A starry affair it is, too, with five legendary names from the stage at mid-century: Helen Hayes, Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Eva Le Gallienne and John Gielgud, all in roles that were associated with them.
About ANTA and this record
The American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA) is a non-profit theatre producer and training organization established by Congress in 1935.
ANTA sponsored touring companies to foreign counties in the 1940s and 1950s, owned the ANTA Theatre (now August Wilson) on Broadway, and helped establish the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center. It also once was the main membership organization for US regional theatre. Today its focus is the National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
In the late 40s, ANTA produced a number of fund-raising evenings in which stars of Broadway would appear in their best-known roles. This record is a spin-off of those evenings, and would be followed quickly by a second and final volume.
These sides originally were issued in a 78 set circa 1949, although the recordings themselves date from as early as 1947 (Victoria Regina). The LP is from 1950, and was in the catalog until at least 1960. As you can see above, my copy is autographed by all the principals; it may have belonged to someone associated with (or a donor to) ANTA.
The person who owned the record unfortunately did not keep the insert that came with it, so a few brief notes about the productions may be helpful.
Victoria Regina
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| Hayes as Victoria |
The Brown character heard on the record is John Brown, who was servant to Albert until the Prince's death. He then became a servant and confidant to Victoria until his own death in 1883. Brown is played by Ian Martin, an American actor of Scottish descent.
The download includes a PDF of the Playbill from the Broadway production, derived from images available here.
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| Gielgud as Richard II |
John Gielgud made a name for himself in the title role of Shakespeare's Richard II at the Old Vic Theatre in 1929. He also returned to the role in later years.
In the first scene on the record Gielgud is John of Gaunt, a role he would adopt later in his career. He is Richard in the second scene.
Years Ago and The Skin of Our Teeth
Years Ago, based on her childhood experiences by actor-author Ruth Gordon, was on Broadway in 1946-47, with her parents played by the husband and wife team of Fredric March and Florence Eldridge.
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| March and Eldridge in the scene on the LP from Years Ago |
In 1955, ANTA would revive the play with George Abbott and Helen Hayes.
Hedda Gabler
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| Le Gallienne as Hedda |
These well-recorded excerpts are all mightily impressive, although I have to say that the March-Eldridge team is let down by their comparatively slight material. I imagine the scene from Years Ago worked well on the stage, but on record it is evanescent. And while The Skin of Our Teeth may have won a Pulitzer Prize, today it seems dated and even a little odd.
Hope you enjoy this; my infrequent posts of spoken word material are always popular, perhaps surprisingly so. My apologies to Jack Gardner for taking so long to get to this.
14 comments:
Link (Apple lossless):
https://www.mediafire.com/?ks4rrwz31w3hevn
Have you ever seen a copy of the Decca Judith Anderson Medea that hasn't been ruined? I have never been able to hear that recording because every library that had a borrowing copy was totally ruined. In the late 1970s I saw a production of Medea that Zoe Caldwell did on B'way where Dame Judith played the nurse. her big scene where she relived watching the wedding turned inflagration was riveting, you could see it all happening in her eyes as she spoke. Totally bowled me over. I always wondered after seeing Zoe Caldwell, what Judith Anderson's Medea was like.
Spoken word stuff is always interesting, Buster. And I'm always fascinated when finding autographed items. I wonder how they came to be wherever I found them when they used to be such cherished items. Just a week or two ago I came home with a CD autographed by John Davidson! OK, so maybe they aren't all such cherished items... :)
Ernie - I remember when I was a young sport finding an early LP autographed by Carmen McRae at a charity sale. Not John Davidson, but I was excited.
Rootie - I am familiar with the set, which I think is on Decca (as is this LP), but I don't believe I have it.
He does some good stuff on this CD, but it's mostly tongue-in-cheek. It's songs that he performed on his cruise ships shows, so they're about being on a boat or being old or dancing with your wife. And the one about how he's going to sing to your wife is pretty funny.
it was a single 12" LP. There were a bunch of those type things that came out of Decca and Columbia in the early 50s up into the 1960s. I still have a copy of the Robeson Otello, the Death of a Salesman, the Soria "JB", the Giegud Hamlet, etc. Interesting stuff.
Yes, I have a few of them, too - John Brown's Body, The Consul, maybe some others.
You're always welcome, Marty.
Thank you Buster! Any of these spoken word albums are like gold to me!
Buster:
Thanks for this and all your other offerings. I saw John Gielgud give an evening of poetry readings once -- mostly Shakespeare, of course, with a bit of T.S. Eliot and others. Gielgud's was the most beautiful speaking voice I've ever heard live.
I hope you'll consider upping the recording of "John Brown's Body". I heard it long ago and have been looking for it.
Thanks again for everything.
Philip in Canada
Philip - I'll see if I can locate it. Thanks for your comments.
This album identifies itself as Vol. 1. Were there ever any other volumes?
There was a second and final volume. (See commentary above.)
Thank you!
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