Research Catalog

Title

Guy Short collection of theater and early film programs from the regional United States and New York.

Publication

1882-1939.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Campbell, Bartley, 1843-1888
• Russell, Sol Smith, 1848-1902
• Davis, Charles L., 1849-1900
• Kruger, Jacques
• Draper, Ruth, 1884-1956
• Bartholomew, George, 1833-1920
• Gilmore, William J.
• Pain, James
• Kiralfy, Bolossy, -1932
• Kiralfy, Imre, 1845-1919
• Griffes, Charles Tomlinson, 1884-1920
• Diaghilev, Serge, 1872-1929

Description

18 volumes; 34 cm

Summary

Sixteen indexed scrapbooks of late 19th and early 20th century programs and playbills documenting theatre, music, opera, some ballet, and many popular productions performed across the United States, including Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Denver, Colorado; Dallas, Fort Worth, Mineral Wells, and Weatherford, Texas; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Chicago, Illinois; Council Bluffs, Idaho; Hartford, Connecticut; Asbury Park and Palisades Park, New Jersey; New York City and Yonkers, New York; and two seasons of productions by the Federal Theatre Project in Miami, Florida.

Donor/Sponsor

In honor of George Freedley

Alternative Title

Guy Short collection

Subjects

• Popular culture > United States > 19th century
• Theater > Connecticut > 20th century
• Theater > Colorado > 19th century
• Theater > Illinois > Chicago > 19th century
• Marginalia
• Federal Theatre Project (U.S.)
• Theater > Tennessee > 19th century
• Opera > United States > 19th century
• Music > United States > 19th century
• Playbills
• Theater > Missouri > 19th century
• Circus > United States > 19th century
• Dime museums > United States > 19th century
• Theater > Nebraska > 19th century
• Metropolitan Opera (New York, N.Y.) > Ballet
• Spectacular, The > 19th century
• Travelogues (Motion pictures)
• Animals as actors > Horses
• Theater > Wisconsin > 19th century
• Theater > Texas > 19th century
• Ballets russes
• Moskovskiĭ khudozhestvennyĭ akademicheskiĭ teatr
• Theater > New York (State) > New York > 20th century
• Minstrel shows > United States > 19th century
• Theater > New York (State) > Yonkers > 20th century
• Motion pictures > United States > 20th century
• Theater > Idaho > 19th century
• Theater programs
• Vaudeville > United States > 19th century
• Theater > United States > 19th century
• Theater > Ohio > 19th century
• Theater > New Jersey > 20th century
• Kiralfy Brothers
• Animals as actors > Dogs
• Hanlon-Lees (Theatrical troupe)

Genre/Form

• Marginalia.
• Theater programs.
• Playbills.

Note

• Includes programs for circuses, dime museums, stock companies, minstrel and vaudeville performances; early plays like Bartley Campbell's Siberia; individual performers like Sol Smith Russell, Charles L. Davis, Jacques Kruger, and Ruth Draper; the performing horse and dog troupes of Professor George Bartholomew and Professor Morris; spectacles by W. J. Gilmore (The Devil's auction), the Kiralfy Brothers (Excelsior, Around the world in eighty days, The Black crook), the Hanlon Brothers (Fantasma, Le Voyage en Suisse), and James Pain (The Last days of Pompeii); the composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes' dance-drama, The Kairn of Koridwen; the Moscow Art Theatre; and press releases from the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company for the first appearance in the United States of Serge de Diaghileff's Ballet Russe [sic].
• Includes programs for a number of silent and early sound films including Darkest Russia (1917, Travers Vale); Inshavogue (1911?, Yankee Film Company?), The Fire patrol (1924?, Hunt Stromberg?) [Thomas Edison's Vitascope and W.M. Bittner's Dramatic Company are referenced in the Index with regard to the latter two films.]; The Durbar (1913, Kinemacolor Company of America); Cabiria (1914, Giovanni Pastrone); Ramona (1916, Donald Crisp); travelogues by Captain J. Campbell Besley and Surrick Lincoln; and Broken blossoms (1919, D.W. Griffith). Researchers interested in this material are advised to utilize the index in MWEZ+ n.c. 4489 to find the film title and precise date.
• Sixteen scrapbook volumes of programs, covers lacking, are arranged in flat boxes in chronological order, from 1882 to 1939, with a broad breakdown provided for each box. Within each volume, programs are arranged by date in reverse chronological order, with the oldest material last. (This is the original arrangement of the material.) There is marginalia scattered throughout the scrapbooks, some by the early film actresses Gertrude Short and Florence Short, indicating their attendance at some performances.
• Two handwritten indexes are included. Both contain some or all of the following information in a chronological arrangement: season, theatre or performance place, title, star, and geographic location of the performance. The index in MWEZ+ n.c. 4488 (called OLD PLAYBILLS) covers the years 1882 to 1921 with enumerated entries that do not appear to correspond to the unpaginated scrapbooks. The index in MWEZ+ n.c. 4489 covers the years 1882 to 1937. Researchers who wish to make requests for specific scrapbooks would benefit by using the indexes and this catalog record as a combined guide.

Source (note)

• Frank Lea Short

Call Number

MWEZ+ n.c. 4472-4489

OCLC

1076587084

Title

Guy Short collection of theater and early film programs from the regional United States and New York.

Publisher

1882-1939.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

sheet

Biography

The early film actress Florence Short was born May 19, 1889 in Springfield, Massachusetts and died July 10, 1946 in Los Angeles. Her sister, the early film actress Gertrude Short was born April 6, 1902 in Cincinnati, Ohio and died July 31, 1968, also in Los Angeles. The sisters were cousins of the silent film actress Blanche Sweet. The actor, director, stage manager, and educator Frank Lea Short was born in 1874 in Kansas City (Missouri?) and died June 14, 1949, in Yonkers, N.Y. The familial relationship between Frank Lea Short, Guy Short, and the Short sisters is undetermined.

Local Note

Although the programs themselves are in generally good condition, the pages of the scrapbook are quite brittle and should be handled with deliberate care.

Source

Gift: Frank Lea Short, 1943.

Connect to:

Request Access to Theatre Division Special Collections material

Added Author

Campbell, Bartley, 1843-1888, author. Siberia.

Russell, Sol Smith, 1848-1902, actor.

Davis, Charles L., 1849-1900, actor.

Kruger, Jacques, actor.

Draper, Ruth, 1884-1956, actor.

Bartholomew, George, 1833-1920, performer.

Gilmore, William J., producer. Devil's auction.

Pain, James, producer. Last days of Pompeii.

Kiralfy, Bolossy, -1932, producer, performer.

Kiralfy, Imre, 1845-1919, producer, performer.

Griffes, Charles Tomlinson, 1884-1920, composer. Kairn of Koridwen.

Diaghilev, Serge, 1872-1929, producer.

Added Title

Guy Short collection

Research Call Number

MWEZ+ n.c. 4472-4489