Past Shows - 1925 TO 1949
CHRONOLOGY of THE NATIONAL THEATRE
1925 - 1949
This record is a work in progress. Click
below for time segments
1835
- 1864
1865 - 1899
1900 -1924
1950
- 1999
2000
- the present
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here for the Memory Page: Audience Members Reminisce
Abbreviations
SN refers to Stage for a Nation, Lee, Meersman,
Murphy, 1985, the official history of The National.
HNNT refers to History of the New National Theatre
by Alexander Hunter and J. H. Polkinhorn, November, 1954
ON refers to a series of orange notebooks containing information
taken from the files of the Washington Historical Society on productions
at the National beginning in 1835. Information culled from The Intelligencer
newspaper files of the Martin Luther King Library. There are no
program files for these entries.
Rapley Files - William W. Rapley was an owner and manager of the
theatre in the 1860's and the 1870's. He was later succeeded by
his son, Harry W. Rapley.
PRODUCTIONS AT DATES UNKNOWN
December 29, 1924 through January 3, 1925
LIGHTNIN’ - by Winchell Smith and Frank Bacon. Starring Thomas
Jefferson and Jack Marvin. Directed by Winchell Smith.
1925
S. E. Cochran, Treasurer of the National Theatre, and Charles Jacobson,
the latter on leave from his position of Treasurer of the the Sam
H. Harris Theatre in New York, established the National Theatre
Players repertoire stock company. Owen Davis directed. Charles Squires
was the scenic artist.
January 11, 1925 (Sunday)
NEWMAN TRAVEL TALKS – India and The Vale of Kashmir.
January 18, 1925 (Sunday)
NEWMAN TRAVEL TALKS – Burma, Land of Golden Pagodas
January 25, 1925 (Sunday)
NEWMAN TRAVEL TALKS – Ceylon and Singapore
February 1, 1925 (Sunday)
NEWMAN TRAVEL TALKS – Siam and Borneo
February 8, 1925 (Sunday)
NEWMAN TRAVEL TALKS – Java and Sumatra
February 9 through February 14, 1925
RAIN - by John Colton and Clemence Randolph, based on the W. Somerset
Maugham story, “Miss Thompson.” Starring Jeanne Eagels.
February 16 through February 21, 1925
SAINT JOAN - by George Bernard Shaw. Starring Julia Arthur.
March 16 through March 21, 1925
THE RIVALS - by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Cast includes Thomas
A. Wise, Kenneth Thomson, Fred Eric, James T. Powers, Chauncey Olcott,
Percival Vivian, George Tawde, Herbert Belmore, Mrs. Fiske, Lola
Fisher, Lotus Robb and Marie Carroll.
March 22 through March 28, 1925
ZIEGFELD FOLLIES
May 18 through May 24, 1925
THE NERVOUS WRECK - written by Owen Davis. Cast includes Minor Watson,
Leneta Lane, Butler Hixon, Edward Arnold, Charles Halton and William
McFadden. Presented by the National Theatre Players, directed by
Clifford Brooke.
May 25 through June 1, 1925
JUST MARRIED -- by Adelaide Matthews. Cast includes Minor Watson
and Leneta Lane. Presented by the National Theatre Players
June 2 through June 8, 1925
SO THIS IS LONDON – by George M. Cohan. Cast includes Leneta
Lane, Minor Watson, Romaiel Callender, Edward Arnold. Presented
by the National Theatre Players.
June 9 through June 15, 1925
SPRING CLEANING – by Frederick Lonsdale. Cast includes Leneta
Lane, Minor Watson, Dorothy Tierney. Presented by the National Theatre
Players.
June 16 through June 22, 1925
THE BEST PEOPLE – by Avery Hopwood and David Gray. Cast includes
Dorothy Tierney, Marjorie Metcalf, Leneta Lane, Kathryn Givney.
Presented by the National Theatre Players.
June 23 through June 28, 1925 [no program file]
THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING - written by John Emerson and Anita Loos.
With Minor Watson.
June 27, 1925
Mr. W.H. Rapley, director of the National Theatre, came down from
his summer home at Spofford Lake, N.H., for a meeting of international
theatre managers in New York, and then came to Washington to check
up on the National. He was "highly pleased" with the Management
of the National Theatre Players, and returned promptly to New Hampshire
to play golf.
June 29 through July 4, 1925
THE CHAMPION – comedy by Grant Mitchell. Cast includes Minor
Watson, Leneta Lane, Edwin Arnold, Lillian Dean, Dorothy Tierney,
Kathryn Givney, Edward Arnold. Directed by Clifford Brooke. Presented
by the National Theatre Players.
July 6 through July 11, 1925
MEET THE WIFE – comedy by Lynn Starling. Cast includes Minor
Watson, Leneta Lane, Romaine Callender, Kathryn Givney. Directed
by Clifford Brooke. Presented by the National Theatre Players.`
July 13 through July 18, 1925
TWIN BEDS – comedy by Salisbury Field and Margaret Mays. Cast
includes Clifford Brooke, Minor Watson, Lenata Lane, Edward Arnold
and Kathryn Givney. Presented by the National Theatre Players.
July 20 through July 25, 1925
AREN’T WE ALL – comedy by Frederick Lonsdale. Cast includes
Cliffor Brooke, John Glynn MacFarlane, Lenata Lane, Lillian Dean.
Presented by the National Theatre Players.
July 27 through August 1, 1925
THE GOOSE HANGS HIGH – comedy by Lewis Beach. Cast includes
John Glynn MacFarlane, Kathryn Givney, Lillian Dean, Romaine Callendar,
Lenata Lane. Presented by the National Theatre Players.
August 3 through August 8, 1925
CHEATING CHEATERS – comedy/melodrama by Max Marcin. Cast includes
Leneta Lane, John Glynn MacFarlane, Kathryn Givney, Edward Arnold,
Romaine Callendar, Dorothy Tierney. Presented by the National Theatre
Players.
August 10 through August 15, 1925
CHICKEN FEED
August 17 through August 22, 1925
KIKI
September 7 through September 12, 1925
VORTEX
October 25 through October 30, 1925
LADY BE GOOD – musical: book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson;
music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Cast includes
Fred and Adele Astaire, Bill Bailey, Sam Critcherson, Harry Howell,
Edward Jephson, Viola Boles, Katherine Sacker, Fern Adair, Gerald
Oliver Smith, Walter Catlett, Winifred Barry. Staged by Felix Edwardes.
November 9 through November 15, 1925
THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL– A comedy by Richard Brinsley Sheridan,
directed by George C. Tyler and staged by Basil Dean
November 24 through December 1, 1925
TIP-TOE - book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson; music by George
Gershwin; lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Starring Jeanette McDonald. Book
staged by John Harwood; Dances and Ensembles staged by Sammy Lee;
Settings designed and painted by John Wenger.
December 21 through December 26, 1925
NO, NO, NANETTE – musical comedy: book by Frank Mandel and
Otto Harbach; lyrics by Otto Harbach and Irving Caesar; music by
Vincent Youmans. Starring Julia Sanderson, Donald Frian, Frank Curmit
and Ona Munson.
December 28, 1925 through January 2, 1926
TOPSY AND EVA - a musical comedy based on “Uncle Tom’s
Cabin.” Music and lyrics by the Duncan Sisters. Starring Edmund
Fitzpatrick, Vivian Duncan and Rosetta Duncan.
1926
January 3 through January 9, 1926
GEORGE WHITE’S SCANDALS
January 24, 1926 (Sunday)
NEWMAN TRAVEL TALKS –Vienna and the Tyrol
January 31, 1926 (Sunday)
NEWMAN TRAVEL TALKS – Paris and Northern France
February 7, 1926 (Sunday)
NEWMAN TRAVEL TALKS – London, with Rambles Through England
and Scotland
March 1 through March 6, 1926
THE POOR NUT - comedy by J.C. and Elliott Nugent. Starring Elliott
Nugent.
March 8 through March 12, 1926
THESE CHARMING PEOPLE - comedy by Michael Arlen. Starring Cyril
Maude. Cast includes Herbert Marshall. “Positively the last
appearances of Mr. Maude in Washington.”
March 14 through March 19, 1926
THE GRAB BAG - book, lyrics and music by Ed Wynn. Starring Ed Wynn.
March 21 through March 26, 1926
KID BOOTS - Starring Eddie Cantor, with Mary Eaton. Offered by Florenz
Ziegfeld as "his greatest success" based on Palm Beach
and Golf. Staged by Edward Royce. Book by Anthony McGuire and Otto
Harbach. Music by Harry Tierney. Lyrics by Joseph McCarthy.
March 28 through April 4, 1926
NO NO NANETTE - musical comedy. Starring Julia Anderson, Frank Crumit,
Donald Brian, and Ona Munson.
September 20 through October 23, 1926
BEN HUR - a film based on the book by Lew Wallace. Starring Ramon
Navarro and Francis X. Bushman. Film shown twice daily, with a Sunday
matinee at 3 o’clock. Stage Presentation and Musical score
by Major Edward Bowes, David Mendoza and William Axt.
October 24 through October 29, 1926
YOUNG WOODLEY - a play by John Van Druten. Starring Glenn Hunter
and a New York cast.
1927
March 28 through April 4, 1927
TRELAWNY OF THE "WELLS" - a comedy in four acts by Arthur
Pinero. Cast includes Otto Kruger, Helen Gahagan, Estelle Winwood,
Peggy Wood, Lawrance d’Orsay. Staged by William Seymour.
August 15 through August 21, 1927
THE SWAN - play by Ferenc Molnar. Directed by Clifford Brooke and
featuring The National Theatre Players.
August 22 through August 28, 1927
THE DONOVAN AFFAIR - a mystery thriller by Owen Davis. Directed
by Clifford Brooke and featuring the National Theatre Players.
September 5 through September 10, 1927
7th HEAVEN – by Austin Strong. Directed by Clifford Brooke.
Featuring the National Theatre Players.
September 11 through September 23, 1927
OLD IRONSIDES – a Paramount picture based on the story by
Laurence Stallings, adapted by Harry Carr and Walter Woods. Starring
Charles Farrell, Esther Ralston, Wallace Beery, George Bancroft,
Charles Hill Mailes, Johnny Walker, Eddie Fetherston, George Godfrey.
September 26 through October 1, 1927 (no program file)
SPRING BOARD – a new play
SHOW BOAT - World Premiere with Norma Terris as Magnolia, William
Warfield as Joe
November 21 through November 26, 1927
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR – by William Shakespeare. Starring
Mrs. Fiske and Otis Skinner, with Henrietta Crosman. Cast includes
Will Geer. Produced and directed by Harrison Grey Fiske.
1928
January 30 through February 4, 1928
HONEYMOON LANE - a musical comedy by Eddie Dowling and James Hanley.
Starring Eddie Dowling, with Bobbie Perkins, Martha Morton, Harry
Robinson. Presented by A.N. Erlanger.
February 6 though February 11, 1928
DIPLOMACY - an English version of a play in four acts by Victorien
Sardou. Cast includes Tyrone Power, William Faversham, Charles Coburn,
Frances Starr, Helen Gahagan. Staged by Campbell Gullen. Presented
by George C. Tyler.
