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Anna Lucasta (play)
''Anna Lucasta'' is a 1944 American play by Philip Yordan. Inspired by Eugene O'Neill's ''Anna Christie'', the play was originally written about a Polish American family. The American Negro Theatre director Abram Hill and director Harry Wagstaff Gribble adapted the script for an all African American cast, and presented the first performance on June 16, 1944. The play moved from Harlem to Broadway's Mansfield Theatre, running August 30, 1944 – November 30, 1946. The Broadway cast included Hilda Simms, Canada Lee, and Alice Childress. History The play ''Anna Lucasta'' was a breakthrough for writer Philip Yordan, who went on to a prolific career as a screenwriter. The story of a prostitute who struggles for respectability is similar to that of Eugene O'Neill's ''Anna Christie''. Originally titled ''Anna Lukaska'', Yordan's three-act drama was conceived as being about a Polish-American woman and her predatory family. When he was unable to find a Broadway producer for the play, Yord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Yordan
Philip Yordan (April 1, 1914 – March 24, 2003) was an American screenwriter, film producer, novelist and playwright. He was a three-time Academy Award nominee, winning Best Story for ''Broken Lance'' (1954). During the 1950s and 1960s, Yordan acted as a front for blacklisted writers although his use of surrogate screenwriters predates the McCarthy era. His actual contributions to the scripts he is credited with writing is controversial and he was known to some as a credit-grabber. Early life and education Philip Yordan was born to Polish Jewish immigrants on April 1, 1914 in Chicago. From a young age he had taken an interest in writing. As a teenager, he ran a mail-order beauty supply business out of the family basement. Yordan was an avid fan of detective stories; he contemplated a career as a writer. After graduating from high school, he acted at the Goodman Theatre, before earning degrees from both University of Illinois and Chicago-Kent College of Law. A common anecdo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Maddow
Ben Maddow (aka David Wolff; August 7, 1909 – October 9, 1992) was an American screenwriter and documentarian from the 1930s through the 1970s. Educated at Columbia University, Maddow began his career working within the American documentary movement in the 1930s. In 1936 he co-founded the short-lived left-wing newsreel '' The World Today''. Under the pseudonym of David Wolff, Maddow co-wrote the screenplay to the Paul Strand–Leo Hurwitz documentary landmark, '' Native Land'' (1942). He earned his first feature screenplay credit with '' Framed'' (1947). Other screenplays include Clarence Brown's '' Intruder in the Dust'' (1949, an adaptation of the William Faulkner novel), John Huston's ''The Asphalt Jungle'' (1950, for which he received an Academy Award nomination), ''Johnny Guitar'' (1954, credited to Philip Yordan who wrote it on location), ''God's Little Acre'' (1958, an adaptation of the Erskine Caldwell novel, originally credited to Philip Yordan as a HUAC-era "fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in Manhattan. The ceremony is usually held in June. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances. One is also given for regional theatre. Several discretionary non-competitive awards are given as well, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards were founded by theatre producer and director Brock Pemberton. They are named after Antoinette "Tony" Perry, an actress, producer and theatre director who was co-founder and secretary of the American Theatre Wing. The trophy consists of a spinnable medallion, with faces portraying an adaptation of the comedy and tragedy masks, mounted on a black base with a pewter swivel. The rules for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life (magazine)
''Life'' (stylized as ''LIFE'') is an American magazine launched in 1883 as a weekly publication. In 1972, it transitioned to publishing "special" issues before running as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. Since then, ''Life'' has irregularly published "special" issues. Originally published from 1883 to 1936 as a general-interest and humor publication, it featured contributions from many important writers, illustrators and cartoonists of its time, such as Charles Dana Gibson and Norman Rockwell. In 1936, Henry Luce purchased the magazine, and relaunched it as the first all-photographic American news magazine. Its place in the history of photojournalism is considered one of its most important contributions to the world of publishing. From 1936 to the 1960s, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging general-interest magazine known for its photojournalism. During this period, it was one of the most popular magazines in the United States, with its circulation regularly reaching a quarter of the U.S. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee (born Ruby Ann Wallace; October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress. She was married to Ossie Davis, with whom she frequently performed until his death in 2005. She received numerous accolades, including an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Obie Award, and a Drama Desk Award, as well as a nomination for an Academy Award. She was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1995, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2000, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004. Dee started her career with the American Negro Theatre. She made her Broadway debut in '' South Pacific'' (1943). She met her future husband working together on the play '' Jeb'' (1946). She originated the Broadway roles of Ruth Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's '' A Raisin in the Sun'' (1959) and reprised the role in the 1961 film and Lutiebell Gussie Mae Jenkins in the Ossie Davis play '' Purlie Victorious'' (1961) and reprised the role in the 1963 film. She made her film debut in '' T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Randol
