Capacity 1475
Opened on January 10, 1910 as the Globe Theatre, in honor of London's Shakespearean playhouse, for producer and theater manager Charles Dillingham, this theater was designed in neo-Renaissance style by the firm of Carrere & Hastings.
Opening night was a musical entitled The Old Town. But The Sun's drama critic found his predecessor's effort disappointing, except for the stage theatrics of the star, Fred Stone, which included tightrope walking, acrobatic falls, dancing through a lariat and pistol juggling.
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| 1910, 1555 Broadway, The Globe Theater, NYC |
Although Charles Dillingham never married, he was the longtime live-in companion to producer Charles Frohman, who taught him the ins and out of , uh, stage production. Dillingham also brought nine of composer Jerome Kern's musicals to Broadway.
Dillingham inspired "Billings," the fictional character played by Frank Morgan in MGM's The Great Ziegfeld (1936). (4)
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| Charles Dillingham |
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| Sarah Bernhardt |
It was at the Globe in 1916 that a young British-born actress named Lynn Fontanne made one of her first American appearances in "The Harp of Life," giving a performance that The Times called "notably direct, eloquent and moving."
On March 18, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson witnessed the performance of "Jack O' Lantern". The applause was so persistent that Mr. Wilson was compelled to make a speech,
"Ladies and gentlemen, you are laboring under a delusion. You think you see the President of the United States. You are mistaken. Really, you see a tired man having a good time."(3)
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| President Wilson visits the Globe Theater, May 18, 1918 |
In 1920, when Dillingham's lease on the theater expired, Dillingham purchased the building for the reported price of $1,250,000.
Most of the Globe's early shows were dramatic plays, including two revivals of La Dame aux Camélias. In the late teens and 1920s, the focus shifted to musicals. Dillingham was a partner with Florenz Ziegfeld and Abraham Erlanger, and Ziegfeld mounted his ''Follies of 1921'' at the Globe. Fanny Brice sang "Second Hand Rose" here.
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| 1921 |
The original design and construction called for the ceiling and the roof 20 feet above it to roll back to reveal starlight and keep the theatre cooler in summer. No other Broadway theatre had such a design. There is no record of it ever actually opening. Other innovations included seats being individually cooled by ice or heated by hot air from vents underneath.[1]
Another connection with the open air was through a foyer on the first balcony floor, which opens through large windows to an exterior balcony on Forty-sixth Street, making it possible, when the weather permits, for patrons to walk out of doors.
It had two balconies and an unusual proscenium, where the stage was set off by a framelike border on all sides. The interior, especially near the stage, was richly ornamented, with a color scheme of ivory, gold and rose. The Sun noted that the theater had ''seats for fat men'' and a spotlight station in the dome. Other theaters mounted spotlights in the audience areas.
No, No, Nanette opened in September 1925 for a 329-performance run, and included the popular songs "Tea for Two" and "I Want To Be Happy." Dillingham also produced a number of Jerome Kern musicals including Stepping Stones (1923), Criss Cross (1926) and Three Cheers (1928). The Cat and the Fiddle of 1931 proved to be the most successful of all, playing 395 performances.
Sadly, Charles Dillingham [the producer who built the original theater] lost his fortune in the 1929 Crash. His beloved Globe was foreclosed in 1931 and converted into a motion picture theater in 1932. The next year Dillingham went bankrupt, with debts of $7.3 million, including $2,000 to Irving Berlin. Among his major creditors were his former partners, Erlanger and Ziegfeld. One hundred and twelve plays whose rights he owned, including Peter Pan, were sold at auction for $10,500. Dillingham produced one more show, New Faces, after his great financial loss, and was planning another at the time of his death in 1934.
In 1934, Dillingham died at age 66 in his suite at the Astor Hotel. He had produced more than 200 shows. The New York Times described him as ''robust, expansive, good-natured'' and noted that he ''never went in for gangster plots or sex dramas and his revues were notable for their disregard for bedroom scenes.''
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| 1943 Globe Theater |
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| December 24, 1943 |
The architect was John J. McNamara and the decorator Arthur Boys.
Major changes were made, including the removal of the second balcony level, the Broadway entrance, and much of the original decor. At the same time, the main entrance was moved from Broadway to the former side entrance on 46th Street. The new style was a modernized Venetian Baroque; in the main hall, Edward Melcarth painted a 100- by 100-foot mural depicting the Four Winds, looking down on a generally blue color scheme. The seats were equipped with opera glasses.
