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| DEBURAU 1920 A tragicomedy in four acts adapted by Granville Barker from the French of Sacha Guitry. Produced by David Belasco at the Belasco Theatre, December 23, 1920. THE PLAYERS Lionel Atwill, Elsie Mackay, Bernard A. Reinhold, Hubert Druce, Joseph Herbert, Rowland Buckstone, Margot Kelly, Pauline Merriam, Marie Bryar, Isabel Leighton, Edmund Gurney, Sidney Toler, Helen Reimer, Lydia Burnand, St. Clair Bayfield, Eden Gray, Rose Coghlan, John Roche, Sallie Bergman, Georgie Ryan, Morgan Farley, John L. Shine, Fred Bickel, Robert Roland. REVIEW Heywood Broun in the New York Herald Tribune: “It is not a great play but it is a work of such distinction that some statement must be made at the outset. Particularly the statement is necessary because there are moments when Deburau seems a great play, moments in which a thing now dead, which we call the grand manner, is animated so eloquently that is seems to be again the one true and perfect mood of The Theatre...though Deburau is a ghost, it is an apparition of sufficient stature to strike home to all beholders.” |
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| BROADWAY PLAYS 1920-1961 |
| THE LAWBREAKER 1922 A melodrama in four acts by Jules Eckert Goodman. Produced by William A. Brady at the Booth Theatre, February 1, 1922. THE PLAYERS Frank Sheridan, Clifford Dempsey, John Cromwell, Frederick Bickel, William Courtenay, Morgan Wallace, Frank Sylvester, John Milton, Herbert Rathke, Blanche Yurka, Marguerite Maxwell. REVIEWS Alexander Woollcott in The New York Times: “Capital performances of general promise are thrown in for good measure by two young people, Frederick Bickel and Marguerite Maxwell. Mr. Brady has done quite well enough by the play. Percy Hammond in the New York Herald Tribune: “A remarkably unaffected performance of the banker’s weak and troubled son by Frederick Bickel.” |
| THE MELODY MAN 1924 A comedy in three acts by Herbert Richard Lorenz. Staged by Lawrence Marston and Alexander Leftwich at the Ritz Theatre, New York, May 13, 1924. THE PLAYERS Eleanor Rome, Jerry Devine, Fred Starwer, Joe Lindwurm, Dave Stryker, Al Schenck, Bill Tulker, Louise Kelley, Eva Pulk, Donald Gallaher, Sam White, Renee Noel, Betty Weston, Fredric March, Lew Fields, Jules Jordan, Joseph Torpey, Sara Chapelle, Jimmy Kapper. REVIEW John Corbin in The New York Times: “Neither the best nor the worst of its kind. The only question of importance with regard to it is just how easy it is to amuse those who are easily amused.” |
| PUPPETS 1925 A melodrama in three acts by Frances Lightner. Produced by Brock Pemberton at the Selwyn Theatre, New York, March 9, 1925. THE PLAYERS Ralph J. Locke, Fredric March, Michelette Buroni, Frank McDonald, Remo Bufano, Ascanio Spolidaro, Florence Koehler, Dwight Frye, C. Henry Gordon, Elizabeth Taylor, Miriam Hopkins, Stanley Grand, Charles D. Brown, Alexis M. Polianov. REVIEW Alan Dale in the New York American: “Perhaps the best work of the evening was contributed by Fredric March as one of the Italian lovers...but [the play] proved to be very small potatoes and if all the speaking parts could be cut out and the marionettes substituted, it would be rather nice.” |
| HARVEST 1925 A play in three acts by Kate Horton. Produced by Messrs. Shubert in association with John Cromwell at the Belmont Theatre, New York, September 19, 1925. THE PLAYERS Louise Closser Hale, Elmer Cornell, Augustin Duncan, Ethel Taylor, Hilda Sprong, Wallace Erskine, Fredric March, Ronald Savery. REVIEW Burns Mantle in the New York Daily News: “For the better part of two hours, six or seven generally dull and uninteresting people sit around a Michigan farm house boring themselves and all within earshot. They talk much of their miseries, of the threatened failure of the corn crop, and particularly the complete failure of their lives....Fredric March is not one of the rotten Marches known to Michael Arlen and The Green Hat. In fact [he] is rather a nice juvenile.” |
