Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia

27/01/2024

On our website, there's a blog post to accompany our new episode!

A blog post accompanying Episode 67 of our podcast, "Theatrical Real Estate". Stories of the Shuberts early years, and their theaters in Philadelphia

27/01/2024

New Episode!

The story of the Shubert Brothers, and how they inexorably took control over almost every commercial theater in Philadelphia.

The story of the Shubert Brothers, and how they inexorably took control over almost every commercial theater in Philadelphia - just like they did in the rest of America in the early 20th Century. For a blog post with images of the stories and topi...

27/01/2024

A sound clip from our new episode! Look for it now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast - or wherever you get your podcasts!

26/01/2024

January 26, 1863: The Chestnut Street Theatre - the third venue of that name built in Philadelphia - opened with a performance of the Sheridan Knowles tragedy "Virginius," starring the city's own Edwin Forrest.

Manager William Wheatley, long a fixture in the city's theatrical scene, addressed the opening night audience from the stage. He recalled "Old Drury," a former Chetsnut Street Theatre, which had once stood five blocks to the east, before being closed and demolished in 1854:

"It is with a satisfied feeling of pride I return to Philadelphia, to assume the management of a house which will the recall to the older supporters of theatrical amusements in this city the palmy days of the old Chestnut Street Theatre, while to the younger lover of them, it may repeat, and more than realize, the tales they have been told of a flourishing theatre in the very center of its life and activity."

Turning to the star of the evening, Wheatley said: "Always a great Shakespearean actor, he is one of the few artists - I might with justice say the only one - who has grown greater as years have rolled on . . . Now in the very zenith of his reputation he assists me in the opening of this theatre, and I trust that I shall be able to place upon this stage the tragedian, and plays in which he may appear, with a completeness and artistic finish."

26/01/2024

January 26, 1959: Lorraine Hansberry's new play "A Raisin in the Sun" had its opening night on the Walnut Street Theatre stage in Philadelphia - in preparation for the show moving to New York.

It was not the first public performance of the play - that honor goes to New Haven, Connecticut. The production would go on to one more tryout run in Chicago, before opening on Broadway in March 1959 - at a theater named after Philadelphia's own Ethel Barrymore, appropriately.

Directed by Lloyd Richards, and starring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, and Claudia McNeil, it would be the first hit Broadway play written by an African American woman. Certainly Hansberry was the first Black woman to have her play performed at the Walnut. Lonne Elder, Louis Gossett, John Fiedler, Glynn Turman and Ivan Dixon were also in the cast.

Nonetheless, publicity for the production understandably highlighted the presence of Poitier in the show. Well-known for his work in the films "Edge of the City" and "The Defiant Ones," he was already an up-coming-star. (Perhaps the look of amusement on Ms. Dee's face in the photo was due to the fact that though Poitier might be an enthusiastic singer, he was actually rather tone deaf.)

In his review in the Inquirer the next day, Henry Murdock praised both the strong cast and its direction by Lloyd Richards. As for the play itself, he compared it to the writing of Sean O'Casey in "Juno and the Paycock," and John Osborne in "Look Back in Anger" - -but with "the reason for the anger more firmly pronounced."

"We don't know if Miss Hansberry has written a timeless play, but she certainly has written a timely one," wrote Murdock.

(Spoiler Alert - turned out the play was, in fact, Timeless. "A Raisin in the Sun" is about to have a 65th Anniversary local production at Bristol Riverside Theatre in Bucks County. Lots of great local Philly actors in the cast! See link in Comments.)

25/01/2024

January 25, 1996: Frank X appeared in the Philadelphia premiere of "Lonely Planet," by Stephen Dietz, at InterAct Theatre Company. The drama was staged by director Seth Rozin at the Arts Bank, on Broad and South Street.

In 1980, Frank X had returned to his home city after graduating from New York University, in order to work on plays being done at Theater Center Philadelphia. He had started acting under his full name, Frank X. Holton, but changed it to just Frank X - "Because that's what everyone called me." A frequent performer at InterAct, he had received a Barrymore Award nomination for Best Actor in the play "Louis' Lottery" the previous season.

