Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals

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Beverly Hills Little Theatre
for Professionals
Formation1931
HeadquartersBeverly Hills, California
Co-founder
Harold Lloyd (pictured with wife Mildred Davis Lloyd in 1926)

The Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals, which grew out of a nationwide little theatre movement, was a playhouse founded by actor Harold Lloyd and others in 1931 in Beverly Hills, California.[1][2] It was originally at the Wilkes Vine Street Theatre and some years later moved to a renovated location on Santa Monica Boulevard.[3] The venue was a 400-seat theater, with the names of the founder-subscribers inscribed on the backs of the seats.[1] An article in Variety stated that Lloyd's mother Elisabeth Fraser Lloyd (listed as Sarah Elisabeth Fraser), Gladys Lloyd Cassell (wife of Edward G. Robinson), and Sam Hardy served on the "coin-raising" (fundraising) committee.[1]

History[edit]

Early years[edit]

Before the theatre opened, it had been rumored around Hollywood as on its way, a natural extension of a national trend called the little theatre movement.[4] Photoplay's pseudonymous gossip columnist, "Cal York," reported overhearing a woman who wrote features for the movie magazines, Franc Dillon, who was one of the earliest supporters and possibly a founder.[4][5] Referring to her as "one of the fond parents of the Beverly Hill Little Theatre movement," he reported her speaking to Kenneth Harlan at Estelle Taylor's estate, and inviting him to be in one of the plays when the theatre would be established in the future.[4] In 1935 Hollywood correspondent Dan Thomas wrote that they chose Beverly Hills because more cinema stars lived there than in Hollywood, and the whole point of the endeavor was involving the stars in stage productions, and inviting scouts to see the shows.[2]

One of its earliest plays in 1932 was The Perfect Alibi, based on a play by A. A. Milne and starring Barbara Kent.[6] In 1933 they produced The Good Fairy by Ferenc Molnár, directed by MGM dramatic coach, director, and UCLA lecturer Oliver Hinsdell, a man Photoplay described as one "who teaches the M-G-M starlets to say 'a-a-a-a—' and pull in the 'tummy.'"[7] It starred Marion Clayton, J. Irving White, Kenneth Thomson, Richard Tucker, Harry Stubbs, Sidney Christie, and Francesca Braggiotti.[8] Eve the Fifth was also performed in December 1933, directed again by Hinsdell and starring Patsy Ruth Miller, Russell Gleason, Mary Jo Ellis, William Burenn, and Paul Hurst.[9] James Ellison was discovered while performing there in 1934.[10][11] In 1933, 1934, and 1935 it performed a money-earner, "The Drunkard," along with a companion piece at Tony Pastor's theatre in New York, "The Drunkard Repents."[12] The 19th-century version was a morality play that was one of the most successful ever until the theatrical version of Uncle Tom's Cabin, but different adapters such as Les Smith in the 30s and Ruth Marion McElroy in the 40s turned it into a popular comedy.[13]

Bitter Harvest was tried out there in 1934 before moving to the Hollywood Playhouse.[14] Hope Loring directed the play Caprice there in 1934.[15] In June 1935 it produced Lea Freeman's comedy A Widow in Green, directed by Dickson Morgan, and starring Grace Stafford, Alden Chase, Daisy Belmore, Colin Campbell, Kathleen Lockhart, Adele St. Maur, Beth Alden, and Viola Moore.[16][17] That same year, immediately following the production, it offered John Entenza's A Notorious Lady, starring Paul De Ricon, Lora Treadwell, Adele Rowland, Grace Hale, and Robert Hoover, directed by Alexander Leftwich.[18][19] In 1935, it also produced The Bellamy Trial, again directed by Dickson Morgan, and starring Barbara Kent and Jack Mulhall.[20][2] Alice Martino of the Cumnock School of Expression and the Pasadena Playhouse was listed as having performed there sometime prior to 1938.[21]

Young talent showcase[edit]

John Craven (right) on Broadway in Our Town, opposite his father Frank Craven. The year before, he got his first stage experience at the Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals.

It was a place for young stars to showcase their talents in the hope of being discovered. In 1937, actor John Craven performed there in The Thirteenth Chair and Noël Coward's Hay Fever, the latter also (possibly) with Joanne Jordan, who was said in her obituary to have acted in Coward plays at the theatre.[22][23] Margaret Early also performed there in 1937, as did Claire Windsor, with Roger Kendal and Judith Arden.[24][25] Elinor Davenport began there in 1937, later performing in the 1942 Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy film I Married an Angel.[26] A group of young singers including Felix Knight, Marguerite Lamar, Robert Grandin, and Eloise Horton, accompanied by Arthur Carr and a string ensemble and emceed by Durward Grinstead, offered a night of "opera vignettes" in 1937.[27] Marie Wilson appeared in three plays there, leading to a contract with Warner Brothers for 1938's Boy Meets Girl.[28] One starlet named Maxine Fife appeared there in 1943 when she was just a senior in high school.[29] Her subsequent movie studio contract required a judge's signature because she was under age.[29] She certainly wasn't the youngest to launch her career there In 1945 Jill St. John had her first stage role at the Little Theatre at age five.[30] Lila Leeds also appeared there as a teenager in 1945, starring in one of the then-popular campus comedies.[31] An actor named Howard Johnson produced a play there when he was a youth, saving $125 from his allowance (the anecdote may be tongue-in-cheek) for the expenses of the Emlyn Williams play Night Must Fall. He was discovered by John Cousins of the Musart and went on to work with Laird Cregar.[32]

