Who are Barnes and Price? And other notes from the podcast

Stuyvesant Street in 1856, an aberration to the city grid plan thanks in part to the presence of St. Mark's Church and its well-established churchyard. The small building in the foreground is where the St. Mark's Bookshop stands today. You can see the steeple of St. Mark's. Hmm, what what's the other 
church in the background? (Pic courtesy East Village Transitions)

Some notes on our podcast, Episode #139: St. Mark's-in-the-Bowery

THANK YOUS: For of all, we'd like to thank Rev. Winnie Varghese and Roger Jack Walters from St. Mark's Church for telling us some wonderful stories on a sunny Sunday afternoon as volunteers worked busily to repaint that 1838 iron fence. This is one landmark is really good hands!


THE MYSTERY OF BARNES AND PRICE: There was once a second cemetery one block north of St. Mark's that contained the bodies of less wealthy individuals in the community. In September 1864, their bodies were exhumed and moved to Evergreen Cemetery at the border of Brooklyn and Queens. The New York Times report on the exhumation mentions two individuals in particular: "The remains of two dramatic notables, BARNES and PRICE, of the Old Park Theatre, have been removed from this cemetery."

The Park Theatre (pictured at right) is considered New York's first great theater, sitting on Park Row in the days before there was a City Hall, a Printer's Row or anything else recognizable or familiar about that area today. The stage entertained British officers during the Revolutionary War, and in the early 19th century presented entertainment of the highest class.

The PRICE buried in the old St. Mark's Cemetery is most likely its former manager Stephen Price, who specialized in importing British stage stars for their American debuts. One of those was Julius Brutus Booth, who debuted Shakespeare's Richard III here in 1822. Booth's children Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth would enter the acting profession in the mid-19th century.

But who's the BARNES? Most likely it was English actor John Barnes who frequented the Park and died in 1841. However, his wife Mary, billed as Mrs. John Barnes, was in many ways a bigger star, the resident 'heavy-tragedy lady' who made here debut here in 1816. The two often appeared on stage together -- husband for the comedy, wife for the drama.

Mary Barnes outlived her husband by a quarter century, remarrying and becoming a successful theater manager in her own right. She died in the same year that her first husband's body was moved to Evergreen. An assessment of her career:  "In melodrama and pantomime her action was always graceful, spirited and correct." [source]

JAMES BOGARDUS: The portico of St. Marks is one of the last remaining examples of original cast-iron construction designed by Bogardus, but there are four other buildings in New York attributed to Bogardus that still exist: 254 Canal Street, 85 Leonard Street, 75 Murray Street and 63 Nassau Street. In TriBeCa today, you'll find Bogardus Garden, a lush, green-fitted traffic triangle. Bogardus is buried at Green-Wood Cemetery.


FURTHER LISTENING: Although Augustus Stuyvesant was the last living direct descendant, there are others named Stuyvesant that trace their lineage to Rutherford Stuyvesant. To find out why this doesn't quite count, listen in to my podcast on Rutherford's pet project The Stuyvesant apartment, New York's first of its kind. (Episode #131: The First Apartment Building).

We tell a ghost story about Peter Stuyvesant and St. Mark's Church In-The-Bowery in our most popular of our ghost story podcasts. (#91 Haunted Tales of New York)

And of course, for more information on Peter Stuyvesant himself, we devoted an entire podcast to the director-general back in 2007. (Episode 14# Peter Stuyvesant)

SLIP UPS: This weeks verbal slip-ups include me saying 'St. Mark's ON-the-Bowery' twice (it's referred to in many ways, but never that).

'Mad Men' notes: The delirious world of Off-Off-Broadway

Radical thoughts, limited spaces: a performance at the Caffe Cino. Photo by Ben Martin (from an excellent website by Robert Patrick about this important off-off-Broadway site)

 WARNING The article contains a couple spoilers about last night's 'Mad Men' on AMC. If you're a fan of the show, come back once you're watched the episode. But these posts are about a specific element of New York history from the 1960s and can be read even by those who don't watch the show at all. You can find other articles in this series here.