And it was at the Globe in 1953, during its cinema phase, that New Yorkers first peered through polarized glasses at a full program of stereoscopic films. Bosley Crowther of The Times was underwhelmed and leery of the 3-D craze, asking readers to imagine Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis appearing to be "so real and close they could reach out and almost touch you!
It was rechristened the Lunt-Fontanne in honor of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne (original name Lillie Louise Fontanne; born December 6, 1887, Essex, Eng.—died July 30, 1983, Genesee Depot, Wis., U.S.) and reopened on May 5, 1958 with Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Visit, starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in their last Broadway appearance. One of the major moments in Broadway theatrical history. They eventually earned a reputation as the greatest husband-and-wife team in the history of the theatre. Katharine Cornell, Henry Fonda, Helen Hayes, Beatrice Lillie, Anita Loos, Mary Martin, Laurence Olivier and Ginger Rogers were in the audience.
In 1922 Fontanne and Lunt were married, and thereafter they appeared on the stage almost invariably together.
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| Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne |
In 1924 they joined the Theatre Guild and with The Guardsman of that year were celebrated enthusiastically as the bright couple of the Broadway stage. Their superlative performances, especially in comedies focusing on marital infidelity, brought many triumphs for the Theatre Guild, under whose auspices they appeared until 1929. The couple constantly strove for perfection and rehearsed almost continuously to attain the effortless rapport that was their hallmark. Although they were considered at their best in comedies by George Bernard Shaw, Noël Coward, and Terence Rattigan, Fontanne and Lunt appeared in several dramas as well. Among their plays were Arms and the Man (1925), The Goat Song (1926), The Doctor’s Dilemma (1927), Queen (1930), Idiot’s Delight (1936), Amphitryon 38 (1938), and The Pirate (1942). They appeared separately in two O’Neill plays, he in Marco Millions (1928) and she in Strange Interlude (1928). They also appeared together in films and on television. Over the years from the 1930s, Lunt himself directed a number of plays, as well as two operas for the Metropolitan Opera Company.
Despite their devotion to each other, their marriage was widely rumored to be a lavender marriage, or a marriage of convenience. Nevertheless, the Lunts were almost inseparable during their 55-year marriage.(2)
From 1959 through 1962, the longest run of any play at the theater was Rodgers and Hammerstein's ''Sound of Music'.' The play opened at the Lunt-Fontanne to mixed reviews that praised Mary Martin as Maria von Trapp but warned of the saccharine story. ''Too sweet for words,'' said Walter Kerr in The New York Herald Tribune. ''Could become sticky,'' said Brooks Atkinson in The Times.
A 1,443 performance run.
Notable performances were given by Sid Caesar in Little Me (1962) and Richard Burton in Hamlet (1964).A 1,443 performance run.
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| In 1964 when Richard Burton was playing in Hamlet at the Lunt-Fontaine, each night after the performance a bubble-top limo would pull up to the stage door and Burton would get into the car where Elizabeth Taylor was waiting. Elizabeth would give Richard a big kiss and the crowds surrounding the car would cheer. |
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| April 9-August 8, 1964 |
Marlene Dietrich made her Broadway singing debut here in 1967, accompanied by Burt Bacharach and a large orchestra.
The theater became part of the Nederlander Organization in 1973. Peggy Lee and Carol Channing have both appeared on the Lunt-Fontanne's stage.
This theater, once entitled The Globe, was designed with grand entrances, and the people who like to make them, in mind. From the balcony, above the door, audience members are able to spot the new arrivals entering the theater.
Patrons say that its 1,475 seats are excellent in all locations, and the orchestra is amazing. Crystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling.
The current W. 46th Street address was originally the side entrance for its carriage patrons.
The main narrow entrance that was used from its 'legit' theatre opening on 22nd January 1910 until it closed as the Globe movie theatre in 1957 was 1555 Broadway.
There are pictures of The Lunt in the Dover paperback by William Morrison, "Broadway Theaters: History and Architecture."
Miss Fontanne returned for the reopening in 1958, appearing with her husband Alfred Lunt in "The Visit. "The Visit was the initial production which opened the newly renamed Lunt-Fontanne Theater, had a large set which used the entire stage. Actors wishing to go from wing to the other without being seen by the audience had to go outside one stage door and around the stage end of the theater reentering at the other stage door.