Theda Bara

A place to transition from stage to film, or from silent to talking pictures[edit]

The theatre filled a necessary gap between stage and film. From its start Variety noted that Hinsdell expected to use film actors in the plays to make it a showcase that would attract talent scouts.[3] It also functioned as a way for actors to get back in front of studio eyes after a hiatus, and to demonstrate their vocal skills for the newer medium of sound movies. For example, Gene Stratton (stage name of Gene Stratton Monroe), granddaughter of author Gene Stratton-Porter, used to star in silent films based on her grandmother's books such as Keeper of the Bees, Laddie, and Freckles, all of which were turned into talking films in the mid-1930s.[33] She acted at the Little Theatre in 1932. Columnist and producer James Leo Meehan – who happened to be her mother's second husband – noted that she hoped to use that stage to show that she could transition to the talking pictures (presumably because it was a place to hear their voices).[33] Also making a rough transition from silent film, Theda Bara appeared there in Bella Donna in 1934, while she was married to Charles Brabin, with an audience reception that author Norman Zierold described as "more polite than enthusiastic."[34] She later retired from acting. UCLA used appearance at the theatre as evidence an actor was working, for example noting in 1935 that young actor Morton Kiger gained stage experience there.[35] It was also a place for New York actors to continue to work on stage while on the opposite coast.[2]

Trivia[edit]

Mildred Davis Lloyd, for whom the theatre prize was named, and little theatre co-founder Harold Lloyd.

For three years, from 1932 to 1935, with its partner Vine Street Theatre, it also produced films under the name Mirror.[36]

In 1935 a new theatre (the same playhouse in an improved venue) was announced as forthcoming, presumably at the Santa Monica boulevard address, and it was said to cost an estimated $100,000.[2] Boosters hoped it would rival New York's Theatre Guild for influence.[2] In 1938, an architecture magazine announced that Edwin Drake was renovating the "old" Beverly Hills Little Theatre building for his own group, the Patio Playhouse, but it is unclear when the Little Theatre actually changed locations.[37]

In 1936 two of the theatre's actors, Martha Chapin and Elaine Johnson, were photographed by the Los Angeles Times as they readied an old horse car for a fundraising fair to be held on the Harold Lloyd Studios lot.[38] The president and chair of the board from 1931 until at least 1936 was listed as Golda Madden Craig, and she coordinated the fair with Lloyd's mother Elisabeth Fraser Lloyd.[39][38] The little theatre movement was also listed as a potential beneficiary.[38]

