York City.

Scrapbook 99

School of the Theatre; Summer Sessions, 1945-1947.

Scrapbook 100

School Advertising, 1936-1939.

Scope and Content Note

Contains first and follow-up letters to prospective students. Major topics include School Inquiries, 1935-1939; Advertisements, 1935-1936, and more, plus advertisements that appeared in magazines including Redbook, Theatre Arts, National Geographic, Modern Mechanics, and various stage publications.

Scrapbook 101

School Advertising, 1939-1948.

Scope and Content Note

At the beginning of the volume is a list of publications in which the Playhouse advertised.

Scrapbook 102

Graduations, undated.

Scope and Content Note

Contains graduation materials from 1918 and 1930-1952; materials include diplomas, postgraduate certificates, graduation and commencement programs, tickets, fliers, announcements, invitations, musical revues and performances, commencement exercises, and other ephemera.

Scrapbook 103

Graduates, undated.

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs of students and administrators, graduates and postgraduates, Classes of 1930-1945.

Scrapbook 104

1926-1939.

Scope and Content Note

Box contains disbound scrapbook with programs from the Pasadena Community Playhouse Workshop, 1926-1936, and Laboratory Theatre, 1936-1939.

Scrapbook 105

Playhouse Workshop Programs, 1926-1936.

Scrapbook 106

Playhouse Workshop Programs, 1936-1941; Padua Players, 1933-1935.

Scrapbook 107

Senior and Lab Plays, Programs, 1941-1947.

Scrapbook 108

Senior and Lab Plays, 1947-1948.

Scrapbook 109

Television Program Scrapbook, 1948-1963.

Scope and Content Note

Contains TV production sheets, including cast lists and program staff, for TV productions #10-15. Has TV CC#1-7 sheets (Closed Channel?), 1949-1950, and CC#1-11, season 1950-1951 and CC#1-3, season 1951-1952, again with cast lists and program staff; has TV productions labeled #1-#9, 1948. Also has cast and production lists for TV productions season 1962-1963.

Scrapbook 110

One-Act Play Tournaments, 1930-1953.

Scope and Content Note

Contains programs, fliers, filled-out and blank entry forms, judges' reports and rating sheets (including filled-in), rules and regulations, certificates, judges' guidelines, tickets, invitations, stage managers' reports, clippings, photographs, and official lists of participating schools.

Scrapbook 111

One-Act Play Tournaments, 1954.

Scope and Content Note

Contains newspaper clippings.

Scrapbook 112

Eugenia Ong Scrapbook, approximately 1968.

Scope and Content Note

Contains materials dated 1928-1968, including clippings, programs, and a few pages of Padua Players programs, with headings and annotations by Gilmor Brown.

Scrapbook 113

Playhouse Scrapbook of Mrs. A. H. Palmer, approximately 1925.

Scope and Content Note

Contains clippings, circa 1925, about all aspects of the newly-established Pasadena Community Playhouse, plus an undated list of Community Playhouse of Pasadena founders on front cover verso.

Scrapbook 114

Playhouse Scrapbook, approximately 1926.

Scope and Content Note

Continues in same vein as Scrapbook 113, with entries dating into 1926.

Scrapbook 115

Programs. Mrs. Arthur Palmer, approximately 1927.

Scope and Content Note

Hardbound scrapbook containing clippings, some postcards and handwritten notes, programs, a list of plays produced, and more, dated 1926-1927 and undated. Also includes sleeve of clippings found loose, plus cards commemorating her death; one includes three dried leaves.

Scrapbook 116

Alice C. D. Riley Scrapbook. 19th Century Theatrical Material, approximately 1926.

Scope and Content Note

Contains inscription to Gilmor Brown donating the scrapbook to the Playhouse Library, 1949; along with clippings and programs, includes a 1926 certificate to Riley from the Ancient and Honorable Association of Unionized Taxi Cab Drivers, with seal, for dramatizing the guild's labors and the "mental anguish and physical hazards of this occupation." Also includes tabbed sections with a handwritten index of entries in alphabetical order.

Scrapbook 117

Approximately 1880-1900.

Scope and Content Note

Contains programs, playbills, and fliers for theater, concerts, other performances at venues around the country and also international (e.g., London).

Scrapbook 118

Theatre League Scrapbook, approximately 1932-1933.

Scope and Content Note

Contains clippings.

Box 53a , Folders 1-8

Loose material contained in scrapbooks.

Scope and Content Note

Includes publications, articles, fliers, and clippings.

D. Clippings. Approximately 1910-1969, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains clippings about actors, actresses, and other figures and events in theater and other arts.

Box 54, Folders 1-7

People: A-K.

Box 55, Folders 1-15

People: L-Z; Topical.

Box 56, Folders 1-13

1910-1949.

Box 57, Folders 1-3

1950-1959.

Box 58, Folders 1-6

1960-1969.

Box 59, Folders 1-7

1970-approximately 1999, undated.

Box 60, Folders 1-2

Oversize periodicals and clippings. Approximately 1924-1938

Scope and Content Note

Contains profiles of Shanewise and Blanchard, plus a German-language article on the Pasadena Community Playhouse.

Photocopies of clippings. Undated

Box 61, Folder 1

Reviews, January 1918-April 1925.

Box 62, Folders 1-3

Reviews, May 1925-1959

E. Other historical materials.

Box 63, Folders 1-5

Pasadena Playhouse figures. Approximately 1931, 1950, 1990

Scope and Content Note

Includes Thomas Browne Henry Acting and Directing Assignments at Pasadena Playhouse (1950, 4 typed pages covering productions from 1930-1950); Robert Redington Sharpe: The Life of a Theatre Designer, by Arnold Wengrow, 1990; and two typescripts, one regarding outdoor productions and referencing Brookside Par, and one a 1931 review of Green Fire, by Monroe Lathrop, in LA Express, 5/30/1931.

Audiovisual materials

Box 64, Folders 1-5

Tributes and "Success Story" Approximately 1931-1985

Scope and Content Note

Including tributes to Raymond Burr and to Belle Kennedy; Charles Pierce, "Breaking Away"; and the Playhouse promotional video, "Success Story," with other footage (2 copies).

Various.

Scope and Content Note

The items included in this section were digitized by the California Audiovisual Preservation Project (CAVPP) in 2018 and are being hosted by the Internet Archive.

Reel 1

Silent footage. Approximately 1940-1949

view online item

Scope and Content Note

Contains scenes from plays; a clip of a student learning about lighting; scenes depicting radio production; and a clip of a student visiting Playhouse founder Gilmor Brown in his office. Also depicts set design and a review of headshots, as well as an actress putting on makeup before going onstage. Approximately 8 minutes.

Reel 2

"Success Story". Approximately 1957

view online item

Scope and Content Note

Publicity film introducing Pasadena Playhouse and describing its mission and history; film features an interview with Gilmor Brown. Approximately 29 minutes.

Reel 3

Pasadena Playhouse Historic Footage. Approximately 1925-1929

view online item

Scope and Content Note

Film presenting a pictorial history of the Pasadena Playhouse as a civic enterprise significant to its community. Approximately 46 minutes.

Reel 4

Introduction to the Play, Manya: The Story of Marie Curie. Approximately 1938

view online item

Scope and Content Note

Contains film clip introducing production staff, actors, and actresses in play written and directed by a young Bobker Ben Ali; one of the actors mentioned is Bill Beedle (later known as William Holden). Approximately 4 minutes.

Reel 5

Student Films: Third-Year Cinema Projects. Approximately 1940?

view online item

Scope and Content Note

Contains one complete project, an unidentified piece, undated, about plotting for a jewelry theft and its aftermath. Instructors Dorothy Arzner and Dan Bailey are listed as directors for the project. Approximately 38 minutes.

Reel 6

Student Films: O'Henry III: Three O'Henry Plays. Approximately 1940?

view online item

Scope and Content Note

Instructors Dorothy Arzner and Dan Bailey are listed as directors for the project. Approximately 50 minutes.

Box 359, Folders 1-2

Personal Messages from Dana Andrews. 1954

view online item

Scope and Content Note

Two vinyl discs with messages from actor Dana Andrews inviting recipients to attend the Second Annual Pasadena Playhouse TV Institute and Workshop. Disc 1 is an invitation to Burke Gilliam, and Disc 2 to M. B. Rudman. Approximately 2 minutes.

Box 359, Folders 3-6

Gail Shoup oral history interviews. 1960s

view online item

Scope and Content Note

Four audiotapes with interviews with key figures in the history of the Pasadena Playhouse, including Lenore Shanewise; Maurice Wells; Charles, Maudie, and Oliver Prickett; Charles Lane; Ralph Freud; Albert McCleery; and others. The interviews were conducted by Gail Shoup as part of his dissertation research. Approximately 20 hours. Contents same as audiocassettes 1-10 in Box 314.

Box 65

Various oversized items. 1687-1959, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains awards and honors, 1951-1959; floor plans, undated and by unidentified architect; a broadside of Shakespeare and Shakespeare-related images, inscribed to Gilmor Brown by Mrs. H.D. Bentley, 1936, in appreciation of the Midsummer Drama Festival; one painting of Gilmor Brown in a kilt, undated, and one cartoon by Ernest Hix and Doug Hayes, 1948, celebrating Gilmor Brown. Also includes a 17th-century theater prop given to Gilmor Brown by Gareth Hughes: Indenture, used as Shylock's bond, 1687, accompanied by a label stating that this was stage property used in many productions of "The Merchant of Venice." Additionally, contains two copies of a banner advertising Pasadena Playhouse and its College of Theatre Arts, 1959; and portraits, including a photograph of Gilmor Brown's father, a photograph of Percy MacKaye inscribed to Brown, a photo depicting Bob Hope and Bing Crosby with a Pasadena Playhouse student, and photos of Elton Howard's portraits of Brown, Shanewise, Freud, and Wells, approximately 1925.

