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E. Drexel Godfrey Theater Scrapbooks

 Collection
Identifier: MS163

  • Staff Only
  • No requestable containers

Scope and Contents

Scrapbooks contain personal comments, playbills, photo clippings from theatrical magazines, and approximately 1900 black & white photographs documenting performances from 1906 to 1928.  Photos are attributed to professional photographers and studios, and include individual and group shots of each show's cast on stage in costume, as well as portraits of individual actors.  A portrait photograph of Godfrey, the compiler of these scrapbooks, is included at the beginning of volume B.

The vast majority of productions represented in the scrapbooks come from New York theatres.  Other theatre locales represented here include London, Paris, and San Francisco, as well as smaller theatres in Germany, Austria, and New Jersey.  Godfrey attended numerous theatres in New York, but visited some quite regularly: Maxine Elliott's, Knickerbocker, Belasco, Lyric, Garrick, Lyceum, Metropolitan Opera House, Casino, New Amsterdam, Harris, Hudson, and others.

Some well-known performers tied to these productions include Ethel Barrymore (vols. F, H, J, L, M, Q, Y, Z), John Barrymore (vols. D, Q, R), Lionel Barrymore (vols. Q, R, S), Douglas Fairbanks (vols. J, L), Fred and Adele Astair (vols. O, X, 2), the Marx Brothers (vol. X), Sarah Bernhardt (vol. E), Billie Burke (vol. N), and Basil Rathbone (vol. Z).  Notable productions include Lionel Barrymore in Macbeth (vol. S), Bela Lugosi in Dracula (vol. 2), and Fred Astair in Funny Face (vol. 2).  Also notable is the first production of Show Boat at the Ziegfeld Theatre (vol. 2), as well as the Ziegfeld production immediately preceding that, Rio Rita (vol. 1).

The dates Godfrey attended each production are written above each pasted-in playbill.  Many productions were attended multiple times.

Dates

  • 1906-1928
  • Other: Date acquired: 01/08/2010

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on use of the materials in the department for research; all patrons must comply with federal copyright regulations.

Extent

25.00 Volumes

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Edwin Drexel Godfrey and his wife, Fanny, resided in New York and attended the theatre productions compiled here between 1906 and 1928. The E. Drexel Godfrey Theater Scrapbooks contain personal comments, playbills, photo clippings from theatrical magazines, and approximately 1900 black & white photographs documenting performances from 1906 to 1928. Photos are attributed to professional photographers and studios, and include individual and group shots of each show's cast on stage in costume, as well as portraits of individual actors.

Arrangement Note

Scrapbooks are arranged in chronological order.

Source of Acquisition

Gift

Method of Acquisition

Gift in memory of Caroline W. Lindahl; received from Rachel Williams in 2010.

Separated Materials

None.

Processing Information

Processed by Benn P. Joseph, 2010.

Title
Guide to the E. Drexel Godfrey Theater Scrapbooks
Author
Benn P. Joseph
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
eng

Library Details

Part of the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Deering Library, Level 3
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston IL 60208-2300 US
847-491-3635