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The Matchmaker
''The Matchmaker'' is a 1954 play by Thornton Wilder, a rewritten version of his 1938 play ''The Merchant of Yonkers''. History The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce ''A Day Well Spent'' had been extended into the full-length play ''Einen Jux will er sich machen'' by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy in 1842. In 1938, Wilder adapted Nestroy's version into the Americanized comedy ''The Merchant of Yonkers'', which attracted the attention of German director Max Reinhardt, who mounted a Broadway production, which ran for 39 performances. Fifteen years later, director Tyrone Guthrie expressed interest in a new production of the play, which Wilder extensively rewrote and rechristened ''The Matchmaker''. The most significant change was the expansion of a previously minor character named Dolly Gallagher Levi, who became the play's centerpiece. A widow who brokers marriages and other transactions in Yonkers, New York at the turn of the 20th ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — and a U.S. National Book Award for the novel '' The Eighth Day''. Early years and family Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of Amos Parker Wilder, a newspaper editor and later a U.S. diplomat, and Isabella Thornton Niven. Wilder had four siblings as well as a twin who was stillborn. All of the surviving Wilder children spent part of their childhood in China when their father was stationed in Hong Kong and Shanghai as U.S. Consul General. Thornton's older brother, Amos Niven Wilder, became Hollis Professor of Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School. He was a noted poet and was instrumental in developing the field of theopoetics. Their sister Isabel Wilder was an accomplished writer. They had two more sisters, Charlotte Wilder, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West End Theatre
West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1195, Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London. Famous screen actors, British and international alike, frequently appear on the London stage. There are a total of 39 theatres in the West End, with the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, opened in May 1663, the oldest theatre in London. The Savoy Theatre – built as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan – was entirely lit by electricity in 1881. Opening in October 2022, @sohoplace is the first new West End theatre in 50 years. The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) announced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrick McAlinney
Patrick Andrew McAlinney (9 November 1913 – 22 August 1990) was an Irish character actor who starred in many British dramas and sitcoms. His most memorable roles included a brother on the hit sitcom ''Oh, Brother!'', which starred Derek Nimmo, Mr. O'Reilly in ''The Tomorrow People'' and Dr. Daley in ''Bless Me, Father''. His stage work included the original production of Thornton Wilder's ''The Matchmaker'' in London's West End, and its subsequent fourteen month Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (other) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ... run, in 1945–1947. Early life Patrick Andrew "Paddy" McAlinney was born in Lammy near Omagh, County Tyrone, Ireland on 9 November 1913; he was the son of farmer Patrick McAlinney and Anastasia O'Neill. Filmography References External links * * * 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esme Church
Esme Church (10 February 1893 – 31 May 1972) was a British actress and theatre director. In a long career she acted with the Old Vic Company, the Royal Shakespeare Company and on Broadway. She directed plays for the Old Vic, became head of the Old Vic Theatre School and then director of the Bradford Civic Playhouse, with its associated Northern Theatre School. Career In 1916, after training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and RADA, at the invitation of Lena Ashwell, she joined a concert party entertaining troops in France and, at the end of World War I, Germany. Among Church's earliest London appearances was a series of poetry recitals at the Æolian Hall in 1920. In the following year she was in ''The Child in Flanders'' by Cicely Hampton at the Lyric, Hammersmith, the first of several London seasons with the Lena Ashwell Players. In 1926 she progressed, with "high distinction", to the title role of a bored housewife in '' Jane Clegg'' by St. John Ervine at the Ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prunella Scales
Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (''née'' Illingworth; born 22 June 1932) is an English former actress, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy '' Fawlty Towers'', her nomination for a BAFTA award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in '' A Question of Attribution'' (''Screen One'', BBC 1991) by Alan Bennett, and for the documentary series '' Great Canal Journeys'' (2014–2021), travelling on canal barges and narrowboats with her husband, fellow actor Timothy West. Early life Scales was born in Sutton Abinger, Surrey, the daughter of Catherine (''née'' Scales), an actress, and John Richardson Illingworth, a cotton salesman. She attended Moira House Girls' School, Eastbourne. She had a younger brother, Timothy "Timmo" Illingworth (1934–2017). In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, Scales's parents moved with their children to Bucks Mill near Bideford in Devon. Scales herself and her brother were evacua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Morse
Robert Alan Morse (May 18, 1931 – April 20, 2022) was an American actor, who starred in ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', both the 1961 original Broadway production, for which he won a Tony Award, and its 1967 film adaptation; and as Bertram Cooper in the critically acclaimed AMC dramatic series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015). He won his second Tony Award for playing Truman Capote in the 1989 production of the one-man play '' Tru''. He reprised his role of Capote in an airing of the play for ''American Playhouse'' in 1992, winning him a Primetime Emmy Award. Early life Morse was born on May 18, 1931, in Newton, Massachusetts, the second child of May (Silver), a pianist, and Charles Morse, who worked at a record store and managed a chain of movie theaters. He was Jewish. He attended a number of different schools until finding his inspiration in Henry Lasker, a music teacher at Newton High School who, according to Morse, "knew what I had burning in me and wanted t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Hill (Canadian Actor)
