183-556: Blanche Yurka (born Blanch Jurka ; June 19, 1887 – June 6, 1974) was an American stage and film actress and director. She was an opera singer with minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera and later became a stage actress, making her Broadway debut in 1906 and established herself as a character actor of the classical stage, also appearing in several films of the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to her many stage roles, which included Queen Gertrude opposite John Barrymore 's Hamlet , she
366-420: A Puccini aria while standing on her head. Yurka was foremost a stage actress and for a long time considered film-making an inferior art form. Her low opinion of the movies started to change when she saw John Ford 's The Informer , adapted from the novel by Liam O'Flaherty . When she finally made her belated screen debut at the age of 47, it was in the role that many consider the greatest of her film career,
549-571: A New York actors' club. In 1895, Barrymore entered Georgetown Preparatory School , then located on Georgetown University Campus, but he was expelled in November 1897, probably after being caught waiting in a brothel . One of his biographers, Michael A. Morrison, posits the alternate theory that Barrymore was expelled after the staff saw him inebriated. By the time he left Georgetown he was, according to Martin Norden in his biography of Barrymore, "already in
732-413: A best supporting actress Academy Award (the supporting categories weren't established until the following year), her character portrayal was a model of a sinister screen villain. In close-up, she flashed a look of steely malevolence; in her speech to the revolutionary tribunal – asking for the conviction and execution of Charles Darnay – she played it large and to the rafters. The film was only nominated in
915-557: A bit part in The Rose of the Rancho (1906), and the following year, he extended her a contract, at which time she changed her surname to "Yurka", a homophone of her true surname. Beginning with The Warrens of Virginia (1907), Blanche spent the next decade alternating between stock and touring productions. In 1909, she had a small part in Leo Ditrichstein 's Is Matrimony a Failure? at
1098-443: A body grown unexpectedly eloquent in recent years". In November, Barrymore began filming Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , playing the dual leading role , and the film was released in theaters the following year. Wid's Daily thought that "it is the star's picture from the very outset, and it is the star that makes it", going on to say that Barrymore's portrayal was "a thing of fine shadows and violent emotions". The Washington Post
1281-541: A cast member is listed as "Jack Barrymore"; this is probably John Barrymore, although Norden notes that "we may never know for certain if [these] are in fact Barrymore movies." The four films were Dream of a Motion Picture Director , The Widow Casey's Return , A Prize Package (all 1912) and One on Romance (1913). The films were produced by the Philadelphia-based Lubin Manufacturing Company and were lost in an explosion and fire at
1464-451: A chorus, children's choir, and many supporting and leading solo singers. The company also employs numerous free-lance dancers, actors, musicians and other performers throughout the season. The Met's roster of singers includes both international and American artists, some of whose careers have been developed through the Met's young artists programs. While many singers appear periodically as guests with
1647-516: A clown in Pantaloon opposite his brother, and Stephen Rollo in Alice Sit-by-the-Fire opposite his sister. Both plays ran for 81 performances from December 1905, and then went on tour. Barrymore continued drinking and lacked discipline, which affected his performances. Ethel was angry with her brother and had the producers fire him from the show, but re-hire him the following day, to teach him
1830-481: A contact for three further films at a salary of $ 76,250 per picture. He later claimed that his motivation for moving from stage to films was the "lack of repetition—the continual playing of a part, which is so ruinous to an actor, is entirely eliminated". Barrymore's first film under the contract was The Sea Beast (1926), loosely based on the 1851 novel Moby-Dick , in which he played Captain Ahab Ceeley . This
2013-429: A conventional romance 'joyous'," writes Peters. A reviewer for The Oregon Daily Journal thought that Barrymore gave a "portrayal of unusual quality". The success of the picture led to further film work, including The Man from Mexico (1914), Are You a Mason? , The Dictator and The Incorrigible Dukane (all 1915). Except for The Incorrigible Dukane , all of these early films are presumed lost . Despite
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#17328917560462196-506: A deal of charm". Barrymore spent the second half of 1915 making three films, including The Red Widow , which he called "the worst film I ever made" in his 1926 autobiography. In April 1916, he starred in John Galsworthy 's prison drama Justice , again at the instigation of Sheldon. The play was a critical success, and The New York Times thought the audience saw "Barrymore play as he had never played before, and so, by his work as
