HOME





University Players
The University Players was primarily a summer stock theater company located in West Falmouth, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, from 1928 to 1932. It was formed in 1928 by eighteen college undergraduates. Notable among them were Eleanor Phelps of Vassar, two undergraduates at Princeton, Bretaigne Windust and Erik Barnouw, and several undergraduates at Harvard, Charles Crane Leatherbee (grandson of American diplomat and philanthropist Charles Richard Crane), Kent Smith, Kingsley Perry, Bartlett Quigley (father of American actress Jane Alexander), anJohn Swope(son of GE President Gerard Swope and later Hollywood and Life Magazine photographer and husband of actress Dorothy McGuire). Several others of its members who had their first professional experiences with the University Players went on to achieve fame in the theater and film industry, including Joshua Logan, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Margaret Sullavan, Mildred Natwick, Aleta Freel, Barbara O'Neil, Myron McCormick, Charles A ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Summer Stock
In American theater, summer-stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock theaters frequently take advantage of seasonal weather by having their productions outdoors or under tents set up temporarily for their use. Some smaller theaters still continue this tradition, and a few summer stock theaters have become highly regarded by both patrons as well as performers and designers. Often viewed as a starting point for professional actors, stock casts are typically young, just out of high school or still in college. Elitch Theatre Summer stock started in Denver, Colorado, at the Elitch Theatre (part of Elitch Gardens). A 1937 article in Time magazine reported: "Elitch's Gardens is the great-grandfather of all U. S. summer stock companies... and nearly every personage in U. S. show business, from General & Mrs. Tom ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Joshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III (October 5, 1908 – July 12, 1988) was an American director, writer, and actor. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing the musical ''South Pacific'' and was involved in writing other musicals. Early years Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan (née Nabors) and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old, his father committed suicide. Logan, his mother, and his younger sister, Mary Lee, then moved to his maternal grandparents' home in Mansfield, Louisiana, which Logan used 40 years later as the setting for his play '' The Wisteria Trees''. Logan's mother remarried six years after his father's death and he then attended Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana, where his stepfather served on the staff as a teacher. At school, he experienced his first drama class and felt at home. After his high school graduation he attended Princeton University. At Princeton, he was involved with the intercollegiate summer stock company, known ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Norris Houghton
Charles Norris Houghton (26 December 1909 – 9 October 2001) was an American stage manager, scenic designer, producer, director, theatre manager, academic, author, and public policy advocate. Houghton is known as an American expert in 20th-century Russian Theatre; as a major force in creating the "off-Broadway" movement; as a student and educator of global theater; and as an influential advocate of arts education. Houghton taught at Princeton, Columbia, and Vassar; his academic career continued at the State University of New York, where he helped create the SUNY Purchase campus and served as founding Dean of Theatre and Film. He wrote many books and articles. His books and papers are preserved for study in several university and college libraries and archives.http://findingaids.princeton.edu/simpleSearch?text1=Norris+Houghton&maxdisplay=50 Abstracts and finding aids for Norris Houghton collections at Princeton libraries and listing of Princeton classes; listing for Norris Hought ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Karl Swenson
Karl Swenson (July 23, 1908 – October 8, 1978) was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor. Early in his career, he was credited as Peter Wayne.Peter Wayne (stage name of Karl Swenson, 1908-78)
at IBDB


