1941
Following the depression, it was a play about well-to-do family life on
Park Avenue in the 1880s that had the most success on Broadway and on tour.
Life with Father, starring Dorothy Gish (right) and her long-time
lover Louis Calhern, played the Walnut for nearly three months in spring 1941.
In order to avoid paying a large weekly percentage, producer Oscar Serlin
bypassed the Shubert Organization in booking this production. His outspoken
complaints about the Shuberts set in motion a federal investigation into
them, which eventually resulted in anti-trust charges against them.
(Photograph courtesy of the Theatre Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia.)
< back next >
In This Chapter
Chapters
