Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Hale, Randolph
- Abstract:
- Randolph Hale was vice president and treasurer of the Valley Music Theatre, in the San Fernando Valley. The collection consists of two scrapbooks related to productions staged at the Valley Music Theatre. Included are playbills and cast (group) photographs representing 40 productions staged at the theater. Additionally included is a very small amount of ephemera including a Valley Music Theatre securities brochure.
- Extent:
- 1 linear feet (1 flat box)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Randolph Hale Valley Music Theatre Scrapbooks (Collection 2322). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Collection consists of two scrapbooks related to productions staged at the Valley Music Theatre. Included are playbills and cast (group) photographs representing 40 productions staged at the theater, and publicity photographs documenting what appear to be the ground breaking for construction of the playhouse. Additionally included is a very small amount of ephemera including a Valley Music Theatre securities brochure.
- Biographical / historical:
-
The Valley Music Theatre broke ground in Woodland Hills, CA in January 1964. The 2,865-seat theatre-in-the-round was located at 20600 Ventura Blvd., between Winnetka and Canoga Aves. The goal was to produce and present live musical-dramatic stage productions in the San Fernando Valley. Officers included president Nick Mayo, vice president and treasurer Randolph Hale, and vice president and secretary Art Linkletter. Stockholders included Bob Hope, Danny Thomas, Janet Blair, Marjorie Lord, Ed Begley, and John Raitt, among others. The opening of the theater, on July 7, 1964, featured The Sound of Music as a benefit premiere for the Pi Beta Phi Alumnae Club and affiliated groups of the Crippled Children's Society of Los Angeles County. The productions staged during the theater's tenure were A Man for All Seasons (with Charlton Heston), Medea (with Judith Anderson), and Come Back Little Shea (with Shirley Booth) among others. Other actors who performed at the theater include Anna Maria Alberghetti, Eve Arden, Sidney Blackmer, Janet Blair, Eddie Bracken, Vic Damone, Howard Duff, Buddy Ebsen, Maurice Evans, George Gorshin, Carolyn Jones, Werner Klemperer, Marjorie Lord, Rose Marie, Ethel Merman, John Myhers, Walter Pidgeon, Vincent Price, Jane Powell, Juliet Prowse, John Raitt, Mickey Rooney, Walter Slezak, Jack Soo, Rudy Vallee, Jerry Van Dyke, and Gig Young among others.
In September of 1966, the Los Angeles Times reported The Valley Music Theatre filed bankruptcy. In 1967 attempts were made to sell the theater to the City of Los Angeles, but proposals for the purchase were defeated by the City Council. Efforts to revive the facility included attractions such as professional boxing matches. The theater was sold in the 1970s to the Valley congregation of the Jehovah's Witnesses and used as an assembly hall. It was eventually resold, and in ca. 2007 the Valley Music Theatre was demolished and the site used to construct a luxury apartment complex and work lofts.
Randolph Hale was born in San Francisco, CA on July 26, 1909. He located to Van Nuys CA, in 1958. He operated the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco, and acted in own productions. He also produced nationally touring stage productions. From 1947 to 1953 was involved with operating Summer House, a summer theatre in Albuquerque, NM. From 1956 to 1961, he owned and operated, and was entertainer at the Excusez Moi restaurant in Los Angeles. In the early 1960s he, along with Nick Mayo and Art Linkletter were responsible for starting the Valley Music Theatre in the San Fernando Valley and was stockholder, vice president, and treasurer. Randolph Hale died in 1974.
- Acquisition information:
- Purchase, 2016.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Julie Graham, 2017.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
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- Arrangement:
-
There is no specific arrangement to the collection.
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Randolph Hale Valley Music Theatre Scrapbooks (Collection 2322). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Location of this collection:
-
A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988