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The National Theatre is a 501.c.3.not-for-profit organization
The National Theatre is a 501.c.3.not-for-profit organization |
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The National Theatre opened its doors on December 7, 1835. Thousands of plays have been on the stage here, and drama in the audience has included an engagement ring presented in the Mezzanine, an evacuation when the District Building across the street was commandeered by a terrorist group, and of course the presence of many dignitaries and celebrities in the audience over the years. But there are other more personal memories of theatre-going here which are treasures worth being shared. In celebration of the Theatre's 170th Anniversary, YOU are invited to contribute to this Internet Memory Book. If you want to include your name and/or email address, please do so at the end of your message, or if your prefer, just sign as Anonymous. ( The email indicated must be the email address from which the message is sent.) Address your entry - with MEMORY in the Subject Line - to information@nationaltheatre.org Please restrict yourself only to events which happened at The National Theatre. We reserve the right to select among entries, and to edit entries for length, grammar, syntax and propriety, and entries become the property of the National Theatre. A Memory from Miss Helen Hayes - My Dear National Theatre: From your topmost balcony I saw my very first play. What a wondrous afternoon as I sat there with my mother, mesmerized by the magic of theatre. My hear took flight, and I guess it has not come down to earth yet. When the curtain fell, I refused to leave -- and I had to be dragged away. Thus began a lifelong love affair with the theatre. I have returned many times to perform your your stage, and now I am deeply honored by the naming of the Helen Hayes Gallery in the Theatre. And I am delighted that the Helen Hayes Awards, inaugurated ant he National, will recognize distinguished theatrical achievements in Washington... What a pleasure you have given to me and to countless audiences: the magic that beings when the lights dim, the curtain rises, and we are transported from a care-burdened world to on where the imagination and the creative muses life our spirits high. - Helen Hayes, 1985 - in Stage for a Nation Hayes, Mata Hari and The Tenth Man - From a somewhat lower balcony of the National Theatre than her own first memory, I saw Helen Hayes perform for the only time I was fortunate enough to do so. In George Kelly's THE SHOW OFF in late 1968, she was a hoot, and, now, since I have the honor to serve in her name as a Judge for the Helen Hayes Awards, my ballot on her performance would read that she should have a 10. Alas, I don't remember the play as well as I recall her. MATA HARI bashing provides so much fun and laughter (in lieu of so little else) -- my memory is of two wagons entering from L & R, carrying the set before which the title character was to be shot. The wagons gave up the ghost, the band played on, the firing squad took aim and fired and Marisa Mell hit the deck, the gap was about 3 feet, the lights went out; the laughter has aged like an excellent wine. In 1961, while in high school, I bought my own ticket (less than $3.00 in Ms. Hayes' balcony) to THE TENTH MAN. Already a seasoned New York theatregoer, I remember smugly approving how much the place resembled the Broadway houses I'd been in. Little did I then know the much older provenance of the place. Happy Anniversary - Mary Lincer, The Kennedy Center, 2005 The Uncouth Audience - I have before mentioned the want of decorum at the Cincinnati theater, bur certainly that of the capital at least rivaled it in the freedom of acton and attitude; a freedom that seems to disdain the restraints of civilized manners. One man in the pit was seized with a violent fit of vomiting, which appeared not in the least to annoy or surprise his neighbors; and the happy coincidence of a physician being at the moment personated on the stage, was hailed by many of the audience as an excellent joke, of which the actor took advantage, and elicited shouts of applause by saying, "I expect my services are wanted elsewhere." - Frances Trollope, circa 1835 The 1950'S & Presidents - When I came to Washington in 1954, the National, the Shubert (on 9th Street), Arena Stage (on New York Avenue, NW) and Catholic University, were the principal theatres which were reviewed in The Washington Post, The Evening Star and The Daily News. With modest competition