Tuesday, July 5, 2011
1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the American National Theatre and Academy bill today, calling for a self-supporting national theatre. ANTA will get off to a slow start but will ev…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, July 4, 2011
1898 Birthday of actress Gertrude Lawrence (1898-1952), longtime acting partner of Noel Coward (Private Lives, Tonight at 8:30) and star of musicals by the Gershwin brothers (Oh, Kay!, Lady …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, July 3, 2011
1878 The original Yankee Doodle Dandy, George M. Cohan (1878-1942) is born on the 3rd of July, (not the 4th as ws family legend) says. A member of the vaudeville team The Four Cohans with hi…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, July 2, 2011
1900 Birthday of director/producer/writer Tyrone Guthrie (1900-1971) who will stage Broadway productions of The Tenth Man, Taburlaine the Great and the Leonard Bernstein musical Candide.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, July 1, 2011
1930 Comedian Jack Benny makes his Broadway debut in Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1930. The revue also featured Patsy Kelly, Jimmy Savo and the Collette Sisters.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, June 30, 2011
1924 Opening night of George White's Scandals of 1924, which features a score by George Gershwin, including "Somebody Loves Me." It will run 192 performances at the Apollo Thea…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, June 29, 2011
1954 A star is born as Carol Haney's understudy in The Pajama Game goes on in place of the ailing actress and is discovered by theatre critic George Freedly. Writes Freedly in his review…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, June 27, 2011
1888 Birthday of Antoinette Perry (1888-1946), an actress and groundbreaking woman stage director who will help found the American Theatre Wing. In gratitude, the Wing will name its annual t…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, June 26, 2011
1894 (probably) Actress Jeanne Eagels, best known for playing Miss Thompson in Rain, is born today.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, June 25, 2011
1887 Birthday of legendary director George Abbott (1887-1995) whose long life (107 years) and colossal catalog (more than 110 Broadway shows, sometimes also as producer, writer or even actor…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, June 24, 2011
1942 Gypsy Rose Lee and Bobby Clark are featured in Michael Todd's musical revue, Star and Garter, which opens a 609-performance run at the Music Box Theatre.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, June 23, 2011
1927 Birthday of Robert Louis Fosse, better known as Bob Fosse (1927-1987), master director-choreographer known for his sexy hip-swiveling dances in shows including Pajama Game, Sweet Charit…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, June 22, 2011
1920 Opening night of the starry Ziegfeld Follies of 1920 at the New Amsterdam Theatre, featuring performances by Fanny Brice, W.C. Fields and Moran & Mack; and music by Irving Berlin, H…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, June 21, 2011
1903 Caricaturist Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003) is born today. His distinctive looping line drawings will capture the essence of Broadway shows from the 1920s through the early 2000s. The Martin…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, June 20, 2011
1905 Birthday of playwright Lillian Hellman (1905-1984), who will go on to write The Children's Hour, The Little Foxes, Another Part of the Forest, Watch on the Rhine and the book to Can…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, June 19, 2011
1965 Actor Sydney Chaplin leaves the Broadway production of Funny Girl after settling with the producers. Despite rumors that Chaplin has left the show because of some friction between himse…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, June 18, 2011
1956 The Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario kicks off its season with productions of Henry V, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. Also include…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, June 17, 2011
1860 Birthday of prolific producer Daniel Frohman (1860-1915) who, often in collaboration with his brothers Daniel and Gustave, produced dozens of Broadway shows including Sherlock Holmes, T…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, June 16, 2011
1888 Birthday of Broadway comedian Bobby Clark (1888-1960), best known for his drawn-on eyeglasses and slapstick comedy style, often in tandem with sidekick Paul McCullough. Clark's resu…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, June 15, 2011
1894 Birthday of Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981), orchestrator of Broadway classics including the original Sunny; Show Boat; Anything Goes; Oklahoma!; Annie Get Your Gun; Kiss Me, Kate; T…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, June 14, 2011
1929 Birthday of Broadway composer Cy Coleman, (1929-2004) whose multidextrous scores for shows like Sweet Charity, I Love My Wife, On the Twentieth Century, The Will Rogers Follies, The Lif…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, June 13, 2011
1963 Stage actor Howard DaSilva finds himself at the other end of the spectrum: as director of a Lewis John Carlino double bill. Shelley Winters and Jack Warden star in the two one acts, Sno…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, June 11, 2011
1940 The American Negro Theatre is founded in Harlem.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMFriday, June 10, 2011
1922 Birthday of Frances Ethel Gumm, better known as Judy Garland (1922-1969), star of numerous Hollywood film musicals including The Wizard of Oz. Her Broadway experience consisted of three…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, June 9, 2011
1891 Birthday of composer Cole Porter (1891-1964), whose witty, urbane songs will grace five decades of musicals, including Anything Goes, Can-Can, Gay Divorce, Silk Stockings and his greate…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMWednesday, June 8, 2011
1925 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart make their lyric and songwriting debut in The Garrick Gaieties at Broadway's Garrick Theatre. In the cast are Sterling Holloway, Sanford Meisner, Phi…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMTuesday, June 7, 2011
1909 Birthday of Broadway star Jessica Tandy (1909-1994), who created many landmark roles including Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, Agnes in A Delicate Balance and Fonsia in The …
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMMonday, June 6, 2011
1954 Playwright and actor Harvey Fierstein is born today. Fierstein will win Tony Awards for writing and performing in his play Torch Song Trilogy, as well as for his book for the musical La…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSunday, June 5, 2011
1922 Future stage and screen star Judy Holliday is born today. By the time of her untimely death in 1966 Holliday will have won the 1951 Academy Award for best actress for her performance in…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMSaturday, June 4, 2011
1968 Stage and screen actress Dorothy Gish dies today in Rapallo, Italy. Her first New York stage appearance was in 1903 in East Lynne. She began her film career in 1912, but resumed her sta…
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AMThursday, June 2, 2011
1954 Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel is revived for a ten-week run at the New York City Center. In the cast are Barbara Cook and Jo Sullivan.
SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM 