Christopher Gray, who writes the "Streetscapes" column for the Sunday "New York Times," once wrote an article about the Lunt-Fontanne. It had been rumored that the original Globe had what today we would call a "moon roof," which could be opened in good weather. During the various remodelings, however, the "moon roof" opening was plastered over. But Gray was able to get a close-up look of the remaining mechanism from on top of the roof, and he wrote about it in the "Times."
Here's some info about the Lunt-Fontanne from "New York, 1960" (pg. 442) by Robert A.M. Stern (the famous architect) et al.:
Some existing legitimate theaters were renovated as well, most notably the former Globe (Carrere & Hastings, 1909), which became the Lunt-Fontanne in 1958. [At this point in the Stern text there is the first of about three footnotes that cite various sources, including a July 1958 Interior Design article and a May 6, 1958, "New York Times" article entitled "Broadway Agog as Theater Opens"]. . . . Once the most luxurious of Broadway playhouses but used for movies since the 1930s, the theater was redecorated by the British designer Arthur Boys, who was asked by the new owner, Robert W. Dowling, to base his work on the music room of Frederick the Great's Sans Souci Palace and on Venice's Fenice Theater. Because according to Dowling, "Going to the theater should be like visiting a charming and gracious home," he wanted the redesign to have "a new elegance and comfort." Marya Mannes said that the original Globe had been considered "the most beautiful" theater of its day, "with Grecian pillars and a balcony promenade that drew such phrases as 'commodious and handsome.'" Although she acknowledged that this style was "no longer supported by public taste," she found the renovation showy, lacking the dignity required for serious drama: "Mr. Dowling has spent millions in painting the reconditioned house pale-blue and white, encruting it with rococo, stringing it with crystal chandeliers, upholstering it with damask and carpeting it in deepest pile; and what is his idea of a gracious home is my idea of an inflated powder room."
On page 441, there is a nice photo of one of the Lunt-Fontanne's lobby areas with murals by Cosmo di Salvo.
The Lunt-Fontanne provides exciting ground for the urban archeologist. At the roof -- visible from J. W.'s Steakhouse on the eighth floor of the Marriott Marquis Hotel across the street -- the mechanism for Dillingham's open-air roof is still intact. Two large panels, each perhaps 10 by 20 feet, are set on opposing, sloping rails. Each panel is wired to a steel cable, connected to a counterweight on the other side, and the giant gears are ready to slide both panels back -- but are glued in place by a heavy coat of asphalt and roofing tar.
The upper area of the theater, between the later ceiling and the underside of the original roof, is a dusty, half-lit forest of 1910 steel framing and catwalks and 1958 ceiling supports. In the center is a large drum like form, perhaps 20 feet across. It appears that the sliding ceiling, which ran at the level of the catwalks, was removed in the 1958 renovation.(1)
Lunt Fonatine is painted creamy ivory with gold gild and looks beautiful now.
Jerry performed here on
10/15/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry plays an acoustic guitar made by Takamine, ca. 1985 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, with spruce top and the guitar Tiger.
"“One month prior [Garcia was] playing five sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden… that’s 100,000 people. For the lead guitarist of that same group to play eighteen shows at a 1,400 seat theater, obviously there’s a desire to do this, not a need to do this. Since the very first day I met him, he has not changed his seemingly unquenchable thirst to just play.”[13]
"Once we got to New York for the Broadway gigs, I called Kenny – I guess you could say it was pretty short notice. He was actually playing in an orchestra in a Broadway show at the time and was pretty busy with that. He had a free night the first week we were there and came over to play one show with us – it was really great. He couldn’t get there for another night or two because of the orchestra gig, but then he got free of that and played the rest of the Lunt-Fontanne run with us. The next month he came out for the West Coast shows.
David Nelson: Jerry saw us jamming to the point where the floor gets blurry, you know? You reach a point in a jam where everybody’s on their toes and playing right in the moment – and all of a sudden, you reach a place where it’s like, who’s minding the store? You have to have someone who’s a timekeeper – otherwise, it gets to be a blur of what everybody thinks the time is. Jerry saw that David Kemper could be in the background on drums and wouldn’t get in the way – because this isn’t drum music – and sure enough, it worked out just great.