Folder OV 4

Photographs. Approximately 1924-1942

Scope and Content Note

Contains photograph depicting the laying of the cornerstone of the Community Playhouse of Pasadena, May 31, 1924. Also includes one broadside from the Los Angeles Sunday Times with photos from a Pasadena Community Players production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, staged at Brookside Park (undated); a painted poster providing the Pasadena Playhouse Late Winter Play Schedule, after 1942; and a handwritten broadside featuring verse honoring Gilmor Brown, approximately 1937.

Folder OV 5

Architectural drawings. 1982

Scope and Content Note

Contains 50 sheets of blueprints for the Pasadena Playhouse by R. F. McCann & Co., Architects including site plan, exterior and interior photographs with design annotations, structural drawings, floor plans, elevations, and more, many with annotations.

Box 66

Various artifacts. Approximately 1930-1980, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains one fan; one hat; one directional sign; one class ring; a medal awarded by Paul Perigord to William Humphrey Fairchild for outstanding artistic ability; Gilmor Brown's nameplate; a metal fixture noting how many times a bell would be rung before performances; another metal fixture, dedicated to actor Victor Jory; and a button.

Series III. School of Theatre Arts / College of Theatre Arts. Approximately 1920-1990

Physical Description: 25 boxes

A. Administrative.

Box 67, Folders 1-19

General. 1925-1990

Scope and Content Note

Contains admissions and application materials; Administrative Council meeting minutes; annual reports; memos and policies; clippings; curricular materials including course announcements, proposals, and syllabi; development program; faculty biographies and credentials, instructional activities report, and faculty and staff roster; and fundraising materials.

Box 68

Sample mailings, forms, and related. 1958

Scope and Content Note

Contains a binder also including student rosters and promotional materials, approximately 1934-1950.

Box 69

School of Theatre Arts publications. 1948-1949

Scope and Content Note

Contains hardcover volume with curricular materials, applications, brochures and fliers, rules and regulations, student manuals and directories, and newsletters.

Box 70

Correspondence with other institutions. Approximately 1951

Scope and Content Note

Binder contains correspondence from approximately 1943-1951 regarding the number of credits other institutions award for coursework at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Accreditation.

Box 71, Folders 1-11

Applications, reports, and rulings on non-profit status. Approximately 1939-1970

Box 72, Folders 1-4

Application and transcripts. Approximately 1948-1970

Scope and Content Note

Contains duplicate of 1962 application and documentation, plus transcripts.

B. Catalogs, student manuals, and yearbooks. 1929-1969

Course catalogs. 1929-1969

Box 73

Summer and regular sessions. 1929-1930, 1935-1936, 1941-1947

Scope and Content Note

Contains three hardcover volumes.

Box 74

Catalogs. 1951-1965

Scope and Content Note

Contains three hardcover volumes.

Box 75, Folders 1-6

Catalogs and yearbook. 1944-1955

Scope and Content Note

Contains catalogs, 1944-1955, and yearbooks, 1944-1948.

Box 76, Folders 1-6

Catalogs. 1956-1969

Box 77, Folders 1-4

Student manuals. Approximately 1935, 1955-1956, 1964-1965, 1968, undated

C. Commencements. 1930-1969

Programs, scripts, notes, and related. 1930-1969

Box 78, Folders 1-15

1930-1953

Box 79, Folders 1-12

1954-1969, undated.

Box 80, Folders 1-7

Photographs. 1930-1960, undated

Box 280, Folder 10

Negatives: Commencements 1930, 1952

D. Courses and curricular.

Box 81, Folders 1-18

Course materials, class lists, and promotional materials. 1939-1969, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains course outlines, syllabi, class lists, brochures, programs, press releases, promotional materials, and research materials.

Box 82, Folders 1-12

Photographs of classroom scenes. 1936-1955, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains scenes from courses including Fencing, Acting, Costume Design, Dance, Eurythmics/Body Movement, Make-up, Set Design and Construction, Stagecraft, and Voice and Speech.

Cinema, radio, and television.

Box 83, Folders 1-7

Photographs of cinema, radio, and television production. 1942-1954

Scope and Content Note

Includes Don Lee TV Production, circa 1942, 1954; various views of television production, 1948-1952; First Annual Television Workshop, staff and students, 1953; Second Annual Television Workshop, students, faculty and guest speakers; and performance photos, 1954.

Box 84, Folders 1-9

Television production performance photographs. Approximately 1948-1960

Scope and Content Note

Most of the photographs are by Jerome Robinson.

Arrangement

Arranged in alphabetical order by play title.

Box 85

Playhouse television scrapbook. 1946-1949

Scope and Content Note

Contains scrapbook presented to Pasadena Playhouse Alumni and Associates by David Crandall.

Box 280, Folders 11-15

Negatives: Various courses. Approximately 1928-1960

Scope and Content Note

Folder 11 contains negatives depicting activities and classroom scenes in acting, dance, make-up, set design, and voice and speech courses. Folders 12-14 contain negatives depicting Don Lee television production (circa 1942) and the first and second annual T.V. production workshops (1953-1954), and Folder 15 contains negatives from T.V. productions of Happy Hangs his Hat and Hedda Gabler.

E. Promotion and publicity. Approximately 1928-1969

Box 86, Folders 1-12

Articles, brochures, and fliers.

Scope and Content Note

Contains articles from the publicity office, headed by Joan Caldwell; School of the Theater and College of Theatre Arts brochures, fliers, and other materials; brochures and fliers for other courses of study (high school teachers, evening extension classes); and Pasadena Theatre Academy brochures. Also includes two issues of Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts News (newsletter) and one issue of Playhouse News, Pasadena Playhouse School of the Theatre.

Box 87, Folders 1-3

Layouts, promotional copy, and mailing samples.

Scope and Content Note

Contains mockups, layouts, copy for brochures, fliers, and other materials; mailings strategy and samples; and a photocopy of a script, Two years before the masque, possibly a promotional video.

F. Students and student life. Approximately 1922-1985

Box 88, Folders 1-9

Student rosters and directories. Approximately 1935-1966

Scope and Content Note

Contains student rosters, directories, and class registration books, circa 1936-1941; 1945-1953, 1955, 1966, and undated (including undated "players in profile"). Also includes School of the Theatre student newsletter, 1935; one student letter to another student, 1951; a sample of student coursework (bibliography); and ephemera.

Box 89, Folders 1-15

Photographs of students and staff. Approximately 1922-1960

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs depicting administrators, faculty, and guest speakers; class photographs and student portraits, circa 1922-1959 (with gaps); various views of dormitories, circa 1940-1960; and students in rehearsal, at the library, during social activities, engaging in sports, and at mail call.

Box 90

Fairfax Walkup photograph album and scrapbook pages. Approximately 1928-1956

Scope and Content Note

Contains a photograph album and pages of a scrapbook with photographs depicting students and student life; materials were compiled by Fairfax Walkup and dated 1928-1939, undated. Also contains a few loose photographs from Walkup's photograph album, possibly connected to a course she taught about costumes and costuming, plus one of an unidentified woman; two publicity photographs of a dance class, from 1956; one photograph of students in a dorm; and one photograph of students in an acting class, both undated.

Box 280, Folder 16

Negatives: Various aspects. Approximately 1920-1969

Scope and Content Note

Contains negatives depicting students and various aspects of student life including mail call; life in dormitories; and recreational and leisure activities.

Box 91, Folders 1-10

Alumni files. Approximately 1941-1985

Scope and Content Note

Contains a few pages of a Players Directory (loose scrapbook pages); drawings and a memoir by Jack Chick; alumni directories; permissions to use photographs; booklets, clippings, lists, and article about alumni trained at Pasadena Playhouse; and photographs.

Series IV. Theater programs and related materials. Approximately 1903-1994

Physical Description: 49 boxes

Box 92, Folders 1-10

A. Early Gilmor Brown Troupes, Savoy Theatre. Approximately 1903-1917

Scope and Content Note

Contains materials documenting theatrical work of Gilmor Brown, circa 1903-1916; various companies affiliated with Gilmor Brown, 1916-1917; and Savoy Stock Company and Savoy Theatre, 1916-1917. Also includes photographs, clippings, reviews, and photocopies plus a portrait and scrapbook materials concerning Virginia Lykins, 1906-1916.

B. Community Players of Pasadena/Community Playhouse. 1917-1925

Box 93, Folders 1-2

Community Players of Pasadena/Community Playhouse of Pasadena.November 1917-January 1920

Scope and Content Note

Contains early programs, several for plays held at the Shakespeare Club House.

Box 94, Folders 1-4

Pasadena Community Playhouse and affiliated companies. January 1920-July 1922

Scope and Content Note

Includes also Summer Art Colony (1921) and Drama League at Pasadena Community Playhouse (1922) programs.

Box 95, Folders 1-4

Pasadena Community Playhouse. July 1922-April 1925

C. Mainstage. 1925-1968, 1986-1994

Scope and Content Note

Programs for Mainstage productions were contained in issues of the Pasadena Community Playhouse News, later named the Pasadena Playhouse News. Also included are programs contained in The Playbill and The Playgoer, plus supplementary materials.

Box 96, Folders 1-11

Productions: Lazarus Laughed. 1928, 1929, 1969

Scope and Content Note

Includes articles and clippings; cast, costume, and dressing room lists; correspondence, including a copy and transcription of Eugene O'Neill's letter to Gilmor Brown and correspondence about the production's score, plus a photograph of the composer; programs, correspondence, and clippings concerning the 1928 and 1929 premieres. Also includes and scripts, in the form of sides for various characters and the chorus.

Pasadena Community Playhouse News/Pasadena Playhouse News.

Box 97, Folders 1-5

May 1925-February 1928.

Box 98, Folders 1-3

February 1928-July 1929.

Box 99, Folders 1-4

July 1929-August 1931.

Box 100, Folders 1-6

September 1931-June 1934.

Scope and Content Note

One folder contains autographed and/or inscribed issues.

Box 101, Folders 1-4

July 1934-June 1936.

Box 102, Folders 1-6

July 1936-June 1939.

Box 103, Folders 1-7

July 1939-December 1943.

Box 104, Folders 1-4

January 1944-December 1946.

Box 105, Folders 1-4

January 1947-December 1948.

Box 106, Folders 1-6

January 1949-December 1951.

