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Stella Holt
Stella Holt (November 26, 1899 – August 28, 1967) was an American theater producer. She served as managing director of the off-Broadway Greenwich Mews Theater in New York City for 15 years. Early life and education Beatrice Holtzer was born in 1899 in Poland. Her last name was changed from Holtzer to Holt upon immigrating to entering the United States. She changed her first name to Stella, meaning “Star”. She lost her sight at age 17, but said that she found her blindness "no real handicap." "It's very unimportant to me," she told the ''New York TImes''. Holt graduated from Cornell University and initially found employment as a social worker before becoming frustrated by her inability to create meaningful change on behalf of her clients. She shifted her focus to putting on art exhibitions, and said "I found, if any, that my talent lay in organizing." Career Greenwich Mews Theater Holt became managing director of the Greenwich Mews Theater in 1952. She went on to pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach and make contributions in all fields of knowledge—from the classics to the sciences, and from the theoretical to the applied. These ideals, unconventional for the time, are captured in Cornell's founding principle, a popular 1868 quotation from founder Ezra Cornell: "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." Cornell is ranked among the top global universities. The university is organized into seven undergraduate colleges and seven graduate divisions at its main Ithaca campus, with each college and division defining its specific admission standards and academic programs in near autonomy. The university also administers three satellite campuses, two in New York City and one in Education City, Qatar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilbert Price
Gilbert Price (September 10, 1942 – January 2, 1991) was an American operatic baritone and actor. Price was a protégé of Langston Hughes. He was a life member of New York's famed Actors Studio. Price first gained notice in 1964, for his performances in Hughes' Off-Broadway production of '' Jerico-Jim Crow.'' For his work, Price received a Theatre World Award. Early life Price was born on September 10, 1942, in New York City of African-American heritage. In 1960, he graduated from Erasmus Hall High School, where he stood out for both his talent and gentle, easygoing manner. It has been written that while he was a protégé of Langston Hughes, Hughes had become smitten with the young Price. Unpublished love poems by Hughes were addressed to a man Hughes called ''Beauty''; it has been posited these poems referred to Price. Career Price made guest appearances on several television talk and variety shows including ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', Red Skelton, Garry Moore and ''The Merv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vinnette Justine Carroll
Vinnette Justine Carroll (March 11, 1922 – November 5, 2002) was an American playwright, actress, and theatre director. She was the first African-American woman to direct on Broadway, with her 1972 production of the musical ''Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope''. Until Liesl Tommy's 2016 nomination for ''Eclipsed'', Carroll was the only African-American woman to have received a Tony Award nomination for direction. Life and work Carroll was born in New York City to Edgar Edgerton, a dentist, and Florence (Morris) Carroll.McClinton, Calvin A. ''The Work of Vinnette Carroll, An African American Theatre Artist''. Edwin Mellen Press, 2000. She moved to Jamaica with her family at the age of three, and spent much of her childhood there. Brought back to New York at the age of 10, she and her two sisters were the only black students at their New York public school. Her mother was a strong presence who played Arturo Toscanini in the home and disciplined her three daughters wisely.Smith, Kar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerico-Jim Crow
''Jerico-Jim Crow'' is a 1964 musical, with a book written by Langston Hughes and William Hairston. It was a pioneering work in the urban contemporary gospel musical style, based on the themes of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. According to Hughes scholar and biographer Arnold Rampersad, Hughes "virtually pioneered" the black gospel musical, first with ''Black Nativity'' (1961) and then with ''Jericho-Jim Crow''. ''Jerico-Jim Crow'' premiered on Sunday, January 5, 1964, at the Sanctuary Theatre, New York City. It was co-directed by Alvin Ailey and William Hairston and conducted by Hugh Porter, with Marion Joseph Franklin, Jr as associate musical director and musical accompanist, the musical was favorably reviewed in ''The New York Times'' by Richard F. Shepard, who said: "This rousing production is an unabashedly sentimental and tuneful history of the Negro struggle up from slavery." A cast recording was released in 1964 by Folkways Records. Porter, Hugh.Langston ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Actors' Equity Association
The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book or through-storyline (vaudeville, cabarets, circuses) may be represented by the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA). The AEA works to negotiate and provide performers and stage managers quality living conditions, livable wages, and benefits. A theater or production that is not produced and performed by personnel who are members of the AEA may be known as "non-Equity". Background Leading up to the Actors' and Producers' strike of 1929, Hollywood and California in general, had a series of workers' equality battles that directly influenced the film industry. The films ''The Passaic Textile Strike'' (1926), ''The Miners' Strike'' (1928) and ''The Gastonia Textile Strike'' (1929), gave audience and producers insight into the effect and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Playhouse Theatre (New York City)
The Playhouse Theatre was a Broadway theater at 137 West 48th Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City. Charles A. Rich was the architect. It was built in 1911 for producer William A. Brady who also owned the nearby 48th Street Theatre. After Brady died in 1944, it was sold to the Shubert Organization. From 1949 to 1952, it was an ABC Radio studio. ''Sauce for the Goose'' was the opening production on April 15, 1911, closing after 2 performances that day. The Playhouse Theatre was also used for interiors and exteriors in the Mel Brooks film, '' The Producers'' (1967) for staging their musical, ''Springtime for Hitler.'' In 1969, the Playhouse Theatre was razed to accommodate the Rockefeller Center expansion and the construction of 1221 Avenue of the Americas. Notable productions * ''The Family Cupboard'' (1913) * ''Major Barbara'' (1915) * ''The Man Who Came Back'' (1916) * ''The Little Teacher'' (1918) * ''Forever After'' (1918) * ''The Wonderful Thing'' (1920) * ''Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claudia McNeil