In "Lonely Planet," the actor played a man named Carl, who acts as a caretaker for the memory of people who have died from AIDS. He does this by collecting the chairs they have used. Over the course of the play, the number of chairs on the stage inexorably increases.

For the production, InterAct actively sought and used actual chairs that had been used by Philadelphia area AIDS sufferers, or that were lent or donated in the memory of them.

Playing the role was an especially poignant one for the actor, who had lost his own brother Jack to AIDS the previous summer. "I feel a need to do this play," said Frank X, "As opposed to wanting to do it." The entire production was dedicated to the memory of Jack Holton.

Frank X would win the Barrymore Award for Best Actor for this performance. He remains one of the most distinguished of Philadelphia's local actors, dedicated to performing in his home city.

24/01/2024

January 24, 1927: The Sigmund Romberg operetta "My Maryland" opened at the Lyric Theatre in Philadelphia, in a pre-Broadway tryout run.

Based upon the old Clyde Fitch drama "Barbara Frietchie," it featured a Civil War romance between a "Union Lover and a Southern Lass." Set in the town of Frederick, the climactic incident of the action was when an old lady implored the invading army of Gen. Stonewall Jackson "Shoot if you must this old grey head/But spare your country's flag!" (According to John Greenleaf Whittier, at any rate.)

The production had spent the early weeks of January in Atlantic City's Apollo Theatre. Philadelphia theatergoers eagerly awaited its arrival:

"Not since the Student Prince has an Atlantic City audience accorded such a reception to a new play," reported the Inquirer. "It is more than a coincidence that the music of both are by Sigmund Romberg."

In fact, the great composer himself was on hand to conduct the orchestra at The Lyric that evening. The Philly papers, predictably, loved the show. "A score of real beauty - excellently acted as well as sung," wrote the Evening Bulletin.

"Mr Romberg's music moves on with a rhythmic vigor," judged the Inquirer. "He is especially expert in chorus writing . . 'Your Land and My Land' runs through the score; it might be called a keynote of patriotic feeling. . . In brief, [it] stands out well from the ruck of musical comedies." Particularly notable in that regard, the critics praised the male chorus of the show - instead of the usual assessment of the pretty ladies of the chorus, common to almost every musical of the day, such as the latest version of "Earl Carroll's Vanities" opening that same day at the Chestnut Street Opera House.

All local journals predicted commercial success for "My Maryland" and its producers, Lee and J.J. Shubert. The show "should enjoy months of prosperity," said the Evening Ledger.

Which was good news for "the Messrs. Shubert" - as they usually billed themselves. They liked to bring out operettas - the economics were favorable to their bottom line - you didn't have to put any expensive stars in the cast, and Romberg's shows always ran forever. In fact, "My Maryland" would go on to be the sleeper hits of the next Broadway season, and made buckets of money for the burgeoning Shubert organization - now the largest producing and theater-owning outfit in America.

23/01/2024

January 23rd, 1887: An ad in the Philadelphia Times announced that J.A. Arneaux and R. Henri Strange would soon star in a production of "Richard the Third" at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.

Notably, both men were referred to as "colored tragedians." In fact, Shakespeare's play would be performed by an "all colored" company of actors.

John A. Arneaux had slowly been building his reputation as a classical actor in New York over the previous two years, working with a group called The Astor Place Tragedy Company.

But there was already a group of African American actors performing Shakespeare in the Quaker City - the Standard Dramatic Company, led by Strange.

Public interest in the production - which was to be done on one night only - was building, especially among the African American population of Philadelphia. Newspaper articles repeatedly referred to Arneaux (using a moniker he had recently awarded himself) as "The Black Booth".

For the whole story, find our two-part podcast series about The Black Booth - featuring the voices of modern-day Philly actors Aaron Bell, Brian Anthony Wilson, Davon Johnson and Bill Van Horn! (Link in Comments)

22/01/2024

January 22, 1949: It was perhaps the most consequential evening of theater ever in Philadelphia. Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" had its first public performance at the Locust Street Theatre, across the street from the Academy of Music.