2379-606: A decade. The play was a critical flop, although the presence of the siblings ensured that it ran for over 60 performances. In 1921, Barrymore portrayed a wealthy Frenchman in New York in the film The Lotus Eater , with Colleen Moore . In September, Barrymore and Oelrichs went to Europe on holiday; cracks were appearing in their relationship, and she fell in love with a poet during their extended stay in Venice. In October, Oelrichs returned to New York and Barrymore traveled to London to film
2562-460: A divorce from Barrymore on May 25, 1935, citing mental cruelty, habitual intemperance, and desertion. The new relationship was widely reported in the tabloid press , who labeled the couple Caliban and Ariel . After a series of arguments with Barrie, Barrymore considered the relationship with Barrie to be at an end, and he left for Los Angeles. A newspaper editor chartered a plane and flew Barrie to Chicago, to meet Barrymore's train; she broadcast
2745-651: A dozen or more opera performances in Philadelphia throughout the season. Over the years the number of performances was gradually reduced until the final Philadelphia season in 1961 consisted of only four operas. The final performance of that last season was on March 21, 1961, with Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli in Turandot . After the Tuesday night visits were ended, the Met still returned to Philadelphia on its spring tours in 1967, 1968, 1978, and 1979. For its second season,
2928-648: A lesson. After a tour of the US and Australia with Collier in On the Quiet and The Dictator , Barrymore joined his sister in the 1907 comedy His Excellency the Governor at the Empire Theatre . He received mixed reviews for his performances, and The Wichita Daily Eagle commented that "Barrymore seems to imitate John Drew too much ever to be a good actor. Why doesn't young Barrymore imitate
3111-492: A long relationship with the Met during this period. From 1900 to 1904, Lionel Mapleson (1865–1937) made a series of sound recordings at the Met. Mapleson, the nephew of the opera impresario James Henry Mapleson , was employed by the Met as a violinist and music librarian. He used an Edison cylinder phonograph set-up near the stage to capture short, one- to five-minute recordings of the soloists, chorus and orchestra during performances. These unique acoustic documents, known as
3294-470: A new home in Lincoln Center. While many outstanding singers debuted at the Met under Bing's guiding hand, music critics complained of a lack of great conducting during his regime, even though such eminent conductors as Fritz Stiedry , Dimitri Mitropoulos , Erich Leinsdorf , Fritz Reiner , and Karl Böhm appeared frequently in the 1950s and '60s. Among the most significant achievements of Bing's tenure
3477-639: A part of our theater today." Before the year was over, she announced her retirement from the stage – a short-lived retirement that would find her back onstage exactly a year later in the Phoenix Theatre's Diary of a Scoundrel . In 1957, she visited Athens under the aegis of the United States International Exchange of Artists to open the Greek Drama Festival. There, she appeared in a reading of Aeschylus ' Prometheus Bound in
3660-462: A plea for him to return, and her pursuit became national news. Costello's divorce from Barrymore became final in October 1935. Morrison thinks that the headlines established a new reputation for Barrymore of "the aging satyr, the has-been alcoholic, the much-married ham". This was a blow to his self-respect, but he faced his troubles "with aplomb and a sense of humor", according to Morrison. To escape from
3843-666: A quartet of Ibsen plays, directing three of them: The Wild Duck (1928, as Gina Ekdal), Hedda Gabler (1929, title role) and The Vikings (1930, as Hjordis); she also had the title role of Ellida in The Lady from the Sea (1929). In the year 1932 alone, she played the title role in Sophocles ' Electra , was Helen of Troy in Shakespeare 's Troilus and Cressida , directed Carry Nation starring Esther Dale (a production that featured
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#17328917560464026-632: A quiet divorce from Oelrichs; she eagerly agreed to the separation, as she was in a relationship with a lawyer, Harrison Tweed , whom she later married. Barrymore and Costello married in November that year; their daughter, Dolores, was born in April 1930 and a son, John Drew Barrymore , followed in June 1932. Barrymore purchased and converted an estate in the Hollywood Hills into 16 different buildings with 55 rooms, gardens, skeet ranges , swimming pools, fountains and
4209-466: A real actor if he must copy someone." Barrymore gained his first leading role in early 1907, in the comedy The Boys of Company B at the Lyceum Theatre . Although he was well received by the critics – The Washington Post noted that "his work has been pronounced astonishingly clever by the critics wherever he played" – at times he continued his unprofessional stage behavior, which led to