 Megan might be Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce's hottest new pitchwoman, but deep in her heart of delicate French extraction, she wants to be an actress. And in last night's show, she steals away to an audition of an unnamed off-off-Broadway production. She didn't get the part, but the experience leads her to make a jarring decision.

This wasn't merely a plot contrivance, but rather another use of New York geography to delineate character. Don Draper was busy at Danny's Hideaway, a Midtown East restaurant along famed 'Steak Row' shimmering with late 50s -- and, by 1966, ever fading -- glamour. Megan's off-off-Broadway audition could only be one place, and that was downtown below 14th Street, in the thriving epicenter of New York counter culture.

Aspiring performers have made New York their destination for fame since the late 19th century with the birth of the Broadway theater circuit. By the 1950s, playwrights and producers who challenged the preconceptions of standard, mainstream theater found homes for their work off Broadway both literally and metaphysically. The art of theater could now be explored for smaller crowds and with smaller budgets.

But even off-Broadway was not immune to financial realities. By the end of the decade, the popularity of off-Broadway created a parallel industry, "a smaller-scale version of Broadway itself." [source] If you were to look back at the greatest off-Broadway hits of this era (plays by Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee, musicals like Threepenny Opera) you'd notice that most of them have had subsequent Broadway debuts. Indeed, off-Broadway continues to be a sort of a minor league tryout for future Broadway shows.

By the 1960s, unconventional creative voices were emerging that seemed positively alien even in that world. What do you call the alternative to something that was itself the alternative? Although Village Voice critic Jerry Tallmer is credited with coining the phrase 'off-off-Broadway', the phrase might have sprung up naturally the first time audiences came in contact with the early works of this field -- modest, broken-down, difficult and experimental shows eager to discard every theatrical trapping that had built up for the past four hundred years.

The first 'true' off-off-Broadway performance, according to Tallmer's fellow Voice critic Michael Smith, was a surreal revival of Ubu Roi, performed at a Bleecker Street coffeehouse in 1960. Theatrical experimentation complimented the Village music scene nicely, as even the smallest venues could now host a production. Only in this new creative world could a cramped, smoke-filled coffeehouse like Caffe Cino, at 31 Cornelia Street, become center stage for a new theatrical revolution.

If the art was nontraditional, so too were the venues. Two churches became important homes for alternative theater in the early 1960s and they remain so to this day. Judson Memorial Church, off Washington Square, may seem austere with its elegant Italianate bell tower, turned its meeting room into an off-off-Broadway stage in 1961. And, of course, St. Marks-in-the-Bowery, took a page from its own 1920s radical bohemian past to become home to the Poetry Project and Theater Genesis (performing sometimes sexually explicit plays in the churches parish hall). Above: A poster for Theater Genesis

But just as many pivotal and provocative voices of off-off-Broadway were developing further east, in an area of the Lower East Side heavily influenced by Greenwich Village counterculture idealism and referred to by the mid-60s as the East Village. The chief among these, Ellen Stewart's mold-breaking La Mama Experimental Theatre, opened in 1961 and rejected most theatrical instincts, featuring only new plays in a stripped-down, almost barren theatrical space. Pictured above: Ellen Stewart in 1970. Picture courtesy TCG

By 1966, off-off-Broadway became a banquet of experimental ideas, spaces for gay, feminist and African-American playwrights and performers. In effect, the opposite of a certain ad agency, where creative flowering is hindered by the whims of client preference and the banality of subject.

Sigourney Weaver boards an off-Broadway 'Titanic' in 1976

Queen of the world: Weaver sets an uncharted course on a small SoHo stage.

Perhaps you are as confused as I am by the picture above, one that appears to put the lovely young Sigourney Weaver's face upon the body of a child. Ah, the magic of the theater! The future film star was in her late 20s when she joined this peculiar production of the 'Titanic' tragedy, written by her friend and frequent collaborator Christopher Durang.