Miller's new play had been in rehearsals under director Elia Kazan in New York since December of 1948, and had come down to Philadelphia in late January for its only out of town tryout. Both playwright and director were nervous about the performance of their leading man, Lee J. Cobb, as W***y Loman. Would he be up to the demands of the role?

But they need not have worried. As Miller recalled later: "When the curtain came down, some people stood to put their coats on and sat down again, some, especially men, were bent forward covering their faces, and others were openly weeping. People crossed the theatre to stand quietly talking with one another. It seemed forever before someone remembered to applaud, and then there was no end to it."

22/01/2024

The 1920s were the heroic period of theater construction in America. Even those auditoriums built as movie palaces had fully-equipped stages for plays, vaudeville, operas, and concerts.

Administrator Eric Nagy combines the Old with the new.
Philadelphia Hybrid Photography is his time machine. He finds historic photographs and digitally merges them with photos he's taken from the exact same location. What's new? What's old? It's always fascinating to see how much has changed and, in many cases, how much has stayed the same. Here is one of his images.

The Stanley Theatre at 1902-10 Market Street was one of the major motion picture palaces of Philadelphia. This was the second theatre named after Stanley Mastbaum, the late president of the Stanley Co. (which later became Stanley Warner). The original Stanley Theatre’s name was changed to Stanton Theatre (and later Milgram Theatre). The Stanley Theatre opened January 28, 1921 with Cecil B. DeMille’s “Forbidden Fruit” starring Agnes Ayres. Designed by architectural firm Hoffman-Hennon Co., the lobby was 72 feet by 26 feet, lined with rose Travertine marble and had a polychrome vaulted ceiling. The auditorium was in an Adam style design in shades of old rose and ivory. The Stanley Theatre opened with 3,000 seats, but with reseating gradually brought it down to 2,916. The original screen was only twelve feet by sixteen feet. There was a 3 manual, 21 rank Kimball organ.

Jules Mastbaum, who succeeded his brother as president of the Stanley Company, made this theatre into a leading centre for operas and movies. Silent pictures were accompanied by a 55 piece symphony orchestra, the city’s best after the Philadelphia Orchestra (which itself performed once in 1923). The orchestra also played concerts. The stage shows were the city’s best, with stars of stage, screen and radio.

In May 1929, Al Capone was arrested in the Stanley Theatre’s lobby for having concealed weapons.

Because of the large seating capacity, Stanley Warner played many popular movies here. The Stanley Theatre and the Stanton Theatre (later Milgram Theatre) were the major venues for horror films in Philadelphia. In 1931, Bela Lugosi in “Dracula” and Boris Karloff in “Frankenstein” (which had a midnight show) were shown. Fredric March in “Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was shown in 1932, and in 1933, Charles Laughton “Island of Lost Souls” and Fay Wray in “King Kong”. In 1933, the theatre was redecorated to a red velvet and crystal chandeliered interior. In 1935, architect Drew Eberson redesigned the lobby and starting with that year, the entertainment consisted solely of first run pictures. In April 1936, fans crowded the theatre for the visit of Al Jolson for the premiere of his film “The Singing Kid”. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” broke attendance records in 1938, and “Pinocchio” was shown in 1940. Abbott & Costello appeared in person for the opening of their movie “In the Navy” in June 1941. Stars led off by Bob Hope attended the world premiere of “Nothing But the Truth” on September 17, 1941. Greer Garson in “Mrs Miniver” shattered attendance records during a two month run in 1942. Other popular films shown included, Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious”(1946), James Stewart in “It’s a Wonderful Life”(1947), and Humphrey Bogart in “Key Largo”(1948). Frank Sinatra appeared at the October 1953 opening of “From Here to Eternity”. Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront” was shown in 1954.