February 21 through February 25, 1928
THE THREE MUSKETEERS - new operetta by Rudolf Friml, adapted from
the book by Alexandre Dumas. Produced by Florenz Ziegfeld. Starring
Dennis King, Joseph Macaulay, Douglas R. Dumbrille, Ditmar Poppen.
February 27 through March 3, 1928
KING OF KINGS - a film by Cecil B. de Mille.
March 19 through March 24, 1928
SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER - by Oliver Goldsmith. Pauline Lord speaks
the prologue which was written by David Garrick. Cast includes Fay
Bainter, Lawrance d’Orsay, and Wilfrid Seagram. Staged by
William Seymour. Presented by George C. Tyler.
April 9 through April 21, 1928
RIO RITA - a musical comedy produced by Florenz Ziegfeld. Title
role played by Etheline Terry.
April 22 through 27, 1928
PORGY by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward. Theatre Direction: A.L. Erlanger,
W.H. Rapley Business Manager: S.E. Cochran "A Gentle Ballyhoo
on Washington's Drama Critics" (in (program July 9, 1928) Evening
Star, C.E. Nelson
July 2 through July 7, 1928
INTERFERENCE – by Roland Pertwee and Harold Dearden. A production
of the National Theatre Players.
July 9 through July 14, 1928
THREE WISE FOOLS – comedy by Austin Strong. A production of
the National Theatre Players.
July 16 through July 22, 1928
MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH - comedy by Anne Crawford Flexner.
A production of the National Theatre Players.
July 23 through July 29, 1928
THE NIGHTCAP - a mystery melodrama by Max Marcin and Guy Bolton.
A production of the National Theatre Players.
July 30 through August 5, 1928
CLARENCE - comedy by Booth Tarkington. A production of the National
Theatre Players.
August 6 through August 12, 1928
WHAT ANNE BROUGHT HOME - comedy-drama by Larry E. Johnson. A production
of the National Theatre Players.
August 13 through August 19, 1928
NIGHTSTICK - melodrama by John Wray, the Nugents and Elaine Sterne
Carrington. A production of the National Theatre Players.
August 20 through August 26, 1928
THE HOME TOWNERS - a farce comedy by George M. Cohan. A production
of the National Theatre Players.
August 27 through September 2, 1928
THE CREAKING CHAIR - a farcical mystery by Allene Tupper Wilkes.
A production of the National Theatre Players.
September 3 through September 8, 1928
CRADLE SNATCHERS - by Russell Medcraft and Norma Mitchell. A production
of the National Theatre Players.
September 10 through September 15, 1928
7th HEAVEN - comedy drama by John Golden. A production of the National
Theatre Players.
September 16 through October 13, 1928
WINGS - film shown twice daily. Story by John Monk Saunders; screenplay
by Hope Loring and Louis D. Lighton. Cast includes Clara Bow, Charles
Rogers, Richard Arlen, El Brendel, Jobyna Ralston, Richard Tucker,
Gary Cooper, Gunboat Smith, Henry B. Walthal, Julia Swayne Gordon,
Arlette Marchal, George Irving, Hedda Hopper, and Nigel de Brulier.
Directed by William A. Wellman. B.P. Schulberg, associate producer.
October 14 through October 20, 1928
SIMBA – film by Mr. and Mrs. Martin Johnson. Shown twice daily.
October 22 through October 27, 1928
REVOLT – by Harry Wagstaff Gribble. Starring Hugh Buckler,
Grace Filkins, William Lovejoy, A.G. Andrews, Paul Gilfoyle, Anita
Fugazy, Askland Powell, Charlotte Denniston, Elizabeth Allen, Eunice
Stoddard. Directed by Harry Wagstaff Gribble. Presented by William
Powell.
October 29 through November 3, 1928
DRACULA - dramatized by Hamilton Dean and John Balderson from the
book Bram Stoker. Starring Raymond Huntley and Herbert Bunston.
November 5 through November 10, 1928
HIT THE DECK - book by Herbert Fields; music by Vincent Youmans,
lyrics by Leo Robbin and Clifford Grey. Starring Queenie Smith and
Charles Purcell.
November 12 through November 17, 1928
MACBETH - by William Shakespeare. Cast includes Lyn Harding, Margaret
Anglin, William Farnum, Basil Gill. Staged by Douglas Ross. Directed
by George C. Tyler.
November 19 through November 24, 1928
ROSALIE - musical comedy, with music by George Gershwin and Sigmund
Romberg; book by Wm. Anthony McGuire and Guy Bolton; lyrics by P.C.
Wodehouse and Ira Gershwin. Starring Marilyn Miller and Jack Donahue,
with Frank Morgan. A Ziegfeld production.
November 26 through December 1, 1928
WHOOPEE - a musical comedy. Starring Eddie Cantor, Ruth Etting and
Jack Gifford, a "Ziegfeld Production." Book by William
Anthony McGuire, based on the comedy A Nervous Wreck by Owen Davis;
music by Walter Donaldson; lyrics by Gus Kahn; scenery by Joseph
Urban; dialogue staged by Wm. Anthony McGuire; costumes designed
by John W. Harkrider. A Ziegfeld Production.
December 3 through December 8, 1928
THE BACHELOR FATHER - comedy by Edward Childs Carpenter. Cast includes
June Walker, C. Aubrey Smith, and Geoffrey Kerr. Presented by David
Belasco.
December 10 through December 15, 1928
JIM THE PENMAN - by Sir Charles Young. Starring William Faversham,
Jacob Ben Ami, Reginald Mason, Lawrence D’Orsay, Frank Hearn,
Harry Joyner, Charles Richman, Cecile Dixon, Marguerite St. John,
Helen Lowell and Cecilia Loftus. Staged by Frederick Stanhope. Directed
by George C. Tyler.
December 17 through December 22, 1928
THE BEAUX STRATAGEM - comedy by George Farquhar. Staged by the Players’
Club of New York, including James T. Powers, Frances Starr, Wallace
Eddinger, Fritzi Scheff, Henry E. Dixey, Brandon Tynan, Marie Carroll,
Percy Ames, Raymond Hitchcock, Wilfrid Seagram, John Westley, Minnie
Dupree and Howard Kyle. Directed by George C. Tyler; staged by Howard
Lindsey.
December 23 through December 29, 1928
STRANGE INTERLUDE - by Eugene O'Neill. A play in nine acts, with
a dinner interval. Cast includes Ralph Morgan, Walter Vonnegut,
Pauline Lord, Donald MacDonald, Harry C. Bannister, Maud Durand,
Lester Sheehy, Helen Ann Hughes, and James Todd. Directed by Philip
Moeller. Settings bv Jo Mielziner.
December 30, 1928 through January 4, 1929 [no program file]
WOODEN KIMONO - a mystery by John Floyd. Staged by Edward Powell.
1929
January 6 through January 11, 1929
FIORETTA – musical comedy: music by George Bagby and G. Romilli;
book adapted by Charlton Andrews; staged by Clifford Brooke. Starring
Leon Errol, Fannie Brice and Lionel Atwill, with Dorothy Knapp,
George Houston, Theo. Karle, Jay Brennan.
January 20, 27, February 3, 10, 17, 1929
NEWMAN TRAVEL TALKS - a series of Sunday afternoon travel talks
on various European countries and Morocco and Algiers.
February 11 through February 16, 1929
THE HIGH ROAD - a comedy by Frederick Lonsdale. Cast includes Herbert
Marshall, Edna Best, H. Reeve-Smith, Alfred Drayton. Presented by
Charles Dillingham.
February 18 through February 23, 1929 [no program file]
THIS THING CALLED LOVE - a comedy. Featuring the National Theatre
Players.
February 25 through March 2, 1929 [xerox only]
THE LITTLE SPITFIRE - a comedy by Myron C. Fagan. Starring Freddie
Sherman, Helen Wallace, Mary Newton, and Frank Westbrook. Presented
by S.E. Cochran.
March 30, 1929 [no program file]
HOLIDAY - written by Philip Barry. Washington premiere presented
by the National Theatre Players Summer Repertory Company 6th Annual
Season.
April 22 through April 27, 1929 [no program file]
WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS - presented by the National Theatre Players
September 16 through September 21, 1929 [xerox only]
THE FRONT PAGE - play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Staged
by George S. Kaufman. Cast includes Cecil Holm, Allen Jenkins, Willard
Robertson, John Carmody, Jack Campbell, Joseph Spurin-Calleia, Walter
Baldwin, Violet Barney, Jay Wilson, Eduardo Ciannelli, Lee Tracy,
Carrie Weller, Antoinette Crawford, Claude Cooper, Frances Fuller,
Jessie Crommette..
October 7 through October 12, 1929 [no program file]
MARCO MILLIONS - written by Eugene O’Neill. First Theatre
Guild season.
October 14 through October 19, 1929 [no program file]
VOLPONE - written by Ben Jonson - The Stefan Zweig Version
October 21 through October 26, 1929 [no program file]
R.U.R. - written by Karel Kapek
October 28 through November 2, 1929
SEVEN YEAR LOVE - a new comedy by John D. Haggart. Staged by Antoinette
Perry and Brock Pemberton. Cast includes George Brent, Catherine
Willard, Horace Pollack.
November 11 through November 16, 1929
CAPRICE - written by Sil-Vara. Starring Lynn Fontanne and Alfred
Lunt.
November 17 through November 23, 1929 [no program file]
HUNTING TIGERS IN INDIA - a talking film. Narrator is Commander
George M. Dyott.
November 29th, 1929 [no program file]
WINGS OVER EUROPE
December 8 through December 14, 1929
VANITIES - a variety show presented by Earl Carroll.
December 30, 1929 through January 4, 1930 [xerox only]
TREVELYN’S GHOST - a farce/comedy by Dwight Taylor. Starring
Phyllis Povah, Rhea Martin, Harold DeEcker and Percy Ames. Directed
by A.L. Erlanger and George C. Tyler. Staged by Frederick Kerr and
Dwight Taylor.
1930
BECKY SHARP - comedy
January 6 through January 11, 1930
SHERLOCK HOLMES - by William Gillette and Arthur Conan Doyle. Starring
William Gillette (his last performance in the theatre), Wallace
Clark, and John Miltern. Directed by A.L. Erlanger and George C.
Tyler.
January 7 through January 10, 1930 [conflicts with the previous
entry, but there are separate playbills.]
PHILIP GOES FORTH - comedy by George Kelly. Starring Harry Ellerbe.
February 3 through February 8, 1930
STRANGE INTERLUDE - a play in 9 acts by Eugene O’Neill. Cast
includes George Gaul, Brandon Evans, Elisabeth Risdom, Blaine Cordner,
Frank Conroy, Maud Durand, Lester Sheehy, Mary Holsman, and James
Todd. Directed by Philip Moeller.
February 17 through February 22, 1930
SARI - Emmerich Kalman operetta based on a book by Julius Wilhelm
and Fritz Greenbaum. Starring Mitzi. Cast includes Arthur Treacher.
February 24 through March 2, 1930
SHOW BOAT - based by Edna Ferber; produced by Florenz Ziegfeld.