| THE HALF-CASTE 1926 A play in three acts by Jack McClellan. Produced at the National Theatre, New York, March 29, 1926. THE PLAYERS John Gray, William Ingersoll, Isabel O’Madigan, Helenka Adamowska, Gertrude Moran, John O’Meara, Charles Lawrence, Fredric March, Veronica, Morris Armor, William Herring, Mabel Morgan, Bernice Hampshire, Leone Merriam, Virginia Bedford, Silvia Stoll, Henry Clark, David Munson, Charles Opunul, David Manaku, Gordon St. Cloud, James Kulalia, Frederick Perry, John O’Meara. REVIEW Percy Hammond in the New York Herald Tribune: “It was all a brazen and half-conscious caricature, depending on sensational outbreaks to sell itself to the drama lovers. Fredric March, a good-looking and temperamental youngster, impersonated the unlucky debauchee as well as possible.” |
| THE DEVIL IN THE CHEESE 1926 A fantastic comedy in three acts by Tom Cushing. Produced by Charles Hopkins at the Charles Hopkins Theatre, New York, December 29, 1926. THE PLAYERS: Fredric March, Dwight Frye, Robert McWade, Catherine Calhoun Doucet, Linda Watkins, George Riddell, Bela Lugosi, Earl MacDonald, Frank Norman Hearn, Hooper Bunch, Joseph Hazel. REVIEW Percy Hammond in the New York Herald Tribune: “Bright in its genial satire at times, it is at others a routine bib-and-tucker show, written for the nurseries...if you like cleanly dream plays sprinkled with picturesque melodrama, presenting sex as a lamb rather than a raging lion, you may enjoy yourself....An unaffected actor named Fredric March plays the hero handsomely.” |
| YR. OBEDIENT HUSBAND 1938 A comedy in three acts by Horace Jackson. Produced by Maxwell Productions, Inc. at the Broadhurst Theatre, New York, January 10, 1938. Staged by John Cromwell. Settings by Jo Mielziner. THE PLAYERS Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Dame May Whitty, Brenda Forbes, Frieda Altman, Martin Wolfson, Marilyn Jolie, Harold Thomas, Walter Jones, Helena Glenn, Leslie Austin, John Pickard, Ethel Morrison, A.J. Herbert, Katherine Stewart, Montgomery Clift. REVIEW Brooks Atkinson in The New York Times: “Mr. Jackson’s eighteenth-century pastiche is written without much tingle in the lines or ideas and Mr. March plays it literally...he wears his costumes handsomely and plays with an attractive good will. But under the earnestness of his deportment in the drawing room there is little of the recognition of humor that underlies all good comic acting. To Mr. March, Mr. Steele is serious business.” |
| THE AMERICAN WAY 1939 A spectacle play in two acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Music by Oscar Levant. Produced by Sam H. Harris and Max Gordon at the Center Theatre, New York, January 21, 1939. Staged by George S. Kaufman. Lighting and technical direction by Hassard Short. Settings by Donald Oenslager. Costumes by Irene Sharaff. THE PLAYERS Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, James MacDonald, Eileen Burns, Jean Shelby, John Lorenz, Hugh Cameron, Le Roi Operti, Allen Kearns, Mary Brandon, Adrienne Mardon, Alan Hewitt, David Wayne, Walter Kelly, Stephen Sands, Dar Sayers, Alex Courtney, Edward Elliott, Dicky Van Patten, Elinor Pittis, Claire Howard, Richard Lloyd, Walter Beck, Barbara Woodall, Gretchen Davidson, Witner Bissell, Jack Arnold, George Herndon, Ward Tallman. REVIEWS John Anderson in the New York Journal-American: “No audience that I can remember in my time in the stage aisle has been so shaken with emotion as we all were at the Center Theatre....Here was no longer a theatre but a place of pilgrimage, no time to sit in judgment but to stand at attention. Salute!” Burns Mantle