By 1955, the screen was forty feet wide. In 1957, at the opening of the movie “The Delicate Delinquent” the film’s star Jerry Lewis, appeared on stage. In January, 1958, James Garner appeared in person on the stage for the world premiere of the war feature “Darby’s Rangers”.

In November 1959, much of the auditorium’s ornate decor was covered over with gray drapes in a modernization to the plans of architect William Harold Lee. Cinder block was used to reduce the seating capacity from 2,916 to 2,300, but increased the screen to a huge 64 feet wide. With salmon as the color also of the carpet and rocking chair seats, the auditorium reopened with a gala premiere of Doris Day in “Pillow Talk” on November 10, 1959, with film star Charlton Heston appearing in person. 70mm movies showcased here including Marlon Brando in “Mutiny on the Bounty”(1962), Elizabeth Taylor in “Cleopatra”(1963), Rex Harrison in “My Fair Lady”(1964), Julie Andres in “Thoroughly Modern Millie” (1967), Richard Harris in “Camelot”(1967), Fred Astaire in “Finian’s Rainbow”(1969).

Due to declining patronage, the Stanley Theatre was closed on January 20, 1970, showing the movie “Viva Max!” starring Peter Ustinov and that evening, the previously filmed, fictional ‘Super Fight’ between Rock Marciano and Muhammad Ali, which was shown only in cinemas, and only on that evening. The Stanley Theatre was sadly demolished in 1973. Today, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange stands on the site of the Stanley Theatre.

21/01/2024

January 21, 1963: At the Erlanger Theatre in Philadelphia, the celebrated English actress Vivien Leigh - famous for her film roles as Scarlett O’Hara and Blanche Dubois - made her world premiere debut in the pre-Broadway tryout run of the musical “Tovarich,” a show set in Paris of the 1920s. Her co-star was the French actor and war hero Jean Pierre Aumont.

The international flavor of their collaboration suited the project well. Leigh was portraying the Grand Duchess Tatiana Petrovna and Aumont was her royal consort, Prince Mikail Alexandrovich Ouratieff. The couple had fled Russia during the Revolution, entrusted with a huge pile of the Czar’s money which they are loyally guarding, with hopes of a Romanoff restoration to the Imperial throne. Refusing to spend any of the hoard, they have instead taken the position of domestics in the household of an American oil millionaire, where the charming couple become objects of romantic fascination for the younger members of the family.

“Tovarich” had originally been a 1933 French comedy by Jacques Deval, and it was successfully adapted for the Broadway stage by the American playwright Robert Sherwood in 1935, in a production starring Eugenie Leontovich and Cedric Hardwicke. Now adapted into a musical, it had music by Lee Pockriss and lyrics by Anne Croswell (whose only previous credit was the off-Broadway show “Earnest in Love”). George S. Irving, Alexander Scourby, Louise Troy, and Byron MItchell joined Leigh and Aumont in the company.

If the casting of two decidedly non-singing stars seemed a risky decision, the producers cited the recent examples of Rex Harrison in “My Fair Lady,” and Robert Preston in “The Music Man.” Audiences didn’t just want to sit back and wait for the songs, they wanted stars that could act.

They were publicly mum about the risk they were taking with the health of their big star, however. Amongst people in the show-business industry, at least, Vivian Leigh’s ongoing struggle with manic depression made her a daunting challenge to work with. Her famous marriage to Laurence Olivier had recently ended in flames, and many people who had worked with her during the 1950s had seen her in some of her worst moments. But a recent tour of Australia and New Zealand had done much to restore her reputation, and her relationship with the actor John Merrivale seemed to be a stabilizing influence.

The prospect of seeing Leigh in a major stage production again had certainly made many of her friends and supporters rally round to be present on the opening night in Philadelphia. Local hotels were hosting such luminaries as Noel Coward, Garson Kanin, Ruth Gordon, and Sir John Gielgud. The Western Union office at 11th and Locust was flooded with hundreds of telegrams for her from around the world.