Arthur Edward Spence Hill (1 August 1922 – 22 October 2006) was a Canadian actor. He was known in British and American theatre, film and television. He attended the University of British Columbia law school. He studied acting in Seattle, Washington. Early life Arthur Hill was born Arthur Edward Spence Hill in Melfort, Saskatchewan, on 1 August 1922, the son of Edith Georgina (Spence) and Olin Drake Hill, a lawyer. As part of the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, Hill served in the mechanic corps. He attended the University of British Columbia, studying law. He joined the RCAF while in UBC pre-law. After the war, finishing the university degree, he was lured to the stage. Career Hill's Broadway theatre debut was in the 1957 revival of Thornton Wilder's ''The Matchmaker'', playing Cornelius Hackl. In 1963, the Tonys awarded Hill Best Dramatic Actor for his portrayal of George in the original Broadway production of ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' Other Broadway c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosamund Greenwood
Rosamund Mary Greenwood (12 June 1907 – 15 July 1997) was a British actress who was active on screen from 1935 until 1990. Biography After training at London's Central School, she was on stage from the late 1920s. Her theatre work included starring in the original West End and Broadway productions of Thornton Wilder's ''The Matchmaker'' in 1954-1957. In a career stretching 60 years, Greenwood's screen work included ''The Prince and the Showgirl'', ''Night of the Demon'', '' Upstairs, Downstairs'', '' All Creatures Great and Small'', ''Angels'', ''Crown Court'' and ''A Perfect Spy'', and ''Hallelujah!'' in 1983. Her final role, at the age of 83, came in 1990 when she played a witch in the screen adaptation of Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...'s nove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eileen Herlie
Eileen Herlie (March 8, 1918 – October 8, 2008) was a Scottish-American actress. Personal life Eileen Herlie was born Eileen Isobel Herlihy to an Irish Catholic father, Patrick Herlihy, and a Scottish Protestant mother, Isobel Cowden, in Glasgow, Scotland, and was one of five children. She attended Shawlands Academy, on the city's southside. Herlie was trained as a theatre actress. Among her West End London theatre successes were '' The Eagle Has Two Heads'' by Jean Cocteau. She was married twice, to Philip Barrett (m 1942) and Witold Kuncewicz (m 1951), both marriages ending in divorce. She had no children. In 1955 she moved permanently to the United States, where she lived and worked for the last fifty-three years of her life. Career Against the wishes of her parents, she chose to become an actress when she joined the non-professional touring company Scottish National Players in 1938. She subsequently toured with the semi-professional Rutherglen Repertory Company. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolly Gallagher Levi
Dolly Gallagher Levi is a fictional character and the protagonist of the 1938 play ''The Merchant of Yonkers'' and its multiple adaptations, the most notable being the 1964 musical '' Hello Dolly!'' Levi's main profession is matchmaking in Yonkers, New York. She also begins a romantic involvement with businessman, Horace Vandergelder, when she sends his niece on a date with a local town boy. Character Description Plays Dolly Levi is a "widow in her middle years who has decided to begin her life again. She is a matchmaker, meddler, opportunist, and a life-loving woman." She is from Yonkers, New York and was married to Ephram Levi, who dies before the events of the story. She is loud, brassy, and constantly meddling in others' lives. These qualities make her beloved by her hometown. During one of her matchmaking jobs, she meets half-a-millionaire, Horrace Vandergelder, who owns a store in downtown Yonkers. During the story, she attempts to make him fall in love with her, thou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loring Smith
Loring B. Smith (November 18, 1890–July 8, 1981) was an American vaudeville, stage, film, radio and television actor, frequently of broadly comic and gregarious characters who enjoyed a 65-year career in every aspect of the entertainment business. A native of Stratford, Connecticut, Smith left doubt as to the year of his birth. Most of the earliest sources list 1890, by the 1940s, it was 1895, and by the 1950s, the year became 1900. He does, however, have vaudeville and theatrical credits reaching back to the 1910s. While he served in the Tank Corps during World War I, he put on shows for soldiers. A booking agent saw him in a show at Camp Upton on Long Island, and that exposure led to his becoming a professional entertainer. During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, he played hundreds of characters in radio drama, comedy and variety. He also intermittently appeared in films, playing supporting parts in 1941's ''Keep 'Em Flying'', with Abbott and Costello and ''Shadow of the Thin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internet Broadway Database
The Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It was conceived and created by Karen Hauser in 1996 and is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community. This comprehensive history of Broadway provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre in the 18th century up to today. Details include cast and creative lists for opening night and current day, song lists, awards and other interesting facts about every Broadway production. Other features of IBDB include an extensive archive of photos from past and present Broadway productions, headshots, links to cast recordings on iTunes or Amazon, gross and attendance information. Its mission was to be an interactive, user-friendly, searchable database for League members, journalists, researchers, and Broadway fans. The League recently added Broadway Touring shows t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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