Pasadena Playhouse records: Finding Aid mssPlayhouse
Finding aid prepared by Sue Tyson.
The Huntington Library
2019
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Business Number: (626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Note
Finding aid last updated on September 5, 2023, by Maggie Hughes.
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Pasadena Playhouse records
Creator:
Pasadena Playhouse
Identifier/Call Number: mssPlayhouse
Physical Description:
223 Linear Feet
(366 boxes, 99 volumes, 6 oversize folders, 7 reels)
Date (inclusive): Approximately 1687-2013
Date (bulk): 1916-1979
Abstract: This collection contains the records of
the Pasadena Playhouse, a community theater established in Pasadena, California, in 1917.
Materials consist primarily of theater programs, scrapbooks, business records,
correspondence, clippings, scripts, school catalogues, brochures and ephemera, indexes,
photographs, original drawings of set and costume designs, and research materials originally
housed in the organization's. The materials document the performance history of the various
theaters of the Playhouse and also contain partial administrative records and school
records, with particular strength in coverage for the "Mainstage" theater and an extensive
run of programs and performance photographs. The core records are strengthened by the
complementary personal paper collections of directors, performers, and others associated
with the Playhouse.
Language of Material: English.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at
the Huntington Library for more information.
Some audiovisual items and negatives are stored in cold storage. Collection material in
cold storage requires extended retrieval and delivery time.
Conditions Governing Use
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Pasadena Playhouse records, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The bulk of the collection was received from the Pasadena Playhouse Alumni and Associates
in February 1987. It has been supplemented by additional donations by
former affiliates of the Playhouse over the years.
Processing Information
The collection was initially processed at the Huntington Library in the 1980s and 1990s by
Susan Naulty, Cathy Cherbosque, and Anne Wray. In 2017 and 2018, Sue Tyson re-processed the
collection and wrote the finding aid. In 2019, Gina Giang completed physical control over
the collection and added Series IX: Index cards.
Separated Materials
The following books were transferred to the General Collections, April 2019:
Playhouse / Diane Alexander ; foreword by Raymond Burr (circa
1984),
Raymond Burr : a film, radio, and television biography
(1994), and
The Pasadena Playhouse : a celebration of one of the
oldest theatrical producing organizations in America
(1992).
Portrait of a young man holding a large beaver-fur hat (photDAG 68), approximately
1840s-1850s, was transferred to the Collection of cased photographs and related images,
photDAG, in approximately late-20th century.
Biographical / Historical
The Pasadena Playhouse produced over 1,600 plays between 1917 and 1969, training and
featuring hundreds of leading actors of the twentieth century. At one time the largest
community theater west of New York, the Playhouse pioneered a "theatre-in-the-round" staging
technique and became a leader in the Little Theatre movement that began prior to World War
I. During the organization's "golden years" from the 1920s through the 1940s, it staged
hundreds of new plays, including American and world premieres by Eugene O'Neill, William
Saroyan, Tennessee Williams, and Noel Coward, and became known internationally as the only
American theater to have performed all of Shakespeare's plays.
The Playhouse had its roots in 1916, when actor and director Gilmor Brown brought a
company of professional actors from the Midwest to Pasadena, California. Brown rented the
Savoy Theatre on North Fair Oaks Avenue and served as manager, director, and lead actor of
the troupe, which he renamed the Savoy Players (variously the Savoy Stock Company). Troupe
members included John Allard, Lilian Buck, Jack M. Castleman, Vail Hobart, Minnie Janicki,
Orrin Knox, Virginia Lykins, Frank Staples, Marjorie Sinclair, and Wendell Wilson; the
company would eventually form the nucleus of the Pasadena Community Playhouse, its name as
of 1917. In its first year of operation the group performed
Man of the
Hour
(September 1916) and, in November 1917, four one-act plays, including
The Song of Lady Lotus Eyes which featured a young Martha Graham
(1894-1991).
In 1918, Brown founded the Pasadena Community Playhouse Association. A nonprofit
corporation with a board of directors, the Association enlisted Brown as its manager and
director. After initially holding performances at the Pasadena Shakespeare Club, Brown
returned to the Savoy Theatre, renaming the organization the Community Playhouse of
Pasadena, and its acting company the Community Players. Audiences embraced the Playhouse's
artistic integrity and vision despite its small size and precarious survival due to the
influenza epidemic of 1918-1919. The company continued to put on a range of plays and, in
1919, started a new Workshop theater. In 1920, Charles Prickett, who had acted and worked
with the Players since 1917, became the Playhouse business manager.
In 1922, the Playhouse theatre was condemned as a fire hazard and over 1,000 community
members and cultural organizations rallied to donate funds for a new building. The Pasadena
Community Playhouse at 39 South El Molino, designed by architect Elmer Grey, was dedicated
on May 31, 1924, and opened its doors a year later, with a performance of Victor Mape's
The Amethyst. The Playhouse, which initially comprised a
Mainstage (seating 820) and a recital hall, expanded to include the Patio and the East
Balcony and West Balcony Theatres (each seating 50). The Pasadena Playhouse continues to
operate at this location as of 2019.
In 1924, Brown founded the Playbox theater, which pioneered the technique of central
staging, also known as theater-in-the-round. Located in a private home in Pasadena, the
Playbox was intended to bring niche and experimental work small audiences, for which tickets
could be obtained only on a subscription basis. In 1926, the Playhouse revived the Workshop
Theatre (later the Laboratory Theatre).
In 1927-1928, Brown and Prickett founded the Pasadena Playhouse School of Theatre Arts
(variously called School of the Theatre), with Eugenia Ong as Dean. The School, whose first
class boasted 21 students, offered coursework in all aspects of theater production,
including acting, directing, set and costume design, set construction, eurythmics/body
movement, dance, and more. Where the Mainstage was reserved for professional-level
productions, the East and West Balcony Theatres (later renamed the Huxley and Prickett
Theatres) provided students the opportunity to perform before paying audiences.
(Additionally, the Patio Theatre was student-centered with participation by community
members). The school, which offered Bachelor's and Master's degrees (the latter in
collaboration with other institutions) in acting, directing, stage technology, playwriting,
and theater administration, would eventually be renamed the College of Theatre Arts
(variously, College of the Theatre).
1930, Brown started the annual One-Act Play Tournaments, which provided a venue for
California high school students to compete before judges in categories such as acting and
directing; and in 1935, he launched the Midsummer Drama Festival, initially focusing on
Shakespeare plays before broadening out to a other playwrights and topical programs. The
Playhouse also began training programs in television, radio, and film instruction,
collaborating with a local television station in experimental television projects in 1933,
and eventually created its own TV and radio production studios. In 1930 and 1936, a
charitable gift enabled the Playhouse to pay off its debt and build a six-story annex.
May 1937, the Playhouse re-incorporated as the Pasadena Playhouse Association (dropping
"Community" from its title), uniting under this aegis the newly-accredited College of
Theatre Arts and the Pasadena Playhouse. That year, the California State Legislature
designated the Pasadena Playhouse as the State Theatre of California, and soon thereafter,
Playhouse postgraduate students participated in touring productions all over the state as
the State Theatre Players.
