Manuscripts

Batchelder, Crandall, Messer, Pricketts

Description: Contains a pamphlet, An Appreciation by C. F. Shoop, regarding Board of Trustees member Ernest Alan Batchelder (after 1950); David Crandall's autobiography, Just David (1985); personal and some professional correspondence of Board member Earl Messer (1935-1950, 1965-1968), chiefly letters of appreciation from Charles Prickett for Messer's support of the Midsummer Drama Festivals; and writings by Charles Prickett, including Aids for the Formation and Management of Little Theatres (undated) and Pitfalls of Little Theatre Management (May 1938). Also includes Charles Prickett's C.V. from 1951; a life insurance policy; and clippings, an obituary, and a poem from his funeral service; plus a letter from Samuel Herrick to Ollie Prickett.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: Approximately 1935-1985
Call number: mssPlayhouse
Creator: Pasadena Playhouse(Opens in new tab)

Charles Prickett scrapbook

Manuscripts

Title on spine: Main Stage, Pictures, Personalities, Playhouse Pictures. Charles Prickett scrapbook given to Playhouse by Maudie Prickett in 1962. Contains 76 pages of gelatin silver photographs depicting the Mainstage, its curtain (created by Alson Clark), interior and exterior views of the Playhouse, set designs and various aspects of productions, set construction, and people engaged in various activities.

mssPlayhouse

Image not available

H. Prickett, Oliver

Manuscripts

This collection contains the records of the Pasadena Playhouse, a community theater established in Pasadena, California, in 1917. Materials consist primarily of theater programs, scrapbooks, business records, correspondence, clippings, scripts, school catalogues, brochures and ephemera, indexes, photographs, original drawings of set and costume designs, and research materials originally housed in the organization's library. The materials document the performance history of the various theaters of the Playhouse and also contain partial administrative records and school records, with particular strength in coverage for the "Mainstage" theater and an extensive run of programs and performance photographs. The core records are strengthened by the complementary personal paper collections of directors, performers, and others associated with the Playhouse.

mssPlayhouse

Image not available

Gail Shoup oral history interviews

Manuscripts

Four audiotapes with interviews with key figures in the history of the Pasadena Playhouse, including Lenore Shanewise; Maurice Wells; Charles, Maudie, and Oliver Prickett; Charles Lane; Ralph Freud; Albert McCleery; and others. The interviews were conducted by Gail Shoup as part of his dissertation research. Approximately 20 hours. Contents same as audiocassettes 1-10 in Box 314.

mssPlayhouse

Image not available

Pasadena Playhouse records

Manuscripts

The collection contains materials documenting the history and activities of the Pasadena Playhouse and its College of Theatre Arts. It includes approximately 15,000 photographs; 5,000 theater programs; 300 scripts; over 100 scrapbooks; 70 set and costume designs; and a few musical scores; as well as board meeting minutes; business records including ledgers, financial records, and correspondence; student catalogs, manuals, and yearbooks; curricular materials; newspaper clippings; theater periodicals; and various subject files. Also included are publications and business records from the Pasadena Playhouse Alumni and Associates, as well as a set of indexes (Series IX) and other research materials compiled by archivists at the Huntington Library (Series IVV). The materials date from approximately 1657-2013, with the bulk of the materials dating from the beginnings of the Playhouse in 1916 through its bankruptcy in 1969. Major areas of interest represented in the collection include the Playhouse Board of Trustees' meeting minutes and correspondence; correspondence and business records of Playhouse executives and administrators, including Gilmor Brown, Fairfax Walkup, and Lenore Shanewise; writings, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings detailing various aspects of the Pasadena Playhouse's history; catalogs, photographs, and promotional and curricular materials documenting the School of the Theatre (later College of Theatre Arts), its students, and student life; performance photographs, theater programs, original set and costume designs, scripts and scores, and supplementary materials reflecting productions at the Playhouse's venues (Community Playhouse, Mainstage, Playbox, Workshop and Laboratory Theatres, Patio Theatre, and East and West Balcony Theatres) as well from various student, traveling, and special events productions; and the holdings of the Playhouse's library and museum. Along with Brown, Prickett, Walkup, and Shanewise, other key figures surfacing within the collection include Maurice Wells, assistant director of the Playbox; Charles Lane, actor in many Playhouse productions; Ralph Freud, a director at the Playhouse; Catherine Turney, a member of the School of the Theatre's first class who went on to become director of the Workshop; Dorothy Arzner, a filmmaker from the silent film era into the 1940s and cinema instructor at the Playhouse; Gail Shoup, a Playhouse staff director; Bobker Ben Ali, a writer and director whose productions included Manya: The Story of Marie Curie (circa 1938) and The People Win Thru (1952); Board chairs David Crandall and Earl Messer; and actors Maudie and Oliver Prickett, Charles Prickett's spouse and brother, respectively. The core records are strengthened by the complementary personal paper collections of directors, performers, and others associated with the Playhouse, including ben Ali; Graydon Spalding; Gail Shoup; and more (see Series VIII, Related Personal Collections). The collection features the work of photographers including Jerome Robinson, Jack Powell, Gordon Spalding, Kim Spalding, and A. E. Arnold, and the original set and costume designs of James Hyde; Jānis Muncis; Rita Glover, who was the first woman to be admitted to the Designers Guild of California; and Robert Redington Sharpe, among many others.

Image not available

Clippings, correspondence, and programs

Manuscripts

Includes programs for productions for which Oliver Prickett served as actor, director, or manager, plus a list of his productions and notice of honorary Master's degree.

mssPlayhouse

Image not available

Negatives: Various people and events

Manuscripts

Folders 1-5 contain negatives of photographs depicting Gilmor Brown and Charlie Prickett; Lenore Shanewise; various people in groups, from Fairfax Walkup files; and portraits of unidentified people. Folders 6-9 depict special events and festivities including a Pasadena Playhouse brunch; a buffet dinner on the set of What Every Woman Knows (1931); and unidentified special events, including possibly a Midsummer Drama Festival breakfast (undated).

mssPlayhouse

Batchelder, Crandall, Messer, Pricketts

Opening Hours

Admission Info and Tickets

You might also be interested in

Charles Prickett scrapbook

H. Prickett, Oliver

Gail Shoup oral history interviews

Pasadena Playhouse records

Clippings, correspondence, and programs

Negatives: Various people and events