Scope and Content Note

One copy of program for Percy MacKaye's Hamlet (April 14-May 1, 1949) includes announcement, clipping, and brochure.

Box 107, Folders 1-6

January 1952-December 1956.

Box 108, Folders 1-5

January 1957-June 1961.

Other Mainstage programs.

Box 109, Folders 1-9

Pasadena Community Playhouse. 1925-1937

Scope and Content Note

Contains Pasadena Community Playhouse programs and playbills from 1925-1937; also includes some ephemera and photographs.

Box 110, Folders 1-8

Oversize programs. 1927-1961

Scope and Content Note

Contains oversize programs for Pasadena Community Playhouse, 1927-1937. Also includes programs for the Playbox, 1931-1962, and the Mainstage, approximately 1937-1941 and 1960-1961.

Box 111, Folders 1-11

Playhouse Playbill, Curtain Call. 1937-1963, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains Playhouse Playbill: Programs, October 1937-August 1941; Mainstage playbills, 1940-1945, 1955; Curtain Call, programs and playbills, 1951-1963, undated; and assorted programs, 1960s.

Playhouse programs: bound volumes. 1937-1949

Box 112

Volumes I and II, June 28, 1937-June 24, 1945.

Box 113

Volumes III and IV, June 26, 1945-June 26, 1949.

The Playgoer. 1961-1968

Box 114, Folders 1-4

October 1961-March 1966.

Box 115, Folders 1-2

September 1966-May 1968.

Box 116, Folders 1-8

Pasadena Playhouse, State Theatre of California. 1986-1994

Scope and Content Note

Programs chiefly contained within Performing Arts magazine. Also includes typed Mainstage programs index, 1986-1994.

Mainstage productions: supplemental materials. Approximately 1930-1968

Box 117, Folders 1-12

Fliers, brochures, and lists of Mainstage plays. 1930-1961

Scope and Content Note

Contains list of Mainstage plays, 1930-1961; fliers and brochures, 1930s-1960s, including for unidentified or multiple venues. Undated fliers and brochures are arranged alphabetically by play title.

Box 118, Folders 1-31

Oversize materials. 1941-1968

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs, notes, typescripts, layouts for publicity materials, and other; most materials related to promotion and publicity.

D. Playbox. 1923-1968

Scope and Content Note

See Series II, Box 47, for Roger Altenberg's dissertation on the Playbox.

Box 119, Folders 1-10

1924-1942, undated.

Box 120, Folders 1-8

1943-1959.

Box 121, Folders 1-3

1960-1964, 1967-1968.

Box 122, Folders 1-20

Playbox supplemental materials, 1923-1962.

Scope and Content Note

Contains clippings, membership and subscription invitations, lists of plays performed, cast lists, original drawings and costume designs, performance photographs, and ephemera including tickets and subscription passes. Also includes financial records including a ledger and checkbook register, 1955-1958.

E. Other venues. 1926-1969

Workshop and Laboratory Theatres. 1927-1946

Box 123, Folders 1-9

Programs and clippings.

Scope and Content Note

Contains Workshop programs, 1929-1936; and Laboratory Theatre programs 1933 (summer session), 1936-1946. Also includes clippings, Workshop and Laboratory Theatre, 1927-1939; and a scrapbook page with clipping re: Workshop group, 1927. See also Series II, Scrapbook 104, for more materials on the Workshop and Laboratory Theatres.

Patio Theatre. 1946-1969

Box 124, Folders 1-9

1946-1959.

Box 125, Folders 1-6

1960-1969, undated.

Scope and Content Note

Includes file of undated or multiple productions, arranged in alphabetical order by play title. Also includes one ticket for unspecified productions.

Box 126, Folders 1-12

The People Win Thru (1952). 1951-1957

Scope and Content Note

Includes cast list; clippings; correspondence; programs; publicity materials; photographs; production notes; Gilmor Brown's report about the event to the Board of Trustees; and reviews. Also contains a hand-painted guest book and a transcription of an interview with Brown regarding the production of this play.

Balcony Theatres. 1946-1969

Box 127, Folders 1-10

1946-1957.

Box 128, Folders 1-9

1957-1961.

Box 129, Folders 1-9

1961-1969.

Scope and Content Note

Also includes Arena Theatre programs, 1962-1963.

F. Other student productions. 1930-1955

Box 130, Folders 1-11

First- through third-year; Senior Players. 1930-1941

Box 131, Folders 1-11

Seniors, Postgraduate, Summer, others. 1930-1946

Scope and Content Note

Includes programs for the Senior Players, 1942-1946; Postgraduate programs, 1936-1942; Summer Sessions (Recital Hall), 1930, 1934-1946; Recital Hall programs, including for Summer Sessions, Laboratory Theatre, Junior, and Senior Players (bound, 1943-1946); Technical Class, 1938-1939; Theater demonstration programs, 1935-1939; and visiting student productions, 1938, 1944.

Box 132, Folders 1-9

Events and projects. Approximately 1954-1955

Scope and Content Note

Includes Annual Drama Clinics; Cue Gardens; dance projects; Playhouse Day; special and holiday events; Showcases; College of Theatre Arts, Advanced extension project, 1954-1955; various student productions; Pasadena Playhouse College Repertory Company, and R.E.P. (Repertory Exists in Pasadena).

Special programs; visiting and offsite productions. 1935-1975

Midsummer Drama Festivals. 1935-1953

Box 133, Folders 1-9

First through Fifth Annual, 1935-1939.

Scope and Content Note

Contains lists of productions, 1935-1952, and programs and related materials from the First through Fifth Annual Festivals, 1935-1939

Box 134, Folders 1-10

Sixth through Nineteenth Annual, 1940-1953.

One-Act Play Tournaments. 1930-1969

Box 135, Folders 1-10

Forms, rules, rating sheets, approximately 1950-1962.

Scope and Content Note

Contains entry forms, certificates, judges' rating sheets, news releases, clippings, rules and regulations, lists of plays, and certificates.

Box 136, Folders 1-6

Programs, 1930-1969.

Box 137, Folders 1-6

Children's Theatre and Reader Theater. 1942, 1961-1968, 1975

Scope and Content Note

Contains Pasadena Playhouse Association Children's Theatre programs, 1962-1968; and photographs, 1961, 1963, 1966. Also includes programs from other children's theatre groups and programs, brochures, and clippings regarding children's theater organizations. Also includes programs and clippings from the Pasadena Playhouse Reader Theatre, 1942, 1975.

Box 138, Folders 1-16

Other special productions. Approximately 1930-1946

Scope and Content Note

Contains materials for one-off and special events productions, affiliated and collaborating companies, and visiting companies. Included are anniversary programs, holiday events, Federal Theatre Project/WPA at the Playhouse, Dublin Players, Eighteen Acres, and other individual programs. Also includes programs from visiting dance and musical programs, lectures, and related.

Touring and offsite productions. 1919-1968

Box 139, Folders 1-13

Padua Players, El Pablo Players, others. Approximately 1919-1941

Scope and Content Note

Includes chronological list of plays performed at various venues, 1919-1941, including Workshop plays, Little Theatre in Padua Hills, Outside Productions, and Special Productions. Other venues include the Little Theatre of the Huntington Hotel and several high school stages. Contains several programs featuring the Junior Players, 1921-1922; programs featuring the Padua Players, 1933-1935; and the El Pablo Players, 1940-1941. Also includes Playhouse players presented by the U.S. military and other programs from tours. Additionally includes programs from the Padua Hills Theatre and from the Mexican Players, plus a few programs from other Gilmor Brown productions outside of the Playhouse, 1921-1922, 1924, and 1933.

Box 140, Folders 1-19

State Theatre Players and others. 1947-1968

Scope and Content Note

Chiefly contains programs from plays featuring the State Theatre Players. Also includes materials reflecting the Playhouse's association with the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation and the Pasadena Playhouse at Catalina, as well as fliers and a coursebook from educational outreach efforts.

Series V. Theater performance and related photographs. Approximately 1888-1969

Physical Description: 74 boxes

Scope and Content Note

Subseries A (Community Playhouse and Mainstage productions), Subseries B (Playbox productions) and Subseries C (Mainstage, Playbox, and Gilmor Brown) are from a collection previously known as photCL 327 or Album 327, compiled from the scrapbook series set described in Series II.

A. Community Playhouse and Mainstage productions. 1918-1962

North Fair Oaks performance photographs. 1918-1925

Scope and Content Note

The North Fair Oaks location was home to the Savoy Theatre until 1918, when Brown's company renamed it the Pasadena Community Playhouse.

Box 141, Folders 1-39

Items 1-217. May 14, 1918-June 20, 1921.

Box 142, Folders 1-28

Items 218-424. August 4, 1921-November 6, 1922.

Box 143, Folders 1-34

Items 425-595. November 20, 1922-February 5, 1925.

North Fair Oaks and Mainstage performance photographs. 1925-1926

Box 144, Folders 1-38

Items 596-840. February 23, 1925-January 7-16, 1926.

Scope and Content Note

Items 596-666 chiefly depict performances prior to the establishment of the Mainstage in 1925, and also include various other views, including images of the exterior and interior at North Fair Oaks; a performance to benefit the Kiwanis Club at the Pasadena High School Auditorium, November 1922 (Item 614); Pasadena Playhouse Children's Department productions at the Shakespeare Club and Raymond Theatre (Items 621-622); a group photograph depicting the Summer Art Colony, 1922 (Item 623); and other images. Items 667-840 chiefly depict performances on the Mainstage, beginning May 18, 1925.

Mainstage performance photographs. 1925-1969

Box 145, Folders 1-31

Items 841-1326. January 21-30, 1926-February 10-19, 1927

Box 146, Folders 1-23

Items 1327-1683. February 10-19, 1927-July 26, 1927

Box 147, Folders 1-29

Items 1684-2016. August 16, 1927-July 24, 1928

Scope and Content Note

Contains section of photos devoted to Lazarus Laughed (Items 1942-1977.9), including publicity photos, masks and mask creation, sets and scenes, and performers.