Gilmor Brown died in January 1960, and the Playhouse underwent a period of financial and
other difficulties. In 1969, the Playhouse declared bankruptcy and, along with the College
of Theatre Arts, closed its doors. The City of Pasadena bought the Playhouse in 1975 from
the Bank of America and in the late 1970s, entrepreneur and developer David Houk began
efforts to save it, opening the 52-seat Interim Theatre in 1980; the 99-seat Balcony Theatre
in 1982; the Playhouse in 1986. By the early 1990s, with a subscriber base of over 24,000
patrons, the Playhouse produced eight plays per year. In 1997, it named Sheldon Epps its
artistic director, the first director of color at a major theater in Southern California.
Danny Feldman succeeded Epps in 2016. The organization marked its centennial anniversary in
2017.
Gilmor Brown (1886-1960)
Playhouse founder and director, actor, and author George Gilmor Brown, known as Gilmor
Brown, was born on June 16, 1886, near New Salem, North Dakota to parents Orville Brown and
Emma Louise Gilmor Brown. He grew up in Denver, Colorado, where he discovered his love of
theater. At the age of eight, Brown founded his first theater company, a troupe of children
from his neighborhood named The Tuxedo Stock Company, for which he wrote, staged, and acted
in most of the plays. After high school, Brown studied theater in Chicago, joined a touring
company, and founded several theater troupes, producing plays in Colorado, Nebraska, and
Kansas. In approximately 1914, Brown and his extended family moved to Pasadena.
Brown acted in many of the Playhouse productions, including as
Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor and as Tiberius in
Lazarus Laughed. Under Brown, the Playhouse produced over 1600 plays, 175 of which
were world premieres, and the Playhouse was the only American theater to produce all of
Shakespeare's plays. Brown was a key figure in the Little Theater movement, which sought to
underscore and support the importance of community theaters, and was active in local and
national theatrical organizations, including the Drama League of America and the American
National Theater Association. He wrote or adapted four stage plays, including The Cricket on
the Hearth (adapted from a novel by Charles Dickens, 1934); and co-authored a textbook with
Alice Garwood,
General Principles of Play Direction (1936). In
1926, Brown was awarded the first-ever Arthur Noble gold medal award, for which he was
honored as Pasadena's "most useful citizen." Brown died January 11, 1960, in Palm Springs,
California.
Fairfax Proudfit Walkup (1887-1976)
Pasadena Playhouse educator, School and College of Theatre Arts dean, playwright,
executive, and board member. Fairfax Proudfit Walkup was born November 17, 1887 in Memphis,
Tennessee. She began studies at Vassar College in 1905, but was forced to withdraw to care
for her family; in 1922, she returned to her studies, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from
the University of California and then Master's and Doctoral degrees from the University of
Utah, where her studies focused on costume, set design, and theater history. She moved to
Pasadena in 1924 and immediately became involved with the Pasadena Community Playhouse as an
actress, including in Playbox productions. Walkup also served as a costumer for the
Playhouse, and taught courses in costume and fashion, eventually rising to positions
including Dean of the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts, Vice-President of the
Playhouse, and member of the Board of Trustees.
Her writings included "Outline History of Costume, Based on Authentic and Historic
Sources" (article, 1933); "The Sunbonnet Woman: Fashions in Utah Pioneer Costume" (article,
1947);
Dressing the Part: A History of Costume for the Theatre
(book, 1950), a text widely used in college theater courses; and an appendix on costume and
make-up for the book,
Modern Theatre Practice: A Handbook of Play
Production
(1938), by Hubert Heffner, John Selden, and Hunton Dade Sellman. Her
plays include Jade Bracelet (undated). She also served as a professor in the theater
department of California State University, Fullerton, and at the Universities of Arizona,
Iowa, and Utah, as well as at Stanford University. Fairfax Walkup died on September 30,
1976, in Anaheim, California.
Lenore Shanewise (1887-1980)
Actress, stage director, and teacher Lenore Shanewise was born October 12, 1887 in Denver,
Iowa. She studied at the University of Northern Iowa; at Iowa State Teachers College, where
she later taught English, elocution, and interpretive reading; and at the University of
Chicago, where she studied public speaking and drama and participated in the Dramatic Club;
graduated from in 1911. In 1916, spurred by health concerns, she visited California, joining
the drama section of the Schubert Club in Los Angeles; after returning to her teaching
duties in Iowa and teaching at other colleges, she moved once again to California, in 1921,
and remained there for the rest of her professional career. Shanewise began taking courses
at the Summer Arts Colony and soon joined the Pasadena Community Players. She became an
assistant director at the Pasadena Community Playhouse in 1923 and remained there for four
decades, acting in or directing hundreds of productions; giving lectures on community play
production and on modern theater; and mentoring actors, including Raymond Burr. In the 1950s
and 1960s, she also acted in television productions, including on Burr's show, Perry Mason;
NBC's Matinee Theater; and The Twilight Zone. Shanewise retired from the Playhouse in 1967
and died in San Diego on December 22, 1980.
Existence and Location of Copies
Several audiovisual items in the collection were digitized by the California Audiovisual
Preservation Project (CAVPP) in 2018 and are being hosted by the Internet Archive.
Pasadena Playhouse records
Scope and Contents
The collection contains materials documenting the history and activities of the Pasadena
Playhouse and its College of Theatre Arts. It includes approximately 15,000 photographs;
5,000 theater programs; 300 scripts; over 100 scrapbooks; 70 set and costume designs; and a
few musical scores; as well as board meeting minutes; business records including ledgers,
financial records, and correspondence; student catalogs, manuals, and yearbooks; curricular
materials; newspaper clippings; theater periodicals; and various subject files. Also
included are publications and business records from the Pasadena Playhouse Alumni and
Associates, as well as a set of indexes (Series IX) and other research materials compiled by
archivists at the Huntington Library (Series IVV). The materials date from approximately
1657-2013, with the bulk of the materials dating from the beginnings of the Playhouse in
1916 through its bankruptcy in 1969.
Major areas of interest represented in the collection include the Playhouse Board of
Trustees' meeting minutes and correspondence; correspondence and business records of
Playhouse executives and administrators, including Gilmor Brown, Fairfax Walkup, and Lenore
Shanewise; writings, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings detailing various aspects of the
Pasadena Playhouse's history; catalogs, photographs, and promotional and curricular
materials documenting the School of the Theatre (later College of Theatre Arts), its
students, and student life; performance photographs, theater programs, original set and
costume designs, scripts and scores, and supplementary materials reflecting productions at
the Playhouse's venues (Community Playhouse, Mainstage, Playbox, Workshop and Laboratory
Theatres, Patio Theatre, and East and West Balcony Theatres) as well from various student,
traveling, and special events productions; and the holdings of the Playhouse's library and
museum.