4392-688: A rebuke from John Drew, who attended a performance. After a short run in Toddles at the Garrick Theatre , Barrymore was given the lead role of Mac in A Stubborn Cinderella , both on tour and at the Broadway Theatre in Boston. He had previously been earning $ 50 a week during his sporadic employment but now enjoyed a wage increase to $ 175. He briefly appeared in The Candy Shop in mid-1909, before he played
4575-452: A result. The film was well received by critics, and Mordaunt Hall , the film critic of The New York Times , praised the "energy, earnestness and virility" Barrymore displayed in the role of Ceeley. As filming finished on The Sea Beast , work began on Don Juan , the first feature-length film with synchronized Vitaphone sound effects and a musical soundtrack . Although Barrymore wanted to play opposite Costello again, Jack L. Warner ,
4758-492: A rotating repertory schedule, with up to seven performances of four different works staged each week. Performances are given in the evening Monday through Saturday with a matinée on Saturday. Several operas are presented in new productions each season. Sometimes these are borrowed from or shared with other opera companies. The rest of the year's operas are given in revivals of productions from previous seasons. The 2015–16 season comprised 227 performances of 25 operas. The operas in
4941-472: A sanatorium for alcoholics, but he continued to drink covertly and was disruptive on set. Basil Rathbone , who was playing Tybalt , later recounted that "he was drinking and unreliable on the set ... It was sad to see him in such a state." Opinions on his portrayal were divided. Some critics, such as Welford Beaton of the Hollywood Spectator , thought "Barrymore is an acting gem", although Gielgud
5124-894: A season of opera at the new Metropolitan Opera House . Henry Abbey served as manager for the inaugural season, 1883–84, which opened with a performance of Charles Gounod 's Faust starring the brilliant Swedish soprano Christina Nilsson . Abbey's company that first season featured an ensemble of artists led by sopranos Nilsson and Marcella Sembrich ; mezzo-soprano Sofia Scalchi ; tenors Italo Campanini and Roberto Stagno ; baritone Giuseppe Del Puente ; and bass Franco Novara . They gave 150 performances of 20 different operas by Gounod, Meyerbeer, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Wagner, Mozart, Thomas, Bizet, Flotow, and Ponchielli. All performances were sung in Italian and were conducted either by music director Auguste Vianesi or Cleofonte Campanini (the tenor Italo's brother). The company performed not only in
5307-655: A short run. Afterwards he played the role of Charles Hyne in the farce The Dictator at the Criterion Theatre, which starred William Collier . During the play's run and subsequent tour across the US, Collier became a mentor to the young actor, although his patience was continually tested by Barrymore's drinking, which led to occasional missed performances, drunken stage appearances, and general misbehavior. Collier taught Barrymore much about acting, including coaching him in comic timing, but "at times regretted his sponsorship" of his apprentice. In March 1905, while The Dictator
5490-575: A silly and unwholesome exhibitionism, and odious with a kind of stale and degenerate studio adolescence. Their appeal is cheap, cynical and specious". In 1927, Barrymore planned to revive Hamlet at the Hollywood Bowl , but in August he canceled the production, without explanation, and began filming the third of the UA pictures, Eternal Love , for which he was paid $ 150,000. In February 1928, Barrymore obtained
5673-408: A six-week tour of American cities following its season in New York. These annual spring tours brought the company and its stars to cities throughout the U.S., most of which had no opera company of their own. In Cleveland, for example, Met stops were sporadic until 1924, when underwriting efforts spearheaded by Newton D. Baker led to 3 consecutive years of annual 8-engagement performances. This led to
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5856-659: A stage name after seeing it on a poster in the Haymarket Theatre in London. Barrymore's mother, Georgie Drew Barrymore , was born into a prominent theatrical family . His maternal grandparents were Louisa Lane Drew , a well-known 19th-century American actress and the manager of the Arch Street Theatre , and John Drew , also an actor whose specialty was comedy. Barrymore's maternal uncles were two more thespians, John Drew Jr. and Sidney . Much of Barrymore's early life
6039-575: A three-week run of the play was staged at the Manhattan Opera House , followed by a brief tour that closed at the end of January 1924. News of Barrymore's success in Hamlet piqued the interest of Warner Bros. , which signed him as the lead in the 1924 film Beau Brummel . Unhappy in his marriage, Barrymore – aged 40 at the time – sought solace elsewhere and had an affair with his 17-year-old co-star Mary Astor during filming. Although