Music by Jerome Kern; book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Starring
Irene Dunne, Howard Marsh, Margaret Carlisle, Charles Winninger,
Eva Puck, Sammy White, Jules Bledsoe.
March 3 through March 8, 1930
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON FESTIVAL COMPANY performing plays by William
Shakespeare.: Twelfth Night, A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, Macbeth.
March 23 to March 29, 1930 [no program file]
JONICA - Music by Joseph Mayes. Lyrics by William Moll.
May 11, 1930
THE RIVALS - by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Starring Mrs. Fiske
September 22 through September 27, 1930
PAGAN LADY - by William DuBois. Starring Lenore Ulric. Cast includes
Franchot Tone, Thomas Findlay, Elise Bartless, Jane Ferrell, Leo
Donnelly, Weldon Heyburn. Directed by Lewis E. Gensler.
September 28 through October 4, 1930
RIPPLES - by William Anthony McGuire. Starring Fred Stone; with
Dorothy and Paula Stone. Music by Oscar Levant and Albert Sermay.
October 27 through November 1, 1930
MRS. FISKE starring in Ladies of the Jury (comedy by Fred Ballard),
Mrs. Bumpstead-Leigh (farce by Harry James Smith) and Becky Sharpe
(comedy by Langdon Mitchell based on Vanity Fair). Company includes:
Ethel Strickland, Jennette Dowling, Elsie Keene, Alice Cowan, Eleanor
Gordon, William Ingersoll, Luke Conness, Kemble Knight, Vincent
James, Robert Leslie, and Thomas Shearer, Sherling Oliver, Sydney
Booth, Edmund Elton, Mona Smith, Marge LaRubia, Will Geer, Edward
Butler, Mary Emerson.
November 3 through November 8, 1930
SUBWAY EXPRESS - by Eva K. Flint and Martha Madison. Cast includes
Leo Curley.
November 10 through November 15, 1930
THE TAVERN - written and produced by George M. Cohan. Starring George
M. Cohan.
November 16 through November 22, 1930
EARL CARROLL SKETCH BOOK - a revue consisting of 53 scenes by Eddie
Cantor. Original New York cast, including William Demarest, Will
Mahoney, and the Three Sailors.
November 24 through November 29, 1930
A KISS OF IMPORTANCE - adapted by Arthur Hornblow Jr. from a French
play by Andre Picard and H.M. Harwood. Starring Basil Rathbone.
Directed by Lionel Atwill
December 1 through December 6, 1930
THE APPLE CART - a new play by George Bernard Shaw. Starring Tom
Powers, Violet Kemble Cooper, Claude Rains, Ernest Cossart, Jane
Wheatley, Eva Leonard-Boyne, Barbara Allen, and Frederick Truesdell.
December 29, 1930 through January 3, 1931
IT’S A WISE CHILD - a comedy by Laurence E. Johnson. Cast
includes Helen Lowell, Olga Krolow, Leila Bennett, George Walcott,
Joseph Striker, Mildred McCoy, Minor Watson, Harlan Briggs, Sidney
Toler, and Porter Hall.
1931
January 7 through January 10, 1931
PHILIP GOES FORTH - a new play by George Kelly. Cast includes Thais
Lawton, Marian Barney, Thurston Hall, Dorothy Stickney, Cora Witherspoon,
Harry Ellerbe, Madge Evans, Harry Gresham, Harold Webster, Ralph
Urmy, Mary Gildea and Donna Pasdeloup.
January 19 through January 24, 1931
GREEN GROW THE LILACS - by Lynn Riggs. Starring Franchot Tone. Cast
includes Lee Strasberg.
January 26 through January 31, 1931
AMERICA’S SWEETHEART - a musical comedy; book by Herbert Fields,
music by Richard Rogers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart. Starring John Sheehan,
Gus Shy, Inez Courtney, Jack Whiting, Harriett Lake, Jeanne Aubert.
February 15 through February 20, 1931
STRICTLY DISHONORABLE - a comedy by Preston Sturges. Cast includes
John Robb, Guido Alexander, Ralph Locke, Lee Baker, George Meeker,
Flobelle Fairbanks, Lino Manzoni, Jeremy Daily.
February 23 through February 27, 1931
THE LONELY WAY - a tragic comedy by Arthur Schnitzler. Cast includes
Joanna Roos, Walter Coy, Ralph Roeder, Joseph Macaulay, Helen Carew,
Charles Francis, Glenn Anders, Violet Kemble Cooper, Herbert Ratner,
and Bretaigne Windust.
March 1 through March 6, 1931
MAKING MARY - a new musical comedy by Harold Orlob and Grace Johnson;
music by Harold Lewis, lyrics by Harold Orlob. Starring June Martell,
Tom Monroe, Edith Davis, Audrey Christie.
March 23 through March 28, 1931
ELIZABETH THE QUEEN - a new play by Maxwell Anderson. Starring Alfred
Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
May 4 through May 10, 1931
DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY A production of the National Theatre Players.
May 11 through May 16, 1931
THE ROYAL FAMILY - by George Kaufman and Edna Ferber. A production
of the National Theatre Players.
May 18 through May 23, 1931
THAT’S GRATITUDE - a comedy by Frank Craven. A production
of the National Theatre Players.
May 25 through May 30, 1931
UP POPS THE DEVIL - a new comedy by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich.
A production of the National Theatre Players. Cast includes Hume
Cronyn, who came to Washington while in college. Mr. Cronyn said
he over-rehearsed and blew his only line.
June 1 through June 6, 1931
BIRD IN HAND - by John Drinkwater. A production of the National
Theatre Players. Directed by Clifford Brook who makes his annual
stage appearance.
June 8 through June 13, 1931
WHISPERING FRIENDS - a comedy by George M. Cohan. A production of
the National Theatre Players.
June 15 through June 21, 1931
STRANGE INTERLUDE - by Eugene O’Neill. A production of the
National Theatre Players. The nine-act play was performed in two
parts with a dinner intermission. Due to the length of each performance,
there were no matinees. Principal players include Nancy Sheridan,
Raymond Bramley, Burke Clarke, Stanley Ridges, Forrest Orr, Adelaide
Hibbard.
September 14 through September 19, 1931
PETER FLIES HIGH - a new comedy by Myron C. Fagan. Starring Glenn
Hunter, Mathew Crowley, May Loane, Eileen Wilson, Adelaide Hibbard,
Brian Donlev, Dulcie Cooper, Sam Wuertzell, Burke Clarke, William
T. Hays, Kathryn Givney and Forrest Orr. Presented by Leonard Bergman.
Stage carpenter also Forrest Orr.
September 21 through September 26, 1931
CHERRIES ARE RIPE - a new comedy by John Emerson & Anita Loos.
Starring Mary Ellis and Basil Sydney. Presented by Arch Selwyn in
association with Erlanger Production,Inc.
September 28 through October 4, 1931
PRIVATE LIVES - by Noel Coward. Starring Madge Kennedy and Otto
Kruger. Cast includes Helen Gilligan, Hugh Huntley and Marjorie
Clark.
October 5 through October 10,1931 [no program file]
THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON - by Sir James M. Barrie. Starring Walter
Hampden and Fay Bainter. Cast includes Sidney Greenstreet. Directed
by George C. Tyler.
October 11, 1931 through October 17, 1931
EARL CARROLL VANITIES (8TH EDITION) – a revue of 66 scenes.
Cast includes Jack Benny, Harry Stockwell, Herb Williams, Chaz.
Chase,
October 18 through October 23,1931
FINE AND DANDY Starring Joe Cook. Cast includes Eleanor Powell.
Book by Donald Ogden Stewart. Music by Kay Swift. Lyrics by Paul
Jones. Entire production directed by Morris Green.
October 25 through October 31, 1931
THREE’S A CROWD - a revue conceived and compiled by Howard
Dietz. Starring Clifton Webb, Fred Allen and Libby Holman. Cast
includes Fred MacMurray. Staged by Hassard Short.
November 9 through November 14, 1931
REUNION IN VIENNA - a play by Robert Sherwood. Starring the Theatre
Guild Acting Company and Guest Players. Lynn Fontanne, Lloyd Nolan,
Alfred Lunt.
November 16 through November 21, 1931
AS HUSBANDS GO - written by Rachel Crothers. Starring Gloria Holden
and Jay Fassett.
December 7 through December 13, 1931
MR. WHISTLER - a romantic comedy by Pauline Hopkins, Sarah Curry,
and A .E. Thomas. Starring Richard Hale, with Georgia Lee Hall,
Donald Randolph, Reginald Carrington, Bertha Belmore. Presented
by Laurence Rivers, Inc.
December 15 through December 20, 1931
MERCHANT OF VENICE - by William Shakespeare. Starring Otis Skinner
and Maude Adams.
1932
January 4 through January 9, 1932
COSMOPOLITAN GRAND OPERA COMPANY -- present Rigoletto, Il Trovatore,
Romeo and Juliette, Hansel and Gretel, Pagliacci, Faust, and Carmen.
Under the musical and artistic direction of Jacques Samossoud.
January 11 through January 16, 1932
MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA - a trilogy by Eugene O'Neill. Cast includes
Judith Anderson, Walter Abel, Seth Arnold, Harry Hermsen, Beatrice
Moreland, Florence Reed, Eric Kalkhurst, Bernice Elliott, Crane
Wilbur, Thurston Hall, Beatrice Maude, George W. Callahan, Forrest
Zimmer, Cameron King, Allan Scott, Harold Woolf, Sara Floyd, Joseph
Shea and Anne Ford. Directed by Philip Moeller. Theater Guild subscription
series. All three parts of the trilogy Homecoming, The Hunted and
The Haunted presented in one day, with a one hour dinner break after
Homecoming.
January 18 through January 21, 1932 [year uncertain]
SMILING THROUGH – Vincent Youmans presents a musical version
of Jane Cowl’s success. Music by Vincent Youmans; lyrics by
Edward Heyman; staged by Edgar MacGregor; dances by Jack Haskell.
Cast headed by Norma Terris, Ada-May; Charles Winninger and Tom
Powers, with Nick Long, Jr., Dallas Welford, Michael Bartlett and
Marion Ballou. Symphony orchestra under the direction of Hugo Riesenfeld.
January 25 through January 30, 1932
THE HOUSE OF CONNELLY - by Paul Green. Cast includes Franchot Tone,
Fannie Belle de Knight, Elizabeth Williams, Margaret Barker, Stella
Adler, Eurnice Stoddard, Morris Carnovsky, Mary Morris, Art Smith,
Clifford Odets. Directed by Lee Strasberg and Cheryl Crawford. Presented
by Group Theatre, Inc.
February 1 through February 6, 1932
THE BAND WAGON - a revue by George S. Kaufman and Howard Dietz;
music by Arthur Schwartz. Starring Fred and Adele Astaire, Frank
Morgan, and Helen Broderick. Presented by Max Gordon.
February 7, 1932
AN EVENING WITH MAURICE CHEVALIER – Assisted by Jacques Fray
and Mario Braggiotti. Presented by Charles Dillingham.