Along with Brown, Prickett, Walkup, and Shanewise, other key figures surfacing within the
collection include Maurice Wells, assistant director of the Playbox; Charles Lane, actor in
many Playhouse productions; Ralph Freud, a director at the Playhouse; Catherine Turney, a
member of the School of the Theatre's first class who went on to become director of the
Workshop; Dorothy Arzner, a filmmaker from the silent film era into the 1940s and cinema
instructor at the Playhouse; Gail Shoup, a Playhouse staff director; Bobker Ben Ali, a
writer and director whose productions included
Manya: The Story of
Marie Curie
(circa 1938) and
The People Win Thru
(1952); Board chairs David Crandall and Earl Messer; and actors Maudie and Oliver Prickett,
Charles Prickett's spouse and brother, respectively. The core records are strengthened by
the complementary personal paper collections of directors, performers, and others associated
with the Playhouse, including ben Ali; Graydon Spalding; Gail Shoup; and more (see Series
VIII, Related Personal Collections).
The collection features the work of photographers including Jerome Robinson, Jack Powell,
Gordon Spalding, Kim Spalding, and A. E. Arnold, and the original set and costume designs of
James Hyde; Jānis Muncis; Rita Glover, who was the first woman to be admitted to the
Designers Guild of California; and Robert Redington Sharpe, among many others.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in the following nine series:
- Series I. Administrative
- Series II. Playhouse history
- Series III. School/College of the Theatre
- Series IV. Theater programs and related materials
- Series V. Theater performance and related photographs
- Series VI. Theater production materials
- Series VII. Library, museum, and research files
- Series VIII. Related personal collections
- Series IX. Index cards
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Acting -- Study and teaching -- California -- Pasadena.
Advertising campaigns -- California -- Pasadena.
Arena theater -- California -- Pasadena.
Community theater -- California -- Pasadena.
Costume design.
Drama.
Drama -- 20th century -- Periodicals.
Drama festivals -- California -- Pasadena.
Little theater movement -- California -- Pasadena.
Motion pictures -- Study and teaching -- California --
Pasadena.
Plays -- Production and direction.
Radio -- Study and teaching -- California -- Pasadena.
Students -- California -- Pasadena.
Students -- Drama -- California -- Pasadena.
Television -- Study and teaching -- California -- Pasadena.
Theater -- California -- Pasadena.
Theater -- Production and direction.
Theater -- Reviews.
Theater -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- California --
Pasadena.
Theater and society.
Theater management.
Theater programs -- Specimens.
Theaters -- Stage-setting and scenery.
Theatrical companies -- California -- Pasadena.
Veterans -- Education -- California -- Pasadena.
Veterans -- Training of -- California -- Pasadena.
Pasadena (Calif.)
Business records.
Card indexes.
Card photographs.
Clippings (information artifacts).
Drama.
Drama (literary genre).
Drawings (visual works).
Ephemera (general object genre).
Financial records.
Ledgers (account books).
Negatives (photographs).
Plays (performing arts compositions).
Photographs.
Photograph albums.
Promotional materials.
Scores (documents for music).
Scrapbooks.
Theater programs.
Theater reviews.
Brown, Gilmor -- Archives.
Prickett, Charles -- Archives.
Shanewise, Lenore, 1887-1980 -- Archives.
Walkup, Fairfax Proudfit, 1887-1976 --
Archives.
Drama League of America.
Federal Theatre Project (U.S.).
Pasadena Community Playhouse.
Pasadena Community Playhouse Association.
Pasadena Playhouse.
Pasadena Playhouse Alumni & Associates.
Pasadena Playhouse Association.
Arnold, A. E., 1941-, photographer.
Ben Ali, Bobker, 1921-1985, actor.
Ben Ali, Bobker, 1921-1985, author.
Ben Ali, Bobker, 1921-1985, compiler.
Ben Ali, Bobker, 1921-1985, director.
Blanchard, Frederick W., 1878-1948, actor.
Blanchard, Frederick W., 1878-1948, compiler.
Bowditch, Vincent Yardley, 1916-1985, actor.
Bowditch, Vincent Yardley, 1916-1985, compiler.
Brown, Gilmor, 1886-1960, actor.
Brown, Gilmor, 1886-1960, author.
Brown, Gilmor, 1886-1960, producer.
Brown, Gilmor, 1886-1960, stage
director.
Brown, Gilmor, 1886-1960, stage
manager.
Cook, Philip, compiler.
Cook, Philip, dancer.
Eaton, Jerry, photographer.
Evans, June, actor.
Evans, June, compiler.
Haas, William, compiler.
Howell Helen, compiler.
Howell, Helen, set designer.
Hyde, James, designer
Powell, Jack, photographer.
Martin, W. Albert, photographer.
Muncis, Janis, 1886-1955, costume designer.
Muncis, Janis, 1886-1955, designer.
Prickett, Charles F., 1901-1954, compiler.
Prickett, Oliver, 1905-1992, actor.
Prickett, Oliver, 1905-1992, compiler.
Sharpe, Robert Redington, 1904-1934, art director.
Sharpe, Robert Redington, 1904-1934, set
designer.
Sharpe, Robert Redington, 1904-1934, costume
designer.
Shoup, Gail, director.
Shoup, Gail, interviewer.
Spalding, Charles Gordon, 1905-1952, photographer.
Spalding, Graydon E. (Graydon Edward), 1911-1993, actor.
Spalding, Graydon E. (Graydon Edward), 1911-1993,
compiler.
Spalding, Kim, photographer.
Sterling, Eloise, actor.
Sterling, Eloise, compiler.
Van Dyke, Philip, author.
Van Dyke, Philip, compiler.
Series I. Administrative.
Approximately
1916-2002
Physical Description: (44 boxes, 3 oversize
folders)
Arrangement
Series is arranged in the following four subseries:
- Subseries A. Board of Trustees files
- Subseries B. Business records
- Subseries C. Principals
- Subseries D. Pasadena Playhouse Alumni and Associates
A. Board of Trustees files.
1917-1980
Box 1, Folder 1-14
Early documents, correspondence, and meeting minutes.
1917-1952
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-7
Articles of incorporation, bylaws, and organization.
1933-1950
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-9
1952-1954.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-10
1955-1956.
Scope and Contents
Includes Notes on Pasadena Playhouse Reorganization circa 1955, (Folder 6).
Box 6, Folder 1-8
1960-1961.
Scope and Contents
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 8, Folder 1-7
1963-1965.
Scope and Contents
Includes fundraising and development study, December 1963, and an analysis of
expenses, 1957-1965 (Folder 7).
Box 10, Folder 1-8
1967-1969.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-9
1968-1980. Closure and reopening
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-5
General administrative files.
1925-1967,
undated
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 19, Folder 1-11
1980-2002.
Scope and Contents
Materials chiefly concern the reopening of the Playhouse.
Box 20, Folder 1
Contract signing.
1981
Scope and Contents
Contains audiocassette removed from file (Box 20, Folder 2) labeled
"Closure/Reopening."
Financial records and reports.
1933-1969
Scope and Contents
Contains Pasadena Community Guild, Pasadena Playhouse Association, and Pasadena
Playhouse Association financial reports.
Box 21, Folder 1-7
Audit, proposed budget, and financial reports.
1933-1953
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-9
Financial and budgetary reports.
1935-1969
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-8
Production data and calendars of events.
