Personality files, [ca. 1800]-1986, 1900-1986 (bulk)

ArchivalResource

Personality files, [ca. 1800]-1986, 1900-1986 (bulk)

Extensive collection containing a diverse range of material about thousands of theatrical and musical personalities who have appeared in New York City during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Collection covers all the important and many of the lesser known personalities and includes personal correspondence, portrait engravings or lithographs, photographs, biographical data, clippings, articles, programs, playbills, original sheet music, and sheet music covers. Also, drawings, playscripts, scrapbooks, fan letters, manuscripts of biographies, sketches, texts of speeches, and personal items. lithographs, biographical material collected from temporary periodicals, and sheet music.

550 linear ft.

Related Entities

There are 34 Entities related to this resource.

Hayes, Helen, 1900-1993

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f58g3r (person)

Helen Hayes Brown was born in Washington, D.C. on October 10, 1900. Her parents were Frank and Catherine “Essie” Brown. With her mother’s encouragement, Hayes made her stage debut at the age of five and began performing both in amateur productions as well as the stock company, The Columbia Players. While performing in a recital for Miss Minnie Hawke’s School of Dance, Hayes was spotted by Lew Fields. Fields, half of the Weber and Fields comedy team, as well as a producer, recognized Hayes’s tale...

Merman, Ethel, 1908-1984

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zt3p8s (person)

Ethel Merman (born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was an American actress and singer known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and for leading roles in musical theatre. Over her distinguished career in theater she became known for her performances in shows such as Anything Goes, Annie Get Your Gun, Gypsy, and Hello, Dolly! The Irving Berlin song "There's No Business Like Show Business", written for the musical Annie Get Your Gun, became Merman's signature song....

Crothers, Rachel, 1878-1958

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n982gz (person)

Rachel Crothers (December 12, 1878 – July 5, 1958) was an American playwright and theater director known for her well-crafted plays that often dealt with feminist themes. Among theater historians, she is generally recognized as "the most successful and prolific woman dramatist writing in the first part of the twentieth century." One of her most famous plays was Susan and God (1937), which was made into a film by MGM in 1940 starring Joan Crawford and Fredric March. Crothers was born on Decemb...

Claxton, Kate, 1848-1924

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z89hwj (person)

Kate Claxton was a popular American actress, and was even called the American Sarah Bernhardt. She began her career in Chicago, and later played in stock companies in New York, mostly in comedy and melodrama. She created a sensation in the role of Louise in The Two Orphans, touring widely in the part and becoming a household name. She was onstage at the time of the tragic Brooklyn Theatre Fire in 1876. She was married to actor Charles A. Stevenson from 1878-1911. The city of Claxton, Georgia, wa...

Barrymore, Lionel

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ws93qw (person)

After the engravings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi. First performance Indianapolis, Indiana, 23 November 1946, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Fabien Sevitzky conductor.--Cf. Fleisher Collection. From the description of Piranesi suite / Lionel Barrymore. c1946. (Franklin & Marshall College). WorldCat record id: 42696866 Barrymore was born as Lionel Blythe on Apr. 28, 1878 in Philadelphia, PA; he became a leading Broadway actor by 1900; began film career in 1909; appeare...

Museum of the city of New York

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6517t5j (corporateBody)

The Works Progress Administration sponsored seven photographers for the Federal Art Project for specific projects in New York City. From the description of Works Progress Administration photographic negative collection, 1937-1939. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 155487078 Incorporated in 1923 to collect objects which illustrate the growth and progress of New York City and to educate the public about the city's history. From the description of Records, 1927-1985. (...

Duncan, Isadora, 1877-1927

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67945s0 (person)

Isadora Duncan was a dancer and dance teacher who is credited with inventing what came to be known as Modern Dance. From the description of The Isadora Duncan papers. 1904-1927. (University of Utah). WorldCat record id: 191855381 American dancer. From the description of Autograph note signed, dated : [n.p., n.d.], to an unidentified recipient, [n.d.]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270873291 Isadora Duncan (1878-1927) was born 27 May 1878 in San Francisc...