The bizarre one-act made its debut at the tiny Midtown theater before making a proper off-Broadway launch at the Van Dam Theatre (today's SoHo Playhouse) in May 1976. Far from concerning itself with the eventual tragedy, Durang's comic-farce is a sex romp which eventually pairs up provocative combinations of the show's cast, a ribald smorgasbord of sexual fluidity.

Weaver, playing the role of Lidia, transforms into a variety of different women, including the daughter of the captain of the Titanic. Critics proclaimed her the "principal attraction" of the unusual play. "She begins in pigtails and tiny skirt as a sexy Shirley Temple and ends as a predatory black widow in deep decolletage," said Times critic Mel Gussow.


This was not the only doomed ocean liner lampoon by Weaver and Durang! Inserted astride 'Titanic' was a Brechtian cabaret co-written by the pair, called 'Das Lusitania Songspeil'. In 1980, an expanded version of this randy show made its debut on the boards of the Westside Theater in Hell's Kitchen, a late-night wintertime smash that earned the pair Drama Desk nominations.

Keep in mind this is a few months after the release of her breakthrough film 'Alien', whose sequel (which she also starred in) was directed by James Cameron, who would also find later inspiration on sunken ships. Although I think most of us prefer her as a Hollywood star, Weaver's off-Broadway credits were so impressive by this time that New York Magazine referred to her in 1981 as "just about the best all-purpose actress in town."

Durang's 'Titanic' -- which he himself considers a "really difficult play" -- is sometimes revived on college campuses. Broadway would eventually embark on its own 'Titanic' in 1997, an expensive musical production by Maury Yeston and Peter Stone that would debut at the Lunt-Fontanne at 205 W. 46th Street*. Although dogged with early technical difficulties and critical skepticism that would parallel the issues faced by "Spider-Man: Turn Of The Dark," it became a modest hit, thanks in part to the film version directed by James Cameron.

*Currently home to 'Ghost' a musical based on a film.

Pictures above are courtesy Christoper Durang, a website that has lots more information about this curious play.

New York and the World of Radio: Live and on the air, inventors and stars at the dawning of the AM airwaves

Amateur radio operators at the 92nd Street Y on the Upper East Side, 1940. Courtesy the Milstein Archives

PODCAST The discovery of radio changed the world, and New York City was often front and center for its creation and development as America's prime entertainment source during the 1930s and 40s. In this show, we take you on a 50-year journey, from Marconi's newsmaking tests aboard a yacht in New York Harbor to remarkable experiments atop the Empire State Building.

 Two of the medium's great innovators grew up on the streets of New York, one a fearless inventor born in the neighborhood of Chelsea, the other an immigrant's son from the Lower East Side who grew up to run America's first radio broadcasting company (RCA). Another pioneer with a more complicated history made the first broadcasts that featured the human voice, the 'angelic' tones of a Swedish soprano heard by a wireless operator at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

 The second half of our show features the creation of the great radio networks and many local New York stations that are still around today. What indispensable station got its start as a department-store radio channel? What borough was touted in the very first radio advertisement? What former Ziegfeld Follies star strapped on a bonnet to become Baby Snooks? At right: the logo for the NBC Red Network

 Featuring tales of the Titanic, the rogue adventures of amateur operators, and a truly scary invasion from outer space!

To get this week's episode, simply download it for FREE from iTunes or other podcasting services, subscribe to our RSS feed or get it straight from our satellite site.


Or listen to it here:
The Bowery Boys: New York City and the World of Radio

MINOR CORRECTION: The radio show of yore was obviously called Everready Hour, not Everready House!


Harold Bride, the only surviving wireless operator from the Titanic, is escorted off the rescue vessel Carpathia.

Lee de Forest, one of the first inventors in New York to practice with broadcasting human voices. He eventually set up an experimental station in the Bronx. (NYPL)

The rather cozy studios of WJZ, date unknown. WJZ, originally a Newark station (notice the JZ for Jersey), moved to New York by the mid-1920s and became the anchor station for the NBC Blue network.