6222-738: A totem pole. By the late 1920s, sound films had become common, following the 1927 sensation, The Jazz Singer . Actors with trained voices were in demand by the studios, and Barrymore was offered a five-film deal with Warner Bros. at $ 150,000 per picture, and a share of the profits. Before he began this contract, he played his first speaking role on film: a one-off section in The Show of Shows (1929), playing Richard, Duke of Gloucester in Henry VI, Part 3 . His first two films under contract were General Crack and The Man from Blankley's , each of which were modestly successful. As he had been frustrated at
6405-424: A year of formal study, he left and "devoted much of his subsequent stay in London to bohemianism and nocturnal adventures", according to family biographer Margot Peters . Barrymore returned to New York in the summer of 1900, and by November he found work as an illustrator on The New York Evening Journal , at a salary of $ 50 a week. Barrymore had always professed a dislike of the acting profession, but in 1900 he
6588-529: A year, as of the 2017–2018 season. In February 2018, Nézet-Séguin succeeded Levine as music director of the Metropolitan Opera. In August 2024, the company announced the extension of Nézet-Séguin's contract as its music director through the 2029–2030 season. In 2017, Daniele Rustioni first guest-conducted at the Metropolitan Opera. In November 2024, the company announced the appointment of Rustioni as its next principal guest conductor, effective with
6771-484: Is a pleasure to see [him] again in something in a lighter vein." The same year, Barrymore starred as jewel thief Baron Felix von Geigern together with Greta Garbo in the 1932 film Grand Hotel , in which Lionel also appeared. Critical opinion of Barrymore's acting was divided; John Gilbert 's biographer Eve Golden refers to Barrymore as seeming "more like ... [Garbo's] affectionate father than her lover", while George Blaisdell of International Photographer praised
6954-596: Is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center , situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan . Referred to colloquially as "the Met" , the company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as the general manager. The company's music director has been Yannick Nézet-Séguin since 2018. The Met
7137-461: Is dependent on private financing. Gelb began his tenure by opening the 2006–07 season with a production of Madama Butterfly by the English director Anthony Minghella originally staged for English National Opera. Minghella's highly theatrical concept featured vividly colored banners on a spare stage, allowing the focus to be on the detailed acting of the singers. The abstract concept included casting
7320-515: Is probably not another actor on our stage who has a temperament so fine and spiritual, an art so flexible and sure." In 1918, Barrymore starred in the romantic comedy film On the Quiet ; the Iowa City Press-Citizen considered the film superior to the original Broadway performance. In 1919, Barrymore portrayed a struggling lawyer in the film adaptation of the Broadway show Here Comes
7503-447: Is the film's transcendent quality". Barrymore decided next to star in Hamlet on stage, with Arthur Hopkins directing. They spent six months preparing, cutting over 1,250 lines from the text as they did so, and Barrymore opted to play Hamlet as "a man's man", according to Norden. Barrymore later described his Hamlet as a "normal, healthy, lusty young fellow who simply got into a mess that
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7686-461: The Edinburgh Festival . Serving from 1950 to 1972, Bing became one of the Met's most influential and reformist leaders. Bing modernized the administration of the company, ended an archaic ticket sales system, and brought an end to the company's Tuesday night performances in Philadelphia. He presided over an era of fine singing and glittering new productions, while guiding the company's move to
7869-577: The Federal Theater Project at the 1939 Senate Appropriations Committee hearings that de-funded the program in reaction to productions that were deemed sympathetic to the political left-wing. On occasion, she could be critical of Broadway for production values which did not live up to the highest standards. In a letter to the New York Times, published November 6, 1955, she reproached the theater community's "passion for ugliness that seems so much
8052-520: The Great Depression . He then signed with Universal Studios to portray a troubled Jewish lawyer in Counsellor at Law . During filming he struggled to remember his lines for even small scenes. Filming was stopped on one occasion after more than 25 takes when he struggled to recall the right lines; it was a problem with which he began to suffer regularly. Despite the problems, Norden believes that this
8235-542: The Mapleson Cylinders , preserve an audio picture of the early Met, and are the only known extant recordings of some performers, including the tenor Jean de Reszke and the dramatic soprano Milka Ternina. The recordings were later issued on a series of LPs and, in 2002, were included in the National Recording Registry . Beginning in 1898, the Metropolitan Opera company of singers and musicians undertook