Tucker, Sophie, 1884-1966

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bz6v06 (person)

Entertainer, of New York, N.Y., and Hollywood, Calif. From the description of Papers, 1911-1966. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70941582 Sophie Tucker (1884-1966) was a Russian-born popular American entertainer. She gained fame as a performer in vaudeville and burlesque in the World War I era, and continued her career for many years in nightclubs, films, radio and television. From the guide to the Sophie Tucker autobiographical writings, (The New York Public Libr...

Brady, William A.. 1863-1950

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fr0922 (person)

Fields, Dorothy, 1905-1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hf8jtc (person)

Dorothy Fields, lyricist and librettist, was born in Allenhurst, New Jersey, July 15, 1905. She was the daughter of Lew Fields, comedian and producer, and Rose (Harris) Shoenfeld. Her first well known song was "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," which she wrote with James McHugh in 1928. She collaborated extensively with her brother Herbert Fields, who also was a librettist. Their most famous production was "Annie Get Your Gun," produced in 1946. Her other brother Joseph Fields was a dramatic ...

Booth, Shirley

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bv7zv0 (person)

Smith, Harry Bache, 1860-1936

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62b92hv (person)

Lyricist. From the description of Harry Bache Smith correspondence, 1895-1901. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70980474 American writer of short stories, plays, and librettos. A collector of rare books, manuscripts, and autographs, Smith also wrote about his collecting activities. From the description of Papers, 1773-1935, (bulk 1890-1930). (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRC); University of Texas at Austin). WorldCat record id: 122648359 ...

Loos, Anita, 1893-1981

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65d96t5 (person)

Anita Loos, screenwriter and novelist, was born on April 26, 1893, in Sisson, CA, the daughter of R. Beers and Minnie Ellen Loos. Miss Loos wrote the subtitles for D. W. Griffith's film, Intolerance, in 1916. Her best known work is Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She died on August 18, 1981, at the age of 93. From the guide to the Anita Loos papers, 1917-1981, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.) American author and screenwriter. From the descrip...

Fields, Herbert, 1897-1958

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c24zbh (person)

Jeweler and goldsmith. From the description of Slides of jewelry designed by Miye Matsukata, [ca. 1970]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 227187166 ...

Gear, Luella

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wm247n (person)

Marion, George, 1899-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wm2483 (person)

Brisson, Frederick, 1912-1984.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sf3ktc (person)

Actor's agent and stage and film producer; b. in Denmark; resident of the U.S. From the description of Frederick Brisson collection, 1971-1980. (Boston University). WorldCat record id: 70971700 Frederick Brisson, theatrical and film producer, was born Carl Ejner Frederik Pederson on March 17, 1913, in Copenhagen. His father, Carl Brisson, was a well-known boxer who went on to become a stage and film actor, and concert hall performer. Frederick Brisso...

Green, Adolph

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s75mfj (person)

Adolph Green (1915-2002) was a lyricist, librettist, screenwriter, and performer. Working with his lifelong writing partner, Betty Comden, Green co-authored the books and lyrics to some of the most important works of musical theater and film. From the description of Adolph Green papers, 1944-2002. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 79468166 Adolph Green was born in the Bronx, New York on December 2, 1915. After a brief stint ...

Frohman, Charles, 1860-1915

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sq9gf7 (person)

Charles Frohman (1860-1915) was a theater manager in New York City and London. From the description of Charles Frohman Letterpress Copybooks, 1898-1921. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122455669 The theatrical manager and producer Charles Frohman was born in Sandusky, Ohio in 1860. He was the youngest brother of theatrical managers Daniel (1851-1940) and Gustave (1855-1930) Frohman. By 1883 Charles Frohman was working as an independent producer; in 1890 he organi...

Dietz, Howard

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69p3hzd (person)

Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, writers and composers. From the description of Revenge with music: typescript, 1934. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122532975 Howard Dietz (1896-1983) was an important musical theater lyricist and motion picture publicist, who is well-known for his professional partnership with composer Arthur Schwartz, as well as for his long association with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio. Born in New York City...