Approximately
1934-1968
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
Contains incomplete set of photocopies from ledger.
Promotion and publicity campaigns.
Approximately
1916-1968
Box 28, Folder 1-6
Advertising and advertising campaigns.
Approximately
1922-1960
Scope and Contents
Contains correspondence and samples, plus several newspaper mats used in
advertising.
Folder OV 1
Advertising samples.
Approximately
1916-1958
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-10
Informational materials and mailing campaigns.
Approximately
1918-1969
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-8
News releases and publicity packages.
Approximately
1938-1968
Scope and Contents
Also includes reviews and other writings about the Playhouse, plus two ticket
stubs labeled "tickets for last production of Pasadena Playhouse in 1967."
Box 31, Folder 1-12
1925-1961.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-5
1979-2000.
Scope and Contents
Contains Images (1979); Stages (1980-1988); and Preview (2000).
Topical files.
1919-1961
Scope and Contents
Contains materials found together on various subjects relating to Playhouse
administration.
Folder OV 2
Awards and other.
1937-1952
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-13
Topics A-M.
1919-1975
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-6
Topics S-V.
1937-1960
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-9
Negatives: Various people and events.
Approximately
1920-1969
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Contains files of key figures in the Playhouse and its history.
Brown, Gilmor.
1876, approximately
1906-1984
Scope and Contents
Of special significance for understanding Brown's philosophy and approach to
theater are the notes on theater in Box 36.
Box 35, Folder 1-35
Biographical information and business records.
Approximately
1906-1984
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-27
Notes on theater and writings about Brown, other.
Approximately
1876-1983
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-4
Photographs and artifacts.
Approximately
1889-1959
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-5
Batchelder, Crandall, Messer, Pricketts.
Approximately
1935-1985
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-15
Lenore Shanewise and Fairfax Walkup.
Approximately
1920-1993
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-13
Fairfax Walkup, others.
Approximately
1925-1968
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-10
Constitution and bylaws, board meeting minutes.
1953-1984
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-9
Board meeting minutes and other business records.
1958-2006
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-7
Savoy Star, National Newsletter.
1957-1982
Scope and Contents
Contains the Savoy Star and other early publications (circa 1957-1960); National
Newsletter (1960-1979); and National Newsletter/Stage Whispers (1980-1982).
Box 44, Folder 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)
Arrangement
Series is arranged in the following five subseries:
- Subseries A. Historical treatments
- Subseries B. Photographs
- Subseries C. Scrapbooks
- Subseries D. Clippings
- Subseries E. Other historical materials
A. Historical treatments.
1934-1979,
undated
Box 45, Folder 1-4
Scrapbook, book, typescripts, other.
Approximately
1934-1951
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-5
A Historical Study of Gilmor Brown's Fair Oaks Playbox: 1924-1927
(dissertation).
1964
Scope and Contents
Contains dissertation and research materials.
B. Photographs.
1921-1969,
undated
Box 48, Folder 1-10
People.
Approximately
1925-1969, undated
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-6
Events and Environs.
1921-1956,
undated
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-7
Pasadena Playhouse Association scrapbook.
Approximately 1957,
undated
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Materials are dated approximately 1940-1946 and 1958.
Box 53
Unidentified scrapbook.
Approximately 1962
Scope and Contents
Contains clippings from approximately 1950-1962, chiefly concerning alumni. Gift of
Pasadena Playhouse Alumni and Associates, 1990.
Scrapbook set.
Approximately
1919-1956
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 8
December 1926-August 1927.
Volume 9
November 1927-March 1928.
Volume 23
January 193[6]-June 1937.
Volume 24
September 1937-January 1938.
Volume 40
(General Only), 1949-1952.
Volume 46
Midsummer Drama Festival 1935.
Scope and Contents
The Chronicle Plays of Shakespeare.
Volume 47
Midsummer Drama Festival 1936.
Scope and Contents
The Greco-Roman Plays of Shakespeare.
Volume 48
Midsummer Drama Festival 1937.
Scope and Contents
The Story of the Great Southwest.
Volume 49
Midsummer Drama Festival 1938.
Scope and Contents
Seven from Shaw.
Volume 50
Midsummer Drama Festival 1939.
Scope and Contents
Maxwell Anderson.
Volume 51
Midsummer Drama Festival 1940; 1945.
Scope and Contents
James Matthew Barrie (1940); Eight Great Living American Playwrights (1945).
Volume 52
Midsummer Drama Festival 1941-1942.
Scope and Contents
Modern American Comedy (Kaufman Series). Eight Great Laugh Plays (Comedy
Series).
Volume 53
Midsummer Drama Festival 1943-1944.
Scope and Contents
Booth Tarkington; Sidney Howard; Cavalcade.
Volume 54
Midsummer Drama Festival 1946-1947.
Scope and Contents
Clyde Fitch Parade; Milestones in Playhouse History.
Volume 55
Midsummer Drama Festival 1948-1949.
Scope and Contents
Favorite Plays of the "Gold Rush Days", California Playwrights.
Volume 56
Midsummer Drama Festival 1950-1951.
Scope and Contents
Modern Playwrights, George M. Cohan.
Volume 57
Midsummer Drama Festival 1952-1953.
Scope and Contents
Great Americans / Shakespeare Comedies.
Volume 58
Portraits of Players, Vol. I, undated.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 68
Commercial Photographs of Pasadena Playhouse, undated.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 70
Photographs of Productions, Vol. 3, 1925.
Scope and Contents
Contains empty portfolios for Playbox plays and index pages.
Volume 81
Special Activities; El Pablo Players, approximately 1940.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 82
Mimeograph Scrapbook to 1936.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 83
Mimeograph Scrapbook 1936-1938.
Volume 84
Mimeograph Scrapbook 1939[-1940, undated].
Scope and Contents
Also contains a bibliography concerning radio and several syllabi.
Volume 85
Multigraph Scrapbook, 1928-1936.
Volume 86
Multigraph Scrapbook, 1936-1938.
Volume 87
Multigraph Scrapbook, 1939[-1940, undated].
Volume 88
Multigraph Scrapbook, 1943-1945.
Volume 89
Printing, Scrapbook, to 1936.
Scope and Contents
Contains programs, fliers, announcements, brochures, forms, stationery, booklets,
and ephemera.
Volume 90
Printing, Scrapbook, 1936- .
Volume 91
Printing #1, January 1, 1941.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 92
Pictures for Advertising, undated.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 93
Pictures for Advertising, undated.
Scope and Contents
Contains materials similar to those in Scrapbook 92.
Volume 94
Pictures for advertising (General Scrapbook), 1945-1951.
Scope and Contents
Contains materials similar to those in Scrapbook 92.
Volume 95
Cuts, 1939.
Scope and Contents
Contains materials similar to those in Scrapbook 92.
Volume 96
Form Records, 1942-1948.
Scope and Contents
Contains blank and sample forms including for rules, registration books,
directors' assignments, office funds, and the like.
Volume 97
Membership, 1936-1939, undated.
Scope and Contents
Contains membership forms; brochures; letters, including for membership campaign
1936-1937; and pamphlets.