Box 148, Folders 1-25

Items 2017-2333. April 20, 1928-March 5, 1929

Box 149, Folders 1-28

Items 2334-2604. March 5, 1929-October 8, 1929

Box 150, Folders 1-25

Items 2605-2857. October 22, 1929-April 24, 1930

Box 151, Folders 1-27

Items 2858-3144. May 8, 1930-February 5, 1931

Box 152, Folders 1-29

Items 3145-3422. February 5, 1931-January 2, 1932

Box 153, Folders 1-39

Items 3423-3689. January 7-16, 1932-Septamber 26, 1933

Box 154, Folders 1-39

Items 3690-3900.1. October 31, 1931-July 13, 1936

Box 155, Folders 1-43

Items 3901-4492. July 20, 1936-January 4, 1938

Box 156, Folders 1-45

Items 4493-5030. January 18, 1938-June 26, 1939

Box 157, Folders 1-45

Items 5031-5397. June 26, 1939-March 11, 1941

Box 158, Folders 1-53

Items 5398-5678. March 25, 1941-February 23, 1944

Box 159, Folders 1-61

Items 5679-5896. March 8, 1944-November 13, 1946

Box 160, Folders 1-39

Items 5897-6200. November 27, 1946-July 13, 1948

Box 161, Folders 1-40

Items 6201-6458. July 20, 1948-January 18, 1950

Box 162, Folders 1-44

Items 6459-6749. February 15, 1950-December 6, 1951

Box 163, Folders 1-42

Items 6750-7020. December 20, 1951-April 1, 1954

Box 164, Folders 1-26

Items 7021-7358. April 29, 1954-December 19-22, 1955

Box 165, Folders 1-25

Items 7359-7668. January 5, 1956-June 6, 1957

Box 166, Folders 1-25

Items 7669-8006. October 7, 1957-January 29, 1959

Box 167, Folders 1-22

Items 8007-8389. January 29, 1959-February 11, 1960

Box 168, Folders 1-21

Items 8390-8789. February 11, 1960-December 30, 1960

Box 169, Folders 1-27

Items 8790-9086. February 17, 1961-May 23, 1969

B. Playbox productions.

Box 170, Folders 1-34

Items 9087-9225. October 29, 1924-December 3-5, 1935

Box 171, Folders 1-25

Items 9226-9410. December 6-13, 1935-March 14-23, 1937

Box 172, Folders 1-23

Items 9411-9692. March 25-April 1, 1937-November 27-December 6, 1938

Box 173, Folders 1-44

Items 9693-9919. December 11-20, 1938-March 25-April 7, 1945

Box 174, Folders 1-20

Items 9920-10182. October 21, 46-May 10, 1948

Box 175, Folders 1-22

Items 10183-10394. May 26, 1948-March 19, 1950

Box 176, Folders 1-44

Items 10395-10634. April 9, 1950-March 16, 1962

Box 177, Folders 1-33

Items 10635-10889: Various.

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs depicting Playbox performances, November 18, 1950-February 10, 1951 (Items 10635-10715); various views of exteriors, circa 1925-1940 (Items 10716-10834); architectural drawings by Elmer Grey, 1925 (Items 10837-10838.1); and views of the Mainstage auditorium and other interiors (Items 10881-10889).

C. Mainstage, Playbox, and Gilmor Brown. Approximately 1888-1969

Box 178, Folders 1-28

Interior views; Gilmor Brown.

Scope and Content Note

Items 10890-10969 and 10979-10981: Various views of interiors, undated. Items 10970-10978: Playbox interior and exterior views, 695 Herkimer Street, undated. Items 10982-11066: Gilmor Brown, circa 1888-1960, including portraits of Brown as a youth and in various roles, among them as part of pre-Playhouse companies such as the Gilmor Brown Players; depictions of Brown with others, including at a New York Pasadena Playhouse Alumni Associate Breakfast (1956) and with Charlie Prickett, Victor Mature, Dana Andrews, Robert Preston, and Murray Yates; and images of Brown speaking, rehearsing, and traveling.

Oversize photographs and other materials.

Box 179, Folders 1-23

Mainstage and other. Approximately 1926-1941

Box 180, Folders 1-24

Mainstage. Approximately 1947-1968

Box 181, Folders 1-29

Playbox and other. Approximately 1932-1959

Scope and Content Note

Contains portraits of actors and actresses; performance photos from the Playbox; and images of Gilmor Brown and Lenore Shanewise in performance.

Box 182

Various photographs, posters, and programs. Approximately 1932-1959

Scope and Content Note

Contains enlargements of performance photographs from the set previously known as photCL 327 or Album 327; depictions of Gilmor Brown in character for unidentified play; and a scene from Trelawny of the Halwels, 1920. Also includes programs from Pasadena Community Playhouse and Playbox productions; a hand-drawn poster for When Knighthood was in Flower, 1932, by Corliss McGee; posters for the Gin Game, Charley's Aunt, and El Grande de Coca Cola; and four blueprints of the set design for a Mainstage production of Picnic, 1955.

Negatives.

Scope and Content Note

Contains negatives and glass plates removed from the collection previously known as photCL 327 or Album 327; item numbers correspond with item numbers for prints.

Box 183, Folders 1-5

Items 120-2674, 10738.

Scope and Content Note

Also includes two color glass plate images from Lazarus Laughed, Apri1 1, 1929.

Box 184

Items 777-3532.

Box 185, Folders 1-4

Items 2675-3498.

Box 186, Folders 1-3

Items 3504-3842.

Box 187, Folders 1-4

Items 3849a-4176.

Box 188, Folders 1-4

Items 4177-4619.

Box 189, Folders 1-4

Items 4620-5239.

Box 190, Folders 1-4

Items 5240-5549.

Box 191, Folders 1-4

Items 5550-6874.

Box 192, Folders 1-4

Items 6878-10191.

Box 192a, Folders 1-2

Items 10377-10788.

Box 193, Folders 1-5

Items 10782-11060.

Scope and Content Note

Includes negatives for King of Hearts illustrated mailer, for 1963 production; negatives labeled "Barrie Festival Book" (around 30 negatives); and negatives of the laying of the cornerstone of the Community Playhouse, 5/31/1924. Also includes negatives of a cartoon caricature of George Bernard Shaw and of a layout, also combined with the Hildebrand collection (two images from Album 328: Modjeska and Brookside Park).

D. Other venues. 1922-1969

Box 194, Folders 1-6

Various. 1922-1936

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs from productions including The Wedding (1922); Polly with a Past (1922); The Wolves (1928); Julius Caesar (1929); Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary (1929); The Armored Train (1930, undated); Marco Millions (1930); The Blue Bird (Muncie set, 1930; 1937); and Yes is for a Very Young Man (circa 1946). Also contains performance photographs and clippings from The Follies of Pasadena, possibly the Playhouse's first comedy caper (1923-1924, undated) and around 40 unidentified performance and cast photographs, possibly from Mainstage and North Fair Oaks theater, from circa 1927-1936.

Box 194a, Folders 1-10

Various. 1945-1965

Scope and Content Note

Contains non-Mainstage damaged photographs: A, B, I, N-P, R-T, W, and Cinema Project Princess Tin-Tan. Please handle carefully.

Box 195

Slides. 1947-1952

Scope and Content Note

Box 195A contains performance photographs (color slides), School for Scandal. July 15, 1947 (unidentified venue). Box 195B contains a set of slides depicting Playhouse buildings and activities; images of Pasadena, including Tournament of Roses 1950-1952; and various views of Los Angeles.

Box 196, Folders 1-7

Workshop and Laboratory Theatres. 1926-1962

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs from the Workshop, 1926-1934, and Laboratory Theatre, 1936-1943. Also contains photographs depicting One-Act Play Tournaments, approximately 1938-1962.

Patio and unidentified venues. 1946-1969

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by play title.

Box 197, Folders 1-7

A-D.

Box 198, Folders 1-8

E-M.

Box 199, Folders 1-7

N-Y.

Balcony Theatres. Approximately 1946-1969

Box 200, Folders 1-8

A-C.

Box 201, Folders 1-11

D-G.

Box 202, Folders 1-7

H-L.

Box 203, Folders 1-8

M-R.

Box 204, Folders 1-7

R-Th.

Scope and Content Note

Includes one cast portrait, from The Royal Gambit.

Box 205, Folders 1-6

Ti-Y.

E. Other Student Productions. Approximately 1922-1961

Box 206, Folders 1-7

First- through third-year projects. 1922-1936

Scope and Content Note

Contains chiefly first-year projects, most undated.

Box 207, Folders 1-9

Senior, holiday, other productions. [1947-1952]

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs depicting performances at Cue Gardens; Junior and Senior productions; special and holiday productions; Summer Sessions; Third Annual Drama Clinic; and other various student productions, some unidentified.

Other performance and related photographs. Approximately 1917-1969

Various performance and other photographs. 1937-1938, undated

Scope and Content Note

Set of four boxes transferred to the collection from the Pasadena Public Library in 2013.

Box 208

Libel, Miner's Gold, and other productions 1937-1938, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains loose photographs depicting performances, actors, and actresses; images are chiefly from the 1937 Midsummer Drama Festival. Photographs include 10 images from Libel; nine photographs from Miner's Gold; two from Rose of the Rancho; and one of a woman reading. Also includes one photograph of a scene from Major Barbara, 1938. Photographers credited include Jerry Eaton and Peter Piper (James F. Pieper).

Box 209

Various performance and other photographs. Undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains loose undated performance photographs by Jerome Robinson for productions including: Broken dishes (three photos); Take it from the Angels and River Boy (two photos each); and A Yankee Fable, Oh! Susanna, Dr. Knock, A Servant in the House, Twin Beds, The Unmarried Hat, What Happened to Jones?, I Have Been Here Before, and The Patsy (one photo each). Also contains photographs by Jerry Eaton (Arms and the Man, one photo, plus unidentified photos) and two photos by Peter Pipe, one unidentified and one, from Autumn Crocus, inscribed to Gilmor Brown, "with best wishes for the Playbox," signed by Piper (1938). Also contains one drawing of an unidentified actor; portraits of groups and students; two undated photographs of a Mainstage play, Remains to Be Seen (undated); one undated photograph of an event, possibly a Festival breakfast; and 12 undated photos from unidentified performances, taken by unidentified photographer(s).