in the New York Daily News: “An expensive stage show, filled with crowds and hoopla, that rises now and then to moving heights by reason of its honest acting and playing. Especially fortunate is it in having enlisted the services of Fredric March, who has come back from Hollywood apparently, to recover such prestige as he sacrificed in playing “Yr. Obedient Husband” a year ago....Well, Fredric may look in his mirror and indulge a smile of satisfaction this morning. He gave as finely sustained a characterization as the simple hero, as any actor has given in any drama this season....Florence Eldridge gives fine support.” |
| HOPE FOR A HARVEST 1941 A drama in three acts by Sophie Treadwell. Produced by the Theatre Guild at the Guild Theatre, New York, November 26, 1941. Staged by Lester Vail. Supervised by Lawrence Langner and Theresa Helburn. Settings by Watson Barratt. THE PLAYERS Helen Carew, Judy Parrish, Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, John Marny, Arthur Franz, Shelley Hull, Edith King, Alan Reed, Doro Merande. REVIEWS Richard Watts, Jr. in the New York Herald Tribune: “Because [the play] has something of importance to say, and says it with sincerity, one has from the start a sympathetic concern with it and a far deeper respect for its heart and mind than for more expert dramas of lesser integrity. It really is striving to speak to the soul of America with gravity and idealistic fervour. The unfortunate thing is that in expressing the author’s heartfelt interest in the future of the nation in a time of desperate crisis, the play goes in for some unpersuasive and undramatic theatrical matters which destroy the greater part of its effectiveness.” Burns Mantle in the New York Daily News: “Mr. March, with the fine sense of character that has brought him many successes...manages to make something more than a playwright’s prig out of Cousin Elliott. Miss Eldridge’s heart as well as her talent has gone into the playing of Carlotta.” |
| THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH 1942 A fantastic comedy in three acts by Thornton Wilder. Produced by Michael Myerberg at the Plymouth Theatre, New York, November 18, 1942. Staged by Elia Kazan. Settings by Albert Johnson. Costumes by Mary Percy Schenck. THE PLAYERS Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Tallulah Bankhead, E.G. Marshall, Reno Buffano, Andrew Ratousheff, Dick Van Patten, Frances Heflin, Montgomery Clift, Arthur Griffin, Ralph Kellard, Joseph Smiley, Ralph Cullinan, Edith Faversham, Emily Lorraine, Eva Mudge Nelson, Stanley Prager, Harry Clark, Elizabeth Scott, Patricia Riordan, Florence Reed, Earl Sydnor, Carroll Clark, Stanley Weede, Seumas Flynn, Aubrey Fossett, Stanley Prager, Harry Clark, Stephan Cole, Morton Da Costa, Eula Belle Moore, Viola Dean. REVIEWS John Anderson in the New York Journal-American: “[What] Mr. Wilder is trying to say is by no means news but it is eternally pertinent since it is forever remembered, and always forgotten. It is the fact that humanity is as indestructible as its hopes, that from the glacial age up to right now, from the invention of the wheel to the perfection of high-altitude bombing, man is forever improving himself, and eternally falling down in ruins, forever building and tearing down, but that somehow, through hell, high water and, as the playbill says, “double feature movies,” he manages to survive.” Howard Barnes in the New York Herald Tribune: “March plays the poor fool who goes on trying to make something of the wreckage of the world with immense power and Miss Eldridge is right behind him in giving a parallel human sympathy and warmth....The Skin of Our Teeth is a bit crazy, but it is a vital and wonderful piece of theatre.” |
