Manuscripts
Commercial Photographs of Pasadena Playhouse, undated
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Silent footage
Manuscripts
Contains scenes from plays; a clip of a student learning about lighting; scenes depicting radio production; and a clip of a student visiting Playhouse founder Gilmor Brown in his office. Also depicts set design and a review of headshots, as well as an actress putting on makeup before going onstage. Approximately 8 minutes.
mssPlayhouse
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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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Portraits and performance photographs
Manuscripts
Contains loose photographs including: performance photograph by Jerome Robinson of Gilmor Brown in an unidentified play; a collage of performance photos captioned "Michael Collins"; one performance photograph by Peter Piper of After the Bell (1937); and a photograph by Jerome Robinson of an unidentified performance. Also contains several unidentified production and publicity photographs; photographs of the wardrobe room, with people viewing costumes; one photograph of fencing instruction; and original designs for Pasadena Playhouse News layouts and for a program for Green Fire, the latter by Pasadena Junior College students.
mssPlayhouse
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Pasadena Community Playhouse
Manuscripts
Contains Pasadena Community Playhouse programs and playbills from 1925-1937; also includes some ephemera and photographs.
mssPlayhouse
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Personal; Pasadena Playhouse
Manuscripts
Contains chiefly personal documents; also includes files concerning Little Theater, Pasadena Playhouse scripts (sides), and clippings.
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.
mssPlayhouse