Claudia McNeil (August 13, 1917 – November 25, 1993) was an American actress known for premiering the role of matriarch Lena Younger in both the stage and screen productions of ''A Raisin in the Sun''. She later appeared in a 1981 production of the musical version of the play, ''Raisin'' presented by Equity Library Theater. She was twice nominated for a Tony Award, first for her onstage performance in ''A Raisin in the Sun'' (1959), and again for the play ''Tiger Tiger Burning Bright'' in 1962. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for the screen version of ''A Raisin in the Sun'' in 1961. Life and career McNeil was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Marvin Spencer McNeil, who was black, and Annie Mae (Anderson) McNeil, an Apache woman. The family moved to New York City soon after her birth. She was raised by her mother after her father left the family. At the age of 12, McNeil began working for The Heckscher Foundation for Children. There she met a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mel Stewart
Milton "Mel" Stewart (September 19, 1929 – February 24, 2002) was an American character actor, television director, and musician who appeared in numerous films and television shows from the 1960s to the 1990s. He is best known for playing Henry Jefferson on ''All in the Family'' and for playing section chief Billy Melrose on the television series ''Scarecrow and Mrs. King''. Stewart is sometimes credited as Melvin Stewart or Mel Stuart. Career Mel Stewart began his acting career in 1959 with small roles in TV and films. In the early 1960s, Stewart also appeared in the Broadway shows ''Purlie Victorious'', ''The Hostage'', ''The Cool World'', and ''Simply Heavenly''. Stewart's early career also included notable work as a voice actor. He provided the narration for "Scenes in the City", a long jazz composition with a text by Lonne Elder and Langston Hughes that appeared on Charles Mingus' 1957 album A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry. In 1961, Stewart recorded an album ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simply Heavenly
''Simply Heavenly'' is a musical comedy with book and lyrics by Langston Hughes and music by David Martin, based on Hughes' novel ''Simple Takes A Wife'' and other ''Simple'' stories. The story is concerned with Jess Simple, an honest, easy-going man trying to raise enough money to divorce a wife he does not love in order to marry his new love while attempting unsuccessfully to escape a “hussy” called Zarita, who is bent on leading him astray. In the background are the many aspects of Harlem at the time—its jazz, its humor, and the universal problems of paying the rent and buying a shot of gin. It was first produced Off-Broadway at the 85th Street Playhouse for 44 performances from May 21, 1957, before transferring to the Playhouse Theatre on Broadway for 62 performances from August 20, 1957. A London West End production played at the Adelphi Theatre, running for 16 performances from 20 May 1958. The musical was revived by the Young Vic in London in March to April 2003. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilberto Zaldívar
Juan Gilberto Zaldívar (March 28, 1934 – October 6, 2009) was the Cuban-born American co-founder of the Repertorio Español, a Spanish language theater company based in New York City that presents classic Spanish plays, modern works from Hispanic playwrights and adaptions of works from other languages. Zaldívar spent nearly four decades at the helm of Repertorio Español, which he established in 1968 together with Artistic Director René Buch.Rohter, Larry"Gilberto Zaldívar, a Theater Founder, Dies at 75" ''The New York Times'', October 8, 2009. Accessed October 9, 2009. Biography Zaldívar was born in 1934 in the town of Deleyte in Cuba's eastern Holguín Province and attended the University of Havana. In Cuba, he established the Teatro Arlequín, which focused on contemporary works. Zaldívar was hired by the local affiliate of B.F. Goodrich, a position that lasted until 1961 when his personal disagreements with the direction of the government of Fidel Castro led him t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clarice Taylor
Clarice Taylor (September 20, 1917 – May 30, 2011) was an American stage, film and television actress. She is best known for playing Cousin Emma on '' Sanford and Son'' and the mother of Cliff Huxtable Anna Huxtable on ''The Cosby Show''. and Mrs. Brooks in ''Five on the Black Hand Side'' (1973). Biography Born in Buckingham County, Virginia but raised in Harlem, New York, Taylor was best known for her recurring role on television on ''The Cosby Show'' as Dr. Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable's (Bill Cosby) mother, Anna Huxtable. She was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1986 for the role. She was also a regular on ''Nurse'', played Harriet on ''Sesame Street'', and appeared as Grady's cousin Emma on '' Sanford and Son''. Taylor started working in the theatre—with the American Negro Theatre—at a time when there were few opportunities for African-American actors and comedians. To support herself she followed in the footsteps of her father, Leon B. Taylor, Sr., and went to work fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Gunn (writer)
William Harrison Gunn (July 15, 1934 – April 5, 1989) was an American playwright, novelist, actor and film director. His 1973 cult classic horror film ''Ganja and Hess'' was chosen as one of ten best American films of the decade at the Cannes Film Festival, 1973.Gunn, Bill (May 13, 1973), "To be a Black Artist'." ''The New York Times'', p. 121. In ''The New Yorker'', film critic Richard Brody described him as being "a visionary filmmaker left on the sidelines of the most ostensibly liberated period of American filmmaking."Brody, Richard (August 16, 2016)"The Front Row: Ganja & Hess" ''New Yorker''. Condé Nast. Filmmaker Spike Lee had said that Gunn is "one of the most under-appreciated filmmakers of his time." Gunn's drama ''Johnnas'' won an Emmy Award in 1972. Career A native of Philadelphia, Gunn wrote more than 29 plays during his lifetime. He also authored two novels and wrote several produced screenplays. In 1950, Gunn studied acting with Mira Rostova in New York's East Vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
