Showing posts with label Theatre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Theatre. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

On This Day...Arsenic and Old Lace(1944).

 So hot on the heels of his 46th film yesterday is Arsenic and Old Lace, Cary Grant's 47th full length feature film. The reason? It was completed two years earlier, but had to wait until the stage show had completed its run.


Cary Grant plays Mortimer Brewster, whose Aunt Abby(Josephine Hull) and Aunt Martha(Jean Adair) are the Old Lace who provide the Arsenic!


"Cary Grant's role as written for the screen is strongly slapstick, but despite the handicap he scores remarkably well." - Citizen News




With Josephine Hull and Jean Adair.

"More is made of the Grant character than on the stage. Indeed, he carries this picture with pantomime, facial expressions and a wild sort of farcical delivery of lines. He is an expert at that."
 - Edwin Schallert, Los Angeles Times.


With Peter Lorre, Raymond Massey, Josephine Hull, Priscilla Lane and Jean Adair.

"I was embarrassed doing it. I overplayed the character. It was a dreadful job for me...Jimmy Stewart would have been much better in the film." - Cary Grant




With Priscilla Lane.


Cast:

Mortimer Brewster           Cary Grant
Jonathan Brewster            Raymond Massey
Elaine Harper                   Priscilla Lane
Abby Brewster                 Josephine Hull
Martha Brewster               Jean Adair
O'Hara                              Jack Carson
Mr. Witherspoon               Edward Everett Horton
Dr. Einstein                       Peter Lorre
Lieutenant Rooney           James Gleason
Teddy "Roosevelt"
Brewster                           John Alexander
Reverend Harper              Grant Mitchell
Brophy                             Edward McNamara
Taxi Driver                       Garry Owen
Saunders                           John Ridgely
Judge Cullman                 Vaughan Glaser
Doctor Gilchrist                Chester Clute
Reporter                           Charles Lane
Gibbs                               Edward McWade
Man in Phone Booth        Leo White
Marriage License Clerk    Spencer Charters
Photographer                    Hank Mann
Umpire                             Lee Phelps


Italian "Arsenic and Old Lace".


Press Article and Publicity Shots.





Lobby Cards:










Directed by Frank Capra.
Produced and distributed by Warner Bros.
Running time: 118 minutes.


Monday, July 27, 2020

On This Day...New York, New York! (1920)


On this day, 28th July 1920, Archie Leach first glimpsed the New York skyline. Landing at Pier 59.

Pier 59.

R.M.S Olympic at Pier 59 in the 1920's.

After staying behind in New York, Archie was to spend the best part of a decade, in New York, appearing in numerous shows.

Introducing ...Archie Leach.

Better Times: 
Hippodrome Theatre,
Sixth Ave. bet W.42nd and W.44th, New York.

Exterior of the Hippodrome.

Interior of the auditorium.

Its revolving stage stretched virtually the entire distance between the numbered thoroughfares.
The ballet corps numbered eighty, the chorus contained one hundred members and required a backstage staff of around eight hundred.
It could also present water ballets.

Cover for the souvenir book for "Better Times"

In "The Land of Mystery" episode, Archie was one of The Joyful Girls.

In the twelfth episode he was one of the Meistersingers.

Opened: 2/9/1922
Closed: 28/4/1923
Total Performances: 405
Music by Raymond Hubbell and Lyrics by R.H. Burnside.

Golden Dawn:
Hammerstein's Theatre.
1697 Broadway at W.53rd Street.

Exterior of Hammerstein's (now the Ed Sullivan).

Interior of the auditorium.

Typical booklet cover.


Archie played Anzac in "Golden Dawn"

Opened: 30/11/1927
Closed: 5/5/1928
Total Performances: 184
Music by Herbert P. Stothart, Emmerick Kalman and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach.

Boom Boom:
Casino Theatre,
1404 Broadway (W.39th)

Exterior of the Casino Theatre.

Interiors of the auditorium.



Booklet cover. Archie played "Reggie Phipps, alongside Jeanette MacDonald.


Cover for the sheet music.

Opened: 28/1/1929
Closed: 30/3/1929
Total Performances: 72
Music by Werner Janssen and Lyrics by Mann Holiner and J. Keirn Brennan.

A Wonderful Night:
Majestic Theatre,
245 W. 44th Street.

Exterior of the Majestic.


Interiors of the auditorium.


Booklet cover.


Archie appeared as "Max Grunewald"

Opened: 31/10/1929
Closed: 15/2/1930
Total Performances: 125

Nikki:
Longacre Theatre,
220 W.48th Street.


Exterior of Longacre Theatre.


Interior of the auditorium.

Archie played "Cary Lockwood", the character from who he took his first name.
The show also starred Fay Wray.

Opened: 29/9/1931
Closed: 31/10/1931
Total Performances: 39

More Stage Appearances:
The Municipal Opera.
At the "Muny" (fifth from the left).


Archie is listed as appearing in:
"Three Little Girls"
"The Street Singer"
"Music In May"
"The Three Musketeers"
"A Wonderful Night" (See above)
"Irene"
and "Rio Rita".

In "The Three Musketeers".


Also appearing in a Pre-Broadway Premiere at the Shubert Playhouse in Wilmington, Delaware.
It was a flop!! Running from 31/10/1928 - 3/11/1928.


An early stage appearance.