Stars of the Eveready Hour, broadcast on WEAF, featuring Will Rogers and the Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra. (Courtesy PDX Retro)

David Sarnoff at the World's Fair in 1939 out in Flushing Meadows. (NYPL)

Songstress Jessica Dragonette, one of the most successful stars of the NBC stable during the 1930s, and one of many stars who struggle to find fame once television came along.

The lobby of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the home of studios for the National Broadcasting Company. Photo by the Wurts Brothers

Manly music: The robust tones of U.S. Coast Guard Quartet, recording at an NBC affiliate station in New York

The complete broadcast of 'War of the Worlds', broadcast by the Mercury Theater on the Air from the CBS Studios at 485 Madison Avenue.


A Baby Snooks Show from 1938:

Marilyn Monroe's surprising link to a few Broadway classics

Monroe on the New York set of 'The Seven Year Itch', the film version of a Broadway box office success.

The heavily-hyped 'Smash' debuted last night on NBC, a glossy musical-drama unspooling the backstage tribulations of a new Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. Although Monroe was once married to one of Broadway's greatest playwrights (Arthur Miller) and personally coached by the stage's most renown drama coaches (Lee and Paula Strasberg), she never hit the legitimate stage herself.

I'm surprised this 'Marilyn Monroe musical' idea is taken as such a revelation in the show. Many of Marilyn's big cinema breakthroughs were plucked from Broadway shows, and her film resume has even inspired a couple Broadway musicals:

'All About Eve' (1950)
Inspired the musical 'Applause'
Opened: March 30, 1970 at the Palace Theatre (aka the 'haunted' theater)

The Role: You would hardly call the Oscar-winning 'Eve' a true Marilyn movie, although her brief scene as Miss Caswell is indeed a memorable one. For the Betty Compton/Adolph Green musical adaptation, her role was entirely deleted. People were too busy lavishing praise upon Lauren Bacall, stepping into the Bette Davis role, to notice.




'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' (1953)
Original musical: 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' by Joseph Field and Anita Loos, Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Leo Rubin
Opened: December 8, 1949, at the Zeigfeld Theatre

The Role: Believe it or not, the role of Lorelei Lee on Broadway was originated by a young actress in her first starring role -- Carol Channing. That role would define Marilyn's sophisticated sexpot image in the Howard Hawks film edition.

And then: A quarter century later, Channing returns to Broadway in a re-tinkered version of 'Blondes' called 'Lorelei'. It was actually a bigger hit, in part to the genius lyrical contributions of 'Applause's Compton and Green.



'The Seven Year Itch' (1955)
Original play: 'The Seven Year Itch' by George Axelrod
Opened: November 20, 1952 at the Fulton Theater

The Role: When it arrived on film, the role of 'The Girl' gave us this iconic Marilyn image. It unfortunately had less effect on the career of Austrian-born Vanessa Brown, who originated the role.

Also in the Broadway cast: Tom Ewell, habitue of Sardi's Restaurant, who played opposite Marilyn in the film. Anybody looking for him could find him parked at Sardi's 'little bar'.





'Bus Stop' (1956)
Original play: 'Bus Stop' by William Inge
Opened: March 2, 1955, at the Music Box Theatre

The Role: Kim Stanley played the role of 'Cherie', Marilyn played a variation the following year, in a film loosely based on the stage play
Also in the Broadway cast: An Elaine Stritch so scrappy she was nominated for a Tony



'Some Like It Hot' (1959)
Inspired the musical 'Sugar'
Opened: April 9, 1972 at the Majestic Theatre

The Role: The musical debut of Marilyn's greatest film role was played by Elaine Joyce, later a popular television personality and best known, in some circles, as being the obsession of writer J.D. Salinger.


I couldn't find any video of Joyce in 'Sugar', so enjoy this clip of her on 'Match Game' instead:




Another Marilyn Monroe musical film, 'There's No Business Like Show Business' (1954), isn't based a stage musical at all, but took its title straight from a song in the Broadway musical 'Annie Get Your Gun' (which debuted in 1946)