Box 210

Portraits and performance photographs. 1937, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains loose photographs including: performance photograph by Jerome Robinson of Gilmor Brown in an unidentified play; a collage of performance photos captioned "Michael Collins"; one performance photograph by Peter Piper of After the Bell (1937); and a photograph by Jerome Robinson of an unidentified performance. Also contains several unidentified production and publicity photographs; photographs of the wardrobe room, with people viewing costumes; one photograph of fencing instruction; and original designs for Pasadena Playhouse News layouts and for a program for Green Fire, the latter by Pasadena Junior College students.

Box 211

Matted portrait and performance photographs. 1937-1938, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains loose matted photographs from plays and many portraits of actors and actresses, some in performance; most are from the Midsummer Drama Festival of 1937. Photographs by Jerry Eaton include: Nude with Pineapple (seven photos); Juarez and Maximilian (five photographs and one posterboard with cutouts); Night over Taos (four photos); Montezuma (two photos); and one photo of Morris Ankrum as Pablo Montoya in an unidentified play. Photographs by Peter Piper include: Mlle. Richert in Rose of the Rancho (one photo); Girl of the Golden West (two photos by Piper and two by unidentified photographers); a photo of Charlie Prickett and unidentified man, captioned Nose! Nose! Nose! (A Million Times Nose!) (1938); and Miracle of the Swallows (two photos). Photographs by C. K. Eaton include: Ethan Frome (five photos). Also includes several unidentified photographs and several depictions of set and costume design.

Box 281, Folders 1-6

Negatives: Various productions and related photographs. Approximately 1917-1969

Scope and Content Note

Folder 1 contains negatives from productions including Autumn Leaves (1938), And So They Perish (undated), and unidentified productions, including ones labeled "Workshop" and and "Lab"; also included are negatives labeled "Barrie Festival book." Folders 2-3 contain images from a Third-Year student production of Mine Eyes Have Seen (1955) and unidentified student productions (possibly a pageant). Folders 4-5 contain negatives from unidentified productions, circa 1917-1925, and rehearsals, undated. Folder 6 contains negatives from various productions.

Box 212, Folders 1-13

Unidentified theater productions. Approximately 1917-1969

Scope and Content Note

Includes many undated later prints of performance photographs, plus receipts and other documentation; these are possibly from a collaboration between the Pasadena Playhouse and the Huntington Library to create prints from negatives.

Series VI. Theater production materials. Approximately 1916-1991

Physical Description: 20 boxes

A. Various. Approximately 1918-1969

Box 213, Folders 1-17

Costume lists, property and lighting plots, other. 1930-1952

Scope and Content Note

Contains costume and property lists and lighting plots, circa 1930-1950, some originally from a folder labeled, "Junior Dramatics, technician's copy"; instructions and samples for stage managers; preliminary production coordinating sheets for plays performed circa 1949-1952; cast lists; and a stage manager's report for Mister Angel, 1952. Also includes stage settings, lighting plots, and more for various plays; materials chiefly from the Pasadena Department of Recreation.

Box 214, Folders 1-8

Character and costume sketches, stage designs, other. Approximately 1918-1969

Scope and Content Note

Includes a sketch of Guy Bates Post, from The Play's the Thing, by John W. Haynes; drawings and sketches of the Mad Hatter and unidentified characters; two sketches of Shylock by [Donald?] Finlayson, one for a production of The Lady of Belmont and one for The Merchant of Venice; annotated magazine pages featuring costume and set designs, 1929 and undated; a blueprint of a stage design for Dancing Days by Corliss McGee, 1930; and drawings and photographs depicting stage settings and designs for plays including Skidding, On the Spot, The Armored Train, The Watched Pot, and Marco Millions. Also includes photographs dated circa 1920-1969 depicting costume and wardrobe fabrication, and photographs dated circa 1922-1937 depicting stage sets and design for productions including The Sunken Bell, Hassan, The Pirates of Penzance, King Lear, The Makropoulos Secret, and an unidentified Shakespeare set, as well as for unidentified productions, circa 1937-1960. Also contains one photograph depicting stagehands surrounding a Pasadena Community Playhouse truck, circa 1918-1925.

B. Set and costume designs. Approximately 1918-1962

Box 215, Folders 1-12

Original designs by James Hyde, Jānis Muncis, and others. 1930-1950

Scope and Content Note

Work by Jānis Muncis includes a painting for "Armoured Train." Also contains several designs by unidentified artists, including paintings of houses and interiors (possibly by Hyde); costume designs for a Shakespearean festival; drawings and photographs of costumes for the Merry Wives of Windsor; two drawings by Harbert, one of Mistress Page and one of Mistress Ford, with annotations; and various other set and costume designs.

Box 216

Designs by James Hyde, identified productions. 1920-1969

Scope and Content Note

Includes designs by James Hyde for Lazarus Laughed (circa 1928); Larry Apart (circa 1950); Eight Bells (circa 1940?); and unidentified plays. Also includes two costume designs by an unidentified designer.

Box 217

Designs by James Hyde, unidentified productions. 1930-1933

Scope and Content Note

Includes paintings of houses and their environs; of men at a roulette table, one captioned "Follow the Fleet," with an attribution of Carroll Clark, Unit Art Director; of Ivanhoe and Friar Tuck's Hut (also with Carroll Clark, Unit Art Director); and of a banquet and of couples outside of a mansion.

Box 218

Designs by Jānis Muncis. 1920-1969

Scope and Content Note

Contains designs for productions of Marco Millions, Kismet, Julius Caesar, and unidentified productions.

Box 219

Work by various designers. 1920-1950

Scope and Content Note

Includes designs by Alson Clark, Robert Redington Sharpe, Corliss McGee, and Wilmer[?].

Box 220

Work by unidentified designers. 1935-1969

Scope and Content Note

Includes design for Hamlet and otherwise unidentified designs and designers. Also includes unidentified photograph of set design for a bedroom, circa 1950s-1960s.

Box 281, Folder 7

Negatives: Unidentified set designs. Undated

Box 221

Frederick Blanchard painting of stage set. Approximately 1945

Scope and Content Note

Framed color painting titled The Play of the Man who Married a Dumb Wife. Captions on back note that Blanchard, who taught and worked at the Playhouse during the 1930s and 1940s, also wrote the play, and that the painting hung in the Playhouse faculty lounge during the 1950s and 1960s.

C. Scores. 1928-1939, undated

Box 222, Folders 1-8

Original scores for various productions.

Scope and Content Note

Contains scores for: Lovely Miss Linley (Lee Gilmore piano score used in 1942 production); Lazarus Laughed (Arthur Alexander original music, 1928, in five parts, some copies and some handwritten); Follies of Pasadena (original scores, blueprint copies, undated); and original music composed in 1939 and undated by Vincent Bowditch for unidentified Pasadena Playhouse productions.

D. Scripts. Approximately 1916-1991

Scope and Content Note

The scripts, many of which contain annotations, may have been used in a variety of production settings, including Mainstage or student productions; they also may have been used in theater production courses. Unless otherwise noted, contents consist of full or partial production scripts.

Arrangement

Scripts are arranged in alphabetical order by play title.

Box 223, Folders 1-11

Plays A-H.

Scope and Content Note

Works include: Saroyan, William, Across the Board on Tomorrow Morning (circa 1941); Aeschylus, The Agamemnon (undated); Morelli, Richard, Aladdin (circa 1955?); Bachman, Robert, And So They Perish (script, clippings, and correspondence, 1935, 1939, 1991); Crothers, Rachel, As Husbands Go (script, property plot, and cast list, circa 1931, 1950); Hellman, Lillian, The Children's Hour (production script, cast list, property and costume plots, and sound cues, 1963); Brown, Gilmor, A Christmas Carol (arrangement, undated); MacKaye, Percy, Hamlet Tetralogy (scenes, cast lists, promotional material, 1946-1948); Alden, A. W., The House in the Wood (notebook and portions of director's copy of script, circa 1935); Middleton, George, The House of a Thousand Candles (circa 1935).

Box 224, Folders 1-11

Plays L-R.

Scope and Content Note

Works include: Powers, Tom, Ladybug, Ladybug (undated); Kennedy, Belle Cumming, Lovely Miss Linley (master and production scripts; music and scenes; correspondence; production plots; clippings; program; and ephemera, 1942); Grant, James Shaw, The Magic Rowan (script, sound cues, property plots, and program, 1947); Rose, Billy, The Night They Made a Bum out of Helen Hayes (television script?, circa 1950); MacKaye, Percy, Odin against Christus (1948); Walkup, Fairfax, Orbit in Light (circa 1966-1969); Haney, Edith S, Pasadena Panorama (undated); and Kennedy, Belle Cumming, Rosemary – That's for Remembrance ([1957]).

Box 225, Folders 1-8

Plays S-T.

Scope and Content Note

Works include: James, Helen, Shiny Legs (1961); Flavin, Martin, Shucks (script and correspondence, 1949, 1966); Snow White (various scripts, 1954, undated); Brown, Gilmor, A Soul for Mary Jane (typescript, stage sketch, and memo from Pasadena Drama Guild, 1935); Riley, Alice C. D., A Stare Shone and Little New Moon (Samuel French script, inscribed to Gilmor Brown, 1929, undated); Deval, Jacques, Tovaritch (1937); Milne, A. A., The Truth About Blayds (acting edition, Samuel French, 1923); and Hecht, Ben, and MacArthur, Charles, Twentieth Century (after 1932).

Box 226, Folders 1-6

Plays T-W.

Scope and Content Note

Works include: Kennedy, Belle Cumming, To Where You Are (scripts and correspondence, 1970, 1982); Aiken, George, Uncle Tom's Cabin (dramatization, circa 1933?); Field, Edward Salisbury, Wedding Bells (script and production materials, 1948); and Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights (circa 1935).

Bound scripts. 1916-1951

Scope and Content Note

Most of the scripts in the set were Playbox productions.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by play title.

