Thursday, February 14, 2013
1882 Birthday of John Barrymore (1882-1942), actor in the grand style, and scion of the Barrymore acting clan. Though he began as a light comedian, he became identified with the classics, no…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, February 13, 2013
1904 Future set and costume designer Oliver Messel is born today in London.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, February 12, 2013
1903 Birthday of Broadway leading man Todd Duncan (1903-1998), who will create the role of Porgy in Porgy and Bess, and star in the original productions of Lost in the Stars and Cabin in the…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, February 11, 2013
1901 A man marries his fiancee On the Quiet because his parents want him to finish Yale. Playwright Augustus Thomas based this comedy on a real incident. It unfolds at the Madison Square The…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, February 10, 2013
1893 Birthday of Jimmy "Schnozzola" Durante (1893-1980), big-nosed comedian who would star on Broadway in Show Girl, The New Yorkers and Strike Me Pink. Catchphrases included "I got a m…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, February 9, 2013
1865 Birthday of actress Beatrice Stella Tanner, better known by her stage name, Mrs. Patrick Campbell (1865-1940). She had a long correspondence with playwright George Bernard Shaw, and app…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, February 8, 2013
1907 Ray Middleton is born in Chicago, Illinois today. In 1946 he will star opposite Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun, and in 1965 be featured in Man of La Mancha.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, February 7, 2013
1812 Birthday of author Charles Dickens (1812-1870), whose "A Christmas Carol" has been adapted to the stage dozens of times and provides a durable annuity for theatre troupes ever…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, February 5, 2013
1900 The scandalous Sapho [sic] is staged at Wallack's Theatre in New York. Based on Alphonse Daudet's novel, it stars Olga Nethersole as an evil woman who seduces a pure young man t…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, February 4, 2013
1938 Thornton Wilder turns the spotlight on the simple trials and tribulations of Our Town. Martha Scott and Frank Craven are among the cast at the Henry Miller Theatre. The production will …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, February 2, 2013
1912 Birthday of composer Burton Lane (1912-1997), who will go on to write On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Hold on to Your Hats, Laffing Room Only and his great hit, Finian's Rainbow.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, February 1, 2013
1859 Birthday of Victor Herbert (1859-1924), Broadway's operetta king, composer of Babes in Toyland, The Red Mill, Mlle. Modiste, Naughty Marietta, Sweethearts and numerous editions of t…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, January 31, 2013
1903 Future actress Tallulah Bankhead, who can count two U.S. Senators and a Congressman in her family, is born today.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, January 16, 2013
1908 or 1909 or 1912 There's no birthday like Merm's birthday. Ethel Zimmermann is born in Astoria N.Y. today. In years to come she will be acting and belting all over town as Ethel …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, January 15, 2013
1622 Birthday of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by the nom de plume Moliere (1622-1673), one of France's greatest playwrights, who will go on to write Tartuffe, School for Wives, Scapin, …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, January 11, 2013
1899 "I would rather play Ibsen than eat and that's often what it amounts to," said Eva Le Gallienne, born in London today. Her determination and drive will lead her to a st…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, January 10, 2013
1820 Birthday of Louisa Lane Drew, matriarch of the Drew and Barrymore acting dynasty that would eventually include John Drew, Ethel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore and today'…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, January 9, 2013
1890 Playwright Karel Capek (1890-1938) is born today in Bohemia. His 1920's play R. U. R. will introduce the word "robot" (from the Czech word for worker) and show robots for …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, January 8, 2013
1900 Blanche Bates, who will go on to play Cho-Cho San in Madame Butterfly, now stars in David Belasco's Naughty Anthony. Oliver Redpath co-stars in this comedy at the Herald Square Thea…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, January 7, 2013
1923 Future actor Vincenzio Scognamiglio is born in Naples, Italy. Doesn't sound familiar? Try Vincent Gardenia, who will appear on the stage in The Wall, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, January 6, 2013
1768 Birthday of John Durang (1768-1816), identified by scholars as one of the first American-born professional dancers and actors. Known for his "Dwarf Dance," "Sailor's …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, January 5, 2013
1894 U.S. premiere of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, starring Ida Jeffries Goodfriend, at the Berkeley Lyceum Theatre.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, January 4, 2013
1905 Quivery-voiced actor Sterling Holloway (1905-1992) is born today in Cedartown, GA. He will become a fixture of Broadway's The Garrick Gaieties revues of the 1920s and '30s, and …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, January 3, 2013
1909 Birthday of Victor Borge (1909-2000), pianist and comedian whose 1953 Comedy in Music ran 888 performances, the longest run ever for a solo musical on Broadway. He followed it with Come…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, January 1, 2013
1900 Chris and the Wonderful Lamp is based on the Arabian Nights and opens at Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre in New York. This musical, with a book by Glen MacDonough and score by John P…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, December 31, 2012
1879 World premiere of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York, with Alice Barnett as Ruth.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, December 30, 2012
1907 In The Comet Alla Nazimova plays a woman who falls in love with her former lover's son, who eventually kills himself. This first play for Owen Johnson will run for seven weeks.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, December 29, 2012
1919 The Lafayette Players of New York, a black troupe, opens the newest theatre in Philadelphia, the Dunbar, with a production of Within the Law. The house, named for poet Paul Lawrence Dun…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, December 28, 2012
1925 Queenie Smith is featured in Tip-Toes, the George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin musical about a vaudeville trio stranded in Florida. It introduces the song "Sweet and Low Down, and run…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, December 27, 2012
1920 Brock Pemberton's Miss Lulu Bett opens today at the Belmont Theatre. It will run 198 performances and win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, December 26, 2012
1904 Maude Adams returns to Broadway with a revival of J.M. Barrie's The Little Minister. It opens tonight and runs just 73 performances. A year later she'll be back with a better Ba…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM 
