At top, a photograph of Chita Rivera, as she rehearsed to take over the role of the Narrator in the national touring production of Zorba in 1969.
Below, a cartoon by Doug Anderson that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on November 6, 1960. It accompanied a feature article about the Jule Styne musical Do-Re-Mi, starring Phil Silvers.
Apparently, the producers of the show liked Anderson's caricature of Silvers so much that they made it the featured image of the show in its advertising campaign. It was even printed (albeit 'flipped' in the other direction) on the original Broadway cast album. Below are some great photographs of Do-Re-Mi from The New York Public Library Online Collection:
Of course, all the drawings of Broadway tryout shows that Doug Anderson drew for the Inquirer during the 50s and 60s were based either on photos that the producers had sent him, or from his attendance at early previews. But Anderson could not have attended any performances of Laurette in Philadelphia, because - as we detail in the episode - they were all canceled when Judy Holliday fell ill. Nonetheless, since Anderson was working on deadline (if you'll pardon the expression) she shown in his cartoon that ran in the Inquirer on October 2, 1960, next to a feature article about Laurette.
Another cartoon by Anderson showing the actor Donald Cook in the show A Shot In The Dark ran in the paper exactly one year later - even though the actor had just passed away. Of course, when tidings of Cook's death arrived in Philly, the Sunday edition of the paper was already printed, and it was too late for the editors to pull the cartoon.
There was also a publicity photograph of Holliday published in the paper, standing with cast members Clinton Kimbrough and Joan Hackett. An earlier backstage photo shows Holliday in her dressing room - an ashtray full of cigarette butts on the table next to her.
I'm not sure if Donald Cook was a smoker, but I would not be at all surprised. Most people smoked in those days. The 1960s, of course was the decade when America finally began to wake up to the dangers of smoking. Despite the protests of the American tobacco lobby, the Surgeon General's warning labels were at least placed on cigarette packs. We can note that many of the fatalities of actors and audience members that we detail in these two episodes about the 60s and 70s were from either cancer or heart disease, both of which can be caused by smoking.
Below, a photo of author Harry Kurnitz next to the original Walnut Street Theatre poster for A Shot in the Dark with Donald Cook's name still on it. I perhaps should mention that Kurnitz (also a heavy smoker), died of a heart attack in 1968.
Above, some photos of the amazing set (designed by Rouben Ten-Artunian) of Castelli's The Umbrella at the Locust Street Theatre in 1962, a production which never made it out of town. Actors Anthony Franciosa, Arthur O'Connell, and Geraldine Page can be seen in the costumes designed by Theoni V. Aldridge.
Above, Doug Anderson's drawing of Vivien Leigh, when she came through Philadelphia for the world premiere of Tovarich in 1963. The actor John Emery, playing the American millionaire, is on the left, and Jean-Pierre Aumont, playing a Russian aristocrat in disguise as a butler, is on the right.
Sadly - and ironically - Leigh came back to Philadelphia in 1966 to perform in the touring production of the Chekhov play Ivanov - co-starring and directed by John Gielgud. She was playing a woman who was dying from tuberculosis. Ironically and sadly, Vivien Leigh - who herself suffered from the long-term effects of tuberculosis - would pass away of lung disease the next year.
Below, a montage of some of the Anderson cartoons in the Inquirer for a passel of great actresses/divas who came through Philadelphia in the Spring of 1964. (Left, Angela Lansbury and Lee Remick in Anyone Can Whistle; Top Center, Tammy Grimes, Beatrice Lillie and Louisa Troy in Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit; Right, Barbara Streisand in Funny Girl; Bottom Center, Josephine Baker, who was giving a week of concerts at the Shubert Theater.)
Above, the Doug Anderson cartoon of the 1966 show Holly Golightly (which was later to be re-titled "Breakfast at Tiffany's - so I guess we can say the title of the show 'died' in Philly, anyway). The cigarette was just a prop, I'm glad to say. (I'm not sure why this blog post is becoming a diatribe against smoking!)
Below, some of the Friedman-Abeles photos (again, from The New York Public Library Online Collection) that I promised to share from the production of the musical with Mary Tyler Moore, Sally Kellerman and Richard Chamberlain. They are followed by an image of a newspaper ad for the production - next to a photo of producer David Merrick, who was perhaps wondering if he should ever have put his name on this show:
Above, an ad depicting Dustin Hoffman in a trash can, for the 1968 show Jimmy Shine, alongside a backstage photo of him with fellow cast members Rose Gregorio and Cleavon Little.
Below, a cartoon from the Philadelphia Daily News (by an artist who signs himself "Norkin") of Hoffman in the show, sketching a girlfriend played by the actress Pamela Payton-Wright. I'm pretty sure neither of them likely cared for this particular caricature, but I offer it up for historical interest.
To end this post a final cartoon (also by "Norkin") from the Inquirer of the 1969 Hal Prince Zorba touring production starring John Raitt as the title character.
We should note that Hal Prince went to the University of Pennsylvania in his youth, and often began the national tours of his shows with a lush prestige version at the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia. He cared about the city and its theater, and would eventually have two stages in the city named after him - the Prince Music Theatre on Chestnut Street, and the Harold Prince Theater at the University of Pennsylvania's West Philadelphia campus.
