About Us
Cast & Crew
Contact Us
|
Years ago, while teaching college courses in the History of American Musical Theatre, my research exposed numerous instances of innovation in the art form (“this was the first time…”) as theatrical technologies, along with musical styles and forms, evolved. I began to “collect” such phrases, which later included people, theatrical venues and other occasional oddities, into the collection and organized the data chronologically. |
|
At this site, we focus on historical firsts. Innovation creates history, and this is a collection of innovative events, decisions and inventions. Among other things, the collection includes initial appearances of popular shows, songs and performers. Here, you’ll find descriptions of theatrical firsts in America from 1665 to 2000. Each “historical first” appears in bold type. |
|
Generally, the New York opening is considered the finished form of any work (even if subsequent changes occur during the New York run). For the sake of maintaining some historical perspective, this site covers events through the 1999-2000 season. |
|
Ongoing additions to the site include textual entries and pictures of people and theatrical venues. One project will soon offer links to audio files of songs in the public domain; other improvements may occur as they are invented or suggested. |
|
We owe much to those who have assisted in the development and presentation of this material. Please see our “Cast & Crew” page. To everyone who appears there, I offer my deepest thanks. |
|
Perhaps you will find something here that will initiate your own research. You might want to have an item considered for inclusion at the site (if so, please contact me). You might wish to correct an error that you find here (if so, by all means contact me). You may even find items that will pique your curiosity and motivate you to seek answers. We hope that this site will bring you closer to the theatrical art form that has proven time and again to be our most beloved: the musical. |
|
Wayne Hamilton, MFA 2009 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
Thank you for visiting FirstOnStage.com, a web site that was literally decades in the making. We hope you find the information here useful in your classes, in your research or in exercising your intellectual curiosity. If so, we hope you’ll make a donation to help support FirstOnStage. This information comes to you quickly and easily without the cost of expensive textbooks or hours of searching for the proverbial needle in the digital haystack. Your gift will enable site developers to provide ongoing enhancements, including additional textual content, pictures and audio files. PayPal will safely and securely process the transaction. Thanks for your interest and your generous support! |
|
Visitor Count: |
000079377 |
|
In 1910, an important figure made her first professional appearance on the lyric stage in Ziegfeld's Follies of 1910: Fanny Brice (1891 - 1951). Another future great was standing offstage: Irving Berlin (1888 - 1989). Brice was working as a comic in burlesque when twenty-year-old Irving Berlin asked her to sing one of his songs, called "Sadie Salome." Her performance earned Ziegfeld's attention. Ironically, Irving Berlin's first Follies song appeared in this show as well: "Goodbye Becky Cohen." Bert Williams was the only black actor/singer in this version of the Follies. February of 1913 saw Al Jolson in The Honeymoon Express, which also featured Fanny Brice and, in his first role in a Broadway production, Harry Fox, for whom the Harry Fox Agency is named. The Harry Fox Agency (HFA) is a mechanical licensing, collections, and distribution agency for American music publishers. In 1927, the National Music Publisher's Association established HFA to act as an information source, clearinghouse and monitoring service for licensing musical copyrights. With its current level of publisher representation, HFA licenses the largest percentage of the mechanical and digital uses of music in the United States. Although Fox, who was a singer and dancer as well as an actor, did not introduce it in this show, he is credited with inventing the Foxtrot dance, considered a revolution in ballroom dancing. Before this, Fox had played the title role in a show that originated in San Francisco called Mr. Frisky of Frisco and had appeared in The Passing Show of 1912, a revue. Afterward, he performed in The Ziegfeld Follies, married one of the Dolly Sisters (whose first names were Yancsi and Rozsika; the latter was Harry's wife) and appeared in 16 movies, including Easter Parade. The Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 was the first to cost Florenz Ziegfeld more than a million dollars to stage. Two interpolated songs were hits for this show; the first time Fanny Brice sang her famous renditions of "Second Hand Rose" and "My Man" (originally "Mon Homme") was in this production. The former was written by Grant Clarke and James Hanley, the latter by Channing Pollock and Maurice Yvain. Fanny Brice continued to introduce new classic songs to the American musical stage. May of 1931, in a show called Crazy Quilt, was the first time Brice sang "I Found A Million Dollar Baby In A Five-And-Ten Cent Store" for the public. The song was written by Ted Healy and Phil Baker. Two years after Florenz Ziegfeld died, The Ziegfeld Follies was still being produced. The January, 1934 version included Fanny Brice's introduction of a character she would play for years to come: the bratty Baby Snooks. Also appearing in this version of the Follies were brother-and-sister act Buddy Ebsen and Vilma Ebsen, Eve Arden and, in his Broadway debut, future film and television star Robert Cummings, whose stage name at that time was Brice Hutchins. After a start onstage as a child performer in California, actress Eve Arden (1908 - 1990) appeared on Broadway in two versions of the Ziegfeld Follies (her first in 1934, when she debuted) and returned to Broadway for other shows throughout her career. She appeared in the title role of television's Our Miss Brooks, and in many other TV shows and movies. Funny Girl, based on the life of comedienne Fanny Brice, opened in March of 1964 with Barbra Streisand in the title role. The show was a hit and Streisand became a Broadway star. The book was by Isobel Leonnart and Jule Styne wrote the songs. Among them were two hits: "People" and "Don't Rain On My Parade." Funny Girl was nominated for several Tonys, but the competition from Hello, Dolly! was too great. Whether that competition played a role in Streisand's abandonment of the lyric stage for a lucrative career in Hollywood is a topic of debate, if not conjecture.
|
In 1910, an important figure made her first professional appearance on the lyric stage in Ziegfeld's Follies of 1910: Fanny Brice (1891 - 1951). Another future great was standing offstage: Irving Berlin (1888 - 1989). Brice was working as a comic in burlesque when twenty-year-old Irving Berlin asked her to sing one of his songs, called "Sadie Salome." Her performance earned Ziegfeld's attention. Ironically, Irving Berlin's first Follies song appeared in this show as well: "Goodbye Becky Cohen." Bert Williams was the only black actor/singer in this version of the Follies.