A sound clip from our new episode!

Herbert J. Biberman, is famous in Hollywood history for being "One of the Hollywood Ten."

But his Philadelphia origin story - and his career in its theater world - is almost completely unknown . . . . because he wanted it that way.

(Link to our website, with all podcast episodes is in our Bio)

#HollywoodTen #hollywoodhistory #phillyhistory #theatrehistory #theaterhistory

New Episode! #theatre #theater #theaterhistory #philadelphia #steelmagnolias

https://www.aithpodcast.com/abigail-adams-and-marcia-saunders-at-peoples-light/

Sak has updated the interface on his site for searching British Library playbills - it's more mobile/tablet friendly, and has all kinds of search options to play with!
https://blplaybills.org/

#theaterHistory #theatrehistory #playbills #MuseTech

October 8th, 1900: "Ben-Hur" came to #philadelphia

The Chestnut Street Opera House hosted the tour of the biggest and most successful Broadway show of the era, starring the handsome star William Farnum.

The show was an adaptation of the 1880 novel "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ" by Gen. Lew Wallace. It boasted a cast of 350 people.

The role of Jesus Christ was by a a 25,000 candle-power beam of light.

#theatre #theater #theatrehistory #theaterhistory

In which Sak Supple shares his experiments with using LLMs to transcribe 18th and 19th century playbills from the British Library - manicules, long 's' and all! 'blplaybills.org: better search results using LLMs' https://www.bl.uk/stories/blogs/posts/blplaybills-org-better-search-results-using-llms

#OCR #TheaterHistory #LLMs #AI #ATR

Have you checked out Sak Supple's https://blplaybills.org/ lately? He's been experimenting with semantic search, and improving OCR for British Library playbills.

A big boon for #TheaterHistory / #TheatreHistory!

Please let him or us know if you have feedback or ideas

📘⭐ The nineteenth-century US entertainment industry through the perspective of an ordinary actor:

'An Actor's Tale : Theater, Culture, and Everyday Life in the Nineteenth-Century United States' - a book from Michigan Publishing on #ScienceOpen:

➡️ https://www.scienceopen.com/book?vid=baf2b2b5-08a4-4e6f-85b4-2b95680aa0b9

#TheaterHistory #PerformanceStudies #CulturalHistory #AmericanStudies

📘⭐ How people can shape a city’s spaces and how a city can shape its people:

'Movable Londons : #Performance and the Modern City' - a book from Michigan Publishing on #ScienceOpen:

➡️ https://www.scienceopen.com/book?vid=63f0f664-c8c3-44e0-b11e-a75aecb3317f

#RestorationTheater #LondonHistory #TheaterHistory #ClassStudies

There have been several establishments called "Central Square Theatre" (or Theater) over the last century or so. The cinema pictured here at 573 Mass Ave (roughly where the alley next to H-Mart is today) opened in March 1919. It was one of dozens built by Nathan Gordon in his "Olympia" theater circuit. It later became part of the Paramount-Publix theater chain, subsequently run by regional operators Martin Mullin and Sam Pinansky (dba M&P Theaters, later as New England Theatres Inc).

Central Square Theatre closed in 1964. This photo is from late 1954 or early 1955. Photo credit at https://dome.mit.edu/handle/1721.3/34238 .

The movie featured on the marquee, Vera Cruz, has the distinction of being the first movie produced using "Superscope" (a widescreen development process that was more cost-effective than Cinemascope, as one could film using standard spherical lenses), and the first US film to be shot entirely on location in Mexico. It starred Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster (also Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson). It was released by United Artists on 25 December 1954, did well at the box office, and was influential on later westerns. Mexican authorities allegedly did not like the way Mexicans were portrayed in Vera Cruz, and applied more stringent monitoring during filming of The Magnificent Seven in 1960.

#CambridgeMA #CambridgeHistory #MassachusettsHistory #TheaterHistory #CinemaHistory #BWphotography