Volume 98
School of the Theatre, Catalogs and Letters, undated.
Scope and Contents
Materials are from schools around the United States, especially New York
City.
Volume 99
School of the Theatre; Summer Sessions, 1945-1947.
Volume 100
School Advertising, 1936-1939.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 101
School Advertising, 1939-1948.
Scope and Contents
At the beginning of the volume is a list of publications in which the Playhouse
advertised.
Volume 102
Graduations, undated.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 103
Graduates, undated.
Scope and Contents
Contains photographs of students and administrators, graduates and postgraduates,
Classes of 1930-1945.
Volume 104
1926-1939.
Scope and Contents
Box contains disbound scrapbook with programs from the Pasadena Community
Playhouse Workshop, 1926-1936, and Laboratory Theatre, 1936-1939.
Volume 105
Playhouse Workshop Programs, 1926-1936.
Volume 106
Playhouse Workshop Programs, 1936-1941; Padua Players,
1933-1935.
Volume 107
Senior and Lab Plays, Programs, 1941-1947.
Volume 108
Senior and Lab Plays, 1947-1948.
Volume 109
Television Program Scrapbook, 1948-1963.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 110
One-Act Play Tournaments, 1930-1953.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 111
One-Act Play Tournaments, 1954.
Scope and Contents
Contains newspaper clippings.
Volume 112
Eugenia Ong Scrapbook, approximately 1968.
Scope and Contents
Contains materials dated 1928-1968, including clippings, programs, and a few
pages of Padua Players programs, with headings and annotations by Gilmor
Brown.
Volume 113
Playhouse Scrapbook of Mrs. A. H. Palmer, approximately 1925.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 114
Playhouse Scrapbook, approximately 1926.
Scope and Contents
Continues in same vein as Scrapbook 113, with entries dating into 1926.
Volume 115
Programs. Mrs. Arthur Palmer, approximately 1927.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 116
Alice C. D. Riley Scrapbook. 19th Century Theatrical Material,
approximately 1926.
Scope and Contents
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.
Volume 117
Approximately 1880-1900.
Scope and Contents
Contains programs, playbills, and fliers for theater, concerts, other
performances at venues around the country and also international (e.g.,
London).
Volume 118
Theatre League Scrapbook, approximately 1932-1933.
Scope and Contents
Contains clippings.
Box 53a, Folder 1-8
Loose material contained in scrapbooks.
Scope and Contents
Includes publications, articles, fliers, and clippings.
D. Clippings.
Approximately
1910-1969, undated
Scope and Contents
Contains clippings about actors, actresses, and other figures and events in theater
and other arts.
Box 59, Folder 1-7
1970-approximately 1999, undated.
Box 60, Folder 1-2
Oversize periodicals and clippings.
Approximately 1924-1938
Scope and Contents
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.
E. Other historical materials.
Box 63, Folder 1-5
Pasadena Playhouse figures.
Approximately 1931,
1950, 1990
Scope and Contents
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.
Box 64, Folder 1-5
Tributes and "Success Story"
Approximately
1931-1985
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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
Online items
Scope and Contents
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
Online items
Scope and Contents
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
Online items
Scope and Contents
Film presenting a pictorial history of the Pasadena Playhouse as a civic
enterprise significant to its community. Approximately 46 minutes.
Reel 4, Reel 4a
Introduction to the Play, Manya: The Story of Marie Curie.
Approximately 1938
Online items
Scope and Contents
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 4 is 35mm safety film. Reel 4a is 16mm reduced from 35mm original.
Reel 5
Student Films: Third-Year Cinema Projects.
Approximately 1940?
Online items
Scope and Contents
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?
Online items
Scope and Contents
Instructors Dorothy Arzner and Dan Bailey are listed as directors for the
project. Approximately 50 minutes.
Box 359, Folder 1-2
Personal Messages from Dana Andrews.
1954
Online items
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 3-6
Gail Shoup oral history interviews.
1960s
Online items
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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
Arrangement
Series is arranged in the following six subseries:
- Subseries A. Administrative
- Subseries B. Catalogs, student manuals, and yearbooks
- Subseries C. Commencements
- Subseries D. Courses and curricular
- Subseries E. Promotion and publicity
- Subseries F. Students and student life
Box 67, Folder 1-19
General.
1925-1990
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Contains a binder also including student rosters and promotional materials,
approximately 1934-1950.
Box 69
School of Theatre Arts publications.
1948-1949
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Binder contains correspondence from approximately 1943-1951 regarding the number of
credits other institutions award for coursework at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Box 71, Folder 1-11
Applications, reports, and rulings on non-profit status.
Approximately
1939-1970
Box 72, Folder 1-4
Application and transcripts.
Approximately
1948-1970
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Contains three hardcover volumes.
Box 74
Catalogs.
1951-1965
Scope and Contents
Contains three hardcover volumes.
Box 75, Folder 1-6
Catalogs and yearbook.
1944-1955
Scope and Contents
Contains catalogs, 1944-1955, and yearbooks, 1944-1948.
Box 77, Folder 1-4
Student manuals.
Approximately 1935,
1955-1956, 1964-1965, 1968, undated
C. Commencements.
1930-1969
Programs, scripts, notes, and related.
1930-1969
Box 80, Folder 1-7
Photographs.
1930-1960,
undated
Box 280, Folder 10
Negatives: Commencements
1930,
1952
D. Courses and curricular.
Box 81, Folder 1-18
Course materials, class lists, and promotional materials.
1939-1969,
undated
Scope and Contents
Contains course outlines, syllabi, class lists, brochures, programs, press
releases, promotional materials, and research materials.
Box 82, Folder 1-12
Photographs of classroom scenes.
1936-1955,
undated
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-7
Photographs of cinema, radio, and television production.
1942-1954
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-9
Television production performance photographs.
Approximately
1948-1960
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Contains scrapbook presented to Pasadena Playhouse Alumni and Associates by David
Crandall.
Box 280, Folder 11-15
Negatives: Various courses.
Approximately
1928-1960
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-12
Articles, brochures, and fliers.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-3
Layouts, promotional copy, and mailing samples.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-9
Student rosters and directories.
Approximately
1935-1966
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-15
Photographs of students and staff.
Approximately
1922-1960
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
Contains negatives depicting students and various aspects of student life including
mail call; life in dormitories; and recreational and leisure activities.
Box 91, Folder 1-10
Alumni files.
Approximately
1941-1985
Scope and Contents
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
Arrangement
Series is arranged in the following seven subseries:
- Subseries A. Early Gilmor Brown troupes, Savoy Theatre
- Subseries B. Community players of Pasadena/Community Playhouse
- Subseries C. Mainstage
- Subseries D. Playbox
- Subseries E. Other venues
- Subseries F. Other student productions
- Subseries G. Special events; visiting and offsite productions
Box 92, Folder 1-10
A. Early Gilmor Brown Troupes, Savoy Theatre.
Approximately
1903-1917
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-2
Community Players of Pasadena/Community Playhouse of Pasadena.
November
1917-January 1920
Scope and Contents
Contains early programs, several for plays held at the Shakespeare Club House.
