Above: Dr. Sidney Bloom, DDS, at work in his dental office in 1966, when he was already the Producer of the Drama Guild, then a community theater group. Four years later he would take the organization professional, and lead it to new heights.
Below, a montage of photos from the Drama Guild, during the early 1970s. UL: Tammy Grimes, Ruby Dee and E.G Marshall in The Imaginary Invalid. UC: Chita Rivera and John Randolph in Born Yesterday. UR: Sidney Bloom in the audience of the Walnut Street Theatre during a rehearsal. DR: Howard Da Silva in Volpone. DC: Imogene Coca in The School for Scandal. DL: Dr. Bloom poses in his office for yet another publicity photo.
Note that the banner ad for the Drama Guild at the 'new' Walnut includes shows that eventually did not end up being produced.
I've been rather neglectful of documenting the work of Douglas Seale at the Drama Guild, I'm afraid. Seale was a RADA-trained British Shakespearean actor. He had turned to directing and producing plays in the 1950s and 60, and worked throughout England, Canada and the United States. He cultivated a distinctive goatee as part of his look.
Seale became the Artistic Director of the Drama Guild in 1974 and stayed until his contract was not renewed in 1980. He later returned to acting, and was a member of the long-running hit Broadway production of Noises Off! in 1983 (playing the perpetually drunk and late again character actor "Selsdon Mowbray"). In his last years, he often was called upon to play Santa Claus in movies and TV shows - including Ernest Saves Christmas (1988).
Below, photos of the actor John Glover when he hired by Seale to perform Hamlet at the Philadelphia Drama Guild in 1977.
