Seasons at the Theatre

• 1920

Elitch Theatre Connections:

• In 1946 Trowbridge appeared in the film, Shock, with HET Alum, Vincent Price!

Wikipedia Link:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Trowbridge

Opening night to an actor is different from any other performance of the season. Facing a capacity audience for the first time, with drama critics in place to notice every move and hear every word, the anticipation of the performer is immeasurable.’

Opening night at the theater is always a time of tenseness, high-strung emotions, anxiety, eager anticipation and swift responses.

Kenneth MacKenna and Irene Purcell, leads in the 1936 company, are seasoned troupers, but they felt the electric forces that hover in the wings as the footlights flash on and the curtain starts upward.

The Eiitch Gardens Theatre is a playhouse of national reputation. It is big-time – as famous in the summertime amusement world as are the time-honored theaters of New York’s winter Broadway. The whole nation knows it. The impressions scored by a new company there on opening night make theatrical news from coast to coast, and every member of the cast knows it.

That knowledge keys them all to a performance backed by their best efforts – and Denver’s first night audience knows and appreciates that.

[Borrillo, Theodore A. Denver’s Historic Elitch Theatre: A nostalgic journey, 2012. ISBN 978-0-9744331-4-1. OCLC 823177622. p. 185]

Kenneth MacKenna returned for the second successive season as the leading man. Barbara Robbins was the leading lady. A note in the Elitch program states, “Kenneth MacKenna, Barbara Robbins and others of the company hurry up Lookout Mountain practically every evening after the show … They never tire of the view of Denver as seen from Wildcat point”

[Borrillo, Theodore A. Denver’s Historic Elitch Theatre: A nostalgic journey, 2012. ISBN 978-0-9744331-4-1. OCLC 823177622. p. 187]

Seasons at the Theatre

• 1929
• 1936
• 1937

Productions/Roles:

Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:

Elitch Theatre Connections:

Wikipedia Link:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_MacKenna

William Millman was born on 7 May 1883 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor, known for The Lost City (1935), Silent Barriers (1937) and Motive for Revenge (1935). He died on 19 July 1937 in Hollywood, California, USA. [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0589812/]

Our main sources of history — Mary’s biography, Edwin Levy’s Thesis, Rose Lewis’ Thesis, and Theodore Borrillo’s book — offered no additional information about his time at Elitch Theatre. (Mary’s biography lists his name in the appendix, but no actual information on him.)

But, we’ve found a few articles, and his obituary, that offers a glimpse of…L’Estrange!

Mr. Millman passed away in 1937 and we have an obituary from the New York Times (see below.) Text of the obituary is as follows:

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., July 19.- William L’Estrange Millman, an actor, who last appeared on the New York stage in 1933 in “Forsaking All Others,” died here today after a brief illness. He was born in Canada fifty-four years ago. Among the stars whom Mr. Millman had supported in New York theatres were Julia Marlowe, Robert Mantell, Leo Ditrichstein, William Faversham and Tallulah Bankhead. Since 1934 he had been acting in motion pictures. His last screen role was in “The Silent Barrier.”

1937-07-20 William L’Estrange Millman – NYT Obituary

Also, please see the image below of a “program” from his appearance in the summer of 1926. For that season they printed the program on a fan and we have a scan of one surviving copy of the fan. You’ll note that the summer cast was very impressive, he acted alongside Fredric March, Beulah Bondi, Florence Eldridge, Douglas Dumbrille, and Cora Witherspoon! (Click the links to check out the alumni pages for this amazing cast!)

Seasons at the Theatre

• 1926

Productions/Roles:

• 1926: Week of June 12: The Swan, by Ferenc Molnar

Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:

• Mr. Millman appeared with Tallulah Bankhead.

Elitch Theatre Connections:

• In 1918, Mr. Millman appeared on Broadway in the revival of the play, Daddy-Long-Legs, with multiple Elitch Theatre Alumni: Cora Witherspoon, Frances Goodrich, and Charles Trowbridge. In 1926 Ms. Witherspoon and Mr. Millman would appear together in the summer stock cast at Elitch Theatre. [source]

Wikipedia Link:

• No page…but we hope to find more information so we can create one!