February 8 through February 10, 1932
CYRANO DE BERGERAC – English version by Brian Hooker from
Edmond Rostand’s comedy. Starring Walter Hampden. With Katharine
Warren, Mabel Moore, John D. Seymour, Reynolds Evans, Robert Hudson,
and William Sauter. Staged and directed by Mr. Hampden.
February 15 through February 20, 1932
HOT-CHA – premier of a musical comedy. Starring Bert Lahr,
with Buddy Rogers. Cast includes Marjorie White, Lynne Overman,
June Knight, Revva Y. Reyes, June Mac Cloy, Antonio and Renee De
Marcos, Tito Coral, Veloz and Yolanda. Words and music by Lew Brown
and Ray Henderson.
February 22 through February 27, 1932
THE SOCIAL REGISTER – a new play by Anita Loos and John Emerson.
Starring Lenore Ulric, with Sidney Blackmer. Cast includes Betty
Garde, Wilred Clarke, Elizabeth Johnson, Cesar Romero, Donald Stewart,
Hans Hansen, Oswald Yorke and Teresa Maxwell-Conover.
March 6 to March 12, 1932
THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET – by Rudolf Beisier. Starring
Katharine Cornell, George Riddell, Brenda Forbes, Margalo Gillmore,
Joyce Carey, Vernon Downing, Richard Lambart, Frederick Voight,
Ian Emery, Robert Champlain, Leslie Denison, Charles Waldron, Myra
Hampton, Ian Wolfe, Brian Aherne, Oswald Marshall, John Buckler.
Directed by Guthrie McClintic.
March 14 through March 17, 1932
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE - a new play by Bernard Shaw. Cast includes
Beatrice Lillie, Ernest Cossart, Leo G. Carroll, Julius Evans, Minna
Phillips, Alexander Clark Jr., Hope Williams, Hugh Sinclair, Frank
Shannon, Pedro de Cordoba. A Theatre Guild production.
March 18 and 19, 1932 no program file]
EVERYBODY’S WELCOME – musical comedy for two nights
only. Book by Lambert Carroll; music by Sammy Fain, lyrics by Irving
Kahal. Starring Frances Willams, Oscar Shaw, Ann Pennington, Harriette
Lake, with Jack Sheehan and Victor Morley.
March 27 through April 2, 1932
THE CHOCOLATE SOLDIER - a light opera by Oscar Straus adapted from
Shaw’s “Arms and the Man.” Starring Vivienne Segal
and Charles Purcell. Cast includes Sarah Edwards, Marian Palmer,
Edmond Mulcahy, John Dunsmore, Allan Rogers and Theo Von Tassel.
April 4 through April 9, 1932
THE GOOD FAIRY - a new comedy by Molnar. Starring Helen Hayes, with
Walter Connolly. Cast includes Paul McGrath, Salo Douday, Evelyn
Roberts, Douglas Wood, Ruth Hammond and Jack Lynds.
April 12 through April 17, 1932
THE DEVIL PASSES - a comedy by Benn W. Levy. Starring Arthur Byron,
Diana Wynyard, Mary Nash, Eric Blore, J. Malcom Dunn, Cecilia Loftus,
Robert Loraine, Gwen Day Burroughs, and Basil Rathbone.
October 3 through October 8, 1932
LILIOM (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday matinee) by Ferenc
Molnar and CAMILLE (Tuesday, Wednesday matinee, Thursday, Saturday)
by Alexander Dumas Fils. Starring Eva LeGallienne and Joseph Schildkraut.
Cast includes Beatrice Terry, Robert H. Gordon, Howard da Silva,
Burgess Meredith.
October 10 through October 15, 1932
THE GOOD EARTH - from the novel by Pearl Buck; dramatized by Owen
and Donald Davis. Starring Earle Larrimore, Henry Travers, Harold
Thomas, A. Francis Karll, Kate Morgan, Sidney Greenstreet and Alla
Nazimova.
October 16 through October 22, 1932
THE LAUGH PARADE - dialogue by Ed Wynn, music by Harry Warren, lyrics
by Mort Dixon and Joe Young. Starring Ed Wynn.
October 23 through October 29, 1932
FORWARD MARCH - a musical revue featuring songs by Lew Brown and
Ray Henderson. Starring Hugh Herbert, Sally Sweet, Eric Cowley,
and George Dewey Washington.
October 30 through November 4, 1932
THE CAT AND THE FIDDLE - a musical love story by Jerome Kern and
Otto Harbach. Starring Bettina Hall and Michael Bartlett. Cast includes
George Meador, Gladys Gillen. Dances staged by Albertina Rasch.
November 6 through November 12, 1932
EARL CAROOL VANITIES (ninth edition) - a musical revue with music
and lyrics by Harold Adamson and Burton Lane. Starring Al Trahan,
Frank Mitchell and Jack Durant.
November 14 through November 19, 1932
SHOW BOAT - adapted from the novel by Edna Ferber. Starring William
Kent, Eva Puck, Sammy White, Paul Keast, Bertha Belmore, Norma Terris,
Angeline Lawson, Jules Bledsoe. Music by Jerome Kern; book and lyrics
by Oscar Hammerstein II. A Ziegfeld production.
November 21 through November 26, 1932
ENCORE - by Victor Wittgenstein and Sheridan Gibney. Starring Ethel
Barrymore. Cast includes Sebastian Braggiotti, Georgie Drew Mendum,
Alfred A. Hesse, Misha Ferenzo, Siegfried Rumann, Josephine Hull,
Iris Whitney, Frank Conroy, Clement Wilenchik, Margaret Linck, and
Janes MacColl.
December 5 through December 10, 1932
ABBEY THEATRE IRISH PLAYERS present The Rising of the Moon (by Lady
Gregory), The Playboy of the Western World (J.M. Synge), The New
Gossoon (George Shields), The Whiteheaded Boy (Lennox Robinson),
Juno and the Paycock (Sean O’Casey), Lathleen ni Houlihan
(W.B. Yeats), and The Far Off Hills (Lennox Robinson).
December 12 through December 17, 1932
THERE’S ALWAYS JULIET - a comedy by John Van Druten. Starring
Violet Heming and Roger Pryor. Cast includes Lillian Brennard Tonge
and John Graham Spacey.
December 26 through December 28, 1932
THE STUDENT PRINCE - operetta: music by Sigmund Romberg; book and
lyrics by Dorothy Donnelly. Starring Allan Jones, Gertrude Lang
and George Hassell
December 29 through December 31, 1932
BLOSSOM TIME - operetta by Sigmund Romberg, adapted from the music
of Franz Schubert and H. Berte; book and lyric adapted from the
original of A.M. Willner and H. Reichert by Dorothy Donnelly. Cast
includes Bette Davis
1933
First Subscription Season of the Theatre Guild and the American
Theatre Society.
January 2 through January 7, 1933
CORNELIA OTIS SKINNER performing dramatic sequences and character
sketches from The Empress Eugenie and The Six Wives of Henry the
VIII.
January 16 through January 22, 1933
DESIGN FOR LIVING - by Noel Coward. Starring Alfred Lund, Lynn Fontanne
and Noel Coward. Staged by Noel Coward.
January 26 through January 28, 1933
CAPONSACCHI - Three evening performances and HAMLET, Saturday Matinee.
Starring Walter Hampden. Caponsacchi is based on the Robert Browning
poem, “The Ring and the Book, written by Arthur Goodrich and
Rose A. Palmer.
January 29 through February 3, 1933
OF THEE I SING - Musical comedy based on the book by George S. Kaufman
and Morrie Ryskind; music George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin.
Starring Victor Moore, Lois Moran, and William Gaxton. Cast includes
George Murphy. Settings by Jo Mielziner. Presented by Sam H. Harris.
February 13 through February 25, 1933
THE GREEN PASTURES - a fable by Marc Connelly. Cast includes Richard
B. Harrison. The play had an all black cast of 33 headed by Richard
B. Harrison and McKinley Reeves. However, blacks were not allowed
in the audience. After complaints from the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People, the management added Special
Sunday evening performances which black people could attend. Staged
by the author. Presented by Laurence Rivers, Inc.
February 27 through March 3, 1933
COUNSELLOR AT LAW - by Elmer Rice. Starring Paul Muni. Cast includes
Jules Garfield (later known as John Garfield).
March 6 through March 11, 1933
THE PICCOLI - an opera by Vittorio Podrecca. Starring Emilio Cabello,
Thea Carugati, Giuseppe Costa, Augusto Galli, Carlo Pessina. Third
play of the American Theatre Society subscription series.
March 27 through April 1, 1933
PIGEONS AND PEOPLE - Starring George M. Cohan and his own company
of players.
April 3 through April 8, 1933
WHEN LADIES MEET - by Rachel Crowthers. Starring Frieda Inescourt,
Selena Royle, Herbert Rawlinson, Walter Abel,Spring Bynington, Auguste
Aramini. On April 5, President Roosevelt attended The National Theatre
for the first time to see a performance. The President entered the
box on the arm, of his son, John. The Star Spangled Banner was played.
April 17 through April 22, 1933
BEST SELLERS - adapted by Dorothy Cheston Bennett from Edouard Bourdet’s
“Vient de Paraitre.” Starring Peggy Wood and Ernest
Truex. Cast includes Ian Keith and George Coulouris.
May 15 through May 20, 1933
HAY FEVER - a comedy by Noel Coward. Presented by the National Theatre
Players, Adelaide Hibbard, Burke Clarke, Karl Nielsen, Kathryn Givney
Forrest Orr, Ona Munson, Romaine Callendar, Bernice Bartl, Donald
Woods, Leona Poers and Freddie Sherman.
May 22 through May 27, 1933
ANOTHER LANGUAGE - a comedy by Rose Franken. Presented by the National
Theatre Players, Adelaide Hibbard, Burke Clarke, Karl Nielsen, Kathryn
Givney Forrest Orr, Ona Munson, Romaine Callendar, Bernice Bartl,
Donald Woods, Leona Poers and Freddie Sherman.
September 11 through September 16, 1933
DESIGN FOR LIVING - by Noel Coward. Starring Corinne Griffith, Clifford
Brook, John Litel, Robert Ober, and Bernice Bartl. Staged by Clifford
Brook.
September 18 through September 23, 1933
SEVENTH HEAVEN - play by Austin Strong. Starring Helen Menken.
September 25 through September 30, 1933
CRIMINAL AT LARGE - drama by Edgar Wallace. Starring Nance O’Neil
and Freddie Sherman.
October 2 through October 7, 1933
HER MAN OF WAX - a comedy adapted by Julian Thompson from the German
of Walter Hasenclever, Starring Lenore Ulric. Directed by Arthur
Lubin.
October 16 through October 21, 1933
HER MASTER’S VOICE - a new comedy by Clare Kummer. Starring
Roland Young and Laura Hope Crews. Cast includes Frances Fuller,
Elizabeth Patterson, Francis Pierlot, Frederick Perry and Josephine
Williams. Staged by Worthington Miner. Presented by Max Gordon
October 23 through October 28, 1933
MARY OF SCOTLAND - a new play by Maxwell Anderson. Starring Helen
Hayes, Philip Merrivale, and Helen Menken. Directed by Theresa Helburn.