Players could participate in an annual drama tournament hosted by the Los Angeles County Drama Association showing some of the reach of the little theatre movement in California. In 1933 the Los Angeles Evening Post-Record listed twelve little theaters in its region alone, including the Monrovia Players with Sad About Europe, the University College Players of USC with Listening, the Inglewood Community Players with The Cajun, the Little Theatre of the Verdugos with Out She Goes, the Dramateurs Polytechnic High School with The Geranium Lady, the Beverly Hills Community Players with The Mirage, the San Pedro Repertory Players with The Monkey's Paw, the University Dramatic Society of UCLA with Magoromo, a Japanese noh drama, the Touchstone Drama Shop of USC with Night in the Inn, and a surprise guest performance by the Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals.[40] They competed for the Mildred Davis Lloyd trophy, named for Harold Lloyd's wife.[40]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Bronze Monikers: Harold Lloyd No. 1 on Seatbacks of Bevhills Midge". Variety. 30 October 1934. p. 3. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Thomas, Dan (10 May 1935). "Movie Gossip". The Bradenton Herald. p. 6.
  3. ^ a b "Film Training School (con't from page 1)". Variety. 8 December 1931. p. 21.
  4. ^ a b c York, Cal (September 1928). "Gossip of All the Studios". Photoplay. 34 (4): 50 – via The Internet Archive.
  5. ^ Franc Dillon would go on to join an all-woman publicity team of the J. Walter Thompson company. The team was created and headed by Maxine Smith. "From the Production Centers: In Hollywood," Variety, 22 December 1943, p. 32.
  6. ^ Carroll, Harrison (16 May 1932). "Behind the Scenes in Hollywood". The San Mateo Times and Daily News Leader. p. 12.
  7. ^ Hayes, Jeanne. "Little Girl, Don't Cry! Hollywood deals harshly with wild-eyed youngsters who want to be slinky heroines". Photoplay. 45 (4): 108 – via The Internet Archive.
  8. ^ "Molnar's 'Good Fairy' for Beverly Hills Group". Variety. 28 March 1933. p. 45.
  9. ^ "Bevhills' Next". Variety. 5 December 1933. p. 52.
  10. ^ McClure, Arthur F.; Jones, Ken D. (1972). Heroes, Heavies and Sagebrush: A Pictorial History of the "B" Western Players. South Brunswick and New York: A. S. Barnes & Company. p. 44.
  11. ^ Ramsays, Terry (ed.). International Motion Picture Almanac. New York: Quigley Publishing Company. p. 324.
  12. ^ Mantle, Burns (1935). The Best Plays of 1934-35, and the Yearbook of the Drama in America. New York: Dodd, Mead. p. 31.
  13. ^ M., E.; D., H. (8 September 1944). "Sophistication Marks Naive Play of the '90s". The Carmel Pine Cone. p. 2.
  14. ^ "Rogers in 'Ah' Grabs Big $13,000". Variety. 5 June 1934. p. 55.
  15. ^ Dumont, Hervé (2006). Frank Borzage: The Life and Films of a Hollywood Romantic. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 400. ISBN 978-0-7864-2187-9.
  16. ^ "Hollywood Vine Street Quits Films for Legit". Variety. 22 May 1935. p. 54. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  17. ^ "Stage Event Due Tonight: Vine-Street Will House 'Widow in Green'". The Los Angeles Times. 3 June 1935. p. 19.
  18. ^ Mantle, Burns, ed. (1935). The Best Plays of 1934-35, and the Yearbook of the Drama in America. Dodd, Mead, and Company. p. 31.
  19. ^ "Coast (Cast?) "Notorious Lady"". Variety. 5 June 1935. p. 44. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Society". The Covina Argus (Covina, California). 26 April 1935. p. 5.
  21. ^ "'Summer Storm' Opens at South Pasadena Little Theatre June 23". The Highland Park News-Herald (Los Angeles, California). 20 June 1938. p. 7.
  22. ^ The Playbill, New York Theatre Program Corporation, 1938, 22.
  23. ^ "Jordan, Joanne (obituary)". The Los Angeles Times. 19 September 2008. p. 13.
  24. ^ "Wicked Hollywood". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 13 June 1937. p. 36. Retrieved 23 March 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ York, Cal (April 1937). "Cal York's Gossip of Hollywood, Photoplay's Newsreel". Photoplay. 51 (4): 30–31 – via The Internet Archive.
  26. ^ "Contracts". Variety. 20 October 1937. p. 11. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  27. ^ "Music and Musicians: Words and Music". The Los Angeles Times. 14 February 1937. p. 5.
  28. ^ Cheatham, Maude (May–October 1938). "Beloved scatterbrain: Wacky or wistful? Marie Wilson ia a little of both, and Hollywood's best new comedy bet". Screenland. 37 (3): 34–35, 76–77 – via Internet Archive.
  29. ^ a b "Court Approves Film Contract". The Los Angeles Times. 31 March 1943. p. 10.
  30. ^ Holston, Kim (2000). Starlet: Biographies, Filmographies, TV Credits and Photos of 54 Famous and Not so Famous Leading Ladies of the Sixties. Jefferson, North Carolina; London: McFarland. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-7864-0935-8.
  31. ^ "Lila Leeds Insists that Her Home is No 'Marijuana Shack': Rented it because it's 'so feminine,' she says". The Los Angeles Times. 3 September 1948. p. 2.
  32. ^ "Romantic Hero Now Really Character Man, Says One". The Los Angeles Times. 24 September 1941. p. 11.
  33. ^ a b Meehan, Leo (9 January 1932). "From Hollywood". Motion Picture Herald. p. 28. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  34. ^ Zierold, Norman J. (1973). Sex Goddesses of the Silent Screen. Chicago: H. Regnery Company. p. 55.
  35. ^ "Wide Variety of Experience Shown in Play's Minor Roles". The California Daily Bruin (UCLA campus newspaper). 20 November 1935. p. 4.
  36. ^ "'Legion' Okay in L.A., $6,200". Variety. 5 June 1935. p. 47.
  37. ^ "Theater Notes". California Arts & Architecture. 41 (2–3): 6. July 1938 – via The Internet Archive (misdated 1926).
  38. ^ a b c "Horse Car Being Washed Up for Benefit, County Fair to be Given at Studio". The Los Angeles Times. 11 July 1936. p. 3.
  39. ^ Hollywood Herald. Hollywood Herald, Limited. 1931. p. 8.
  40. ^ a b "Annual Drama Tournament Next Week". The Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. 18 February 1933. p. 5.

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