Box 94, Folder 1-4
Pasadena Community Playhouse and affiliated companies.
January 1920-July
1922
Scope and Contents
Includes also Summer Art Colony (1921) and Drama League at Pasadena Community
Playhouse (1922) programs.
Box 95, Folder 1-4
Pasadena Community Playhouse.
July 1922-April
1925
C. Mainstage.
1925-1968,
1986-1994
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-11
Productions: Lazarus Laughed.
1928, 1929,
1969
Scope and Contents
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 100, Folder 1-6
September 1931-June 1934.
Scope and Contents
One folder contains autographed and/or inscribed issues.
Box 104, Folder 1-4
January 1944-December 1946.
Box 105, Folder 1-4
January 1947-December 1948.
Box 106, Folder 1-6
January 1949-December 1951.
Scope and Contents
One copy of program for Percy MacKaye's Hamlet (April 14-May 1, 1949) includes
announcement, clipping, and brochure.
Box 107, Folder 1-6
January 1952-December 1956.
Other Mainstage programs.
Box 109, Folder 1-9
Pasadena Community Playhouse.
1925-1937
Scope and Contents
Contains Pasadena Community Playhouse programs and playbills from 1925-1937; also
includes some ephemera and photographs.
Box 110, Folder 1-8
Oversize programs.
1927-1961
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-11
Playhouse Playbill, Curtain Call.
1937-1963,
undated
Scope and Contents
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.
Box 116, Folder 1-8
Pasadena Playhouse, State Theatre of California.
1986-1994
Scope and Contents
Programs chiefly contained within Performing Arts magazine. Also includes typed
Mainstage programs index, 1986-1994.
Mainstage productions: supplemental materials.
Approximately
1930-1968
Box 117, Folder 1-12
Fliers, brochures, and lists of Mainstage plays.
1930-1961
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-31
Oversize materials.
1941-1968
Scope and Contents
Contains photographs, notes, typescripts, layouts for publicity materials, and
other; most materials related to promotion and publicity.
D. Playbox.
1923-1968
Scope and Contents
See Series II, Box 47, for Roger Altenberg's dissertation on the Playbox.
Box 122, Folder 1-20
Playbox supplemental materials, 1923-1962.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-9
Programs and clippings.
Scope and Contents
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.
Box 125, Folder 1-6
1960-1969, undated.
Scope and Contents
Includes file of undated or multiple productions, arranged in alphabetical order
by play title. Also includes one ticket for unspecified productions.
Box 126, Folder 1-12
The People Win Thru (1952).
1951-1957
Scope and Contents
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 129, Folder 1-9
1961-1969.
Scope and Contents
Also includes Arena Theatre programs, 1962-1963.
F. Other student productions.
1930-1955
Box 130, Folder 1-11
First- through third-year; Senior Players.
1930-1941
Box 131, Folder 1-11
Seniors, Postgraduate, Summer, others.
1930-1946
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-9
Events and projects.
Approximately
1954-1955
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-9
First through Fifth Annual, 1935-1939.
Scope and Contents
Contains lists of productions, 1935-1952, and programs and related materials from
the First through Fifth Annual Festivals, 1935-1939
Box 134, Folder 1-10
Sixth through Nineteenth Annual, 1940-1953.
One-Act Play Tournaments.
1930-1969
Box 135, Folder 1-10
Forms, rules, rating sheets, approximately 1950-1962.
Scope and Contents
Contains entry forms, certificates, judges' rating sheets, news releases,
clippings, rules and regulations, lists of plays, and certificates.
Box 137, Folder 1-6
Children's Theatre and Reader Theater.
1942, 1961-1968,
1975
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-16
Other special productions.
Approximately
1930-1946
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-13
Padua Players, El Pablo Players, others.
Approximately
1919-1941
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-19
State Theatre Players and others.
1947-1968
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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.
Arrangement
Series is arranged in the following six subseries:
- Subseries A. Community Playhouse and Mainstage productions
- Subseries B. Playbox productions
- Subseries C. Mainstage, Playbox, and Gilmor Brown
- Subseries D. Other venues
- Subseries E. Other student productions
- Subseries F. Other performance and related photographs
A. Community Playhouse and Mainstage productions.
1918-1962
North Fair Oaks performance photographs.
1918-1925
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-39
Items 1-217. May 14, 1918-June 20, 1921.
Box 142, Folder 1-28
Items 218-424. August 4, 1921-November 6, 1922.
Box 143, Folder 1-34
Items 425-595. November 20, 1922-February 5, 1925.
North Fair Oaks and Mainstage performance photographs.
1925-1926
Box 144, Folder 1-38
Items 596-840. February 23, 1925-January 7-16, 1926.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-31
Items 841-1326. January 21-30, 1926-February 10-19, 1927
Box 146, Folder 1-23
Items 1327-1683. February 10-19, 1927-July 26, 1927
Box 147, Folder 1-29
Items 1684-2016. August 16, 1927-July 24, 1928
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-25
Items 2017-2333. April 20, 1928-March 5, 1929
Box 149, Folder 1-28
Items 2334-2604. March 5, 1929-October 8, 1929
Box 150, Folder 1-25
Items 2605-2857. October 22, 1929-April 24, 1930
Box 151, Folder 1-27
Items 2858-3144. May 8, 1930-February 5, 1931
Box 152, Folder 1-29
Items 3145-3422. February 5, 1931-January 2, 1932
Box 153, Folder 1-39
Items 3423-3689. January 7-16, 1932-Septamber 26, 1933
Box 154, Folder 1-39
Items 3690-3900.1. October 31, 1931-July 13, 1936
Box 155, Folder 1-43
Items 3901-4492. July 20, 1936-January 4, 1938
Box 156, Folder 1-45
Items 4493-5030. January 18, 1938-June 26, 1939
Box 157, Folder 1-45
Items 5031-5397. June 26, 1939-March 11, 1941
Box 158, Folder 1-53
Items 5398-5678. March 25, 1941-February 23, 1944
Box 159, Folder 1-61
Items 5679-5896. March 8, 1944-November 13, 1946
Box 160, Folder 1-39
Items 5897-6200. November 27, 1946-July 13, 1948
Box 161, Folder 1-40
Items 6201-6458. July 20, 1948-January 18, 1950
Box 162, Folder 1-44
Items 6459-6749. February 15, 1950-December 6, 1951
Box 163, Folder 1-42
Items 6750-7020. December 20, 1951-April 1, 1954
Box 164, Folder 1-26
Items 7021-7358. April 29, 1954-December 19-22, 1955
Box 165, Folder 1-25
Items 7359-7668. January 5, 1956-June 6, 1957
Box 166, Folder 1-25
Items 7669-8006. October 7, 1957-January 29, 1959
Box 167, Folder 1-22
Items 8007-8389. January 29, 1959-February 11, 1960
Box 168, Folder 1-21
Items 8390-8789. February 11, 1960-December 30, 1960
Box 169, Folder 1-27
Items 8790-9086. February 17, 1961-May 23, 1969
Box 170, Folder 1-34
Items 9087-9225. October 29, 1924-December 3-5, 1935
Box 171, Folder 1-25
Items 9226-9410. December 6-13, 1935-March 14-23, 1937
Box 172, Folder 1-23
Items 9411-9692. March 25-April 1, 1937-November 27-December 6,
1938
Box 173, Folder 1-44
Items 9693-9919. December 11-20, 1938-March 25-April 7, 1945
Box 174, Folder 1-20
Items 9920-10182. October 21, 46-May 10, 1948
Box 175, Folder 1-22
Items 10183-10394. May 26, 1948-March 19, 1950
Box 176, Folder 1-44
Items 10395-10634. April 9, 1950-March 16, 1962
Box 177, Folder 1-33
Items 10635-10889: Various.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-28
Interior views; Gilmor Brown.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-23
Mainstage and other.