Third play of the American Theatre Society and Theatre Guild subscription
series.
November 13 through November 18, 1933
A TRIP TO PRESSBURG – BY Leo Perutz, adapted by Harold Johnsrud
and Philip Dunning. Starring Pola Negri, with Richard Whorf, Clarence
Derwent and Eduardo Ciannelli. Directed by George Abbott. Fourth
play of the American Theatre Society subscription season.
November 20 through November 25, 1933
ALICE IN WONDERLAND AND THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS by Lewis Carroll
(Monday, Thursday and Saturday nights) and ROMEO AND JULIET by William
Shakespeare (Tuesday, Wednesday evening and matinee). Starring Eva
LeGallienne. Cast includes Richard Waring, David Cameron.
November 27 through December 3, 1933
THE MIKADO, PIRATES OF PENZANCE AND YEOMEN OF THE GUARD - staged
by Milton Aborn. Starring William Danforth, Herbert Waterous.
December 4 through December 9, 1933
ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1933-34, Glorifying the American Girl - presented
by Mrs. Florenz Ziegfeld (Billie Burke). Music and sketches by E.Y.
Harburg, Fred Allen, Harry Tuugend, H. I. Phillips, David Freedman,
Vernon Duke, Arthur Swanstrom, Louis Alter, Samuel Pokrass, Ballard
MacDonald, Joseph Meyer, Chris Taylor, Janes Hanley, Ann Runnell,
Harold Atteridge, Robert Dolan, Dana Suess and Billy Hill.
December 11 through December 16, 1933
BITTER SWEET - music, book and lyrics by Noel Coward.
December 18 through December 23, 1933
THE LAKE - by Dorothy Massingham and Murray MacDonald. Starring
Katharine Hepburn. Cast includes Frances Starr, Blanche Bates, and
Colin Clive. Produced and directed by Jed Harris
December 31, 1933 through January 6, 1934
TEN MINUTE ALIBI - by Anthony Armstrong. Starring Joseph Spurin-Calleia,
Stiano Braggiotti, Daphne Warren Wilson, Branwell Fletcher, Osward
Yorke, Reynolds Denniston, and John Williams. Directed by Herman
Shumlin. Settings designed by Watson Barrett.
1934
Second Subscription Season of the Theatre Guild and the American
Theatre Society.
January 8 through January 14, 1934
LET ‘EM EAT CAKE - musical sequel to “Of Thee I Sing”.
Book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind; music and lyrics by
George and Ira Gershwin. Starring William Gaxton, Lois Moral and
Victor Moore.
January 15 through January 21, 1934
BIOGRAPHY - a comedy by S.N. Behrman. Starring Ina Claire. Cast
includes Shepperd Strudwick, Josephine Deffry, Arnold Korff, Jay
Fassett, Norman Stuart, Charles Richman and Gertrude Flynn. Directed
by Philip Moeller. Setting by Jo Mielziner.
January 22 through January 28, 1934
DANGEROUS CORNER - a play by J.B. Priestly, staged by Jane Wheatley.
Starring Virginia Stevens. Cast includes Jane Wheatley, Beverley
Bayne, Agnes George, Jack Hartley, Warren Ashe and Gavin Muir.
January 23, 1934 (afternoon)
BURTON HOLMES - presents a travel talk on Java.
January 29 through February 4, 1934
SAN CARLO OPERA COMPANY - performing La Boheme, Mme. Butterfly,
Marth, Aida, Carmen, Lohengrin, Hansel and Gretel and Il Trovatore.
Ticket prices ranged from $.55 to $2.20.
February 5 through February 10, 1934
DOUBLE DOOR - written by Elizabeth McFadden. Starring Mary Morris
and Ann Revere as the Van But Sisters.
February 12 through February 17, 1934
CORNELIA OTIS SKINNER - performing popular sketches including The
Loves of Charles II, The Empress Eugenie, The Wives of Henry VIII.
February 19 through February 24, 1934
THE SCHOOL FOR HUSBANDS - an adaptation in rhyme by Arthur Guiterman
and Lawrence Langner, based on the comedy by Moliere. Starring Osgood
Perkins and June Walker. Cast includes Doris Humphreys, Charles
Weidman, Flora LeBreton, Parker Steward, Stuart Casey, James Jolley.
Sixth play of the Theatre Guild’s American Theatre Society.
March 5 through March 10, 1934
HOLD YOUR HORSES - musical comedy based on a book by Russel Crouse
and Corey Ford, with “many nonsensical additions” by
Joe Cook. Starring Joe Cook, with Harriet Hoctor.
March 19 through March 24, 1934
SWEET BELLS JANGLED - written by Reginald Lawrence. Directed by
William W. Schorr. Starring Jane Cowl. Cast includes Minor Watson,
Mary Philips, Florence Edney, and Harold Webster.
March 25, 1934
BROOKE ACADEMY STUDENTS - Starring students from the academy in
scenes from several plays.
March 26 though April 1, 1934
ANNINA - an operetta by Rudolf Frimel. Starring Maria Jeritza. Cast
includes Alan Jones, Andrew Tombs, Louisa Mele, Jack Good, Harry
Mestayer, Manart Kippen, Paul Haakon, Albertina Videk, Robert Lee
Allen, Jules Epailly, Raymond O’Brien, Henry Rabke, Mary Hunt,
Nathaniel Wagner, Marie Starner.
April 2 through April 8, 1934
RICHARD OF BORDEAUX - written by Gordon Daviott. Starring Dennis
King. Cast includes Hugh Buckler, Charles Bryant, Alexander Frank
and Beatrice deNeergaard.
April 23 through April 29, 1934
JIG SAW - comedy by Dawn Powell. Starring Spring Byington and Ernest
Truex. Cast includes Shepperd Strudwick.
April 28 (single performance)
THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER - John Ruskin’s children’s
classic. Presented by the Children’s Theatre of New York.
April 30 through May 5, 1934
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS - written by Alan Child and Isabelle Loudon
(a.k.a. Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence Langer). Starring Romaine Callender,
Raymond Bramley, Ruth Abbott, and Adelaide Hibbard.
May 7 through May 12, 1934
HER MASTER’S VOICE - comedy by Claire Kummer. Starring National
Theatre Players Ruth Abbott, Adelaide Hibbard, Roy Roberts, Burke
Clarke Kathryn Givney, Raymond Bramley and Mary Loane.
May 14 through May 19, 1934
WELCOME STRANGER - written by Aaron Hoffman. Production featured
the National Theatre Players augmented by Robert Fischer. Directed
by John McKee.
May 21 through May 26, 1934
ROAD TO ROME - a comedy by Robert E. Sherwood. Starring Freddie
Sherman and the National Theatre Players.
May 28 through June 2, 1934
JIMMIE’S WOMEN - a comedy by Myron C. Fagan. Starring Roy
Roberts and Ruth Abbott. A National Theatre Players production.
Directed by John McKee.
June 4 through June 16, 1934
SAILOR BEWARE! - written by Kenyon Nicholson and Charles Robinson.
Directed by John McKee. Starring Roy Roberts and Ruth Abbott. A
National Theatre Players Production. Raised the ire of some ministers
but is cleared by Police Captain William Holmes of the 1st District.
June 17, 1934
BROOKE ACADEMY STUDENTS - Starring students from the academy in
scenes from several plays.
October 8 through October 13, 1934
THE FARMER TAKES A WIFE - a new play by Frank B. Elser and Marc
Connelly. Cast includes Henry Fonda.
October 15 through October 20, 1934
JAYHAWKER - new drama by Sinclair Lewis and Lloyd Lewis. Starring
Fred Stone. Cast includes Walter C. Kelly and Carol Stone (daughter
of the star).
October 22 through October 27, 1934
BRING ON THE GIRLS - an American farce by George S. Kaufman and
Morrie Ryskind. Starring Jack Benny.
October 29 through November 3, 1934
ROBERTA - a new musical comedy adapted from Alice Duer Miller’s
novel “Gowns by Roberta.” Music by Jerome Kern; book
and lyrics by Otto Harbach. Starring Fay Templeton and Sidney Greenstreet.
Cast includes Odette Myrtil, Marty May and Raymond Middleton.
November 4, 1934
BALLET RUSSE Two performances only.
November 12 through November 17, 1934
AH, WILDERNESS! - a comedy by Eugene O’Neill. Starring George
M. Cohan, with Jean Adair, Don Shelton, Elisha Cook Jr., Edith Emerson,
Freddie Stange.
November 26 through December 1, 1934
VALLEY FORGE - written by Maxwell Anderson. Starring Phillip Merivale.
Directed by John Houseman and Herbert J. Biberman.
December 3 through December 8, 1934
GATHER YE ROSEBUDS - written by Sidney Howard and Robert Littell.
Starring Walter Connolly and Ernest Truex.
December 10 through December 15, 1934
ODE TO LIBERTY - adapted by Sidney Howard from Michel Duren’s
Liberte Provisoire. Starry Ina Claire and Walter Slezak. Presented
by Gilbert Miller.
December 31, 1934 through January 5, 1935
LABURNUM GROVE - written by J.B. Priestly. Starring Edmund Gwenn.
Staged by Lewis Allen. Presented by Gilbert Miller and Lee Schubert.
1935
Third Subscription Season of the Theatre Guild and the American
Theatre Society.
January 6, 1935
5 STAR SERIES Featuring: Egon Petri
January 7 through January 12, 1935
THE ABBEY THEATRE PLAYERS performing The Plough and the Stars, Drama
at Inish, Juno and the Paycock, The Coiner, The Playboy of the Western
World, and The White Headed Boy. The company includes Barry Fitzgerald.
January 14 through January 19, 1935
ON TO FORTUNE - world premiere. Written by Lawrence Langner and
Aremina Marshall. Starring Roy Atwell, Ilka Chase and Glenn Anders.
Cast includes Mary Rogers, Josephine Hull, Myron McCormick, Edward
Broadley, Hugh Rennie, Worthington Miner, Ralph Locke, Edward McNamara
and Frank Conlan.
January 21 through January 26, 1935
THREE MEN ON A HORSE - premiere of a new comedy by John Cecil Holm
and George Abbott. Starring Teddy Hart, James Lane, Millard Mitchell.
Cast includes Garson Kanin, Sam Levene and Shirley Booth. Staged
by George Abbott.
January 27, 1935
5 STAR SERIES Featuring: Ljungberg
January 28 through February 2, 1935
CORNELIA OTIS SKINNER in four dramatic sketches: Mansion on the
Hudson, The Wives of Henry VIII, the Empress Eugenie, The Loves
of Charles II.
February 8, 1935
5 STAR SERIES Featuring Dorothy Sands
February 4 through February 9, 1935
DODSWORTH - written by Sinclair Lewis, dramatized by Sidney Howard.
Starring Walter Huston. With Fay Bainter Directed by Robert B. Sinclair.
February 11 through February 16, 1935
AS THOUSANDS CHEER - musical by Irving Berlin and Moss Hart. Starring
Dorothy Stone and Ethel Waters. Cast includes Porter Hall, Margaret
Irving, Jerome Cowan, Hal Forde, Albert Carroll, and Dave Fitzgibbons.