from television, theatre was thriving. Shows came one after the other to the National for one or two-week runs. Week after week, headline stars such as Judith Anderson, Pearl Bailey, Carol Channing, Helen Hayes, Ethel Merman, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, Frederic March and Florence Eldridge, Katherine Hepburn, Vivien Leigh, Sir Laurence Olivier, Leontyne Price and others appeared. I recall performances at which I saw Presidents Nixon and Kennedy and their First Ladies, and in more recent years Ronald and Nancy Reagan, George Bush Senior with Barbara Bush and their sons and daughters-in-law, and Bill and Hillary Clinton with their daughter, Chelsea. Memorable was the gala premiere performance of the musical MATA HARI (1967), in which the famed international spy faced the firing squad -- but inadvertently rose from death before the black-out was complete - to the unintended merriment of the audience. Donn B. Murphy, 2005 - dbm@nationaltheatre.org Buying Tickets and Seeing Stars - My memories of the National in my "early" years are wonderful. I remember going up to the box office when I was in law school to get tickets (I spent every free dime I had going to the National when I was in law school). I would go to the window and there would be Adolph Meyer towering over me behind the window and making me feel I was damn lucky to get a ticket. Years later when I would go into the box office as General Manager of the National, I saw that there was an elevated floor which Adolph stood on. So he was short but nevertheless awesome. My first show was probably the William Inge play, A LOSS OF ROSES [1959], with Shirley Booth, Warren Beatty and Carol Haney. Of course seeing HELLO DOLLY! with Carol Channing [1964] was memorable, as was watching that show's producer David Merrick in the lobby. So many wonderful memories! - Harry Teter, Jr., 2005 - HKETeter@aol.com An Engagement and a Missed Show - I
lived in Washington from 1966 to 1968. One of the first Broadway shows
I ever saw was ANNIE GET YOUR GUN starring Ethel Merman at the National
Theatre in 1966. If memory serves me, my soon to be wife had come from
Texas to visit me, and we got engaged right after seeing the show.
We have become avid theatre goers since that time. While we now live
in Texas again we do go to Broadway shows frequently. I believe
we also saw MAN OF LA MANCHA in Washington soon after we were married
in 1967. I have great memories of D.C. , but one memory
is quite sad. At the unfortunate time after Reverend King's death.
I remember trying to get out of the City on a bus while smoke was drifting
all along Constitution Avenue. Were scheduled to see CABARET later that
night at National Theatre. You must realize how influential and impressive
these shows were to small town kids who had just graduated from the
University of Texas in Austin. - Larry Fallek, 2005 - LarryRGV@aol.com The fire originated in what is called the oil-room, in the back part of the Theatre, while the performances of the evening were in progress; but fortunately for the persons in attendance, who composed a very large and respectable audience of the sexes, the alarm was given sufficiently soon to allow them all to escape from the burning building without the happening of any serious accident. The Theatre was burnt entirely out, leaving the bare walls alone standing. - News Clipping from an unknown newspaper of March 6, 1845, the morning after the fire. Backstage at Saint Joan - During the 1953-54 season at the National, there came to town a production of Shaw’s SAINT JOAN, starring Jean Arthur. Also in the cast were George Macready (famous as the hiss-worthy husband to Rita Hayworth in the film GILDA and who specialized in film villains both debonair and psychotic) and Sam Jaffe (best known as the benevolent High Lama in the 1939 film LOST HORIZON and later as the equally benevolent Dr. Zorba in the TV series BEN CASEY). Another member of that cast was a little known character actor named Norman Wooland who had been in the cast of the original stage production of Arthur Koestler’s famous play DARKNESS AT NOON. As a junior at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, I had the chance to appear as an extra in the trial scene of SAINT JOAN. This not only got me out of classes for the week, but also gave me the opportunity to watch real professional actors at work close-up. Ms. Arthur played the French warrior maid somewhat in the mode of the warm-hearted ingenues which she had played successfully in films, and not unlike her PETER PAN several years