In a bluegrass band, it’s the bass that keeps the time, but John Kahn was capable of just going out there – he was so creative, man. You listen to what he does on “Spike Driver’s Blues”, for instance … and you’ll realize that we needed a drummer to free up John to just go with it. Kemper kept it simple – just a snare. And it was just right.
Sandy Rothman: It was funny because David Kemper never practiced with us. He simply showed up in the wings at some of the gigs just before the curtain went up. His drum kit was already out there because he’d be playing in the band after us. He’d hold up his sticks and kind of look at Jerry like, “Do you want me to play?” And Jerry, being Jerry, would never say “No.” Overall, though, it worked out well.
David Nelson: I’d be getting nervous before each gig wondering what songs we were going to play. But then I’d see Jerry scribbling on a little tiny piece of paper and knew, “Okay – here comes the set list.” I’ve still got my old guitar case that I used on those gigs with all these little scribbled set lists in it.
Sandy Rothman: Jerry would always do the set lists. Often I was there with him and we would occasionally make little adjustments – flip one tune in front of the other or whatever. We also did that live sometimes; we’d never follow those lists exactly. Actually, I was surprised that Jerry liked to write setlists; I used to think the Dead were playing extemporaneously. But they did start with a list … if it’s not working, you can always go in another direction.
Most everything we played during those shows, we’d played at some point – although in a couple of cases, they were songs we’d last played back in the ‘60s. We might’ve gone over them quickly backstage – not the whole song, but a verse and a chorus just to see if we knew it – and then we’d improvise on stage.
There was that telepathic thing going on between the original three of us – Jerry, David, and I – and Kenny fit right into that. He was really careful to not step on what we already had going on. Plus, John Kahn had played a lot with Jerry, so he knew what was going on there. There was also the telepathy thing going on vocally; we rarely worked out beforehand whether there was going to be another chorus or whether there was going to be another verse or repeat the chorus twice at the end … most often that was strictly on the fly.
David Nelson: Sandy and I were both playing through mics, which made for a bit of a problem recording-wise.
Sandy Rothman: Both the bass and Jerry’s guitar had pickups; that’s where the name Almost Acoustic originally came from. Jerry had his banjo with him on Broadway, by the way. It was sitting on the stand on stage and everybody was yelling at him to play it – we were ready, as well – but he kept shaking his head “no.” He played it during soundcheck, but not during the shows.
David Nelson: When Joe Gastwirt mastered the albums, he worked on the levels. Sandy produced both albums and he was telling me, “Yeah, we tried to get your solos out there, but it’s really tough.” The guitar through a mic is much quieter than a mandolin and much, much quieter than a banjo … if you hear me playing anything on a solo, be thankful.
Sandy Rothman: One thing that bears saying is John Cutler recorded those shows simply as reference tapes. It wasn’t like he was recording with a sound truck – they were simply tapes to provide a record of the music and not intended for release. He really was lucky to capture what he did.
It’s interesting to note that if you listen to Almost Acoustic and Ragged But Right, it’s easy to tell which shows came from Broadway and which shows came from the West Coast. When you hear, “Jer-ree! Jer-ree!” that’s your New York audience, while Jerry used to say the West Coast audiences were “like an oil painting.” The East Coast audiences were much more participatory; the West Coast audiences were much quieter.
David Nelson: Here’s a moment just for me personally: one night well into the Broadway run we’re doing “Ragged But Right”. Jerry’s doing all this wonderful, wonderful picking stuff and he suddenly tosses it to me: “Take the solo!” Compared to the sound Jerry’s getting through his pickup, my guitar sounds like “Tink-tink-tink.” So I just barreled into it, saying to myself, “Play something you know can be heard at this moment on this mic.” I started doing all this two-string stuff and whatever, playing just as loud and wild as I could, figuring I was fighting a losing battle. And Jerry looks at me and yells, “Go Nelson – yeah!” That was just a supreme moment forever."(12)
"I was at 2 Broadway shows including opening night when Bill Graham passed out plastic top hats…Enjoyed immensely."[11]
"A few dates had an early show as well. I think the start time was 2pm and went to 5:30 or 6.
Leave, have dinner and do it again."[8]
"Immediately after the show, me & my buddy parked ourselves on the side of the theatre, waiting to catch a glimpse of Garcia as he exited the building...We hardly had to wait just a few, short moments for Jerry to appear...As we positioned ourselves relatively close to the van that was pickin' up the band after the gig, I caught Jerry's eye...