Box 227, Folders 1-6

Plays A-G.

Scope and Content Note

Works include: Ackland, Rodney, After October (1938; includes annotations by Gilmor Brown); Bodeen, DeWitt, Argosy at Forty (1938); Glaspell, Susan, Bernice (1925); Bennett, Julia, The Bishop's Bed (1934); Bodeen, DeWitt, Fallen Angel (1949); and Turney, Catherine and Longstreet, Stephen, Gaugin (1948).

Box 228, Folders 1-7

Plays H-M.

Scope and Content Note

Works include: Brighouse, Harold, Hobson's Choice (1916, 1950); Rostand, Edmund, The Far Princess (1934); Van Dyke, Philip, Life Sentence (1937); Sinclair, Upton, Love in Arms ([1935]); Gribble, Henry Wagstaff, March Hares ([1940]); Sternheim, Carl, The Mask of Virtue ([1938]); and Rouverol, Aurania (Ellerbeck), Money ([1935]).

Box 229, Folders 1-8

Plays M-T.

Scope and Content Note

Works include: Bodeen, DeWitt, Morning Star (1949); Dell, Jeffrey, Payment Deferred ([1941]); Ross Williamson, Hugh, The Seven Deadly Virtues ([1938)]; Warwick, James, Smoke Screen ([1934]); Hodge, Max, A Striped Sack for Penny Candy (1951); Bodeen, DeWitt, A Thing of Beauty ([1949]); Coward, Noel, This Happy Breed ([194?]); and Homer, Frances, Triumph, My Britain ([1949]).

Scripts for children's productions. 1931-1945, undated

Scope and Content Note

Includes typescripts and some additional production materials. Most are labeled Pasadena Department of Recreation or Community Playground of Pasadena; some are annotated.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by play title.

Box 230, Folders 1-5

Plays A-I.

Box 231, Folders 1-6

Plays J-W.

Box 232, Folder 1

Adventures of Alice. Undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains typescript pages and handwritten notes; one section is labeled Pasadena Department of Recreation. Materials are undated.

Series VII. Library, museum, and research files. Approximately 1857-1995

Physical Description: 47 boxes

A. Administrative. 1930-1969

Box 233, Folders 1-10

General. 1930-1969

Scope and Content Note

Includes correspondence regarding the library and its collections, 1956-1969; donor lists, receipts, and documentation, 1941-1968, including a souvenir program and typed summary of Honcho 24 Ko and several scrapbook pages containing ephemera; an application for a grant, 1968; inventories, reports, and statistics, 1950, 1962-1963, and undated; requisitions for books, manuscripts, playbooks, and supplies, 1960-1963; reference materials including bibliographies on costume, dance, folklore, and theater arts, plus a list of subject headings for various fields, 1945 and undated, and a general directory of artists, writers, and directors, 1930. Also includes curricular materials on cinema technique and the film industry, 1940 and undated, given to the Library by Fairfax Walkup.

Box 234

Classification of books in the Library. Approximately 1959

Scope and Content Note

Categories include Plays; Play Construction; Costume; Stage Design; History of Stage and Drama; Music; and Miscellaneous, comprising History and Travel, Biography, Philosophy and Religion, General Literature (novels, fiction, essays, and poetry), Technical (encyclopedias, materials regarding fine arts, including radio and television, and periodicals). Also includes Index of Photographs in the Library of Photographs, 1918-1928, compiled by Clinton Clarke.

Library index. Approximately 1954-1960

Scope and Content Note

Contains indexes of correspondence, plays at various venues, photographs, and Play of the Month Club subscribers. Also contains Play of the Month Club ticket books from 1953 and 1954.

Box 235

Archival and pictorial materials.

Scope and Content Note

Contains indexes to Library archival materials, possibly compiled by the original archivist and pictorial index; Play of the Month Club ticket books from 1953 and 1954.

Box 236

Play of the Month Club subscribers.

Scope and Content Note

Contains index of Play of the Month Club subscribers, in alphabetical order.

Box 237, Folders 1-17

B. Theater Periodicals. 1846-1969

Scope and Content Note

Includes publications concerning the Little Theatre movement that feature the Pasadena Community Playhouse: Little Theatres (New York Drama League, December 1923), with an article on Gilmor Brown; The Little Theatre Magazine (January and November 1933, and February 1934), with photographs and news concerning the Playhouse and its activities; and Little Theatre Arts (February 1937). Also contains serials published by the American National Theatre Association (ANTA), 1960 and 1969; and individual issues of titles including American Theatre Magazine (March 1940); Fink's Magazine (April 1908); The Play Pictorial (1905?); The Playgoer (1939, 1941, 1954, undated); Script (Rob Wagner, September 1943); The Theater (1887-1890); Theater and School (January 1936); The Theatre Annual (1943, 1944); Theatre in Education (April 1951); Theatre Magazine (1924, 1926-1928); Theatrical Times (1846, 1847, 1849, undated); and The Theatergoer (1942, 1945, 1946, 1948). Also includes periodicals concerning general topics, such as the Pasadena Lens and TAB (weekly entertainment guides, 1960) and Survey Graphic (1946), and music (The Concertgoer, 1951).

C. Materials related to theater production. Approximately 1857-1956

Scope and Content Note

Includes materials that appear to have been used for reference purposes or as museum artifacts, rather than actively in plays produced by the Playhouse.

Scripts and scores. Approximately 1857-1956

Box 238, Folders 1-11

Playground Community Service of Pasadena scripts. Approximately 1929-1931

Scope and Content Note

Also includes a script for one scene from Uncle Tom's Cabin, plus a library card, 1931 and undated.

Arrangement

Scripts arranged in alphabetical order by play title.

Theatre Arts Magazine scripts. 1948-1956

Box 239, Folders 1-13

Play titles A-Me.

Box 240, Folders 1-7

Play titles Mi-Y.

19th- and early 20th-century scripts and scores. Approximately 1857-1939

Box 241

Plays by Euripedes and Ibsen.

Scope and Content Note

Scripts include sides and a hardcover notebook with pasted-in, annotated portions of a printed script for Medea (Euripedes), 1857, undated; and a hardcover typescript of a script for Brand (Henrik Ibsen, revised translation by Gottfried Hult), undated.

Box 242, Folders 1-5

Various.

Scope and Content Note

Contains original scripts for Unparalleled Attraction!!! (C. W. Tayleure, circa 1860-1890); Lucky Stars (George Robert Graham, circa 1885?); and Keep Your Eye on the Corporal: A Farce (W. J. Lucas, 1939), signed by Graham. Scores include Music of MacBeth, arranged by J. M. Navoni, 1897, originally the property of Tayleure; and It's Sun Up Now (Eugene Lockhart, 1924), signed by actress Lucille LaVerne.

D. Programs and publicity materials. Approximately 1861-1969

Scope and Content Note

Contains programs and other materials for theater and other arts productions at venues other than the Pasadena Playhouse and its precursors. Materials in 19th-century playbills and programs; souvenir programs; and an assortment of programs from various regions of the United States, chiefly in Southern California. Also includes a few programs from countries outside of the United States.

19th-century playbills and programs: scrapbooks. Approximately 1861-1890

Scope and Content Note

The materials were donated to the Playhouse Library by Edwin S. White

Box 243, Folders 1-2

Civil War-era materials.

Scope and Content Note

Contains two disbound scrapbooks originally belonging to an actor who performed before and during the Civil War; the scrapbooks contain mostly playbills and clippings.

Box 244

Various materials.

Scope and Content Note

Contains one disbound scrapbook containing playbills, programs, clippings, and other materials.

Souvenir programs. Approximately 1870-1969

Scope and Content Note

Gift of Martin McCabe.

Box 245, Folders 1-3

California.

Box 246, Folders 1-7

Outside of California.

Various 19th- and 20th-century programs, theater and other arts. Approximately 1870-1969

Scope and Content Note

Most of the programs are from Southern California; other well-represented areas include the Chicago area, New York City, and Detroit.

Arrangement

Materials are arranged by region and then alphabetically by venue name.

Venues in California.

Scope and Content Note

Except for the last folder in Box 250, materials are from Southern California.

Box 247, Folders 1-6

A-H.

Box 248, Folders 1-6

H-M.

Box 249, Folders 1-5

M-P.

Box 250, Folders 1-7

P-Z.

Venues outside of California.

Box 251, Folders 1-9

New York.

Box 252, Folders 1-8

Chicago and other Illinois.

Box 253, Folders 1-6

Detroit, Boston, and other.

Scope and Content Note

Includes also various venues in the U.S. Midwest, East Coast, South, and Southwest.

Box 254, Folders 1-11

Unidentified United States; international.

E. Subject files. Approximately 1879-1984

Acting, actors, and actresses. Approximately 1860-1955

Box 255, Folders 1-11

Publicity books, photographs, other. Approximately 1890-1938

Scope and Content Note

Contains mimeographed typescript of The Mechanics of Modern Acting, by Robert Graham Paris, undated; publicity books for Eva Le Galliene (1934) and Raquel Meller (1926); photographs and letters to their collector from various radio actors and writers, 1932 and undated; and postcards, printed photographs, and facsimiles depicting various characters and figures, including famous people and characters, both historical and then-contemporary, many originally divided into men and women; most of the prints are undated, circa 1890-1940. Most of the postcards are from the Rotary Photographic series, circa 1890-1938.

Box 256, Folders 1-11

Notes on theater, various typescripts. Approximately 1927-1945

Scope and Content Note

Box originally labeled "Modjeska material." Materials include notes on comedy; Charles Dickens; diction, voice, and speech; and various topics on theater. Also included are typescripts of radio programs on theater materials relating to Frederick Blanchard, including a scrapbook, typed notes on Chinese theater, and a typescript for Putting on Heirs: A Comedy in Three Acts, written by Blanchard and Louis Piccirillo. Also includes a second scrapbook, possibly belonging to Blanchard. The relationship of these materials to the actress Helena Modjeska is unclear.

Photographs and prints.