MacArthur, Mary, 1930-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cn7v6g (person)

Martin, Mary, 1913-1990

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cr5vhs (person)

Schwartz, Arthur, 1900-1984

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6891w4b (person)

Arthur Schwartz, composer. Dorothy Fields, lyricist. Betty Smith and George Abbott, librettists. Betty Smith, novelist. David Ives, concert adaptation. From the description of A tree grows in Brooklyn : typescript, 2005. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 79468106 Songwriter, producer. From the description of Reminiscences of Arthur Schwartz : oral history, 1958. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122608352 Rob...

Comden, Betty

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mk6jvc (person)

Betty Comden, part of the successful team of Comden and Green, collaborated as a lyricists with Adolph Green from 1938 until the his death in 2002. Betty Comden was born in 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from New York University, she began her career as a performer and writer in a cabaret act called The Revuers . Adolph Green was born in 1915 in the Bronx, New York. After a short career on Wall Street, Mr. Green joined The Revuers in 1938 and the Comden and Green team was formed. C...

Wood, Peggy, 1892-1978

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tx3h1c (person)

American actress and singer. From the description of Typed letter signed : New York, to Edward Wagenknecht, 1956 May 16. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270868285 ...

Sothern E. H., 1859-1933.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k07vj8 (person)

Marlowe, Julia, 1865-1950

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pk0k2t (person)

Julia Marlowe was an English actress. She married Edward Hugh Sothern on 17 August 1911. From the description of Letters : to Horace Howard Furness, Horace Howard Furness, Jr., and Louise Brooks Winsor Furness, 1890-1929. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 155868093 Julia Marlowe was an actress. She was married to Edward Sothern. From the description of Miscellaneous manuscripts, 1911-1933. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat rec...

Lind, Jenny

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61c23kj (person)

Swedish singer. From the description of Autograph letters signed : Oak Lea, Wimbledon Park, S.W., to Arthur Sullivan, 1883 Feb. 11, and 9 incompletely dated. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270125245 Swedish soprano. From the description of Autograph letter signed, dated : Mannheim Dec. 7 1846, to an unidentified recipient, 1846 Dec. 7. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270667419 From the description of Autograph letter signed, dated : London Apr. 27 1874, t...

Miller, Gilbert.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63v073m (person)

Epithet: theatrical producer British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001027.0x000250 Gilbert Miller (1884-1969) was active as a theatrical producer in New York and London from the early 1900s to the mid-1960s. He worked with a vast array of major artists and was responsible for bringing plays of noteworthy British and continental dramatists to New York as well as presenting a number of American plays. From ...

Booth, Edwin, 1833-1893

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65h7gkm (person)

American actor. From the description of Autograph letters signed (2) : New York and Chicago, to Elsie Leslie, 1889 Dec. 5 and 1890 Mar. 16. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270532629 From the description of Letters, 1858, 1887. (Buffalo History Museum). WorldCat record id: 56685372 Edwin Booth (1833-1893) was the son of Junius Brutus Booth, the great British tragedian, and the older brother of John Wilkes Booth; Edwin was best known for his Shakespearean roles. ...

Booth family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6648kqj (family)

Barrymore, Ethel, 1879-1959

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66d676p (person)

American actress. From the description of Ethel Barrymore autograph, 1895. (Cornell University Library). WorldCat record id: 63936509 ...

Barrymore, John, 1882-1942

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6st7s5n (person)

Frohman, Daniel, 1851-1940

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cc1bdx (person)

American theatrical producer and early film producer. From the description of Daniel Frohman letters and autograph, [manuscript], [1893], undated. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 648015588 American theatrical manager. From the description of Autograph letters signed (7) : New York, 11 February [1910?, and n.d.], to [Harry Harkness] Flagler, [1910?] Feb. 11 and n.d. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270577558 From the description of Autograph n...