No sooner do we make eye contact, he yells out; "THAT'S HIM! GET HIM!!!"[10]
10/16/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry plays the guitar Tiger and a 1985 Takamine EF360S acoustic.
"Takamine, ca. 1985 A 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, spruce top. The spruce top on the guitar exhibits some extremely light color within the grain running from back to front above and below the sound hole making it easily identifiable. With chrome hardware, red nylon and black leather guitar strap with a black leather musical note patch affixed to the strap, a few nicks and scrapes to body and head. With original black case with usual clasps and plastic handle, lined in nubby, orange polyester; case with splotches of red and pink paint, generally very worn. Includes case, Jerry's guitar strap and pick."[14]
"According to Carolyn Adams Garcia: "This instrument was a favorite one of Jerry's 'playing' guitars. He played it extensively, and it traveled with him for years. It appears with him on album covers and in photographs of shows from the mid 1980's to early 1990.
It has a very distinctive pattern in the spruce wood top that stands out in videos and photos from that time. The sides and back are rosewood. The red fabric strap with the black notes has been part of it throughout. The guitar has the marks of use and travel.
He used it for recordings, shows and while practicing at home and at the studio. He played this guitar at his Wiltern Theater appearances and during his Broadway run.
He played this guitar for many of his acoustic sets on stage in the late 1980's. It is also the guitar he most often brought home to practice on between gigs, preferring this acoustic to his electric guitars for working at home.
Jerry loved this guitar and latched onto it as a solid replacement for his old acoustic Martin dread naught, which he said was too fragile to travel.
He liked the sharp twang of this Takamine's voice. Other band members and the crew actually have commented on its sharp distinctive tone. Likely this was an aspect of the built in pickup. Jerry liked that and the easy fingering of the narrow neck and the cutaway. It has sturdy construction that held up well on the road, and the original built in electronic elements that he used are there too.
There is plenty of life in this well-made guitar. It has occasionally been played, and often enjoyed and admired by our family and friends over the years since Jerry's passing, and is a treasured old friend come around for the music.
Takamine still makes this model, a testimonial to durability and desirability.
We have kept it since 1990 when Jerry stopped using it for shows and kept it at home. Just having it has helped us deal with his absence over time."[14]
10/17/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry plays acoustic guitar made by Takamine, ca. 1985 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, spruce top and the guitar Tiger.
10/19/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry plays acoustic guitar made by Takamine, ca. 1985 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, spruce top and the guitar Tiger.
10/20/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry plays acoustic guitar made by Takamine, ca. 1985 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, spruce top and the guitar Tiger.
10/21/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry plays acoustic guitar made by Takamine, ca. 1985 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, spruce top and the guitar Tiger.
10/23/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry plays acoustic guitar made by Takamine, ca. 1985 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, spruce top and the guitar Tiger.
Bob Weir sits in on Tangled up In Blue and When I Paint My Masterpiece.
10/24/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry plays acoustic guitar made by Takamine, ca. 1985 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, spruce top and the guitar Tiger.
10/25/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Bob Weir sits in for the electric set.
Jerry plays acoustic guitar made by Takamine, ca. 1985 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, spruce top and the guitar Tiger.
"Sunday matinee front row center got to ask Jerry as he asked Kahn what to play if the could play Dear Prudence to which he replied, "great idea"....and off we all went, "round round round".[16]
"know I was at the matinee show the day that we turned our clocks back one hour for daylight savings time because Jerry made a comment about it being too early and he wasn't usually awake at that hour."[19]
10/27/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry plays acoustic guitar made by Takamine, ca. 1985 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, spruce top and the guitar Tiger.
10/28/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry plays acoustic guitar made by Takamine, ca. 1985 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, spruce top and the guitar Tiger.
10/30/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry plays acoustic guitar made by Takamine, ca. 1985 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, spruce top and the guitar Tiger.
"Kenny Kosek's experience with the Acoustic Band was, in a word, "fun". "Garcia is just wonderful to work with, and we got along well., Kosek said."Playing with Garcia was…like…unbelievably comfy. He felt like somebody I should have known for 20 years. We're both into the same kind of funny stuff; we had the same kind of musical roots. He's a very amiable and kind of wise person."