| A BELL FOR ADANO 1944 A drama in three acts by Paul Osborn, based on a novel by John Hersey. Produced by Leland Hayward at the Cort Theatre, New York, December 16, 1944. Staged by H.C.Potter. Setting and costumes by Motley. Lighting supervised by William Richardson. THE PLAYERS Fredric March, Everett Sloane, Gilbert Mack, Tito Vuolo, Silvio Minciotti, Joe Verdi, Leon Rathiu, Miriam Goldine, Alma Ross, Florence Aquino, Harold J. Stone, Margo, Bruce MacFarlane, Jack Arnold, Fred Barton, Harry Selby, Michael Vallon, Mario Badolati, Doreen McLean, Albert Raymo, Charles Mayer, J. Scott Smart, Rolfe Sedan, Clark Poth, Alexander Grenach, Phil Arthur, Rex King. REVIEWS Burton Roscoe in the New York World-Telegram: [We have the problem] of first learning what democracy, freedom and justice mean. They are not merely principles but principles in action- in all things big and little. Many Americans who think they know what democracy is, don’t. Ward Morehouse in the New York Sun: Mr. March brings humaness and warmth and force to the role of the understanding, high-minded and sentimental soldier of Italian parentage who tells the GIs why they’re in Europe and what is expected of them....A war play of great vitality. |
| YEARS AGO 1946 A comedy in three acts by Ruth Gordon. Produced by Max Gordon at the Mansfield Theatre, New York, December 3, 1946. Staged by Garson Kanin. Setting by Donald Oenslager. Costumes by John Boyt. THE PLAYERS Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Patricia Kirkland, Bethel Leslie, Jennifer Bunker, Richard Simon, Seth Arnold, Fredric Persson, Judith Cargill; a cat. REVIEW Brooks Atkinson in The New York Times: “A pleasant, sentimental comedy, beautifully acted...and since Fredric March is playing the part, Miss Gordon’s father will now have to be added to the gallery of stage worthies to be remembered and respected. For Mr. March, acting in very high fettle indeed, has created a vigorous, colorful character out of many simple details...In Mr. March’s playing [the character] is a marvelously entertaining person. For this is character acting of great distinction by a master of the craft who has not lost his respect for unrenowned people.” |
| NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP 1950 A comedy in three acts by Elaine Ryan. Based on the novel by Ludwig Bemelmans. Produced by Nancy Stern and George Nichols III at the Broadhurst Theatre, New York, March 2, 1950. Staged by Hume Cronyn. Settings by Wolfgang Roth. Costumes by John Derro. THE PLAYERS Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Lili Valenty, Ray Poole, Charles Chaplin, Jr., Henry Guertel, Charles Mayer, Stefan Schnabel, Henry Lascoe, Norman Barrs, Richard Abbott, Helen Seaman, Rick Jason, Rene Paul, Booth Colman, Philip Gordon, Gregory Morton, Thomas E. Noyes, Robert McCahon, Harold E. Gordon, Sally Anne Parsons, Jacqueline Dalya, Hope Miller, Helen Scamon, Rudy Bond. REVIEW Howard Barnes in the New York Herald Tribune: “The acting supports a dozen or more scenes with great effect. March swaggers delightfully as the general, wearing fancy costumes with aplomb and working out his love life with comical inflections. Miss Eldridge is not far behind him....[The play] has great wisdom as well as humor- it is not all of a piece but it brightens the season immensely. |
| AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE 1950 A play in three acts by Henrik Ibsen. Adapted by Arthur Miller. Produced by Lars Nordenson at the Broadhurst Theatre, December 28, 1950. Staged by Robert Lewis. Sets and costumes by Aline Bernstein. Production stage manager, Robert F. Simon. THE PLAYERS Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Morris Carnovsky, Art Smith, Michael Strong, Martin Brooks, Ralph Robertson, Richard Trask, Ralph Dunn, Anna Minot, Fred Stewart, Lon Gilbert. REVIEW Richard Watts, Jr. in the New York Post: Fredric March...gives a vigorous and earnest performance, being particularly effective in his scene of defiance to the mob. Florence Eldridge does well with what little she has to do as the loyal wife....Robert Lewis’ direction is properly vital. It is interesting to note the timeliness of Ibsen but on the whole, I would rather see Mr. Miller writing his own plays. |