8418-483: The Morgan , Roosevelt , and Vanderbilt families, all of whom had been excluded from the academy. The new Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22, 1883, and was an immediate success, both socially and artistically. The Academy of Music's opera season folded just three years after the Met opened. In its early decades the Met did not produce the opera performances itself but hired prominent manager/ impresarios to stage
8601-535: The National Film Registry . Barrymore's personal life has been the subject of much attention before and since his death. He struggled with alcohol abuse from the age of 14, was married and divorced four times, and declared bankruptcy later in life. Much of his later work involved self-parody and the portrayal of drunken has-beens. His obituary in The Washington Post observed that "with the passing of
8784-902: The Sam Harris Theater and Manhattan Opera House , where it ran for a combined 125 performances. At 42, Barrymore was a little old to be playing her son (she was 35), and she made herself appear as youthful as possible to vent her irritation. Prior to Hamlet, she appeared in The Law Breaker , where she met a charming young character actor named Ian Keith (née Keith Ross), who was 12 years her junior. They married in September 1922, her first marriage and his second. Her growing stature as an actress - combined with his jealousy - eventually came between them; they separated in 1925 and divorced in 1926. Yurka never remarried and had no children. Building on her repertoire of classic characters, Yurka starred in
8967-456: The humanism demonstrated between Barrymore's character and his family, particularly the "close bond" between father and daughter. In his final film of the year, he returned to MGM for Rasputin and the Empress , Barrymore, Ethel and Lionel co-starred. Physically, Barrymore had deteriorated since filming Svengali , and he had gained weight because of his drinking. Peters notes the "dissipation of
9150-505: The silent film era, he was well received in such pictures as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), Sherlock Holmes (1922) and The Sea Beast (1926). During this period, he gained his nickname, the Great Profile. His stage-trained voice proved an asset when sound films were introduced, and four of his works, Grand Hotel (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Twentieth Century (1934), and Midnight (1939), have been inducted into
9333-431: The 1933–34 season. Called the committee to Save Metropolitan Opera, the group was headed by the well-loved leading soprano, Lucrezia Bori . Bori not only led the committee, but also personally carried out much of its work and within a few months her fundraising efforts produced the $ 300,000 that were needed for the coming season. In April 1935, Gatti stepped down after 27 years as general manager. His immediate successor,
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#17328917560469516-471: The 1970s, he said: "The handsome middle-aged stars of the Edwardian theatre romanticised the part. Even John Barrymore, whose Hamlet I admired very much, cut the play outrageously so that he could, for instance, play the closet scene all out for sentiment with the emphasis on the ' Oedipus complex ' – sobbing on Gertrude's bosom. Yet Barrymore ... had a wonderful edge and a demonic sense of humour." At
9699-508: The 2025-2026 season, with an initial contract of three seasons. John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth ; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen, and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families , he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly attempted a career as an artist, but appeared on stage together with his father Maurice in 1900, and then his sister Ethel
9882-562: The Belasco Theater. There, she met actress Jane Cowl , who was starring in the production as Fanny Perry. Yurka had minor roles in several plays, including An Old New Yorker (1911), The House of Bondage (1914) Our American Cousin (1915) and a pair of plays by Jane Cowl , Daybreak (1917) and Information Please (1918). In 1922-23, she was Queen Gertrude to John Barrymore 's Hamlet in Arthur Hopkins ' production of Hamlet at
10065-590: The Best Film and Best Editing categories, not even its star, Ronald Colman getting an Oscar nod. She sought to play O-Lan in the 1937 film The Good Earth but lost out to Luise Rainer , who won an Academy Award for her performance. She also lost the role of Pilar in For Whom the Bell Tolls to Greek actress Katina Paxinou , who went on to win an Oscar for best supporting actress. Her follow-up to A Tale of Two Cities
10248-848: The Bride , which he followed with The Test of Honor . The latter film marked his first straight dramatic role on screen after years of performing in comedy dramas. Later that year, when Barrymore again appeared on stage with Lionel in Sem Benelli 's historical drama The Jest , audience members "agree[d] that the American stage had never witnessed finer acting", according to Peters. Alexander Woollcott , writing in The New York Times , thought that "John and Lionel Barrymore hold spellbound each breathless audience", and he commented that Barrymore "contributes to that appeal by every step, every hand, every posture of