The Philadelphia critics went wild for her too. “Vivien Leigh is one of Nature’s works of art,” enthused Ernest Scheier in the Bulletin - he wrote she was a “vivacious, dancing, singing doll” and the show was a “happy, handsome production.”

In the Inquirer, reviewer Henry Murdock was more restrained about the show, declaring that it really might have been better just to do the original play without the interpolated musical numbers. And though he thought as a vocalist Vivien Leigh was “less than persuasive,” she was “warm and commanding” in the role, and the extravagant comedy of her dancing in such numbers as “Wilkes-Barre, PA” were delightful. Murdock also judged that Aumont had “subdued vocals” but that “he has the grace of portrayal that could carry the show without its music.”

The production of “Tovarich” made its way to Broadway in March of 1963. Despite the lack of Manhattan press attention - due to the ongoing newspaper strike - a performance by Leigh and Byron Mitchell on Ed Sullivan's TV program (see link in Comments) did a great deal to publicize the show. It became a hit with audiences and Vivien Leigh won that season’s Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

20/01/2024

January 20, 1962: "The Umbrella," a play by French author Bertrand Castelli, had its opening night at the Locust Street Theatre.

Taking place in a post-nuclear dystopia, the production's stunning set design, by Rouben Ten-Arutunian, had a translucent plastic curtain, a raked stage with a bathtub, a harmonium, a smashed taxicab, a 40-foot telephone pole, slanting catwalks above, and a huge sewer pipe gaping upstage. The lighting and sound equipment were all visible, and openly operated by the stage crew. Costumes were by Theoni V. Aldredge.

The show was directed by Gene Frankel, and produced by Ketti Frings. Castelli’s dialogue was translated into English by Jack Guss. In the cast were Geraldine Page, Anthony Franciosa, and Arthur O'Connell (who replaced the actor Franchot Tone who had left due to 'artistic differences' during rehearsals).

The umbrella in the play's title was meant to be a metaphor for the various public coverings that all the characters use for protection. Geraldine Page played "a sensuous young woman cloaked in religious garb" (who was really a former pr******te). Franciosa was "a muscular war hero" (who is revealed to be a coward), and O'Connell a "wealthy but unsatisfied businessman (actually a petty chiseler)."

It was an innovative project for Philadelphia audiences, who that same month could have taken in such popular musicals as "Fiorello!" at the Erlanger and "Carnival" the Shubert Theatre - or more conventional plays such as "The Best Man" at the Forrest or "The Aspern Papers" at the Walnut.

But "The Umbrella" was staged in a more Absurdist/Brechtian manner. It was a preview of a method of European-style staging that would soon become widespread in American theater, and that would seem quite familiar to us today. However, it did not go over well with the 1962 Philadelphia opening night crowd, or with the critics.

“There are many puzzling elements in this drama of unlimited time,” wrote Henry Murdock in the Inquirer. “We are not sure whether they contain cryptic messages or are merely loose ends. This hindered the leading actors from generating any sympathy from the audience. He also felt that stage hands visibly climbing the flies, pulling curtain ropes, walking light bridges and manipulating the sound equipment in a kind of Constructivist ‘ballet d’action’ were “intriguing at first, [but] the idea later becomes obstructive.”

According to a review by Jerry Gaghan in the Daily News, it "left a sizable proportion of the audience mystified." He allowed that it was excellently designed and acted, but that "it was one of those anti-form projects that manages to be so formless that the customers do not know whether the show has ended."

The production did not move, as originally planned, to New York.

19/01/2024

January 19, 1880: Von Suppe's comic opera "Fatinitza", produced by the H.B. Mahn's Comic Opera Company, opened for a week’s run at Mrs. John Drew's Arch Street Theatre.

It was a good wintertime entertainment, because the highly popular operetta (based upon the play “Le Circassienne” by Andre Scribe) was set in snowy regions of the Balkans and the Caucasus Mountains, during a war between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Turks.