| THE AUTUMN GARDEN 1951 A comedy in three acts by Lillian Hellman. Produced by Kermit Bloomgarden at the Coronet Theatre, March 7, 1951. Staged by Harold Clurman. Settings by Howard Bay. Costumes by Anna Hill Johnstone. Production supervisor, Dee Hughes. THE PLAYERS Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Ethel Griffies, Colin Keith-Johnston, Kent Smith, James Lipton, Margaret Barker, Joan Lorring, Maxwell Glanville, Carol Goodner, Jane Wyatt, Louise Holmes. REVIEW William Hawkins in the New York World-Telegram & Sun: All the older characters have arrived at a point of payoff. There is not much chance left them beyond making the best bargain. This does not sound cheery but Miss Hellman has related most of her story with a great amount of wily humor. I cannot recall Fredric March, Florence Eldridge or Kent Smith in better form. March is the painter, vain and petty, noisy and shallow. It is a magnificent job of an actor exposing a character. Miss Eldridge plays the silly wife of the general with her inevitable taste. She acts this ridiculous woman with no thought of being comical or piteous. The result is an uncannily real person. |
| LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT 1956 A play in four acts by Eugene O’Neill. Produced by Leigh Cornell, Theodore Mann and Jose Quintero at the Helen Hayes Theatre, New York, November 7, 1956. Staged by Jose Quintero. Setting by David Hays. Lighting by Tharon Musser; Costumes by Motley. Production Stage Manager, Elliott Martin. Stage manager, George Petrarca. THE PLAYERS Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Jason Robards, Jr., Bradford Dillman, Katherine Ross. REVIEW Richard Watts, Jr., in the New York Post: A magnificent and shattering play....It seems to me that Fredric March gives the finest and most penetrating performance of his career as the father. Florence Eldridge is touching and real as the mother....This is a play that gives the entire season stature. |
| GIDEON 1961 A play by Paddy Chayefsky. Produced by Fred Coe and Arthur Cantor at the Plymouth Theatre, New York, November 9, 1961. Staged by Tyrone Guthrie. Settings and lighting by David Hays. Costumes by Daningo Rodriquez. Production Stage Manager, Porter Van Zandt. Stage manager, J. George Thorn. THE PLAYERS Fredric March, Douglas Campbell, Martin Garner, Victor Kilian, Robert Weiss, Eric Berry, David Hooks, Alan Manson, Mark Lenard, George Segne, Alan Bergmann, Paul Marin, Edward K. Holmes, Lorraine Egypt. REVIEW Richard Watts, Jr., in the New York Post: [The play] has distinction and a haunting fascination, and is beautifully acted by Fredric March and Douglas Campbell....Mr. March is powerful and enormously impressive as The Lord....Tyrone Guthrie’s direction is characteristically brilliant. Despite the second-act decline, Mr. Chayefsky has written a powerful and provocative play. |
| Other Plays |
| The County Chairman The Romancers Deburau Lei Aloha The County Chairman Shavings Brownell/Storck Stock Co. Zeno Tarnish The Knife in the Wall The Balcony Walkers The Swan Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em Dancing Mothers The Music Master Craig’s Wife The Poor Nut Icebound Not Herbert Liliom Easy Come Easy Go Hell-bent fer Heaven These Charming People Quality Street The Butter and Egg Man Pigs The Ghost Train The Dove Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Sure Fire Loose Ankles The Last of Mrs. Cheyney The Shame Woman Spread Eagle The Cradle Snatchers Arms and The Man Mr. Pim Passes By The Guardsman The Silver Cord Baby Cyclone The Springboard The Outsider Tommy Behold the Bridegroom Nightstick The Second Mrs. Tanqueray Saturday’s Children The K Guy The Command To Love The Royal Family The Royal Family The Royal Family The Autumn Garden |