Biography


Early years

Swenson was born in ,DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 257. of Swedish parentage. Planning to be a doctor, he enrolled at
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Charles Arnt
Charles E. Arnt (August 20, 1906 – August 6, 1990) was an American film actor from 1933 to 1962. Arnt appeared as a character actor in more than 200 films. Arnt was born in Michigan City, Indiana, the son of a banker. He graduated from Phillips Academy and Princeton University. While at Princeton, he helped to found the University Players and was president of the Princeton Triangle Club theatrical troupe. He became a banker after he graduated from college. In the early 1930s, Arnt acted with the University Repertory Theater in Maryland. On Broadway, he appeared in ''Carry Nation'' (1932), ''Three Waltzes'' (1937), and ''Knickerbocker Holiday'' (1938). In 1962, Arnt retired from acting and began to import and breed Charolais cattle on a ranch in Washington state. Arnt died in Orcas Island, Washington from pancreatic and liver cancer. He was survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter, and four grandchildren. Selected filmography * ''Roman Scandals'' (1933) – Caius ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Myron McCormick
Myron McCormick (February 8, 1908 – July 30, 1962) was an American actor of stage, radio and film. Early life and education Born in Albany, Indiana, in 1908, Walter Myron McCormick was the middle child of Walter P. and Bessie M. McCormick's three children.Digital copy of original enumeration page fro"The Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920 Albany Town, Delaware County, Indiana, January 2, 1920. United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C. FamilySearch, a genealogical on-line database and public service provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. Retrieved May 30, 2017. His father, according to the federal census of 1920, was a native of Illinois and a manufacturer of tinware. He attended New Mexico Military Institute and Princeton University. At the latter he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa Society, gained experience in musical theater, and graduated ''magna cum laude''. Stage McCormick ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Barbara O'Neil
Barbara O'Neil (July 17, 1910 – September 3, 1980) was an American film and stage actress. She appeared in the film '' Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in '' All This, and Heaven Too'' (1940). Early years O'Neil was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Barbara Blackman O'Neil and David O'Neil, a "lumber baron" and poet. Her mother was a socialite and suffragist. She spent her childhood mostly in Europe and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College. Her maternal grandmother was Carrie Horton Blackman, a successful portrait painter. Her parents had a son, David, who died before O'Neil was born. Career O'Neil began her acting career in summer stock. In July 1931, Bretaigne Windust, Charles Leatherbee (the grandson of Charles Richard Crane), and Joshua Logan, the three directors of the University Players, a three-year-old summer stock company at West Falmouth on Cape Cod, were loo ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Aleta Freel
Aleta Freel (June 14, 1907 – December 7, 1935) was an American stage actress. Life and career Freel was born Aleta Freile in Jersey City, New Jersey, the daughter of physician Dr. William Freile and the former Minnie Uchtman. She was educated at the Bergen School for Girls in Jersey City. She graduated from Smith College in 1928. She played leading roles in several eastern stock companies, including the University Players of Old Silver Beach and the Palm Beach Players. Among Freel's stage performances was a role in the play ''Double Door'', which was performed at the Ritz Theater in New York City in Fall 1933. Her Broadway credits include ''Louder, Please'' (1931) and ''Three Times the Hour'' (1931). She was married to Hollywood actor Ross Alexander following a backstage romance. Alexander was originally from Brooklyn, and began his career in New York. He was cast in many Broadway productions, one of which was ''The Ladder''. Death Freel grew depressed as her career fa ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Mildred Natwick
Mildred Natwick (June 19, 1905 – October 25, 1994) was an American actress. She won a Primetime Emmy Award and was nominated for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards. Early life Natwick was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Mildred Marion (née Dawes) and Joseph Natwick. Her grandfather, Ole Natwick, was one of the earliest Norwegian immigrants to the United States, arriving in Wisconsin in 1847. Her first cousin was animator and cartoonist Grim Natwick. Natwick attended the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore and later graduated from Bennett College. Career Natwick began performing on the stage at age 21 with "The Vagabonds", a non-professional theatre group in Baltimore. She soon joined the University Players on Cape Cod. Natwick made her Broadway debut in 1932 playing Mrs. Noble in Frank McGrath’s play ''Carry Nation'', about the famous temperance crusader Carrie Nation. Throughout the 1930s she starred in a number of plays, frequently collaborating with friend an ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Margaret Sullavan
Margaret Brooke Sullavan (May 16, 1909 – January 1, 1960) was an American stage and film actress. Sullavan began her career onstage in 1929 with the University Players. In 1933, she caught the attention of film director John M. Stahl and had her debut on the screen that same year in '' Only Yesterday''. She continued to be a successful stage and film actress, and is most known today for '' The Shop Around the Corner''. Sullavan preferred working on the stage and only made 16 film appearances, four of which were opposite close friend James Stewart in a popular partnership that included '' The Mortal Storm'' and '' The Shop Around the Corner''. Stewart and Sullavan were also close friends of Henry Fonda, to whom Sullavan was married from 1931 to 1933. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in '' Three Comrades'' (1938). She retired from the screen in the early 1940s to devote herself to her children and stage work. She returned to the scr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and raised in Nebraska, Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor and made his Hollywood film debut in 1935. He rose to film stardom with performances in films like '' Jezebel'' (1938), ''Jesse James'' (1939), and '' Young Mr. Lincoln'' (1939). His career further progressed with his portrayal of Tom Joad in '' The Grapes of Wrath'' (1940), receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. In 1941, Fonda starred opposite Barbara Stanwyck in the screwball comedy classic '' The Lady Eve''. Book-ending his service in WWII were his starring roles in two highly regarded Westerns: '' The Ox-Bow Incident'' (1943) and ''My Darling Clementine'' (1946), the latter directed by John Ford, and he also starred in Ford's Western '' Fort Apac ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality he portrayed both on and off the screen, he epitomized the "American ideal" in the mid-twentieth century. In 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked him third on its list of the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, greatest American male actors. Born and raised in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Stewart started acting while at Princeton University. After graduating in 1932, he began a career as a stage actor, appearing on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Summer stock theater, summer stock productions. In 1935, he landed his first supporting role in a movie and in 1938 he had his breakthrough in Frank Capra's ensemble comedy ''You Can't Take It with You (film), You Can't Take It with You''. The following year, Stewart garnered his first of five Acade ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]