Seasons at the Theatre

• 1939
• 1970

Productions/Roles:

• 1970 – Light Up The Sky

Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:

• Sterling received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty (1954) as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Elitch Theatre Connections:

Wikipedia Link:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Sterling

Seasons at the Theatre

• 1968

Productions/Roles:

• 1968 – Glad Tidings

Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:

• 1959 – WIN! Golden Globe for ‘Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy’ – The Ann Sothern Show
• 1955 – Nominee: Primetime Emmy Awards Best Actress Starring in a Regular Series – Private Secretary
• 1987 – Nominee: Academy Award Best Supporting Actress – The Whales of August

Wikipedia Link:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Sothern

Olympia Dukakis, actress in The Time of the Cuckoo, broke her foot the first week the show was on the road. Miss Dukakis designed herself some long gowns, pulled a black stocking over her cast, and the audience saw a lovely graceful lady on stage. Part of the grace was due to the strategic placement of furniture. Miss Dukakis always had something to grasp unobtrusively, rising, sitting, or making an entrance or exit.

[Borrillo, Theodore A. Denver’s Historic Elitch Theatre: A nostalgic journey, 2012. p. 262]

Seasons at the Theatre

• 1966

Productions/Roles:

• 1966 – The Time of the Cuckoo – Signora Fioria

Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:

• Dukakis won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, among other accolades, for her performance in Moonstruck (1987)
• She played the role of Anna Madrigal in the Tales of the City television mini-series, which garnered her an Emmy Award nomination.

Elitch Theatre Connections:

• The 2021 film, Not to Forget, has three of our very favorite alumnae! Check out Karen Grassle as the lead, but supporting roles for Olympia as the Judge and Cloris Leachman as Donna.

Wikipedia Link:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympia Dukakis

June Walker was the first actress to portray the character of Lorelei Lee, in the 1926 Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

“As the first actress to portray Lorelei Lee, June Walker was instrumental in an interpretation that helped define the character. She was said to have ‘played a role that was as much her creation as that of Anita Loos… Tossing her golden curls, blinking her eyes and twirling her waist-length string of pearls,’ Walker’s version of Lorelei embodied the flapper of the Roaring Twenties. The success of the play launched Walker’s career, and she had further Broadway successes.”

[See NYT Obituary]

New York Times Obituary for June Walker:

June Walker, a stage and motion picture actress whose roles ranged from the flapper of the nineteen-twenties to the warm- hearted mothers she played of more recent years, died yesterday at the home of her son, the actor John Kerr. She was 65 years old and had been in ill health for the last five years.

Pearls and Golden Curls

June Walker, tossing her golden curls, blinking her eyes and twirling her waist-length string of pearls, proved for the first time on Broadway that “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

As the first Lorelei Lee she played a role that was as much her creation as that of Anita Loos who wrote the book that became the comedy, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” The play opened at the Times Square Theater on Sept. 28, 1926 and ran for 199 performances.

Miss Walker went on to other successes “The Glass Slipper,” “Waterloo Bridge,” Death of a Salesman” and “Life with Father,” — but few of them brought her the fame and the affection of New York audiences to match her portrayal of the wise little blonde from Little Rock.

Miss Walker was born in New York on June 14, 1900. She was orphaned at the age of 14 and, unhappy with her job as a millinery clerk, decided to try the stage.

At 16, she started in the chorus of “Hitchy Koo” at the Globe Theater. She went on to bit parts, stock companies and Broadway. After playing in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” as the prostitute in “Waterloo Bridge” and in Molnar’s “The Glass Slipper” and “The Farmer Takes a Wife,” she was acknowledged an outstanding and versatile actress.

But despite this success, she said in an interview in 1939 that she was not “so stagestruck,” and explained that the theater “Interferes so much with the things I want to do-be with John, fix the house, see people. But you must make a living, you know.”

Played Laurey Williams

In a memorable role, she caught the mischievous girlishness of Laurey Williams in a 1931 Theater Guild production of “Green Grow the Lilacs.” This folk play, in which she played opposite Franchot Tone and in which Lee Strasberg had the small role of a peddler, became the musical “Oklahoma!”

Miss Walker has been credited with discovering the actor Henry Fonda while he played the young tutor in Molnar’s “The Swan” in summer stock. She proposed him for the male lead in Marc Connelly’s, “The Farmer Takes a Wife.” The 1937 play gave Mr. Fonda his first major stage role and then his first film.

In 1940 Miss Walker appeared in a production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” with Maurice Evans and Helen Hayes.

