CMU School of Drama


Friday, February 27, 2015

Unidentified: Lingering mysteries in the Theater Collection

mcnyblog: Since fall of 2013, the City Museum has been involved in a large scale digitization project to digitally capture and describe over 30,000 images of theatrical production. It gives me great pleasure and supreme pride to announce we now have over 15,000 images freely available to view on the Museum’s Collections Portal. Cue streamers, balloons, fireworks, and all other celebratory ephemera.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm glad these photos were released, and these questions are being asked. I don't know how successful people will be in identifying some of the older productions (circa 1920s), but I have a lot of hope for some of the 70s and later productions. The loss of this information really rankles, since so much a any theatre artist's identity is in the work they produce. The detachment of their name from these photos is a truly tragic loss.

This also highlights so many differences between theatre then and theatre now. Today, careful documentation of who and what are synonymous with efficiency and streamlined productions. The task of producing a show today often intrinsically links the performer with the show. As in the case of the unknown Follies dancers, I am very surprised that there were not names or specific performers attached to Florenz Klotz's intricate costume designs. I really truly hope that these mysteries meet some kind of resolution - we owe it to the performers.