Allen, Martha-Bryan

Martha-Bryan Allen (also known as Martha Bryan-Allen) was an actress who enjoyed several Broadway successes during the 1920s. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Martha-Bryan Allen came to New York as a young woman and studied acting at the American Academy of the Dramatic Arts. Her Broadway debut was in HE WHO GETS SLAPPED (1922) opposite Richard Bennett, followed by a role in the premiere production of Bernard Shaw's BACK TO METHUSELAH. In March 1925 she created the title role in ALOMA OF THE SOUTH SEAS prior to the play's Broadway run, but was replaced by Vivienne Osbourne before the production reached New York. Martha-Bryan Allen's greatest Broadway success came with THE MONKEY TALKS, which opened at the Sam H. Harris Theatre on December 28, 1925, and ran for 98 performances.

The Martha-Bryan Allen papers consist mostly of congratulatory telegrams coinciding with the Baltimore opening of ALOMA OF THE SOUTH SEAS in March of 1925. There is also a letter dated May 29, 1924, from a young man who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and wonders if the prominent Broadway actress Martha-Bryan Allen is the same Martha Allen he knew in childhood.

From the guide to the Martha-Bryan Allen papers, 1924-1925, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)