Brooks Atkinson wrote in The New York Times: “Everyone should feel fortunate in having June Walker play Maria. She speaks clearly, which is a blessing, but beyond that she is honestly hearty in expression of character, running around the stage with genuine excitement over the mischief Maria has invented- full and free in merriment.”

Miss Walker’s son, Mr. Kerr, who appears in the television series “Peyton Place,” is the child of her 1926 marriage to the British actor and playwright Geoffrey Kerr. They were divorced in 1943.

The son, who won critical acclaim for his roles in “Tea and Sympathy,” on stage and in the film, and “Bernadine,” played in Robert Anderson’s “All Summer Long” in 1954. Miss Walker played the part of his mother.

At first, Mr. Anderson was reported to have been worried that blood was thicker than the script. Miss Walker said: “Once the curtain goes up, I forget John is related to me. He’s no different from any other young man in the
theater.”

From 1941 to 1943, Miss Walker toured in the road company of “Life with Father,” playing Vinnie. In 1949, she was the defeated wife of Willie Loman in “Death of a Sales- man.”

Though the major portion of her career was on the stage, she also appeared on radio, television, and motion pictures. Her films included “The Unforgiven” with Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn and “War Nurse” with Robert Montgomery.

“June Walker, 65, First Lorelei Lee: Broadway Star Dies” The New York Times, 5 February, 1966.

Seasons at the Theatre

• 1924

Productions/Roles:

• The Changelings, by Lee Wilson Dood (Week of June 15, 1924)
• Rolling Home, by John Hunter Booth (Week of June 22, 1924)
• The New Poor, by Cosmo Hamilton (Week of June 29, 1924)
• Across the Street, by Richard A. Purdy (Week of July 6, 1924)

Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:

• June Walker was the first actress to portray the character of Lorelei Lee, in the 1926 Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. (The role later played by Marilyn Monroe in the film version.)

Elitch Theatre Connections:

• Here is a great “Six-degrees of Separation” for the theatre… June Walker’s son, John Kerr, appeared in the play, Bernardine, written by Denver playwright Mary Chase, writer of Harvey!

Wikipedia Link:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Walker

HELENE AMBROSE, 62, A FORMER ACTRESS

Mrs. Helene Ambrose Greaza, a stage actress and the wife of Walter N. Greaza, also a stage and screen performer, died yesterday after a long illness at her home, 105-28 65th Road, Forest Hills, Queens. She was 62 years old.

Mrs. Greaza, who appeared here and on stages throughout the country under the name Helene Ambrose, had been in the theater since she was 15. She received her training in stock companies in Toronto, Boston, Dallas and New York.

Among the plays she appeared in were “One Third of a Nation”; “The Life Line”; “The Lone Road” with Otto Kruger and “The Eve of St. Mark.” When World War II ended, she toured in Europe for the U.S.O. in a production of Noël Coward’s “Blithe Spirit.”

Her husband is the sole survivor. Mr. Greaza, who for more than a decade has played in a television serial, “The Edge of Night,” over the Columbia Broadcasting System, has been active for years in Actors Equity, having served as assistant executive secretary. He also is a former shepherd of The Lambs. a theatrical club.

[The New York Times, November 12, 1966.]

Seasons at the Theatre

• 1944
• 1950

Productions/Roles:

• 1944 – 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
• 1950 – 1, 7

Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:

• Meet a Body – Oct 1944 MEET A BODY – AS CARLA THORNE (ORIGINAL)
• The Life Line – Dec 1929 THE LIFE LINE – AS LILLY (ORIGINAL)
• They All Want Something – October 1926 THEY ALL WANT SOMETHING – AS ANNABELLE (ORIGINAL)

Elitch Theatre Connections:

• .

Wikipedia Link:

• (No Wiki Page)

The title of the play Three Goats and a Blanket is taken from an ancient Greek custom of a husband dissolving a marriage and buying his freedom by giving his wife three goats and a blanket. These humble beginnings have been abandoned in favor of alimony, the subject of the play. After the show, Rooney made “a curtain speech likening the plot to Iris personal history (of many marriages), (and stated) ‘You’ll see an exhibit of my wedding cakes in the lobby on the way out.'”

