Sunday, November 28, 2010

Mae West: San Bernadino Upstart

During the 1920s, MAE WEST performed "Diamond Lil" onstage in San Bernadino in an imposing playhouse that seated 1200 — 1400 ticket-holders.
• • California reporter Nita Hiltner has researched the fascinating history of this building that was ahead of its time. According to Nita Hiltner: An elaborate red brick theatre, built in 1882 by mountain man and civic leader James W. Waters (who had traveled with Kit Carson and Herman Brinkmeyer), was furnished grandly with red velvet curtains, box seats, and an orchestra pit. The opera house at D and Court Streets was popular with the celebrities who performed there . . . .
• • Nita Hiltner writes: After James W. Waters died, Martha Kiplinger, his daughter, took over the management of the opera house in 1894 and began bringing in top entertainers such as Sarah Bernhardt, Al Jolson, Lillian Russell, Howard Kyle, Maude Adams, and George M. Cohan.
• • Nita Hiltner adds: From Broadway came magician Harry Houdini, Mae West, Will Rogers, and the Barrymores. ...
• • This is a must-read for theatre buffs and followers of California history, so check out the link while this is still online.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: Southern California's first opera house — — SAN BERNARDINO: The facility was popular with the celebrities of the day who performed there.
• • By Nita Hiltner | Special to The Press-Enterprise
• • Published in: The Press-Enterprise — — www.pe.com/
• • Published on: 27 November 2010
• • Vaudevillians Fields and Carroll • •
• • Mae West performed at Hammerstein's Victoria during August 1912 and Fields and Carroll were on the same stagebill. Harry Carroll, a well-regarded American songwriter, pianist and composer, was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the month of November — — on 28 November 1892. Harry Carroll died on 26 December 1962, in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania. His brilliant career will be the topic of another post.

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Add to Google
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWest
Mae West.

No comments:

Post a Comment