The desegregation policy was temporarily lifted for this attraction.
February 18 through February 23, 1935
D’OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY performing The Gondoliers, Trial
by Jury, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, The Yeomen of the
Guard, Iolanthe. Ensemble cast is led by Martyn Green.
March 10, 1935
5 STAR SERIES Concert: Chaliapin
March 18 through March 23, 1935
L’AIGLON - by Edmond Rostand. Starring Eve LeGallienne. Produced
and directed by Ms. LeGallienne.
March 24, 1935
5 STAR SERIES Concert: Stravinsky and Dushkin
March 25 through March 31, 1935
LIFE BEGINS AT EIGHT FORTY - lyrics by E.Y. Harburg and Ira Gershwin,
music by Harold Arlen. Starring Bert Lahr, Roy Bolger, Luella Gear,
Frances Williams. Dances by Robert Alton. Settings by Albert Johnson.
April 1 through April 6, 1935
CEILING ZERO - world premier of a drama by Frank Weed. Starring
Osgood Perkins, Margaret Perry, John B. Litel. Staged by Antoinette
Perry and Brock Pemberton.
April 22 through April 27, 1935
RAIN FROM HEAVEN - a new play by S. N. Behrman. Starring Jane Cowl
and John Halliday. Cast includes Hancey Castle, Alice John, Judson
Laire, Jay Fassett, Marshall Grant, Lily Cahill, Staats Cotsworth
and Jose Ruben.
April 28 through May 4, 1935
ACCENT ON YOUTH - a new comedy by Samson Raphaelson. Starring Nancy
Sheridan, Adelaide Hibbard, Warren Parker, Raymond Bramley, Ruth
Lee, all members of the National Theatre Players.
May 6 though May 11, 1935
PETTICOAT FEVER - a farce by Mark Reed, based on a book by Dennis
King. Starring Roy Roberts, Edwina Wise, and Karl Neilsen.
May 13 through May 18, 1935
THE BISHOP MISBEHAVES - by Frederick Jackson. J. Arthur Young, Roy
Roberts, Edwina Wise, Raymond Bramley, Ruth Lee, Forrest Orr, Adelaide
Hibbard, Warren Parker, George Taylor and Karl Neilsen. .Staged
by Karl Neilsen.
May 20 through May 25, 1935
THE CONSTANT WIFE - a comedy by W. Somerset Maugham. Starring Ethel
Barrymore and the National Players: Adelaide Hibbard, Forrest Orr,
Edith Speare, Maude Howell Smith, Ruth Lee, Raymond Bramley, Roy
Roberts, and Karl Neilsen.
May 27 through June 2, 1935
THE SHANGHAI GESTURE - written by John Colton. Starring Florence
Reed and the National Players:
June 4 through June 9, 1935
DECLASSEE - written by Zoe Akins. Starring Ethel Barrymore.
September 25, 1935
THE CRUSADES - a Cecil B. DeMille film starring Loretta Young and
Henry Wilcoxon. Cast includes Katherine deMille, Jason Robards (in
two roles), Ann Sheridan
October 7 through October 12, 1935
VENUS IN SILK - a musical play written by Laurence Schwab and Lester
O’Keefe. Cast includes Florenz Ames, Roy Gordon, Nancy McCord,
Audrey Christie, and Gilbert Lamb. Music by Robert Stolz.
October 14 through October 19, 1935
ROMEO AND JULIET - by William Shakespeare. Starring Katherine Cornell,
with Florence Reed, Ralph Richardson, Maurice Evans and Charles
Waldron. Cast includes Tyrone Power. Staged by Guthrie McClintic.
October 22 through October 26, 1935
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE - a sentimental comedy by Helen Jerome based
on the novel by Jane Austen. Staged by Robert Sinclair; settings
by Jo Mielziner. Starring Helen Chandler. Produced by Max Gordon.
Washington and Boston socialite Kathleen Moran [later Robey],
daughter of John J. Moran ("Oil Baron's Daughter Goes On Stage"
in the news headline) was recruited to say four lines, which she
forgot. She played in seven shows on Broadway and went to Hollywood
where she made "14 stinkers," she recalls. She was living
in Washington and attending the National at 83 years of age, in
1991.
October 27 through November 9 1935
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM - by William Shakespeare. Warner
Brothers film starring Oliva de Haviland, James Cagney, Joe E. Brown,
Dick Powell, Jean Muir, Victor Jory, Veree Teasdale, Hugh Herbert,
Anita Louise, Frank McHugh, Ross Alexander, Ina Hunter, Mickey Rooney,
Hobart Cavanagh, and Grant Mitchell.
November 11 through November 16, 1935
THE GREAT WALTZ - a new musical conceived and directed by Hassard
Short. Starring Lee Whitney, Guy Robertson, Ralph Magelssen, and
Gladys Baxter. Book by Moss Hart; Lyrics by Desmond Carter. Music
by Johann Strauss (father and son). Presented by Max Gordon.
November 18 through November 23, 1935
SWING YOUR LADY - new comedy by Kenyon Nicholson and Charles Robinson.
Starring Marion Warring-Manley, Ann Thomas, John Alexander, Edgar
Nelson, John Butler, Walter Baldwin, Tom Faddin, Al Ochs, Horace
MacMahon, Margaret English and Clara Warring.
November 24, 1935
NEWMAN TRAVELTALK – Italy
December 1, 1935
NEWMAN TRAVELTALK – Ethiopia
December 2 through December 7, 1935
ANYTHING GOES - a new musical comedy. Starring William Gaxton and
Victor Moore, with Benay Venuta and Irene Delroy. Music and lyrics
by Cole Porter. Book by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse.
December 8, 1935 (afternoon)
NEWMAN TRAVEL TALK on the South Seas.
December 9 through December 14, 1935
GEORGE WHITE’S SCANDALS - conceived and directed by George
White. Starring Rudy Vallee, Bert Lahr, Willie and Eugene Howard,
with Cliff Edwards, Gracie Barrie and Jane Cooper.
December 16 through December 21, 1935
VICTORIA REGINA - drama by Laurence Housman. Starring Helen Hayes,
with Harry Plimmer, Vincent Price, George Macready. Staged and directed
by Gilbert Miller.
December 30, 1935 through January 4, 1936
EARL CARROLL’S SKETCH BOOK - a revue
1936
Fourth Subscription Season of the Theatre Guild and the American
Theatre Society.
January 6 through January 11, 1936
PERSONAL APPEARANCE - a comedy by Lawrence Riley. Starring Carole
Arden. Cast includes Darthy Hinckley, Lora Rogers, Peggy Converse,
George Blackwood, Suzanne Jackson, George Calvert, Walter N. Greaza,
Paul A. Foley, Barbara Brown and Betty Amiard. Directed by Antoinette
Perry.
January 12, 1936
TRUDI SCHOOL AND HER COMIC BALLET present Want Ads. Second event
in the Albaugh Dance Series.
January 13 through January 18, 1936
JULIE THE GREAT - by John Taintor Foote. Starring Beth Merrill.
Cast includes Louise Campbell, Morgan Farley, Mary Orr, Nicholas
Joy, Kathleen Conegys, Hal Conklin, Edna Heineman, Louis Polan,
Edith Gresham, Alan Goode, Maud Richmond, Damon O’Flynn, Charles
Mather, Irving Stiefel, and Harry Gresham.
January 20 through January 25, 1936
CALL IT A DAY - a new comedy by Dodie Smith. Starring Philip Merivale
and Gladys Cooper. Cast includes Valerie Cossart, Jeanne Dante,
John Buckmaster, and Florence Williams.
January 27 through February 1, 1936
CORNELIA OTIS SKINNER performing three of her one-act plays: Mansion
on the Hudson, “The Wives of Henry VIII, The Loves of Charles
II.
February 3 through February 8, 1936
THREE WISE FOOLS - a comedy by Austin Strong. Starring William Gillette,
James Kirkwood, Charles Coburn. Cast includes Elizabeth Love, Brandon
Tynan, John Blair, William Post Jr., Isabelle Irving and Sidney
Booth.
February 10 through February 15, 1936
DEAR OLD DARLING - a comedy starring George M. Cohan. Cast includes
Ruth Shepley, Charles D. Brown, Joseph Sweeney, Ben Lackland, Theresa
Maxwell Conover, Walter Gilbert, Reynolds Denniston, Marion Shockley,
Edna Holland, Joseph R. Garry, Forrest Orr, Jack Williams and Dan
Carey.
February 17 through February 22, 1936
BLOSSOM TIME - operetta by Sigmund Romberg, adapted from the music
of Franz Schubert and H. Berte; book and lyric adapted from the
original of A.M. Willner and H. Reichert by Dorothy Donnelly. Starring
Helen Arnold and George Trabert.
February 24 through February 29, 1936
SWEET ALOES - written by Jay Mallory. Starring Evelyn Laye. Directed
by Tyrone Guthrie. Cast includes Rex Harrison.
March 9 through March 14, 1936
IDIOT’S DELIGHT - a new play by Robert Sherwood. Starring
Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Directed by Bretaigne Windust.
March 16 through March 21, 1936
PORGY AND BESS - music by George Gershwin. Todd Duncan as Porgy;
Ann Brown as Bess; John W. Bubbles as Sportin Life; Warren Coleman
as Crown. Directed by Roben Mamoulian. Dr. Ralph Bunche, head of
Howard University’s Political Science Department, obtained
a special exception for blacks to attend the performances.
March 23 through March 28, 1936
AT HOME ABROAD - a musical holiday by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz.
Starring Beatrice Lillie and Ethel Waters. Cast includes Herb Williams
and Mitzi Mayfair; with Reginald Gardiner, Paul Haakon, Vera Allen,
Nina Whitney, John McCauley, and Robert Schaffer.
March 30 through April 4, 1936
WINTERSET - by Maxwell Anderson. Starring Burgess Meredith. Cast
includes Margo, Lee Baker, Myron McCormick, Harold Johnsrud, Billy
Quinn, Theodore Hecht, Morton L. Stevens, Anatole W. Inogradoff,
Abner Biberman, Helen Winn, and John Phillber. Staged by Guthrie
McClintic.
April 5 through April 12, 1936
TOBACCO ROAD - developed for the stage by Jack Kirkland from the
novel by Erskine Caldwell. Starring Henry Hull. Cast includes Donald
Barry, Mary Servoss, Pauline Drake, Hallene Hill, Leon Ames, Dick
Lee, Priscilla Knowles, Heila Stoddard, Howard Banks and Fiske O’Hara.
April 13 through April 18, 1936
CYRANO DE BERGERAC - by Edmund Rostand. Starring Walter Hampden
who staged and directed the performance. Cast includes Katherine
Warren, Ernest Rowan, William Sauter, Robert Schnitzer, C. Norman
Hammond, G. Hannam Clark, Wilton Graff.
May 4 through May 9, 1936
GHOSTS - by Henrik Ibsen. Starring Nazimova, who directed by production.
Cast includes Beatrice deNeergaard, Raymond O’Brien, McKay
Morris, and Harry Ellerbe.