earlier. Probably not what Shaw had in mind. Offstage, ironically, she was remarkably cool, aloof and seemingly indifferent to other members of the company She retreated to her dressing room immediately after each scene in which she appeared. Only later would it become publicly known that she was seriously introverted and suffered from debilitating stage-fright. Macready, as expected, was somewhat aloof, but not unfriendly. Sam Jaffe was quite friendly, but a bit of a disappointment to a 16-year-old because he did not even know who was playing in the baseball world series that year, a subject of much interest to this high school junior. At each performance of the trial scene, we had to dress in monk’s robes with, as I recall, little or no makeup. All in all, it was quite an experience. Howard Kolodny, 2005 - ekolodny@starpower.net Tributes to Scott Kirkpatrick and Zelda Fichandler - Late in 1954 I was a senior at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, active in the drama club and president of Blair’s chapter of the National Thespian Society. Our director, Louis Rubin, was well plugged in to the Washington professional theater scene and thought it would be a great idea to present National Thespian Society award plaques to Scott Kirkpatrick, manager of the National Theatre, and to Zelda Fichandler, co-founder and managing director of the Arena Stage. Armed with the specially engraved plaques, three of us went downtown to beard these theatrical lions in their respective dens. Mr. Kirkpatrick gave us a royal welcome and took the whole thing with deadly serious appreciation, an attitude we thought more appropriate to awards of much higher prestige. He was so serious about it that it was all we could do to keep from chuckling. Zelda Fichandler, on the other hand, though just as welcoming, treated the occasion with the kind of friendly bemusement it probably deserved. Contrasting styles, to be sure, but a memorable afternoon for all of us. Howard Kolodny, 2005 - ekolodny@starpower.net Patricia Morrison doesn't get to go on for the robust Helen Hayes - Patricia Morrison, looking elegant at 90 and sharp as ever, talked about when she was Helen Hayes' understudy in "Victoria Regina" at the National Theatre in Washington in 1936 but never got to go on. [Throughout her long career, Miss Hayes rarely missed a performance.] Broadway buffs will remember her piercing blue eyes and remarkable talent in the original productions of "Kismet" and "Kiss Me, Kate." - Karen Feld in The Examiner, January 3, 2006 Memories of a 1969's National Theatre Usher - While a student at George Washington University in the 1960’s, I was fortunate to get a job as an usher at the National Theatre. The job paid only a minimum salary, but it was fun and it allowed me to see the shows. I usually worked two weekday evenings and one weekend night. Mr. Love and Mr. Lieb scheduled the ushers. I would stay only for the first act during the weekday performances and for the whole show on the weekends. Since many of the plays during that time were tryout performances, it was particularly fascinating to watch the changes in the show as the weeks progressed. Some shows were completely different by the time they left Washington. I especially remember this being the case for “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”. One of my most favorite shows was “Hello Dolly!” with Carol Channing. It was such fun to see her each night talk to the audience. I had never before seen stars interact in such a dynamic way with the audience. I started out my ushering “career” in the second balcony and then was “promoted” to the orchestra. Being in the orchestra was very special. First of all, there the ushers had small canvas folding seats on which we sat at the back of the theatre. Plus, I enjoyed seating the very well dressed orchestra patrons; in those days people really dressed for a night at the theatre – unlike today. We often saw famous people. My biggest thrill was the night I seated Jacqueline Kennedy and her party. Arlene R. O’Connor - 2006 A Child Actor's View of the National and Theodore Bikel - "The Rothschilds," a musical, was my first professional theatre job. I was twelve. I then went on to television commercials and soap operas. I played the role of Amshel, the eldest son. Theodore Bikel was the lead and Reid Shelton (the future Daddy Warbucks on Broadway) also starred in a supporting role. They were both very kind to the several kids in the cast. The Washington shows were bittersweet, because as I recall, we learned there that the show's