10431-809: The Broadway debuts of Mildred Natwick and James Stewart ) and appeared in Katharine Cornell 's production of Lucrece by Deems Taylor and Thornton Wilder . She won critical acclaim in 1935 when she replaced Edith Evans as the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet opposite Cornell's Juliet. She co-adapted to stage the Spanish comedy, Spring in Autumn (1933) by Gregorio Martínez Sierra and María Martínez Sierra , which reunited her with Carry Nation co-stars Esther Dale , Mildred Natwick , and James Stewart , and featured Yurka singing
10614-555: The Chicago leg of their tour, at the W. S. Cleveland Theatre in October 1903. He first played the minor role of Lt. Max von Wendlowski in Magda , and in November when the troupe produced Leah the Forsaken , he took the small part of Max, a village idiot with one spoken line. A year later Barrymore appeared in his first Broadway production, in a small role in the comedy Glad of It , which only had
10797-515: The Christmas 1903 production of Wagner 's Parsifal - the first staged performance of the opera outside of Bayreuth - appearing as a flower girl and as the Grail-bearer. In his review of the premiere performance, New York Tribune music critic Henry Krehbiel singled out her contribution: "And while pointing out the beauty of the work of the principals, it is a pleasant privilege to lay a wreath at
10980-521: The Empire Theatre on Broadway, which ran for 48 performances. Charles Darnton, a critic for The Evening World , observed that "Barrymore takes delight in 'kidding' his part not only to the limit, but perhaps beyond". A review in The Washington Times stated that "Barrymore inimitably imitates his uncle John Drew". Barrymore may have appeared in his first films in 1912. In four short films,
11163-486: The Horse Marines when one of the younger actors became temporarily unavailable. She persuaded the director to allow Barrymore to accept the part of the minor character, and Barrymore traveled from New York, learning his lines on the train. In the first act, he stopped in the middle of his dialogue, unable to remember the text, and asked the audience and his fellow actors, "I've blown up. Where do we go from here?", which led
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#173289175604611346-399: The Lubin vaults in 1914. In July 1912, Barrymore went to Los Angeles, where he appeared in three short-running plays at the Belasco Theatre. He returned to New York in October, where he took the lead role in 72 performances of the comedy The Affairs of Anatol at the Little Theatre . Although the critical response was lukewarm, Barrymore's salary for the play was $ 600 a week. He began
11529-442: The MOA to create the Metropolitan Opera National Company (MONC); a second touring company that would present operas nationally with young operatic talent. Supported by President John F. Kennedy and funded largely by donations given by philanthropist and publisher Lila Acheson Wallace , the company presented two seasons of operas in 1965–1966 and 1966–1967 in which hundreds of performances were given in hundreds of cities throughout
11712-415: The Met board's Eleanor Robson Belmont , the former actress and wife to industrialist August Belmont , was appointed head of a new organization—the Metropolitan Opera Guild—as successor to a women's club Belmont had set up. The Guild supported the producing company through subscriptions to its magazine, Opera News , and through Mrs. Belmont's weekly appeals on the Met's radio broadcasts. In 1940 ownership of
11895-671: The Met considerably expanded its repertory, offering four world premiers and 22 Met premiers, more new works than under any manager since Gatti-Casazza. Volpe chose Valery Gergiev , who was then the chief conductor and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre , as Principal Guest Conductor in 1997 and broadened the Met's Russian repertory. Marcelo Álvarez , Gabriela Beňačková , Diana Damrau , Natalie Dessay , Renée Fleming , Juan Diego Flórez , Marcello Giordani , Angela Gheorghiu , Susan Graham , Ben Heppner , Dmitri Hvorostovsky , Salvatore Licitra , Anna Netrebko , René Pape , Neil Rosenshein , Bryn Terfel , and Deborah Voigt were among
12078-623: The Met during Bing's tenure include: Roberta Peters , Victoria de los Ángeles , Renata Tebaldi , Maria Callas , who had a bitter falling out with Bing over repertoire, , Birgit Nilsson , Joan Sutherland , Régine Crespin , Mirella Freni , Renata Scotto , Montserrat Caballé , Elisabeth Schwarzkopf , Anna Moffo , James McCracken , Carlo Bergonzi , Franco Corelli , Alfredo Kraus , Plácido Domingo , Nicolai Gedda , Luciano Pavarotti , Jon Vickers , Tito Gobbi , Sherrill Milnes , and Cesare Siepi . The Met's 1961 production of Turandot , with Leopold Stokowski conducting, Birgit Nilsson in
12261-431: The Met found new controversy with a production of John Adams 's opera The Death of Klinghoffer , due to criticism that the work was antisemitic. In response to the controversy Gelb canceled the scheduled worldwide HD video presentation of a performance, but refused demands to cancel the live performances scheduled for October and November 2014. Demonstrators held signs and chanted "Shame on Gelb". On April 14, 2016,