May 10 through May 16, 1936
THREE MEN ON A HORSE - a new comedy by John Cecil Holm and George
Abbottt. Starring Jack Sheehan, Ruth Lee, Matt Briggs, Owen Martin,
Harry Davenport, Mary Lone, Saul Z. Martell, William Foran, Grandon
Rhodes, Eleanor Audley, Spencer Fleming, Chandos Sweet, Harold Grau,
Marjorie Jarecki, and Leigh Whipper.
May 17 through May 23, 1936
TOBACCO ROAD - developed for the stage by Jack Kirkland from the
novel by Erskine Caldwell. Starring Henry Hull. Cast includes Donald
Barry, Mary Servoss, Pauline Drake, Hallene Hill, Leon Ames, Dick
Lee, Priscilla Knowles, Heila Stoddard, Howard Banks and Fiske O’Hara.
June 10, 1936
MILDRED’S JUNIOR FOLLIES OF 1936. Routines and dances by Mildred
Bargagni.
September 28 through October 3, 1936
ST. HELENA - by R.C. Sherriff and Jeanne de Casalis. Starring Maurice
Evans as Napoleon. Cast includes Barry Sullivan. Staged by Robert
B. Sinclair; setting by Jo Mielziner. S. E. Cochran, Manager. Opening
night marked the start of the 101st season of the National Theatre.
October 5 through October 10, 1936
AND STARS REMAIN - a new comedy by Julius and Philip G. Epstein.
Starring Clifton Webb and Helen Gahagan. Cast includes Claudia Morgan,
Mary Sargeant, Richard Barbie, Charles Richman, Suzanne Jackson,
Ben Smith and Edgar Kent. Staged by Philip Moeller; setting designed
by Aline Bernstein. Orchestra: $2.75; Balcony 4 rows: $2.20; next
r rows: $1.65; last 4 rows: $1.10; 2nd Balc.: 85 cents.
October 11, 1936
JOOSS EUROPEAN BALLET – a dance company from England. Presented
by William A. Albaugh.
October 12 through October 16, 1936
END OF SUMMER - S.N. Behrman's new comedy. Starring Ina Claire and
Osgood Perkins. Cast includes Shepperd Strudwick, Jean Adair, Susan
Fox, Clarence Rock, Nicholas Joy, Van Heflin, Clifford Brooke, and
Stiano Braggiotti. Directed by Philip Moeller; setting by Lee Simonson
October 19 through October 25, 1936
FIRST LADY - a comedy by Katharine Dayton and George S. Kaufman.
Starring Jane Cowl. Staged by Mr. Kaufman; settings by Donald Oenslager.
October 26 through October 31, 1936
PLUMES IN THE DUST - written by Sophie Treadwell. Starring Henry
Hull as Edgar Allan Poe. Staged by Arthur Hopkins; production designed
by Woodman Thompson.
November 2 through November 7, 1936
ETHAN FROME - a dramatization of Edith Wharton's novel by Owen Davis
and Donald Davis, suggested by a previous dramatization by Lowell
Barrington. Starring Pauline Lord, with Earle Larimore. Staged by
Karl Nielson
November 9 through November 21, 1936
TONIGHT AT EIGHT-THIRTY - nine plays by Noel Coward, performed in
groups of three: Hands Across the Sea, the Astonished Heart, and
Red Peppers; We Were Dancing, Fumed Oak, and Shadow Play; Ways and
Means, Still Life, and Family Album. Starring Noel Coward and Gertrude
Lawrence.
November 24 through November 28, 1936
THE WINGLESS VICTORY - premier performance of a work by Maxwell
Anderson. Starring Katherine Cornell. Cast includes Mary Michael,
Kent Smith, Arthur Chatterton, John Winthrop, Effie Shannon, Myron
McCormick, Lois Jameson, Ruth Matteson, Barry Kelly, Theodore Pleadwell,
Walter Abel, Helen Zelinskaya, Clare Howard, John Winthrop, Victor
Colton, and Franklin Davis. Staged by Guthrie McClintic [Miss Cornell's
husband]. Settings and Costumes by Jo Mielziner., with Myron Mccormick
and Walter Abel. Presented by Katherine Cornell.
November 30 through December 5, 1936
NAUGHTY MARIETTA - Victor Herbert's musical masterpiece. Starring
Ilse Marvenga. Book and Lyrics by Rida Johnson Young. Production
directed and staged by Edward J. Scanlon. Settings by Watson Barrett.
Dances staged by Selma Sharron. Orchestra under direction of William
Ortman. A John Shubert production, presented by the Messrs. Shubert.
December 7 through December 12, 1936
THE SHOW IS ON - Vincent Minelli's new musical. Starring Beatrice
Lillie and Bert Lahr. Cast includes Reginald Gardiner, Mitzie Mayfair,
Paul Haakon, Gracie Barrie, Charles Walters, Vera Allen, John McCauley,
Evelyn Thawl, Ralph Riggs and Marie Carroll. Music and Lyrics mostly
by Vernon Duke and Ted Fetter, with numerous others including Dietz
& Schwartz; George and Ira Gershwin; Harberg and Arlen; Rogers
and Hart. Sketches mostly by David Freedman and Moss Hart.
December 14 through December 19, 1936
OTHELLO - by William Shakespeare. Starring Walter Huston. Cast includes
Nan Sutherland, Robert Keith, Natalie Hall, A.P. Kaye, and Edward
Fielding. Directed by Robert Edmund Jones.
December 21 through December 26, 1936
BOY MEETS GIRL - a new play by Bella and Samuel Spewack. Cast includes
Marie Brown, Roy Roberts, Owen Martin, Richard Waring, Fleming Ward,
Jean Casto, Byron Shores, and Douglas Gerard. Staged by George Abbott.
Settings by Arne Lundborg. Presented by Mr. Abbott.
December 28, 1936 through January 2, 1937
THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS - a new play by Marguerite Veiller. Staged
by John Hayden. Settings by G.E. Calthrop. Starring Elena Maramova,
Earle Larimore and Frances Starr. Presented by B.A. Meyer.
1937
Fifth Subscription Season of the Theatre Guild and the American
Theatre Society.
January 4 through January 9, 1937
THE CHILDREN’S HOUR - drama by Lillian Hellman. Starring Connie
Nickerson, Aline McDermott, Elizabeth Seckel, Liberty Dick, Jacqueline
Rousling, Elizabeth Irvin, Margaret English, Florence McGee, Katherine
Emery, Ann Revere, and Blaine Cordner. Presented by Herman Shumlin.
January 11 through January 16, 1937
FREDERIKA - Franz Lehar's new operetta. Starring Dennis King, Helen
Gleason and Ernest Truex. Staged and Directed by Hassard Short.
American Adaptation and Lyrics by Edward Eliscu. Choreography by
Chester Hale. Settings by Watson Barrett.
January 18 through January 30, 1937
D’OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY -- The Gondoliers, Iolanthe, The
Mikado, Trial by Jury, Pirates of Penzance, Cox and Box, HMS Pinafore,
Patience, Yeoman of the Guard. Ensemble cast is headed by Martyn
Green.
February 1 through February 7, 1937
HAMLET - written by William Shakespeare. Starring John Gielgud (Hamlet)
and Judith Anderson (Gertrude), with Arthur Byron (Polonius) and
Lillian Gish (Ophelia). Staged by Guthrie McClintic. Settings and
Costumes by Jo Mielziner. Presented by Mr. McClintic. Edmund O'Brien
played Marcellus and the second grave digger.
February 8 through February 13, 1937
REFLECTED GLORY - comedy by George Kelly. Starring Tallulah Bankhead.
Staged by Mr. Kelly. Settings designed by Norman Rock. Presented
by Lee Shubert in association with Homer Curran. At one performance,
Miss Bankhead, at her curtain call, blew a kiss to her father, who
was then the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
February 15, 1937
DEAD END - by Sidney Kingsley. Produced by Norman Bel Geddes.
February 22 through February 27, 1937
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE - based on the Jane Austin novel. Starring Murial
Kirkland, Molly Pearson, Lowell Gilmore, Eugenie Rawls, Evelyn Byrd,
Robert Connes, Philip Tonge, Staats Cotsworth, David Orrick, J.
Plumpton Wilson, Esther Mitchell, Helen Strickland, Chouteau Dyer,
Frances Brandt and Vera Fuller-Mullerish. Directed by Robert Sinclair.
Presented by Max Gordon.
March 1 through March 6, 1937
STORM OVER PATSY - a comedy by Bruno Frank. Starring Sara Allgood,
Roger Livesey. Cast includes Claudia Morgan and Ian MacLean.
March 6, 1937
REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM by Douglas Wiggins. Single Saturday Morning
performance for children.
March 8 through March 14, 1937
ON YOUR TOES - by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and George Abbott.
Starring Ray Bolger, Luella Gear and Tamara Geva. With Doris Carson
and Monty Woolley. Also Dave Jones, Ethel Hampton, Tyrone Kearny,
Robert Sydney, Betty Jane Smith, David Morris, Gertrude Magee, Demetrios
Velin, William Wadsworth, Robert Sidney, Fred Danieli, Basil Galahoff,
Harold Haskin, Guy Stanton, Jack Quinn, George Church, Guy Stanton.
Staged by Worthington Minor. Cheorography by George Balanchine.
Settings designed by Jo Mielziner. Costumes designed by Irene Sharaff.
Orchestra under direction of Ray Kavanaugh. Entire production under
the supervision of Dwight Deere Wiman.
March 15 through March 20, 1937
BOY MEETS GIRL - by Bella and Samuel Spewack. Produced by George
Abbott. Cast includes Clinton Sundberg, Larry Fletcher, Donald MacDonald,
Charles Wagenheim, Frank Fenton, Queena Bilotti, Virginia Wallace,
Nigel Blake, Sydney Andrews, Stanley Gorham, Betty Field, Rhea Cook,
Erskine Sandord, Craig Adams, Edison Rice, John Koch, Ratricia Palmer
Horace Cooper.
Possibly at National:
HIS EXCELLENCY by Leslie Reade. Staged by Edward Clarke Lilley.
Setting by Watson Barrett. With John Williams. Presented by George
Bushar and John Tuerk.
March 22 through March 27, 1937
JANE EYRE - Helen Jerome's dramatization of Charlotte Bronte's novel.
Starring Katherine Hepburn. With Viola Roache, Philippa Bevans,
Dennis Hoey and Patricia Peardon. Also Teresa Dale, Irving Morrow,
Teresa Guerini, Shirley Dale, Katharine Stewart, Wallace Widdecombe,
Wilfrid Seagram, Boyd Davis, Doris Dalton, Marga Ann Deighton and
Tom Powers. Presented by The Theatre Guild. Production directed
by Worthington Minor. Settings and Costumes designed by Lee Simonson.
Presented by the Theatre Guild, Inc. Production under the personal
supervision of Theresa Helburn, Lawrence Langer and Worthington
Minor.
March 29 through April 3, 1937
THE GREAT WALTZ - music by Johann Strauss (Father and Son). Book
by Moss Hart. "Production conceived and directed by Hassard
Short. Starring Gladys Clark and Earle McVeigh. Lighting, Staging,
Scenic and Mechanical Effects Created by Hassard Short." Dances
and Ballets by Albertina Rasch. Settings by Albert Johnson. Costumes
by Doris Zinkeisen. Orchestra under the direction of George Hirst.
