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Al Jolson-Entertains American troops
Al Jolson was the first performer to entertain American troops in WWII, even before Bob Hope! A few years later he did the same in the Korean War. -
The U.S. enters WWII after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Declaration of War against Japan -
Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!"
Rogers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" is produced -
Audrey Hepburn-Ballerina before actress
Audrey Hepburn resided in the Netherlands, which was under German occupation. By 1944, the Germans had executed her uncle, one of her brothers was in a labor camp and one brother was in hiding. Audrey Hepburn helped the Dutch resistance by dancing in secret productions to raise money for the resistance. She even carried secret messages in her ballet shoes. -
Albert Camus's "Caligula"
Albert Camus's Caligula is produced. The postwar mood was very different in Europe than in the U.S. Camus reasoned that existence is absurd because the human longing for clarity and certainty is met with and thwarted by the irrationality of the universe. It is also absurd because one can neither rid oneself of the desire for order nor overcome the irrationality that stands in the way of order. Absurdist playwrights' ideas broke from tradition but they did use traditional dramatic structure. -
United States drops A-bombs
The U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. -
WWII Ends!
Japan surrenders after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. WWII ends on August 14, 1945 -
Antoinette Perry dies
On June 28, 1946, one day before her 58th birthday, Antoinette Perry had a fatal heart attack. She had done so much to lead the American Theatre, and for the Broadway community as a whole. Brock Pemberton proposed the Antoinette Perry Award be established in her honor to recognize achievement on Broadway. At the initial event in 1947, when he presented the award, he called it a ‘Tony‘. Today, the American Theatre Wing still presents the Tony Awards in her honor. -
Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire"
Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar named Desire is produced -
Marlon Brando
On December 3, 1947, a young Marlon Brando first delivered the anguished cry “Stella” across the Ethel Barrymore Theatre during the debut performance of Tennessee Williams’ drama A Streetcar Named Desire. -
Gypsy Robe created
In 1950, chorus girl Florence Baum inadvertently created the “Gypsy Robe,” a rite of passage that would become one of Broadway’s favorite traditions. On opening night of a Broadway musical, the robe is bestowed upon the chorus member with the most Broadway credits. After circling the stage and dressing rooms, the show's costume department adds a small, durable memento. Once robes are entirely covered with Broadway artifacts, they are retired; past robes can be found at the Smithsonian. -
Yul Brynner as the King
For the part of the King in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s, "The King and I", they wanted Rex Harrison. But he was booked, as was Noel Coward. Alfred Drake made demands deemed too high. A short time before rehearsals began, Mary Martin suggested Yul Brynner. Shall we say, the rest is history. -
Agatha Christie's "The Moustrap"
Agatha Christie’s murder-mystery play “The Mousetrap” premiered at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. It ran for almost 9,000 shows until 1974, after which the play was moved to St. Martin’s Theatre, where it still runs today. It is considered the longest continuously-running play in history. -
Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"
The most influential of the absurdist playwrights was Samuel Beckett. Absurdist playwrights believed that making rational and meaningful choices was impossible in an irrational world. Their plays embodied their vision of the world consisting of chaos, lack of order, logic or certainty. They also reflected a world that was irrational and in which truth is unknowable. The label "absurdist" was derived by Camus' description of the human condition as "absurd". -
Tenneessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is produced -
Arthur Miller marries Marilyn Monroe
After the two wed, in 1956, the House of Un-American Activities Committee refused to renew his passport, and called him in to appear. His 1953 play, The Crucible, a dramatization of the Salem witch trials of 1692 and an allegory of McCarthyism, was believed to be why Miller came under scrutiny. He refused to comply with the committee’s demands to “out” people who had been active in certain political activities and was thus cited in contempt of Congress. It was overturned 2 years later. -
Andrew Lloyd Webber writes Six Pieces
Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a suite of six pieces at the age of nine. His aunt Viola, an actress, took him to see many of her shows and through the stage door into the world of the theatre. -
"The Sound of Music" Broadway Opening
Mary Martin was 45 when she created the role of 22 year old Maria von Trapp in the Broadway opening of "The Sound of Music". She opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 16, 1959, and stayed in the show until October 1961. (Mary beat her friend Ethel Merman for the Tony Award that year.) "The Sound of Music" was the last musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
It closed on June 15, 1963, after 1,443 performances.