Research Catalog

Title

[Interview with Robert Snyder : raw footage] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]

Publication

New York, 2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Snyder, Robert W., 1955-
• Kantor, Michael, 1961-
• Squires, Buddy
• Broadway Film Project, Inc, donor.
• Thirteen/WNET, donor.

Description

1 videocassette (VHS) (42 min.) : sd., col. SP; 1/2 in.

Summary

• Raw interview footage used for the documentary Broadway, the American musical. Author and historian Robert Snyder describes how the American musical "borrowed" from a collection of 19th century American theater forms including Blackface minstrelsy, Vaudeville, Burlesque, Yiddish theater, and light opera, as it gradually migrated uptown from the Bowery to Times Square. He goes on to discuss how the musical became popular with all kinds of audiences, and how theater entrepreneurs responded by offering a wide variety of entertainments; how Times Square, formerly called Longacre Square, situated in an area filled with vice and corruption, was transformed by the location of the New York Times headquarters and the advent of the subway into a vibrant entertainment center accessible to all of New York City's residents.
• Discussion continues with the popularity of Vaudeville, whose variety of song, dance and comedy were incorporated into the musical; theatrical showman George M. Cohan, whose musicals helped establish a tough, city kid persona that came to be popular; blackface minstrelsy, one of the most popular theatrical forms in America that was nonetheless racist; the comic genius of Bert Williams, the preeminent Black entertainer of his day, who wore blackface in order to gain acceptance onstage; the "myth" of Broadway as a place where one can become a star; the media's role, beginning in the 1920s, in exporting the products of Broadway; the growing respectability of theaters by the mid-19th century as managers banned prostitution and drinking and began catering to middle class audiences; comedian Eddie Cantor, who worked his way up from Vaudeville to Broadway stardom; the culture of Broadway; Broadway during the '60s, '70s and '80s, when crime in the city cast a shadow over its entertainment industry; the "old" Broadway as the heartbeat of America in comparison with the "new" Broadway, now a part of the global entertainment industry; the energy generated at the crossroads of Broadway and 42nd St. Interview concludes for the last few minutes with audio-only discussion on the contribution made by immigrants to the musical.

Alternative Title

• Broadway, the American musical
• Broadway: the American musical : Rob Snyder

Subject

• Snyder, Robert W., 1955- > Interviews
• Williams, Bert, 1874-1922
• Cohan, George M. 1878-1942
• Theater > New York (State) > New York
• Musical theater > New York (State) > New York
• Musical theater > Production and direction
• Theater > History > 19th century
• Theater and society
• Mass media and theater
• Theater audiences
• Theater > Economic aspects
• Vaudeville
• Blackface entertainers
• Minstrel shows
• Broadway (New York, N.Y.)
• Times Square (New York, N.Y.)

Genre/Form

• Documentaries and factual works.
• Musicals.
• Unedited footage.

Note

• This interview is one of a group of interviews with 90 individuals used in making the documentary Broadway, the American musical. The completed production is available on NCOX 2058.
• Credits for completed production from pbs.org: A film by Michael Kantor ; produced by Jeff Dupre, Michael Kantor and Sally Rosenthal ; written by Marc Fields, Michael Kantor, Laurence Maslon, and JoAnne Young ; directed by Michael Kantor.
• Time code on frame.
• Contains various takes, at occasional brief intervals, audio continues without sound.

Credits (note)

• Cameraman: Mead Hunt.

Performer (note)

• Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Robert Snyder.

Event (note)

• Videotaped in New York, N.Y. on February 25, 2003.

Biography (note)

• Broadway, the American musical, which aired on PBS in October 2004, is a documentary chronicling the entire history of a unique American art form, the Broadway musical. Each of its six episodes covers a different era in American theater history, and features the Broadway shows and songs which defined the period. The series draws on feature films, television broadcasts, archival news footage, original cast recordings, still photos, diaries, journals, first-person accounts, and on-camera interviews with many of the principals involved in the development of the genre.

Call Number

NCOX 2145

OCLC

128275279

Title

[Interview with Robert Snyder : raw footage] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]

Imprint

New York, 2003.

Credits

Cameraman: Mead Hunt.

Performer

Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Robert Snyder.

Event

Videotaped in New York, N.Y. on February 25, 2003.

Biography

Broadway, the American musical, which aired on PBS in October 2004, is a documentary chronicling the entire history of a unique American art form, the Broadway musical. Each of its six episodes covers a different era in American theater history, and features the Broadway shows and songs which defined the period. The series draws on feature films, television broadcasts, archival news footage, original cast recordings, still photos, diaries, journals, first-person accounts, and on-camera interviews with many of the principals involved in the development of the genre.

Local Note

Gift of Broadway Film Project, Inc. and Thirteen/WNET, 2005.

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Added Author

Snyder, Robert W., 1955- interviewee.

Kantor, Michael, 1961- interviewer.

Kantor, Michael, 1961- director.

Squires, Buddy, cameraman.

Broadway Film Project, Inc, donor.

Thirteen/WNET, donor.

Research Call Number

NCOX 2145