12444-413: The Met from 1896 to 1903. The early 1900s saw the development of distinct Italian, German and later French "wings" within the Met's roster of artists including separate German and Italian choruses. This division of the company's forces faded after World War II when solo artists spent less time engaged at any one company. The administration of Heinrich Conried in 1903–08 was distinguished especially by
12627-425: The Met in 1891 in a glittering season of stars organized by the returning Henry E. Abbey, John B. Schoeffel and Maurice Grau as Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau . After missing a season to rebuild the opera house following a fire in August 1892 which destroyed most of the theater, Abbey and Grau continued as co-managers along with John Schoeffel as the business partner, initiating the so-called "Golden Age of Opera". Most of
12810-406: The Met in 1973 as Desdemona in Verdi 's Otello , the same role she debuted there in 1955. From 1975 to 1981 the Met was guided by a triumvirate of directors: the general manager (Anthony A. Bliss), artistic director ( James Levine ), and director of production (English stage director John Dexter ). Bliss was followed by Bruce Crawford and Hugh Southern . Through this period the constant figure
12993-412: The Met's current stars as well as appearances by 26 veteran stars of the Met's the past. Among the artists, Leonard Bernstein and Birgit Nilsson gave their last performances with the company at the concert. This season also marked the debut of bass Samuel Ramey , who debuted as Argante in Handel's Rinaldo in January 1984. The immediate post-Bing era saw a continuing addition of African-Americans to
13176-487: The Met's directors turned to Leopold Damrosch as general manager. The revered conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra was engaged to lead the opera company in an all German language repertory and serve as its chief conductor. Under Damrosch, the company consisted of some the most celebrated singers from Europe's German-language opera houses. The new German Met found great popular and critical success in
13359-407: The Met's own SiriusXM radio channel. In 2010, the company named Fabio Luisi as its principal guest conductor in 2010, and subsequently its principal conductor in 2011, to fill a void created by Levine's two-year absence because of illness. In 2013, following the severance of the dancers' contracts, Gelb announced that the resident ballet company at the Met would cease to exist. In 2014, Gelb and
13542-689: The Met's own original productions. Theater directors Bartlett Sher , Mary Zimmerman , and Jack O'Brien joined the list of the Met's directors along with Stephen Wadsworth, Willy Decker, Laurent Pelly , Luc Bondy and other opera directors to create new stagings for the company. Robert Lepage , the Canadian director of Cirque du Soleil , was engaged by the Met to direct a revival of Der Ring des Nibelungen using hydraulic stage platforms and projected 3D imagery. To further engage new audiences Gelb initiated live high-definition video transmissions to cinemas worldwide, and regular live satellite radio broadcasts on
13725-506: The Met's principal conductor (but with no official title) from 1908 to 1915, leading the company in performances of Verdi, Wagner and others that set standards for the company for decades to come. The Viennese composer Gustav Mahler also was a Met conductor during Gatti-Casazza's first two seasons and in later years conductors Tullio Serafin and Artur Bodanzky led the company in the Italian and German repertories respectively. Following Toscanini's departure, Gatti-Casazza successfully guided
13908-526: The Met's regular visits ceased. On April 26, 1910, the Met purchased the Philadelphia Opera House from Oscar Hammerstein I . The company renamed the house the Metropolitan Opera House and performed all of their Philadelphia performances there until 1920, when the company sold the theater and resumed performing at the Academy of Music. During the Met's early years, the company annually presented
14091-456: The Met's repertoire consist of a wide range of works, from 18th-century Baroque and 19th-century Bel canto to the Minimalism of the late 20th and 21st centuries. These operas are presented in staged productions that range in style from those with elaborate traditional decors to others that feature modern conceptual designs. The Met's performing company consists of a large symphony orchestra,
14274-516: The Met's wealthy supporters had significantly declined. Soon after his appointment, Cravath obtained new revenue through a contract with the National Broadcasting Company for weekly radio broadcasts of Met performances. The first national broadcast took place December 25, 1931, when Hansel and Gretel was aired. With Gatti's support, Cravath also obtained a ten percent reduction in the pay of all salaried employees beginning with