run would be shortened (not enough advance sales in Chicago). I remember small dressing rooms with bare light bulbs, but for me it was just fine. (My uncle, who is currently president of the National, tells me that there is now a new backstage building with spacious dressing facilities). I was thrilled to be in the show, on the road, and even at age twelve, I had a sense of the history of this old theater. I was somewhat awed by being on a stage where so many other far more notable people had appeared before me. Washington was a friendly stop on the road, because my uncle was just around the corner in Arlington and made it feel like home for me, as he did when I appeared at Arena Stage a year or so later. My major memory is of Theodore Bikel... If there was ever a kinder "star", I don't know of one. "Theo" considered the cast a real family, and was constantly mingling with everyone, whether it was his co-stars, or the chorus. One night, he showed-up at the two-star hotel where the majority of the chorus and bit players were staying, guitar in hand, and proceeded to pour wine and play folk songs in the hotel lobby until half way to dawn. When the tour closed, everyone received invitations to his estate up on the Hudson somewhere above the Tappan Zee Bridge. The house, a sprawling old place that I recall being largely made of timber, was tucked back into the Adirondack forest with the deer and woodchuck. He gave everyone the run of the place. I remember playing pool in his den with the other kids from the play. The table was enormous, and I recall telling Theo how nice it was. "It's not, really," he replied, smiling and eyeing the damaged bumpers, "but I'm glad you're enjoying it anyway." This man always had a smile for the kids in the cast. He was such a father-figure, full of encouragement because he knew how wonderful a life the theatre had provided him, and how it might be the same for us. Theodore Bikel was to me a gentle bear of a man whose heart was as big as the National Theatre, when it came to his fellow actors. What a class act, that man; a real top shelf human being! I am now the morning weatherman at WPVI-TV in Philadelphia,
but I fondly remember those happy touring days. Manager C.D. HESS and Ford's Theatre - Mr. Hess was the manager of "Grover's National Theatre" at the time of Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theatre, 3 1/2 blocks away in 1865, as Professor Stephen Busch reports in a 2006 article on Mr. Hess which Professor Busch has been kind enough to let us publish on this website. Mr. Hess announced the assassination from the National Theatre stage. He is said to have cabled the sad news to Grover in New York, saying "LINCOLN SHOT AT FORDS THEATRE STOP THANK GOD IT WASN'T OURS STOP" His concern was well placed. Ford's Theatre closed immediately after the assassination, and was dark for 100 years thereafter. The structure, which had been fitted out elegantly as a theatre, was demolished and rebuilt for non-theatrical purposes. It accommodated government offices for a time, and a collapse interior of the building killed 22 government workers and injured 68 others. The building then became a Lincoln museum, open into the 1950's. John T. Ford's elegant theatre interior was meticulously recreated, and reopened in 1968 for theatrical performances and tours once again. http://www.nationaltheatre.org/location/HessCDMgr.htm Grover's Opera Company - Leonard Grover, owner of rte National for a time, renamed it Grover's Theatre in his own honor, a practice customary well into the 20th Century with the Ziegfeld Theatre, et. al. An article written by Martin Wacksman in 2006 describes the well-regarded opera company which Mr. Grover established at the theatre, and recounts the bookings at the time of the Lincoln Assassination. http://www.nationaltheatre.org/location/GroverOperaCompany.htm The Kennedys and Scott Kirkpatrick -
I worked at The National Theatre in the late 1950’s and early
1960’s---first as an usher, later as an Office Assistant to Scott
Kirkpatrick, manager of the theatre at the time. One of my most memorable
experiences was the World Premiere of Irving Berlin’s, “Mr.
President”. Opening night was a benefit for the Joseph P.
Kennedy Foundation. The President and Mrs. Kennedy attended, as did
many others in the Kennedy family. Because it was a benefit performance,
Kennedy family members were strategically seated throuought the theatre,
including the sky-high second balcony where I was stationed as an usher
that evening.
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