Presented by Max Gordon.
May 3 through May 8, 1937:
RUTH DRAPER IN HER CHARACTER SKETCHES -- Each night, Ruth Draper
performed a series of sketches, including Opening a Bazaar; In County
Kerry; Three Women and Mr. Clifford; In a Church in Italy.
May 10 through May 15, 1937
THE ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1937 – Starring Fannie Brice and Bobby
Clark. With Leota Lane, Marcella Swanson, Cass Daley, Hugh Camerson,
Marvin Lawler, James Farrell.
May 16 through May 22, 1937
LOST HORIZON – twice daily showings of the film directed by
Frank Capra, and starring Ronald Colman.
Edmond Plohn took over from Steve Cochran as Manager sometime during
this year. The program format changed slightly at this point, which
may be evidence of the changeover.
September 13 through September 18, 1937
BROTHER RAT - comedy by John Monks, Jr., and Fred F. Finklehoffe.
Directed by George Abbott. Settings by Cieker & Robbins. Presented
by Mr. Abbott. With Eddie Bracken and Gary Merrill.
September 20 through September 25, 1937
SUSAN AND GOD - by Rachel Crothers. Starring Gertrude Lawrence with
Osgood Perkins. Also Nancy Kelly.
October 4 through October 16, 1937
MADAME BOVARY - Gatson Baty's dramatization of Flaubert's novel.
Starring Constance Cummings. With Ernest Thesiger, Eric Portman
and Carl Harbord; others in the cast include Viola Roache, Harold
Vermilyea, Eda Heineman, Arthur Chatterton, Alice Belmore-Cliffe,
O.Z. Whitehead, Valerie Cossart, and John O’Connor. Play adapted
and directed by Benn W. Levy. Settings and Costumes Designed by
Lee Simonson. (Settings adapted from the original production of
Gaston Baty.) Presented by The Theatre Guild. Production under the
supervision of Theresa Helburn, Lawrence Langer and Benn W. Levy.
October 18 through October 22, 1937
AMPHITRYON 38 - Jean Giraudoux's comedy adapted by S.N. Behrman.
Starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Directed by Bretaigne Windust.
Production conceived and supervised by Mr. Lunt and Miss Fontaine.
Settings designed by Lee Simonson. Costumes designed by Vanentina.
Music comoposed and conducted by Samuel L. Barlow. With Richard
Whorf, George Meader, Sidney Greenstreet, Alan Hewitt, Barry Thompson,
Kathleen Roland, Jacqueline Paige, Ernestine de Becker, and Edith
King.
October 25 through October 30, 1937
LEANING ON LETTY - from "Post Road" by Wilbur Daniel Steele
and Norma Mitchell. Starring Charlotte Greenwood. Staged and directed
by Russell Fillmore. With Russell Fillmore.
November 1 through November 6, 1937
TOVARICH - by Jaques Deval. English text by Robert E. Sherwood.
Starring Marta Abba (wife or mistress of Luigi Pirandello) and Rudolph
Forster. Staged by Gilbert Miller. Production Designed by Raymond
Sovey. With James E. Truex, Cecil Humphreys.
November 8 through November 13, 1937
STAGE DOOR - comedy by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. Starring
Joan Bennett (by arrangement with Walter Wanger). Settings by Donald
Oenslager. Presented by Sam H. Harris.
November 15 through November 20, 1937
THE GHOST OF YANKEE DOODLE - Sidney Howard's new play. Starring
Ethel Barrymore and Dudley Digges. Production directed by John Cromwell.
Production designed by Woodman Thompson. Production under the supervision
of Theresa Helburn, Lawrence Langer and John Cromwell. Presented
by The Theatre Guild.
November 22 through November 27, 1937
TO BE CONTINUED - a comedy by Charles George. Starring Luella Gear.
Directed by Melville Burke. Settings Designed and Executed by Cleon
Throckmorton. With Ruth Chorpenning. Presented by Morris Green and
James J. Fero.
November 29 through December 4, 1937
KING RICHARD II - by William Shakespeare. Starring Maurice Evans.
Staged by Margaret Webster. Art Director- David Ffolkes. Incidental
Music by Herbert Menges. Arranged by Rupert Graves. With Rhys Williams,
Philip Truex.
December 27, 1937 through January 1, 1938
SPRING THAW - new comedy by Clare Kummer. Starring Roland Young.
Staged by Eddie Sobol. Settings by Donald Oenslager. Costumes supervised
by Bianca Stroock. Presented by Max Gordon.
1938
Sixth Subscription Season of the Theatre Guild and the American
Theatre Society.
January 3 through January 8, 1938
SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE - new play by Paul Vincent Carroll. Starring
Sir Cedric Hardwicke, with Sara Allgood and Julie Haydon. Presented
by Eddie Dowling.
January 10 through January 15, 1938
IF I WERE YOU - new farce by Paul Hervey Fox and Benn W. Levy. Starring
Constance Cummings. Suggested by an idea in a novel of Thorne Smith's.
With Bernard Lee and Betty Field. Produced by Mr. Fox.
January 23, 1938
BETWEEN THE DEVIL Command Performance for President Roosevelt's
Birthday. The Howard Dietz-Arthur Schwartz. Musical Comedy starring
Jack Buchannan, Evelyn Laye and Adele Dixon. Staged by Hassard Short.
Settings by Albert Johnson. Book staged by John Hayden. Dances and
Principals' Numbers arranged by Robert Alton. Costumes designed
by Kiviette. With Charles Walters, Vilma Ebsen, William Kendall,
The Debonairs, and the Tune Twisters.
January 24 through January 28, 1938.
ROOM SERVICE - written by John Murray and Allen Boretz. Directed
by George Abbott. Setting by Cirker and Roberts. With John Carmody.
Presented by Mr. Abbott.
January 31 through February 5, 1938
ONCE IS ENOUGH - written by Frederick Lonsdale. Starring Ina Claire,
a Washington resident, who studied at the Minnie Hawke school with
Helen Hayes. Cast includes Hugh Williams, Viola Keats, Austin Trevor,
Archibald Batty, Eric Cowley, Margaret Vyner, Walter Piers, Nancy
Ryan, Rosalind Ivan, John Williams, and Winfred Seagram. Staged
by Gilbert Miller. Setting Designed by Raymond Sovey.
February 7 through February 12, 1938
SAVE ME THE WALTZ - a comedy by Katherine Dayton. Staged by Robert
B. Sinclair. Settings by Jo Mielziner. Costumes by John Hambleton.
With Mady Christians, Brenda Forbes. Produced by Max Gordon (in
association with Sam H. Harris)
February 14 through February 19, 1938
JULIUS CAESAR - Orson Welles' modern production of the play by William
Shakespeare. Staged by Orson Welles. No designers listed. Presented
by Alex Yokel. With Edmund O'Brien, Tom Powers, Lawrence Fletcher,
Herbert Ranson, Alan Craig, Muriel Brassler, and Morgan Farley.
February 21 through February 26, 1938
EDNA HIS WIFE - Starring Cornelia Otis Skinner in her own adaptation
of the novel by Margaret Ayer Barnes. Settings by Donald Oenslager.
Costumes designed by Helen Pons. Music by Elliott Jacoby. A one-woman
show in which Miss Skinner played eight different women in eleven
monologue scenes.
February 25 (matinee), 1938
JOOSS BALLET - performing “The Seven Heroes,” “A
Ball in Old Vienna” and “The Mirror.”
March 14 through March 19, 1938
WHITEOAKS – written by Mazo de la Roche. Starring Ethel Barrymore,
with Stephen Haggard. Directed by Stephen Haggard. Settings designed
by Norris Houghton.
March 21 through March 26, 1938
YOU NEVER KNOW – new musical by Cole Porter. Starring Clifton
Webb, Lupe Velez and Libby Holman. Cast includes Toby Wing, Charles
Kemper, George Dobbs, Catherine Crawford, Roger Stearns and Rex
O”Malley. Book adapted and directed and additional Lyrics
added by Rowland Leigh.
April 4 through April 9, 1938
YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU – the Pulitzer Prize Play of 1937
by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman. Cast includes Aldrich Bowker,
Eva Condon, Charlotte Walker, Emma Bunting, Bobbe Arnst, Margaret
Callaghan, Henry Richards, Ross Hertz. Settings by Donald Oenslager.
[No director listed.] Presented by Sam H. Harris.
April 11 through April 16, 1938
THE WOMEN – written by Clare Boothe. With Lois Wilson, Celeste
Holm, Dorrit Kelton and others. Staged by Robert B. Sinclair. Settings
by Jo Mielziner. Costumes supervised by John Hambleton.
April 18 through April 23, 1938
THREE WALTZES – musical by Clare Kummer and Rowland Leigh,
based from the play of Paul Knepler and Armin Robinson. Starring
Kitty Carlisle, Michael Bartlett and Glenn Anders. Cast includes
Marguerita Sylva, Ann Andrews and Ruth Hammond. Music by the Strauss
family. Staged and directed by Hassard Short. Costumes Designed
by Connie De Pinna. Settings by Watson Barratt. Dances Staged by
Chester Hale. Produced by the Messrs. Shubert.
April 25 through April 30, 1938
YES, MY DARLING DAUGHTER – comedy by Mark Reed. Starring Lucile
Watson, Violet Heming and Nicholas Joy. Cast includes Halia Stoddard
and Charles Bryant. Presented and staged by Alfred de Liagre, Jr.
Setting by Raymond Sovey.
May 2 through May 7, 1938
TOBACCO ROAD – adapted by Jack Kirkland from the novel by
Erskine Caldwell. Starring John Barton, Leora Thatcher, Patricia
Quinn, Kay Thorne, Pitt Herbert, Sonda Johnson, William Bishop and
Dick Lee. Directed by Anthony Brown.
May 9 through May 14, 1938
THE STAR WAGON – written by Maxwell Anderson. Starring Burgess
Meredith and Lillian Gish. Cast includes Russell Collins, Mildred
Natwick, Jane Buchanan, Keenan Wynn, Ralph Riggs, Barry Kelly, J.
Arthur Young. Staged and presented by Guthrie McClintic. Production
designed by Jo Mielziner.
May 16 through May 21, 1938
THE ABBEY THEATRE PLAYERS performing Far Off Hills, Juno and the
Paycock, The New Gosson, The Playboy of the Western World, The Rising
of the Moon, The Silver Jubilee, Riders to the Sea, The Plough and
the Stars, and Drama at Inish.
September 19 through September 24, 1938
KISS THE BOYS GOODBYE -- a new comedy by Clare Boothe. Directed
by Antoinette Perry. Settings by John Root. Starring Helen Claire,
Benay Venuta, Edwin Nicander, John Alexander, Philip Ober, Millard
Mitchell, Sheldon Leonard, Frank Wilson, Hugh Marlowe, Carmel White,
Lex Lindsay, Ollie Burgoyne, and Wyman Holmes.
September 26 through October 1, 1938
YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU – comedy by Moss Hart and
George S. Kaufman. Starring Eva Con |