Box 257, Folders 1-4

Malcolm MacDowell and William Haas. Approximately 1900-1941

Scope and Content Note

Includes photographs of Malcolm MacDowell, circa 1918-1941; and photographs relating to William "Uncle Bill" Haas, circa 1900-1930.

Box 258, Folders 1-6

Portraits of actors and actresses. Approximately 1860-1969

Scope and Content Note

Includes photographic portraits of actors, actresses, and others, circa 1860-1969. Most are identified, some with inscriptions, and some are not.

Box 259, Folders 1-6

Child actors and actresses. Approximately 1890-1955

Scope and Content Note

Includes photographic portraits and some performance photographs depicting child actors, circa 1915-1930; film, television, and radio actors, circa 1920-1955; and actors and actresses posed for studio portraits, circa 1890-1930.

Box 260

19th- and early 20th-century actors and actresses. Approximately 1880-1930

Scope and Content Note

Contains oversize prints of engravings depicting 19th- and early 20th-century actors and actresses. Also includes a few prints depicting landscapes and other scenes.

Box 261

Photograph albums. Approximately 1880-1930

Scope and Content Note

Two photograph albums containing printed photographs and signatures of various actors and actresses, presented alphabetically by last name. The first album contains names K-L, and the second U-Z.

Box 262

Scrapbook. Approximately 1870-1900

Scope and Content Note

Scrapbook containing printed photographs depicting 19th century actors and actresses, plus an undated memo to the Playhouse librarian identifying the item's donor. Also includes scrapbook pages, possibly from a scrapbook owned by Annette Gabrielson.

Box DAG-68

Daguerreotype of Civil War actor. Approximately 1861-1865

Box 281, Folders 8-9

Negatives: Various. Approximately 1935-1939, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains negatives of photographs depicting the Library; a ballet company, possibly the Harlem ballet, possibly part of a poster donated by Sidney Houston; a ship; a party/costumes; and an altar, possibly part of a stage design.

Drama and theater. Approximately 1910-1961

Box 263, Folders 1-21

General topics. Approximately 1910-1961

Scope and Content Note

Includes materials concerning theater education, Chinese drama, modern drama, the Little Theatre movement, press and publicity, set and stage design, Shakespeare, and other topics. Also includes Works Progress Administration research bulletins on theater in San Francisco.

Box 264, Folders 1-2

Theater history: costumes and fashion. 1961, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains Fairfax Walkup scrapbook pages on theater history, including fashion, costume, and dress.

Theater organizations. Approximately 1910-1961

Box 265, Folders 1-9

Drama League of America.

Box 266, Folders 1-10

Other organizations.

Scope and Content Note

Contains materials relating to the Drama League of Chicago; the Player's Club; American National Theater Academy; and National Theatre Conference.

Other topics. Approximately 1879-1984

Box 267, Folders 1-15

Dance, film, and music, and other.

Scope and Content Note

Includes files concerning dance, film, painting, music, and poetry, along with some material on education and on the humanities.

Box 268, Folders 1-10

History, geography, and travel.

Scope and Content Note

Includes files concerning history, geography, travels and tourism, and various other topics, including snapshots from La Fiesta de Los Angeles, 1931 and other materials relating to Pasadena and Southern California.

Box 269

Various.

Scope and Content Note

Contains various oversize materials, including performance photographs, portraits of actors and actresses, programs, and posters. Includes banner for Cherry Blossom Players at the Hotel Huntington, presented by the management of the Huntington, the Green, and the Maryland hotels and Clarence McGehee, [1916?]; a program for a benefit concert for survivors of an earthquake in Italy and Sicily, 1909, at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City; and a cloth poster for The Rivals, 1889, at the Park Theatre, donated to the Pasadena Playhouse Museum and Library and including a note from Gilmor Brown to the Library director regarding the donation. Also includes a hand-lettered poster for the Pasadena Amateur Dramatic Company featuring a photographic portrait showing company members (circa 1886) and a facsimile of the first theatre program of a Southern California vaudeville show in Los Angeles, in Spanish.

F. Additional research materials. Approximately 1960-1995

Scope and Content Note

Contains research aids created mostly by Huntington Library archivists and volunteers; some materials may have been created prior to the Huntington's acquisition of the Pasadena Playhouse records in 1987. Item numbers no longer correspond to the collection's arrangement, but the indexes provide valuable information to find materials by performer, date, and other categories.

Card catalog indexes.

Scope and Content Note

Card catalog containing indexes to the Pasadena Playhouse and the Theater Collection. The catalog provides an alphabetical index of people involved with the Playhouse, with cards listing name, role in a production and production title, date, and venue. The Theatre Collection provides information on productions arranged by playwright, region, programs in chronological order and by performer. Also includes an index of photographs previously in the photCL 327 or Album 327 collection.

Box 270, Folders 1-6

Guides to Pasadena Playhouse plays.

Scope and Content Note

Guides to Pasadena Playhouse plays, removed from a binder labeled "Ephemera finding aid, Pasadena Playhouse plays, 1917-1946." Gift of Gail Shoup. Includes an alphabetical list of plays; alphabetical index of all public performers of works by an author; Mainstage plays, November 1917-December 1959 and November 1917-August 1949; Chronological list of Pasadena Playhouse premieres, 1917-1951; "Plays attended by less than 10,000 persons for the past seven years" (May 1962); and chronological list of productions, 1916-1941.

Performer Index.

Scope and Content Note

Contains professional photographs, biographical information, and clippings about performers, arranged alphabetically by last name. Performers were not necessarily involved with the Playhouse.

Box 271, Folders 1-7

A-C.

Box 272, Folders 1-6

D-H.

Box 273, Folders 1-5

H-M.

Box 274, Folders 1-7

M-P.

Box 275, Folders 1-6

P-S.

Box 276, Folders 1-6

S-Y.

Box 277, Folders 1-3

Y-Z.

Box 281, Folder 10

Negatives: Performer Index, B-S

Scope and Content Note

Includes images of Robert Redington Sharpe, taken by photographer Gordon Spalding.

Famous people and their programs. Approximately 1870-1925

Scope and Content Note

Programs arranged alphabetically by last name of person. Not necessarily connected with Pasadena Playhouse.

Box 278, Folders 1-8

Abbott-Modjeska.

Box 279, Folders 1-7

Nazimova-Warfield.

Series VIII. Related personal collections. Approximately 1904-1989

Physical Description: 59 boxes

Scope and Content Note

Contains personal papers of people affiliated with the Playhouse. Included are the papers of writer, producer, director, and actor Bobker Ben Ali (1921-1985), whose play, Manya: The Story of Marie Curie, helped to launch the career of William Holden; actor, director, and artist Frederick Blanchard (1878-1948); actor and staff director Vincent Yardley Bowditch (1916-1985), who also served as co-director at its College of Theatre Arts; dancer and actor Phil Cook, who studied at the Playhouse before embarking on a career in touring theater; actress, writer, director, and singer June Evans, who was active at the Playhouse from approximately 1930-1960; Ambassador Hotel Theater manager William "Uncle Bill" Haas; actor Graydon Spalding (1911-1993); set designer Helen Howell, active at the Playhouse from approximately 1927-1936; actor and teacher Oliver Prickett (1905-1992); actor Graydon Spalding (1911-1993); actress and associate director Eloise Sterling, active at the Playhouse from approximately 1916-1925; and writer Philip Van Dyke.

A. Ben Ali, Bobker. 1924-1983

Box 283, Folders 1-12

Performance and publicity photographs. 1924-1974

Box 284, Folders 1-12

Scripts. Approximately 1935-1954

Scope and Content Note

Contains material written chiefly by ben Ali, including several copies of Manya, many containing cues and other annotations. Also includes scripts by other playwrights, some with annotations.

Box 285, Folders 1-10

Writings and correspondence about William Holden. 1973-1982

Scope and Content Note

Contains typescripts and research materials for ben Ali's unpublished writings about William Holden, Holden: Bill: A Memoir, parts 1 and 2 (1973-1974) and Bill: A Memoir of William Holden (1981-1982). Also includes a typescript of film scholar Martin Sopocy's unpublished biography of the actor, Actor in an Art Business: The Hollywood of William Holden (1977) and correspondence between Ben Ali and Sopocy, 1973-1982.

Box 286, Folders 1-10

Biographical. Approximately 1937-1983

Scope and Content Note

Contains biographical information; correspondence; employment agreements; clippings, primarily mentioning Manya; programs, some listing ben Ali; design drawings; and a typescript for a prose piece, 1983.

Oversize materials.

Scope and Content Note

Contains scrapbooks and two original posters for performance of Manya at Pasadena Jr. College, listing Robert Ben Ali as author and director.

Box 287a

Various, 1 of 2.

Box 287b

Various, 2 of 2.

B. Blanchard, Frederick. Approximately 1930-1948

Scope and Content Note

Contains one scrapbook and scores, scripts, and other materials that appear to have belonged to actress Helena Modjeska (1840-1909). Their connection to Blanchard is not identified.

Box 288

Scores and scripts. 1909, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains handwritten scores and scripts for Les Chouans, many annotated, for production(s) of Romeo and Juliet; also contains a photograph of Helene Modjeska taken by Madame Wineman (1909).

Box 289

Prompt book and autograph album. 1898-1913, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains a prompt book for the play East Lynne, labeled as property of Modjeska; and an autograph album, with signatures dating approximately 1904-1913. The album contains a few letters as well, including two dated 1898 from C. Leslie Allen to Mrs. George Morgan, Highland Park.

C. Bowditch, Vincent. 1938-1940, 1984

Box 290, Folders 1-3

Vincent Bowditch scrapbooks.

Scope and Content Note

Contains a set of three scrapbooks, dated 1938-1940, with commencement and theater programs and photographs depicting students and others in rehearsal, performance, and at leisure. Volume III contains announcements and photographs documenting a visit by George Bernard Shaw to the Playhouse; this volume also contains promotional materials for plays in which Bowditch performed, along with photographs presumably of Bowditch. The scrapbooks are inscribed to Pasadena Playhouse Alumni and Associates, 1984, by Vincent Y. Bowditch and Mary King Bowditch.