George Randol (1895–1973) was an actor, screenwriter, director, and producer of films in the United States. In 1938 he was honored as an influential film executive in a newspaper writeup of the "Negro" film industry. Life and career Randol was born in Buena Vista, Virginia. Randol had numerous theatrical roles. He was a partner in the short-lived Cooper-Randol Production Company of Los Angeles that delivered only '' Dark Manhattan''. He continued on with another partnership. He was in the Broadway production of '' Anna Lucasta''. Filmography Actor *''The Exile ''The eXile'' was a Moscow-based English-language biweekly free tabloid newspaper, aimed at the city's expatriate community, which combined outrageous, sometimes satirical, content with investigative reporting. In October 2006, co-editor Jake ...'' as Bill Prescott *'' The Green Pastures'' (1936) as High Priest *'' Harlem on the Prairie'' (1937) as Sheriff Producer *'' Dark Manhattan'' (1937, executive p ... [...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 Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ... community. History Karen Hauser, research director for the Broadway League, developed the Internet Broadway Database, which was launched in 1996 or 2001. Prior to that, she served as the League's media director. She has written on the economic health of Broadway and how it contributes to New York City's economy as well as that of the cities that touring productions visit. Hauser co-produced the 2000 production of Keith Reddin's ''The Perp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brooks Atkinson Theatre
The Lena Horne Theatre (previously the Mansfield Theatre and the Brooks Atkinson Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 256 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1926, it was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in a Spanish Revival style and was constructed for Irwin Chanin. It has 1,069 seats across two levels and is operated by the Nederlander Organization. Both the facade and the auditorium interior are New York City landmarks. The facade is divided into two sections: the four-story stage house to the west, covered in buff-colored brick, and the three-story auditorium to the east, designed with yellow-beige brick and terracotta. The ground floor, which contains the theater's entrance, is shielded by a marquee. Above is a set of Palladian windows on the second story, as well as rectangular sash windows with lunettes on the third story. The facade is topped by an entablature and a sloping tiled roof. The auditori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Wildberg
John J. Wildberg (September 4, 1902 – February 8, 1959) was an American copyright attorney, who later became a theatre producer. He was born Jacques Wildberg in New York, NY, the eldest son of Jacob and Joan Wildberg. Wildberg's most successful show; Anna Lucasta was produced in 1944. Together with Cheryl Crawford, he co-produced the first revival of Porgy and Bess (1942) and One Touch of Venus (1943). Wildberg's fourth marriage (her third), to novelist Ursula Parrott in 1934, ended in June 1938 on the grounds of his intolerable cruelty. In 1950 his fifth wife took an overdose of sedatives and died in bed next to him. Wildberg had various business ventures in London, England, and eventually moved there in 1951. He died there on February 8, 1959, and was cremated in Golders Green Crematorium. Selected productions * A Woman's a Fool - to Be Clever, October 18, 1938 - October 1938 * Porgy and Bess, January 22, 1942 - September 26, 1942 (co-producer) * Porgy and Bess, Sept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick O'Neal
Frederick O'Neal (August 27, 1905 – August 25, 1992) was an American actor, theater producer and television director. He founded the American Negro Theater, the British Negro Theatre, and was the first African-American president of the Actors' Equity Association. He was also known for his work behind the scenes as a revolutionary trade unionist. Early life and acting career Born Frederick Douglas O'Neal in Brooksville, Mississippi, he was named after abolitionist Frederick Douglass. His father was a teacher and merchant. He had seven brothers and sisters. In 1919, when his father died, the family moved to St. Louis where he started acting professionally in 1927. O'Neal moved to New York in 1936 and worked as a laboratory assistant while studying acting at night. He made his New York debut with the Civic Repertory Theatre. Unsatisfied with the state of black theater, he helped establish the American Negro Theater in 1940 and appeared in a number of its productions. In 1944 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earle Hyman
Earle Hyman (born George Earle Plummer; October 11, 1926 – November 17, 2017) was an American stage, television, and film actor. Hyman is known for his role on ''ThunderCats'' as the voice of Panthro and various other characters. He also appeared on ''The Cosby Show'' as Cliff's father, Russell Huxtable. Singer Phyllis Hyman was his cousin. Life and career Hyman was born in 1926 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, as George Earle Plummer according to the North Carolina Birth Index. He claimed Native American ancestry. His parents, Zachariah Hyman and Maria Lilly Plummer, seeking better educational opportunities, moved their family from the south to Brooklyn, New York, in the late 1920s, where Hyman primarily grew up. Hyman knew at age 4 that he wanted to become an actor after performing a poem at a church play and was determined to become one after seeing a production of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's ''Ghosts''. He studied acting at HB Studio in New York City. He made hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alvin Childress
Alvin Childress (September 15, 1907 – April 19, 1986) was an American actor, who is best known for playing the cabdriver Amos Jones in the 1950s television comedy series ''Amos 'n' Andy''. Biography Alvin Childress was born in Meridian, Mississippi. He was educated at Rust College, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology. When he initially entered college, Childress intended to become a doctor, enrolling in typical pre-med courses. He had no thoughts of becoming involved in acting, but became involved in theater outside of classes. Childress moved to New York City and became an actor with Harlem's Lafayette Players, a troupe of stock players associated with the Lafayette Theatre. Soon, he was engaged as an actor in the Federal Theater Project, the American Negro Theater, and in all-black race film productions such as ''Keep Punching'' (1939). His greatest success on the stage was his performance as Noah in the popular drama, ''Anna Lucasta'', which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