When asked what made his playing in the Garcia band distinct from his other work, Kosek responded, "His musical philosophy of stretching, obviously, there's more for extended solos in his Acoustic Band than there would be in a normal bluegrass band. He encourages that kind of take-your-time thing."[15]
10/31/87 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry plays acoustic guitar made by Takamine, ca. 1985 6-string acoustic guitar, Serial Number 84111605, Rosewood back and sides, spruce top and the guitar Tiger.
Ken Kosek joins the Acoustic Band on fiddle.
Jerry is interviewed by an unknown interviewer and Mike Buckner.
How it came together:
"Bill Graham was having a benefit for the poster artists of the 60's because they had fallen onto some financial difficulty or something. So he was having everybody who was involved in that time do a 15 minute set; 4 or 5 songs. He had Country Joe [McDonald] and just everybody. So, he asked Jerry if he’d come and Jerry said, “Yeah, me and John Kahn and we’ll bring Nelson and Rothman…” So that was the actual first gig.
And then, after we played; we played four songs; and we got back in the back room and Bill Graham bursts into the room and says, “I’ve gotta do something with this!” He’s really intent.
And we’re (laughs) we’re sittin’ there; we’re stoned now, we’re sittin’ there on the couch going, “yeah, yeah Bill. That’s right. Do something with it, man.”
And he goes, “I’ve gotta take this somewhere, I don’t know where, exactly…”
And Garcia looks up and goes (imitates Jerry’s voice), “take us to Broadway, Bill.” (Laughs) And Bill goes, “Broadway…” and walks out of the room. (Pauses) I’m not kidding you. That’s how it happened.
PG: That’s great.
David Nelson: “Broadway.” The next thing we know, we’re booked.
PG: That must’ve been a tremendous experience.
David Nelson: Yeah.
PG: The Lunt-Fontaine is a very nice theatre.
David Nelson: I know. The Lunt-Fontaine. Being in the same dressing room as W.C Fields and people like that it was just incredible; it was totally incredible.
PG: Before the internet and such, when you were on the road you probably saw a lot of those performers on mid afternoon movies and things like that waiting around in hotel rooms, I imagine.
David Nelson: Oh yeah. I’m a total fan of all that stuff, yeah, yeah. In fact, I’m an aficionado (laughs) as they say. Here’s the thing: my first moment on the stage at the Lunt-Fontaine: we’d done the sound check and everything, ok, and now it’s “places everybody,” it’s like, official. “Places.” And you stand in your place and then you wait for this seemingly interminable long time; it’s just agonizing… It’s actually only about a minute and a half but nothing happens; the curtain is closed and, geez, you hear the audience and it gives you time to go “oh my God, I’m playing at the fuckin’ Lunt-Fontaine, oh God, man, what am I gonna do? And guess what? The curtain opens up and smoke wafts in to the stage and it was all of us people and they went “YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH” (laughs). Right from that moment, you know, the audience saved me once again. It was just like, “awww yeah, OK, hi (laughs), you know?” It’s just totally amazing.[5]
"While the smoke was a cool effect, only used during the second set opener "Werewolves of London", the surprise came at the end of the song. The skeleton witch, seated on Garcia's left, flew out of her seat into the rafters. I've always wondered if that was a surprise to Garcia, too."[7]
"I had extra late show tickets for 10-31 at the Lunt Fontanne. I met a head outside who had extra early show tickets who wanted to trade. There were counterfeit tickets going around, so I was hesitant, as was the other head. I looked over and there was Bill Graham, just standing on the NYC sidewalk. We went over to Bill and showed him our tickets, he looked at them for quite a while and said these are real, so we made the swap, so I was lucky to go to both shows. I really dig JGB, and I'm into a lot of traditional music, bluegrass, folk, etc, so these electric JGB and acoustic JGAB sets were a real treat.
One of the other nights I saw at the Lunt Fontanne, we're hanging out front of the theater way before showtime, not too many heads around, a typical non-DH NYC couple happened to walk by the theater, they stopped and looked at the poster of Jerry with the guitar coming out of the hat, and the guy said what's playing here? The lady said it must be a magician doing a magic show, and they kept walking. A magic show indeed.
The Lunt Fontanne is a really nice theater and they wouldn't allow smoking inside, but they allowed it in the upper lobby. When we went up there between sets, we could not believe the scene, the lobby was packed and Everybody was lighting up, you could catch a buzz just standing there.