Approximately
1926-1941
Box 180, Folder 1-24
Mainstage.
Approximately
1947-1968
Box 181, Folder 1-29
Playbox and other.
Approximately
1932-1959
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-5
Items 120-2674, 10738.
Scope and Contents
Also includes two color glass plate images from Lazarus Laughed, Apri1 1,
1929.
Box 193, Folder 1-5
Items 10782-11060.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-6
Various.
1922-1936
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-10
Various.
1945-1965
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-7
Workshop and Laboratory Theatres.
1926-1962
Scope and Contents
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
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by play title.
Balcony Theatres.
Approximately
1946-1969
Box 204, Folder 1-7
R-Th.
Scope and Contents
Includes one cast portrait, from The Royal Gambit.
E. Other Student Productions.
Approximately
1922-1961
Box 206, Folder 1-7
First- through third-year projects.
1922-1936
Scope and Contents
Contains chiefly first-year projects, most undated.
Box 207, Folder 1-9
Senior, holiday, other productions.
[1947-1952]
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-6
Negatives: Various productions and related photographs.
Approximately
1917-1969
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-13
Unidentified theater productions.
Approximately
1917-1969
Scope and Contents
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
Arrangement
Series is arranged in the following four subseries:
- Subseries A. Various
- Subseries B. Set and costume designs
- Subseries C. Scores
- Subseries D. Scripts
A. Various.
Approximately
1918-1969
Box 213, Folder 1-17
Costume lists, property and lighting plots, other.
1930-1952
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-8
Character and costume sketches, stage designs, other.
Approximately
1918-1969
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-12
Original designs by James Hyde, Jānis Muncis, and others.
1930-1950
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
Contains designs for productions of Marco Millions, Kismet, Julius Caesar, and
unidentified productions.
Box 219
Work by various designers.
1920-1950
Scope and Contents
Includes designs by Alson Clark, Robert Redington Sharpe, Corliss McGee, and
Wilmer[?].
Box 220
Work by unidentified designers.
1935-1969
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-8
Original scores for various productions.
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-11
Plays A-H.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-11
Plays L-R.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-8
Plays S-T.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-6
Plays T-W.
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Most of the scripts in the set were Playbox productions.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by play title.
Box 227, Folder 1-6
Plays A-G.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-7
Plays H-M.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-8
Plays M-T.
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 232, Folder 1
Adventures of Alice.
Undated
Scope and Contents
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
Arrangement
Series is arranged in the following six subseries:
- Subseries A. Administrative
- Subseries B. Theater periodicals
- Subseries C. Materials related to theater rroduction
- Subseries D. Programs and publicity materials
- Subseries E. Subject files
- Subseries F. Additional research materials
A. Administrative.
1930-1969
Box 233, Folder 1-10
General.
1930-1969
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
Contains index of Play of the Month Club subscribers, in alphabetical order.
Box 237, Folder 1-17
B. Theater Periodicals.
1846-1969
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-11
Playground Community Service of Pasadena scripts.
Approximately
1929-1931
Scope and Contents
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
19th- and early 20th-century scripts and scores.
Approximately
1857-1939
Box 241
Plays by Euripedes and Ibsen.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-5
Various.
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
The materials were donated to the Playhouse Library by Edwin S. White
Box 243, Folder 1-2
Civil War-era materials.
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Contains one disbound scrapbook containing playbills, programs, clippings, and
other materials.
Souvenir programs.
Approximately
1870-1969
Scope and Contents
Gift of Martin McCabe.
Various 19th- and 20th-century programs, theater and other
arts.
Approximately
1870-1969
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Except for the last folder in Box 250, materials are from Southern
California.
Venues outside of California.
Box 252, Folder 1-8
Chicago and other Illinois.
Box 253, Folder 1-6
Detroit, Boston, and other.
Scope and Contents
Includes also various venues in the U.S. Midwest, East Coast, South, and
Southwest.
Box 254, Folder 1-11
Unidentified United States; international.
E. Subject files.
Approximately
1879-1984
Acting, actors, and actresses.
Approximately
1860-1955
Box 255, Folder 1-11
Publicity books, photographs, other.
Approximately
1890-1938
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-11
Notes on theater, various typescripts.
Approximately
1927-1945
Scope and Contents
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.
Box 257, Folder 1-4
Malcolm MacDowell and William Haas.
Approximately
1900-1941
Scope and Contents
Includes photographs of Malcolm MacDowell, circa 1918-1941; and photographs
relating to William "Uncle Bill" Haas, circa 1900-1930.
Box 258, Folder 1-6
Portraits of actors and actresses.
Approximately
1860-1969
Scope and Contents
Includes photographic portraits of actors, actresses, and others, circa
1860-1969. Most are identified, some with inscriptions, and some are not.
Box 259, Folder 1-6
Child actors and actresses.
Approximately
1890-1955
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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 281, Folder 8-9
Negatives: Various.
Approximately
1935-1939, undated
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-21
General topics.
Approximately
1910-1961
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-2
Theater history: costumes and fashion.
1961, undated
Scope and Contents
Contains Fairfax Walkup scrapbook pages on theater history, including fashion,
costume, and dress.
Theater organizations.
Approximately
1910-1961
Box 266, Folder 1-10
Other organizations.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-15
Dance, film, and music, and other.
Scope and Contents
Includes files concerning dance, film, painting, music, and poetry, along with
some material on education and on the humanities.
Box 268, Folder 1-10
History, geography, and travel.
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-6
Guides to Pasadena Playhouse plays.
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Contains professional photographs, biographical information, and clippings about
performers, arranged alphabetically by last name. Performers were not necessarily
involved with the Playhouse.
Box 281, Folder 10
Negatives: Performer Index, B-S
Scope and Contents
Includes images of Robert Redington Sharpe, taken by photographer Gordon
Spalding.
Famous people and their programs.
Approximately
1870-1925
Scope and Contents
Programs arranged alphabetically by last name of person. Not necessarily connected
with Pasadena Playhouse.
Published materials index
Approximately 1920s-1949
Scope and Contents
Index cards for reference books in the library, copies of published plays, and
mentions in publications about Pasadena history and Pasadena Playhouse history.
Box 361
Plays and historical notes
Series VIII. Related personal collections.
Approximately
1904-1989
Physical Description: 59
boxes
Scope and Contents
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.
