Series I: New York Theatre, 1900-1937

This series is comprised of a diverse range of early 20th-century publicity, production, and portrait photography. Images document Broadway stage works, set design, costumes, and stars canonical and obscure. Early genres such as musical comedy, revivals, operetta, melodrama, farce, and the much imitated revue shows and spectaculars pioneered by Florence Ziegfeld are depicted, as well as their more mature evolutions following World War I. A majority of the series photographs are attributed to White Studios, Broadway's foremost photography agency in the early twentieth century. Other credited artists include Jean de Mirjian, notorious for risque and visually striking imagery, and Vandamm Studios, the most notable successor to White Studios.

The images in this series have been organized into three subseries: 1) Theatrical Productions (alphabetical by production) 2) Theatrical Portraits (alphabetical by sitter) 3) Theatrical Stage Sets (alphabetical by production) and 4) Musical Revues and Vaudeville.

Subseries I.1, Theatrical productions, includes publicity and other photographs from comedies, dramas and musicals. Prominent producers featured in the subseries include George M. Cohan, with Nearly Married (1913), It Pays to Advertise (1914), The Miracle Man (1914), The Intruder (1916), Going Up (1917), The Acquittal (1920); and the Shubert brothers, with The Inner Man (1917), The Masquerader (1917), Little Simplicity (1918), The Dancer (1919). Also included are works by members of the prestigious Playwrights Company: Sidney Howard's Dodsworth (1934), Elmer Rice's Counsellor-at-Law (1932) and The Left Bank (1932), and Maxwell Anderson's High Tor (1937). Additional highlights include first theatrical Pulitzer Prize recipient Why Marry? (1918), Broadway's "longest-running flop" The Ladder (1927), Yiddish productions, and several stagings of Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado.

Female stars often proved the most lucrative box office attractions during this era, and are well-represented in the subseries. Notable examples include: Ina Claire, witty star of fast-paced high comedies, includingPolly With a Past (1917), The Gold Diggers (1919), Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1921), The Awful Truth (1922), and Ground for Divorce (1924); Helen Hayes, the "First Lady of the American Theatre," in Bab (1920), We Moderns (1924), and Coquette (1927); Billie Burke, in The Amazons (1913), The Happy Husband (1928), and The Rescuing Angel (1917); Katharine Cornell, in The Age of Innocence (1928), Barretts of Wimpole Street (1931), Casanova (1923), and The Outsider (1924); and Eva LeGallienne, in Lilliom (1921) and La Locannderia. Later Hollywood stars John Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, Paul Muni, and Fredric March also appear.

Subseries I.2, Theatrical Stage Sets, encompasses tableau photography of production sets including Naughty Cinderella (1925), featuring the costume and scenic design of preeminent fashion designer Paul Poiret.

Subseries I.3, Theatrical Portraits, consists of individual studio portraits and production photographs labelled by performer. Worldwide star Maude Adams joins recurrently depicted performers Dorothy Gish, Minna Gombell, Edna Hibbard, Mary Howard, Francine Larrimore, Margaret Lawrence, Margaret Lee, Bruce McRae, and others.

While narrative musical productions are included in the first subseries, images of vaudeville, comedy, and music performers, acts, ensembles, and dance numbers have been separately filed in Subseries I.4, Musical Revues, Dance and Vaudeville. Subjects include landmark productions Floradora and Roberta; revue shows presented by leading impresarios George M. Cohan, George White, Billy Rose, Earl Carroll, and Irving Berlin; Florence Ziegfeld's Follies and other productions at the Winter Garden and New Amsterdam Theatre; Happy Days, The Wars of the World, and other large-scale productions at the New York Hippodrome; and an unidentified 1911 image labelled "First Tango on American Stage." Individual portraits feature sitters billed as vaudevillians, dancers, singers, and other novely acts including many Ziegfeld and Earl Carroll "Follies Girls" such as Lulu McConnell, film and gossip column star Geneva Mitchell, and Princess White Deer.

Images throughout this series are often stamped with photographer's credit and variously include subject name, date, and other information. Some photographs also feature publicity captions on the verso. A small selection of photographs have been laminated, and are housed separately, as depicted in the container list.