These shows were released on CD. Jerry added lines to Werewolves of London, singing Werewolves of Broadway, with references to Steve Parrish and Bill Graham. Bill was hanging around inside for most of the shows, and they had people actively looking for tapers and smokers in the seating area during the show."[9]
"They sold 60 egg creams a night, it's the first time egg creams were offered in a Broadway theater."Jerry holds the record for 24,300 tickets sold in one day in the history of Broadway theater. One ad in the Village Voice."[17]
"I also was fortunate enough to catch both Halloween shows. I had a matinee ticket but no evening show ticket so I came up with a scheme to hide in the janitors utility closet between the two shows and scam my way into the night show. I sat in the dark for hours until an hour or so before the evening show began and then got busted when someone came in and took out the trash cans and found me inside. I pleaded to be allowed to stay, I was removed to the sidewalk, just in time to find a person with 2 extra tickets, I bought one…"[19]
"Garcia's stint in New York was also filled with various outside activities, some planned by Graham, including attending Borscht-Belt comedian Jackie Mason's Broadway show on a Garcia night off. Sandy Rothman recalls that Mason, a favorite of Graham's, worked Garcia's presence into the act. "Mountain Girl was there that night," he says, "and we were all going crazy in our aisle!"[18]
Lunt Fontanne Theatre, New York, NY
1.)^Gray, Christopher, Streetscapes/The Lunt-Fontanne; 1910 Theater, Once the Globe, 1998-02-01, http://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/01/realestate/streetscapes-the-lunt-fontanne-1910-theater-once-the-globe-could-open-to-the-sky.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
2.)^"Lunt and Fontanne." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 16 Jan. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1351472/Lunt-and-Fontanne>.3.)^President Here For Red Cross Drive, 1918, 5-18, n.y. times
4.)^Kenrick, John, Who's Who in Musicals: Additional Bios, 2002
5.)^Nelson, David, KBOO Community Radio, Interview With David Nelson, http://kboo.fm/node/16741
6.)^http://hjeffords.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/highlights-of-broadway-the-walking-tour-script/
7.)^greggn, comments, 2013-10-31, http://ratdog.org/community/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=313478
8.)^hockeygame3, comments, 2013-10-31, http://ratdog.org/community/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=313478
9.)^BillyDeLion, 2012-11, comments, http://www.furthur.net/forum/general-discussion/208813-halloween-with-jerry-and-the-grateful-dead
1.)^http://world-theatres.com/broadway-theatres/
10.)^wheelman, comments, 2013-11-29, http://ratdog.org/community/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=314256
11.)^Geo, comments, 2013-01-15, Robbins, Brian, Some Acoustic Jerry Memories With Sandy Rothman & David Nelson, 2012-08-01, http://www.jambands.com/features/2012/08/01/some-acoustic-jerry-memories-with-sandy-rothman-david-nelson?3#.UrdTYoUqCds
12.)^Robbins, Brian, Some Acoustic Jerry Memories With Sandy Rothman & David Nelson,
2012-08-01, http://www.jambands.com/features/2012/08/01/some-acoustic-jerry-memories-with-sandy-rothman-david-nelson?3#.UrdTYoUqCds
13.)^Graham, Bill, Troy, Sandy, Captain Trips, RN Sandy Troy's Captain Trips (1994), 2013-12-28, http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2013/12/rn-sandy-troys-captain-trips-1994.html
14.)^Bonham's, http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20158/lot/3021/?page_anchor=MR1_results_per_page%3D500%26MR1_module_instance_reference%3D1
15.)^Cain, Tim, Playing In The Band, with Kenny Kosek, Bill Keith, Jim Rooney and Eric Weissberg, 1991, Relix 18, June 20.
16.)^Glaser, Eric, comments, 2014-05-29, Grateful Dead tour veterans 1980's, https://www.facebook.com/
17.)^Graham, Bill, October 31, 1987, Interview, http://www.concertvault.com/jerry-garcia/unknown-october-31-1987.html
18.)^Jackson, Blair, Cutting Room Floor, http://www.blairjackson.com/chapter_nineteen_additions.htm
19.)^Betts, Tom, comments, 2015-01-06, Grateful Dead Tour Veterans 1980's, facebook.com
Looks like the materials spell it Theatre, not Theater.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'm trying to correct all of those, like Capital Centre.
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