ORSON WELLES Rare "ROMEO & JULIET" Katharine Cornell 1934 Los Angeles Playbill

Description

This is a rare January 22nd, 1934"Playgoer" playbill from the two-week engagement of the legendary KATHARINE CORNELL 1933-34 tour at the Biltmore Theatre in Los Angeles, California. This tour marked the American stage debut of eighteen year-old ORSON WELLES as "Mercutio" in William Shakespeare's "ROMEO and JULIET" ..... The production starred KATHARINE CORNELL as "Juliet" and BASIL RATHBONE as "Romeo" with GUTHRIE McCLINTIC directing. It was the first time either Cornell or McClintic had participated in any Shakespeare production. The play opened November 29th, 1933 at the Erlanger Theatre in Buffalo and was incorporated into a seven-month country-wide tour that would rotate three plays, "Romeo and Juliet", "The Barretts of Wimpole Street", and "Candida". Planned during the height of the Great Depression, many theater experts and actors advised against such an ambitious tour. In fact, this was the first time anyone had tried to take a legitimate Broadway show on an all-country tour, let alone three plays. It took them to cities such as Milwaukee, Seattle, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, San Antonio, New Orleans, Houston, Savannah, and back up the east coast to New England. Because movies had so completely taken over from live theater, there were major areas of the country closed off to the tour. Many of the smaller cities hadn't seen live theater since the First World War, if ever. Nonetheless, box office records were set in most cities and towns. "Variety" reported that the tour gave 225 performances and played to 500,000 people. (Reprinted in part from Wikipedia.) ..... The Los Angeles engagement included six performances of William Shakespeare's "ROMEO and JULIET", five performances of the RUDOLF BESIER play "THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET" and five performances of GEORGE BERNARD SHAW's classic "CANDIDA". The company included KATHARINE CORNELL, BASIL RATHBONE, REYNOLDS EVANS, GEORGE MACREADY, A. P. KAYE, DAVID GLASSFORD, ARTHUR CHATTERTON, CHARLES BROKAW, FRANCIS MORAN, CHARLES WALDRON, LATHROP MITCHELL, IRVING MORROW, WILLIAM J. TANNEN, JOHN HOYSRADT, R. BIRRELL RAWLS, ROBERT CHAMPLAIN, JULIAN EDWARDS, BRENDA FORBES, MERLE MADDERN, ALICE JOHN, HELEN WALPOLE, HARRIET INGERSOLL, MARGOT STEVENSON, FLUSH and ORSON WELLES ..... CREDITS: Sets and Costumes designed by WOODMAN THOMPSON and JO MIELZINER; Choreographed by MARTHA GRAHAM; Directed by GUTHRIE McCLINTIC; Produced by KATHARINE CORNELL ..... DETAILS: The 32 page playbill measures 5 5/8" X 8 1/2" inches and includes full production credits, cast lists, synopsis of scenes and wonderful vintage advertising, but no cast photos or bios ..... CONDITION: With the exception of moderate edge wear, this rare playbill is in excellent condition and will make a wonderful addition to the collection of any theatre aficionado or historian. This item will be carefully packaged in a protective, carded sleeve and backed by stiff cardboard.
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