D. Cook, Philip. Approximately 1920-1975

Box 291, Folders 1-8

Biographical. Approximately 1920-1975

Scope and Content Note

Contains student records from Cook's Playhouse years; resumes; memos and meeting minutes from Cook's service as a director at the Foundation for Performing Arts; performance and publicity photographs of Cook and others; and a disbound scrapbook.

Scrapbooks. Approximately 1943-1957

Box 292

Pasadena Playhouse and Kiss Me Kate. 1947-1949, 1952

Scope and Content Note

Contains two scrapbooks.

Box 293

Oklahoma! 1943-1952

Scope and Content Note

Contains three scrapbooks, one disbound.

Box 294

Oklahoma! Touring, 1949-1950.

Scope and Content Note

Contains two scrapbooks.

Box 295

Oklahoma! Touring, 1950-1951.

Scope and Content Note

Contains two scrapbooks.

Box 296

Mister Roberts and Walk Tall. 1953

Scope and Content Note

Contains one scrapbook.

Box 297

Tour with Diosa Costello; Seventh Heaven. 1954-1955

Scope and Content Note

Contains two scrapbooks. Cook was part of the trio, Diosa Costello and her Caballeros, along with Mario Regis; Diosa Costello was, according to one source, the first Latina on Broadway.

Box 298

Kismet. 1955-1956

Scope and Content Note

Contains two scrapbooks.

Box 299

The King and I. 1957

Scope and Content Note

Contains one scrapbook.

Box 300

1920s theater materials. Approximately 1920-1929

Scope and Content Note

Contains one scrapbook; materials were possibly collected by Cook.

E. Evans, June. Approximately 1920-1960

Box 301, Folders 1-9

Biographical and agreements.

Scope and Content Note

Contains agreements and contracts, including Actors Equity; biography and resumes; and clippings.

Box 302

Scrapbooks.

Scope and Content Note

Includes two scrapbooks containing photographs, scripts, programs, and publicity.

F. Haas, William. Approximately 1911-1955

Scope and Content Note

Contains chiefly studio portraits of actors and actresses dating approximately 1917-1932, most of them inscribed to Uncle Bill Haas. Also contains some group portraits and many photographs depicting child actors and actresses.

Box 303, Folders 1-7

Actors and actresses, A-S.

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs of Dorothy and Lillian Gish and of the actor Redwing.

Box 304, Folders 1-12

Actors and Actresses, T-Z.

Scope and Content Note

Also contains some group photographs and a few photographs of Haas, including with Charlie Chaplin.

Box 305

Photographs of Actresses.

Scope and Content Note

Contains oversize photographs of actresses, most of them identified.

G. Howell, Helen. Approximately 1929-1936

Box 306

Scrapbook.

Scope and Content Note

Contains one disbound scrapbook with theater programs, clippings, and pencil and color design sketches, and photographs. Also includes a color sketch, hand-drawn poster, and photographs of set designs by Howell for various Playhouse productions dating approximately 1929-1932; the photographs were taken by Gordon Spalding.

Box 307, Folders 1-25

Clippings and designs.

Scope and Content Note

Contains clippings; handwritten design notes; a floor sheet; lists of plays, sketches, and models; programs; set designs; and correspondence, including a letter from Gilmor Brown. Materials are dated 1929-1936; some are undated.

H. Prickett, Oliver. Approximately 1905-1989

Box 308, Folders 1-6

Clippings, correspondence, and programs. Approximately 1921-1989

Scope and Content Note

Includes programs for productions for which Oliver Prickett served as actor, director, or manager, plus a list of his productions and notice of honorary Master's degree.

Box 309

Scrapbooks. Approximately 1905-1955

Scope and Content Note

Contains two scrapbooks, one originally belonging to Playbox director Maurice Wells, and one containing clippings, tickets, fliers, and other ephemera about the community theater movement in Pasadena, Hollywood, and San Francisco about the Pasadena Community Playhouse.

I. Shoup, Gail. Approximately 1918-1966

Box 280, Folder 17

Negatives. Buildings and painting sets.

Box 310, Folders 1-15

Administrative, brochures, and fliers.

Box 311, Folders 1-18

Pasadena Playhouse history and building plans.

Scope and Content Note

Contains building and floor plans; documents detailing Playhouse history and organizational structure; and a player's manual, yearbook, and programs.

Box 312, Folders 1-19

Photographs.

Box 313, Folders 1-7

School and college.

Box 314

Oral history interviews.

view online item

Scope and Content Note

Contains ten audiocassettes of interviews Shoup conducted in the 1960s. The interviews were digitized by the California Audiovisual Preservation Project (CAVPP) in 2018 and are being hosted by the Internet Archive. Contents same as audiotapes 1-4 in Box 359.

Folder OV 6

Building plans - Present structure and proposed additions. 1945, undated

Scope and Content Note

Contains original and copies.

J. Spalding, Graydon. Approximately 1928-1984

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs, fliers, programs, and clippings documenting local community theater and the Little Theater movement, including the work of actor Spalding, who appeared in the world premiere of Eugene O'Neill's Lazarus Laughed in 1928 and continued to act at the Playhouse through the 1930s; acted at other San Gabriel Valley venues; and presented one-man shows and workshops for drama classes at Pasadena High School, Pasadena City College, and others. Graydon Spalding later worked in the Rare Books Department of the Huntington Library; his brother, Gordon Spalding, worked as a photographer for the Playhouse, primarily taking publicity photographs.

Box 315, Folders 1-7

Programs and clippings.

Scope and Content Note

Contains assorted programs, photographs, and clippings.

Box 316, Folders 1-4

Personal; Little Theatre.

Scope and Content Note

Contains personal documents and files concerning Little Theater.

Box 317, Folders 1-7

Personal; Pasadena Playhouse.

Scope and Content Note

Contains chiefly personal documents; also includes files concerning Little Theater, Pasadena Playhouse scripts (sides), and clippings.

Box 318, Folders 1-6

Programs, articles, clippings.

Scope and Content Note

Contains programs, autographed materials, clippings, and materials concerning the Shakespeare Clubhouse and speech course.

Box 319, Folders 1-3

San Gabriel Valley theater.

Scope and Content Note

Contains files concerning San Gabriel Civic Theatre and assorted clippings.

Box 320, Folders 1-4

Articles, various.

Scope and Content Note

Contains materials relating to the Pasadena Theatre Club; Spectrum productions at California Institute of Technology; 18 Actors Inc., and clippings.

Box 321, Folders 1-3

Fine Arts club.

Scope and Content Note

Contains Fine Arts Club of Pasadena yearbooks and bylaws, 1956-1977, plus a scrapbook.

Box 322

Spalding scrapbook, 1918-1942.

Box 323, Folders 1-8

Periodicals and programs.

Scope and Content Note

Also includes a book of poetry and other items.

Box 324, Folders 1-5

Programs, performance photos, 1940-1960.

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs taken by Graydon Spalding, plus contact sheets; also includes Playbox cast lists from 1953-1959 and various theater memorabilia.

Box 325, Folders 1-5

Various, 1953-1951.

Box 326, Folders 1-8

Lazarus Laughed.

Scope and Content Note

Contains programs, clippings, photographs, and a scrapbook, 1928-1962.

Box 327, Folders 1-14

Various prints and papers.

Scope and Content Note

On original container: II and III.

Box 328, Folders 1-6

Workshop.

Scope and Content Note

On original container: III.

Box 329, Folders 1-7

School, other: Photographs.

Scope and Content Note

School, Patio Theatre, crew, and television. On original container: IV.

Prints and negatives.

Box 330, Folders 1-7

Box II: 1 of 2.

Scope and Content Note

Negatives removed.

Box 331

Box II: 2 of 2

Box 332, Folders 1-15

Boxes III and IV, A-H [negatives for Boxes 315-327, 329-330].

Box 332a, Folder 1

Boxes III.

Scope and Content Note

RESTRICTED: Negatives are too fragile.

K. Sterling, Eloise. Approximately 1925

Box 333

Eloise Sterling scrapbook.

Scope and Content Note

Contains clippings and other materials depicting actors and actresses; Sterling is most prominently represented.

L. Van Dyke, Philip. Approximately 1904, 1923-1967

Box 334, Folders 1-14

Biographical, personal, and writings.

Scope and Content Note

Contains correspondence; photographs; poetry and other writings, and numerous scripts by Van Dyke, chiefly for stage but also for radio.

Box 335, Folders 1-6

Scripts and prose pieces.

Scope and Content Note

Includes a draft of a novel.

Box 336, Folders 1-9

Scripts and other writings.

Scope and Content Note

Includes a prose piece, A Journal of California.

Box 337, Folders 1-6

Clippings, programs, and periodicals.

Scope and Content Note

Materials reflect various stages of Van Dyke's career.

Box 338

Scrapbook of Melbourne MacDowell, 1901-1904.

Scope and Content Note

Connection with Van Dyke is unclear.

Box 339, Folders 1-12

Related personal collections: Negatives.

Scope and Content Note

Contains negatives from the papers of ben Ali, Blanchard, Cook, Howell, and Shoup.

Series IX. Index cards.

Physical Description: 19 boxes

Scope and Content Note

Contains index cards created by Susan Naulty, who oversaw Prints & Ephemera. These cards are the only item-level source for locating performers and performance by name for all materials but particularly for photographs. Card includes the following information: date, name, activity, title, theater, and special event.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by last name of participant, actor, director, etc.

Box 340

A-Be

Box 341

Begley-Brown, Gilmor

Box 342

Brown, Gilmor-Case

Box 343

Casey-Crystal

Box 344

Cu-Edmunds

Box 345

Edson-Freud

Box 346

Frey-Haley

Box 347

Hall-Hoelscher

Box 348

Hoff-Jones

Box 349

Jones-Lesher

Box 350

Leslie-McKulsey

Box 351

Mac L.-Mooshagian

Box 352

Morales-Payson

Box 353

Pe-Reudiger

Box 354

Rev-Shank

Box 355

Shannon-Stockwell

Box 356

Stoddard-Vurbeff

Box 357

W-Wilson

Box 358

Wilson, L.-Drawings. Architectural

Collection Contents