Manuscripts

Negatives: Various people and events

Description: 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).
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: Approximately 1920-1969
Call number: mssPlayhouse
Creator: Pasadena Playhouse(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Gift of Pasadena Playhouse Alumni and Associates,

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

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Lenore Shanewise and Fairfax Walkup

Manuscripts

Materials relating to Lenore Shanewise include awards and honors; clippings and correspondence; performance and portrait photographs; programs from various productions; eulogies for Eugenia Ong (1955) and Gilmor Brown (1960); and some material from her service as a member of the Board of Trustees, including Task Force Committee reports (circa March 1966) and Board meeting minutes (1967). Materials relating to Fairfax Walkup include personal correspondence (1951-1971); her reflections on Gilmor Brown (circa 1960); resumes; and honors and tributes.

mssPlayhouse

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Playbox and other

Manuscripts

Contains portraits of actors and actresses; performance photos from the Playbox; and images of Gilmor Brown and Lenore Shanewise in performance.

mssPlayhouse

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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.

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Pictures for Advertising, undated

Manuscripts

Contains numbered thumbnail and larger line drawings, prints, and photographs of Playhouse affiliates including Gilmor Brown, Lenore Shanewise, students, and others, as well as characters and historical figures including Shakespeare. Also contains imagery including the Pasadena Community Playhouse Association logo, palm trees, and more.

mssPlayhouse

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Events and Environs

Manuscripts

Includes photographs of special events, some identified, and various views of buildings and grounds, including exterior views dated approximately 1935-1945. Also includes prints of artists' renderings of the then-newly-constructed Playhouse by an unidentified artist, 1925, and a metal printing plate depicting the fountain.

mssPlayhouse

Negatives: Various people and events

Opening Hours

Admission Info and Tickets

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Events and Environs