However, it was on the way into the Theatre that patrons were caught off guard. Rooney greeted them as they entered the Theatre lobby and was personally peddling souvenir copies of a booklet of his long theatrical life entitled Photo Memories. In his curtain call speech, he closed by inviting the patrons who had purchased copies of his booklet to meet him for his autograph and to reminisce with him near the picture gallery in the lobby.

The play was written for Mickey Rooney by television writers Bo Hillard and Woody Kling, whose credits include many of the Jackie Gleason shows and other television comedies. Unfortunately, the review of the play may be something that Rooney may wish to exclude from future reminiscing.

(In his performance of the play’s character), Rooney is a walking hangover. He is the leftover taste of the onion in yesterday’s hamburger.

He is – in short – rather gross. Rooney’s face changes shape as easily as a sopping wet, scrunched up washrag. He is all physical and facial mannerisms and grotesqueries; and he has no hesitancy about turning directly to the audience for an aside or two.

Christopher Kirkland described Mickey Rooney as one of the most interesting people ever to play Elitch. Rooney loved the races.

During matinees, he would say every word of the show as fast as he could, so he could get out in time to bet the end of the card at Centennial Race frack. He’d run out 15 to 20 minutes ahead of the scheduled curtain, shouting, “I said every word. I said every word!”

[Borrillo, Theodore A. Denver’s Historic Elitch Theatre: A nostalgic journey, 2012. pp 294-295.]

Mickey Rooney’s Bio from the 1972 See How They Run Program:

MICKEY ROONEY made his vaudeville debut at age two (in a routine with his parents, the late Joe Youle and Nell Carter) and his film debut at age three. Faithful Rooney watchers remember the Mickey McGuire two reelers, when the five-year old talent-loaded moppet impersonated the cigar-chewing, derby-sporting “Fontaine Fox,” comic strip character. Those who tuned in on “The Mick” later on remember all the fun in the Andy Hardy series.

Rooney has made more than 100 feature films. For what once was called a three-handkerchief picture, Boys’ Town tops anything else in the 30’s. Captains Courageous was also pretty special. In a more innocent age, National Velvet was a box office champ, with Rooney topcast with the young Elizabeth Taylor. He was an ideal Huckleberry Finn; winningly “Saroyanesque” in The Human Comedy; O’Neill’s adolescent to the last growing pain in “Ah, Wilderness!”; and as captivating a “Puck” as ever cavorted in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 1939, Rooney received a special Oscar from the Academy. He was nominated for an Oscar the following year for his performance in Babes in Arms and again in 1943 for his performance in The Human Comedy with a supporting actor nomination in 1956 for The Bold and the Brave. He has been nominated for television’s coveted Emmy four times; for his title portrayal of The Comedian, for Pinocchio, for the one-man show Eddie and for Somebody’s Waiting on the Dick Powell Theatre. His enormous popularity is underscored by the Theatre Owners of America naming him box-office champion for three years running, 1938-40.

In 1944, as a member of the Armed Forces, he was assigned to the famous Jeep Show, and until his discharge in 1946, he traveled 150,000 miles, entertaining more than 2,000,000 soldiers. During the Korean conflict, Mickey took his own troupe. of entertainers to Korea and Japan.

The versatile star has scored too, as a director, having helmed an episode of Jean Arthur’s TV series and unofficially served as director of his own TV series, Mickey. One of the most in-demand TV guest stars, he frequently guests on every important Hollywood and New York based shows, including memorable appearances with Red

Skelton, Danny Thomas, Dean Martin and Lucille Ball.

A talented musician, musician, composer and member of ASCAP, “The Mick” plays nearly every musical instrument in the band, and has written several pop and classical songs. In recent seasons, Rooney was a sensational hit on the Los Angeles stage as star of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which he took to Houston for another great success. He was co-starred in Ambush Bay for United Artists as well as Vittorio Gassman in The Devil in Love for Warner Brothers.

[1972 See How They Run program at Historic Elitch Theatre]

Seasons at the Theatre

• 1972
• 1974

Productions/Roles:

• 1972 – See How They Run as Sgt. Major Vinton
• 1974 – Three Goats and a Blanket.

Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:

• Two of his earliest dramatic roles were in National Velvet and The Human Comedy.
• He won a Golden Globe Award in 1982 and an Emmy Award in the same year for the title role in a television movie Bill and was awarded the Academy Honorary Award in 1982.

Elitch Theatre Connections:

Wikipedia Link:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Rooney