It was billed as the "Original Fatinitza" because there were several rival national touring companies of “Fatinitza” at the time - at least two others had already passed through various Philadelphia venues in 1879. The Mahn company had already brought their version of the operetta to Philadelphia’s Broad Street Theatre in September, and was back again for a return engagement. In fact, it was “too well known an opera to need any introductory comment,” wrote the Inquirer.

That the Arch Street Theatre was hosting the production this time around may perhaps be attributed to the efforts of its company’s manager, Charles A. Mendum, who was married to Mrs. Drew’s oldest daughter, Louisa. Nonetheless, Mrs. Drew’s confidence in her son-in-law seems to have been justified. "It was a right jolly welcome that Mahn's Comic Opera Company had at the Arch Street Theatre last night," reported the Philadelphia Times. "There was not a vacant seat and scarcely any standing room in the house, and when the curtain rose upon the Russian encampment on the Danube the audience was quick to greet the appearance of all the members of the old 'Fatinitza' cast with hearty applause.”

We must allow for the fact that newspaper reviews of that era were usually written and supplied by the producers of the entertainment - or that local reporters often earned extra income as temporary “press representatives” of touring shows. But it seems that great efforts by all concerned had made that evening in the Arch Street Theatre a delightful one. “After the famous quartette in the first act a mammoth basket of flowers was handed over the footlights and borne away by the dashing Vladimir,” continued the reporter. “'Fatinitza' has not lost its popularity, and certainly the opera has never had a more thoroughly satisfactory performance in this city."

(A full-length color poster of “Fatinitza,” which likely graced the display boxes beside the theater’s entrance doors, is now in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.)

18/01/2024

January 18, 1880: It is reported that the actor and manager William D. Gemmill had been charged with assault and battery. The charges were brought by Sydney Rosenfeld, the playwright of the comedy "Dr. Clyde."

The previous evening, the manager had forcibly ejected the author from the premises of the Chestnut Street Theatre.

"Dr. Clyde" had already been produced the previous year in Chicago, San Francisco, and at New York's Fifth Avenue Theatre. It was a light comedy that Rosenfeld had “freely adapted” from the work of a German playwright, Adolphe L’Arronge. Now in its fourth and final week of performances in Philadelphia, Rosenfeld felt "Dr. Clyde" had reached a level of perfection, and was very reluctant to see its run end.

Rosenfeld, then twenty-five years old, was convinced his moment of theatrical eminence had arrived. Throughout the Philadelphia run, the excitable playwright had attended every show, moving about the house, sitting in the private boxes, talking to audience members, giving the actors of the company additional notes, and generally being a nuisance. When he felt Gemmill's ads in the Philadelphia papers were inadequate, he placed his own lengthy notices in the 'Amusements' sections.

He had not only booked another theater in Philadelphia to hold a special performance of the show - with a combination of the Philadelphia and New York casts - but had also insisted on hosting a gala dinner for his friends on the stage of the Chestnut after an evening performance. Gemmill, deep in preparations for his long-awaited starring role as Hamlet the next week, refused permission for this dinner, though Rosenfeld pretended that he had.

Gemmill, exasperated, banned Rosenfeld from the theater. The author showed up anyway. He bought a ticket at the box office to gain admittance, and then ran to the manager's office and began to berate him. Unmoved, Gemmill sent an assistant for the police and had Rosenfeld arrested. The excitable author was marched by the officers out the front door, and as he went he yelled "MURDER!" to all the astounded patrons in the lobby.

But once he was hauled before the magistrate, Rosenfeld welcomed the opportunity to tell his story in court and the gathered reporters. He even brought charges of assault and battery against Gemmill.

The judge patiently heard the long-winded explanation from the playwright of how he had been wronged, and then dismissed all charges. But all the proceedings were fully reported in the newspapers, which was perhaps Rosenfeld's intention. The playwright continued to attend every remaining performance of "Dr. Clyde," but apparently Gemmill thereafter simply ignored his presence, waiting for the welcome day when the extended siege of the premises would end.