Arrangement
Series is arranged in the following twelve subseries:
- Subseries A. Ben Ali, Bobker
- Subseries B. Blanchard, Frederick
- Subseries C. Bowditch, Vincent
- Subseries D. Cook, Philip
- Subseries E. Evans, June
- Subseries F. Haas, William
- Subseries G. Howell, Helen
- Subseries H. Prickett, Oliver
- Subseries I. Shoup, Gail
- Subseries J. Spalding, Graydon
- Subseries K. Sterling, Eloise
- Subseries L. Van Dyke, Philip
A. Ben Ali, Bobker.
1924-1983
Box 283, Folder 1-12
Performance and publicity photographs.
1924-1974
Box 284, Folder 1-12
Scripts.
Approximately
1935-1954
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-10
Writings and correspondence about William Holden.
1973-1982
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-10
Biographical.
Approximately
1937-1983
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Contains scrapbooks and two original posters for performance of Manya at Pasadena
Jr. College, listing Robert Ben Ali as author and director.
B. Blanchard, Frederick.
Approximately
1930-1948
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-3
Vincent Bowditch scrapbooks.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-8
Biographical.
Approximately
1920-1975
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Contains two scrapbooks.
Box 293
Oklahoma!
1943-1952
Scope and Contents
Contains three scrapbooks, one disbound.
Box 294
Oklahoma! Touring, 1949-1950.
Scope and Contents
Contains two scrapbooks.
Box 295
Oklahoma! Touring, 1950-1951.
Scope and Contents
Contains two scrapbooks.
Box 296
Mister Roberts and Walk Tall.
1953
Scope and Contents
Contains one scrapbook.
Box 297
Tour with Diosa Costello; Seventh Heaven.
1954-1955
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Contains two scrapbooks.
Box 299
The King and I.
1957
Scope and Contents
Contains one scrapbook.
Box 300
1920s theater materials.
Approximately
1920-1929
Scope and Contents
Contains one scrapbook; materials were possibly collected by Cook.
E. Evans, June.
Approximately
1920-1960
Box 301, Folder 1-9
Biographical and agreements.
Scope and Contents
Contains agreements and contracts, including Actors Equity; biography and resumes;
and clippings.
Box 302
Scrapbooks.
Scope and Contents
Includes two scrapbooks containing photographs, scripts, programs, and
publicity.
F. Haas, William.
Approximately
1911-1955
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-7
Actors and actresses, A-S.
Scope and Contents
Contains photographs of Dorothy and Lillian Gish and of the actor Redwing.
Box 304, Folder 1-12
Actors and Actresses, T-Z.
Scope and Contents
Also contains some group photographs and a few photographs of Haas, including with
Charlie Chaplin.
Box 305
Photographs of Actresses.
Scope and Contents
Contains oversize photographs of actresses, most of them identified.
G. Howell, Helen.
Approximately
1929-1936
Box 306
Scrapbook.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-25
Clippings and designs.
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-6
Clippings, correspondence, and programs.
Approximately
1921-1989
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
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, Folder 1-15
Administrative, brochures, and fliers.
Box 311, Folder 1-18
Pasadena Playhouse history and building plans.
Scope and Contents
Contains building and floor plans; documents detailing Playhouse history and
organizational structure; and a player's manual, yearbook, and programs.
Box 314
Oral history interviews.
Online items
Scope and Contents
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 Contents
Contains original and copies.
J. Spalding, Graydon.
Approximately
1928-1984
Scope and Contents
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, Folder 1-7
Programs and clippings.
Scope and Contents
Contains assorted programs, photographs, and clippings.
Box 316, Folder 1-4
Personal; Little Theatre.
Scope and Contents
Contains personal documents and files concerning Little Theater.
Box 317, Folder 1-7
Personal; Pasadena Playhouse.
Scope and Contents
Contains chiefly personal documents; also includes files concerning Little Theater,
Pasadena Playhouse scripts (sides), and clippings.
Box 318, Folder 1-6
Programs, articles, clippings.
Scope and Contents
Contains programs, autographed materials, clippings, and materials concerning the
Shakespeare Clubhouse and speech course.
Box 319, Folder 1-3
San Gabriel Valley theater.
Scope and Contents
Contains files concerning San Gabriel Civic Theatre and assorted clippings.
Box 320, Folder 1-4
Articles, various.
Scope and Contents
Contains materials relating to the Pasadena Theatre Club; Spectrum productions at
California Institute of Technology; 18 Actors Inc., and clippings.
Box 321, Folder 1-3
Fine Arts club.
Scope and Contents
Contains Fine Arts Club of Pasadena yearbooks and bylaws, 1956-1977, plus a
scrapbook.
Box 322
Spalding scrapbook, 1918-1942.
Box 323, Folder 1-8
Periodicals and programs.
Scope and Contents
Also includes a book of poetry and other items.
Box 324, Folder 1-5
Programs, performance photos, 1940-1960.
Scope and Contents
Contains photographs taken by Graydon Spalding, plus contact sheets; also includes
Playbox cast lists from 1953-1959 and various theater memorabilia.
Box 326, Folder 1-8
Lazarus Laughed.
Scope and Contents
Contains programs, clippings, photographs, and a scrapbook, 1928-1962.
Box 327, Folder 1-14
Various prints and papers.
Scope and Contents
On original container: II and III.
Box 328, Folder 1-6
Workshop.
Scope and Contents
On original container: III.
Box 329, Folder 1-7
School, other: Photographs.
Scope and Contents
School, Patio Theatre, crew, and television. On original container: IV.
Box 330, Folder 1-7
Box II: 1 of 2.
Scope and Contents
Negatives removed.
Box 332, Folder 1-15
Boxes III and IV, A-H [negatives for Boxes 315-327, 329-330].
Box 332a, Folder 1
Boxes III.
Scope and Contents
RESTRICTED: Negatives are too fragile.
K. Sterling, Eloise.
Approximately 1925
Box 333
Eloise Sterling scrapbook.
Scope and Contents
Contains clippings and other materials depicting actors and actresses; Sterling is
most prominently represented.
L. Van Dyke, Philip.
Approximately 1904,
1923-1967
Box 334, Folder 1-14
Biographical, personal, and writings.
Scope and Contents
Contains correspondence; photographs; poetry and other writings, and numerous
scripts by Van Dyke, chiefly for stage but also for radio.
Box 335, Folder 1-6
Scripts and prose pieces.
Scope and Contents
Includes a draft of a novel.
Box 336, Folder 1-9
Scripts and other writings.
Scope and Contents
Includes a prose piece, A Journal of California.
Box 337, Folder 1-6
Clippings, programs, and periodicals.
Scope and Contents
Materials reflect various stages of Van Dyke's career.
Box 338
Scrapbook of Melbourne MacDowell, 1901-1904.
Scope and Contents
Connection with Van Dyke is unclear.
Box 339, Folder 1-12
Related personal collections: Negatives.
Scope and Contents
Contains negatives from the papers of ben Ali, Blanchard, Cook, Howell, and
Shoup.
Series IX. Index cards.
Physical Description: 19
boxes
Scope and Contents
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 358
Wilson, L.-Drawings. Architectural