| May 15, 1914 May 23, 1919 December 7, 1920 1921 1921 1921 Spring 1922- Fall 1923 December 7, 1923 August 1924- January 1925 February 2, 1925 November 13, 1925 June 12, 1926 June 20, 1926 June 27, 1926 July 4, 1926 July 11, 1926 July 18, 1926 July 25, 1926 August 1, 1926 August 8, 1926 August 15, 1926 August 22, 1926 August 29, 1926 June 11, 1927 June 19, 1927 June 26, 1927 July 3, 1927 July 10, 1927 July 17, 1927 July 24, 1927 July 31, 1927 August 7, 1927 August 14, 1927 August 21, 1927 August 28, 1927 September, 1927- February 1928 June 9, 1928 June 17, 1928 June 24, 1928 July 1, 1928 July 8, 1928 July 15, 1928 July 22, 1928 July 29, 1928 August 5, 1928 August 12, 1928 September 13, 1928 October 1928 October 29, 1928- December 1928 October 1951 |
| Racine High School Junior Play- University of Wisconsin Boston Off-Broadway Road Company Dayton, Ohio Chicago Midwest Tour Providence Off-Broadway Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Theater Guild Tour Theater Guild Tour Theater Guild Tour Theater Guild Tour Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Elitch’s, Denver Santa Barbara San Francisco Los Angeles Tour |
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| Fredric March on Stage, 1920-1961 |
| Fredric March (far right), "The Devil in the Cheese", 1926 |
| Ad for "The American Way", 1939 |
| Playbill, "The American Way" 1939 |
| Fredric March and Florence Eldridge in "The American Way", 1939 |
| Handbill, "The American Way" 1939 |
| Playbill, "Hope For A Harvest" 1941, Fredric March and Florence Eldridge |
| Theatre Arts Magazine 1941, Fredric March and Florence Eldridge in "Hope For A Harvest" |
| Inside playbill for "The Skin of Our Teeth", 1942 |
| (l-r) Fredric March, Florence Eldridge and Tallulah Bankhead in "The Skin of Our Teeth", 1942 |
| Playbill for "The Skin of Our Teeth" 1942. (l-r) Talluhah Bankhead, Florence Eldridge, Fredric March, Frances Heflin, Montgomery Clift |
| Magazine ad for "The Skin of Our Teeth" 1942, Tallulah Bankhead, Florence Reed, Florence Eldridge and Fredric March. |
| Poster for "Skin of Our Teeth", 1942 |
| Fredric March in "A Bell for Adano", 1944. Life Magazine cover |
| Playbill for "A Bell for Adano", 1944 |
| Fredric March in "A Bell for Adano" Theatre Arts Magazine, January 1945 |
| Cover of John Hersey's novel "A Bell For Adano". |
| Playbill for "Years Ago", 1946 Fredric March and Florence Eldridge |
| Ad for "Years Ago", 1946 |
| Playbill for "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep", 1950 |
| Fredric March in "The Autumn Garden", 1951 |
| Playbill for "The Autumn Garden", 1951 |
| (l-r) Bradford Dillman, Fredric March and Jason Robards, Jr., in "Long Days Journey Into Night", 1956 |
| Playbill, "Long Day's Journey Into Night", 1956 |
| Playbill, "Long Day's Journey Into Night", 1956 |
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| Poster by William Auerbach Levy commemorating great performances in the the theatre, Fredric March and Tallulah Bankhead in "The Skin of Our Teeth". |
| Inside of playbill, "Long Day's Journey Into Night", 1956 |
| Playbill, "Long Day's Journey Into Night", 1956 |
| Fredric March in "Gideon", 1961 |
| Playbill for "Gideon", 1961 Douglas Campbell and Fredric March |
| Poster for "Gideon", 1961 |
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| The program from "The County Chairman," Racine High School Senior Class Play, in which Fredric appeared as 'Tillford Wheeler, His Junior Law Partner' (May 15, 1914). Picture courtesy Dee's Genealogy Place |