Gemmill's "Hamlet" was staged at the Chestnut Street Theatre the following week. Notices were generally approving, but it proved to be the peak of the 40 year-old actor's career. Eventually he left the Chestnut, exhausted by the duties involved of both acting and management - including taking care of high-maintenance playwrights, presumably.

The special performance of "Dr. Clyde" that Rosenfeld scheduled at Wood's Dime Museum never came off, when the company actors whose appearance he had confidently advertised completely failed to show up - in fact, it seems that Gemmill had paid them not to come! (Hamlet always plays the long game, and gets his revenge in the end.)

Rosenfeld, undaunted, gave an extended speech to his friends and supporters who had assembled, who then mostly left. The regular company at Wood's Museum obligingly put on their own show for those few patrons who remained.

17/01/2024

January 17, 1955: The actress Diana Barrymore opened in the French farce “Pajama Tops” at the Erlanger Theatre. The actor Robert Wilcox was also in the cast, playing her husband - as he was in life.

In the Inquirer, reviewer Henry Murdock reported that “the comedy serves as a vehicle for Diana Barrymore who plays the femme fatale with a curious collection of roars and the general restraint of Jerry Lewis. She has managed all of the extravagances but none of the subtleties of her noted clan. In general the surrounding players take their pitch from her.”

The latest member of the famous “Royal Family of American Theater” to become an actor, Diana Barrymore was also the unfortunate victim of the family tendency to depression, drink and drug dependency. Her earlier promising career, starting at the age of 18, in Broadway shows and Hollywood movies had earned her a following of fans. But she had never really known her father John Barrymore, who left home when she was three. His death in 1942 from chronic alcohol abuse came when she was 20. The subsequent passing of her mother - the former actress-turned-poet went by the pen name “Michael Strange” - had hit her especially hard, and led to more solace from chemicals and bad relationships.

By the early 1950s Diana was suffering from liver disease, and was on her third marriage - each time to an older man who also was an alcoholic. Her inheritance was already squandered, and in 1954 she and Wilcox had signed on to the production of “Pajama Tops” in a desperate attempt to revive their fortunes.

The tour - supposedly in advance of an eventual Broadway booking - had started rockily. In Detroit, a sympathetic Tallulah Bankhead had gone backstage to show Diana how to apply stage makeup - a skill which she had never been taught. (The older actress also tried to counsel her not to “be her own worst enemy, like me. You have a soul, but you’ve spent years trying to destroy it.”)

In Chicago in late December another actress in the company who played the part of the French maid had been fired - for missing shows due to her own drug addiction - and then later tried to take her own life, after also administering pills to her own daughter. (She was found barely alive, the child did not survive.)

By the time the show reached Philadelphia, the tabloids were full of stories of missed performances, drunken backstage fights, and other disasters. The ad in the papers featured blowsily revealing photos of the actress, and promised that Diana Barrymore would appear “in person” (as if that might be in doubt) - but many people showed up just to see the likely train wreck. Tickets were cheap, and offered at a rate of two for the price of one.

The next day, the reviewer in the Camden Courier-Press compared “Pajama Tops” to the worst kind of cheap burlesque, and wrote that the show “handed quite a kick to the teen-agers who abounded in the audience. . . From the opening curtain, Pajama Tops becomes a mental strip-tease, designed to challenge its viewers to guess who would be seduced first.”

Perhaps stung by the notices, the star actress again hit the bottle, and appeared intoxicated onstage. The producer threatened her with punishment by Actors Equity. “You’re nothing but a drunken bum!” he told her.

Although the show never made it to Broadway, it continued its run - despite the star making a su***de attempt in Boston in March. It finally closed in May in New Haven - amazingly, it had made money almost every week it played.

Wilcox and Barrymore’s relationship also did not survive. After a final fight, he left for his hometown of Rochester, New York - but died in his sleep on the train, supposedly of a heart attack. The tortured actress, her career over, penned a bestselling tell-all book called “Too Much Too Soon” - which was even made into a movie. But she never managed to conquer her many demons, and died in January of 1960 at the age of 38.