14457-837: The Metropolitan Opera to a prolonged era of artistic innovation and musical excellence. He brought with him the fiery and brilliant conductor Arturo Toscanini , the music director from his seasons at La Scala. Many of the most noted singers of the era appeared at the Met under Gatti-Casazza's leadership, including sopranos Rosa Ponselle , Elisabeth Rethberg , Maria Jeritza , Emmy Destinn , Frances Alda , Frida Leider , Amelita Galli-Curci , Bernice de Pasquali , and Lily Pons ; tenors Jacques Urlus , Giovanni Martinelli , Beniamino Gigli , Giacomo Lauri-Volpi , and Lauritz Melchior ; baritones Titta Ruffo , Giuseppe De Luca , Pasquale Amato , and Lawrence Tibbett ; and basses Friedrich Schorr , Feodor Chaliapin , Jose Mardones, Tancredi Pasero and Ezio Pinza —among many others. Toscanini served as
14640-562: The Metropolitan Opera's founding subscribers determined to build a new opera house that would outshine the old Academy in every way. A group of 22 men assembled at Delmonico's restaurant on April 28, 1880. They elected officers and established subscriptions for ownership in the new company. The new theater, built at 39th and Broadway , would include three tiers of private boxes in which the scions of New York's powerful new industrial families could display their wealth and establish their social prominence. The first subscribers included members of
14823-883: The Swedish opera manager Göran Gentele , died in an auto accident before the start of his first season. Following Gentele's tragic loss came Schuyler Chapin , who served as general manager for three seasons. The greatest achievement of his tenure was the Met's first tour to Japan for three weeks in May–June 1975 which was the brainchild of impresario Kazuko Hillyer . The tour played a significant role in popularizing opera in Japan, and boasted an impressive line-up of artists in productions of La traviata , Carmen , and La bohème ; including Marilyn Horne as Carmen, Joan Sutherland as Violetta, and tenors Franco Corelli and Luciano Pavarotti alternating as Rodolfo. Soprano Renata Tebaldi retired from
15006-504: The US two years later. As a child, Barrymore was sometimes badly behaved, and he was sent away to schools in an attempt to instill discipline. The strategy was not always successful, and he attended elementary schools in four states. He was sent first to the boys' annex of the Convent of Notre Dame in Philadelphia. One punishment that he received there was being made to read a copy of Dante 's Inferno ; he later recounted that, as he looked at
15189-1118: The United States. Bing publicly supported the organization, but privately detested the idea and actively worked to dismantle the company which he ultimately achieved in a vote of the board in December 1966. The MONC's directors were mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens and Michael Manuel , a long time stage manager and director at the Met. Several well known opera singers performed with the MONC, including sopranos Clarice Carson , Maralin Niska , Mary Beth Peil , Francesca Roberto , and Marilyn Zschau ; mezzo-sopranos Joy Davidson , Sylvia Friederich, Dorothy Krebill, and Huguette Tourangeau ; tenors Enrico Di Giuseppe , Chris Lachona, Nicholas di Virgilio, and Harry Theyard ; baritones Ron Bottcher , John Fiorito , Thomas Jamerson , Julian Patrick , and Vern Shinall; bass-baritones Andrij Dobriansky , Ronald Hedlund, and Arnold Voketaitis ; and bass Paul Plishka . During Bing's tenure,
15372-542: The apples I try to keep on top of the barrel." In February 1925, Barrymore staged Hamlet in London at the Haymarket Theatre, which the Manchester Guardian later said had "the most memorable first night for years". The reviews were positive, and "although none of the London critics found Barrymore superior to [Henry] Irving and [Johnston] Forbes-Robertson , many were favorable in their comparisons". Among
15555-526: The arrival of the Neapolitan tenor Enrico Caruso , the most celebrated singer who ever appeared at the old Metropolitan. He was also instrumental in hiring conductor Arturo Vigna . Conried was followed by Giulio Gatti-Casazza , who held a 27-year tenure from 1908 to 1935. Gatti-Casazza had been lured by the Met from a celebrated tenure as director of Milan's La Scala Opera House . His model planning, authoritative organizational skills and brilliant casts raised
15738-427: The artists first heard at the Met under his management. He retired as general manager in 2006. Joseph Volpe's post was given to Peter Gelb , formerly a record producer. Gelb began outlining his plans in April 2006; these included more new productions each year, ideas for shaving staging costs, and attracting new audiences without deterring existing opera-lovers. Gelb saw these issues as crucial for an organization which
15921-451: The audience members was the 20-year-old actor John Gielgud , who wrote in his program "Barrymore is romantic in appearance and naturally gifted with grace, looks and a capacity to wear period clothes, which makes his brilliantly intellectual performance classical without being unduly severe, and he has tenderness, remoteness, and neurosis all placed with great delicacy and used with immense effectiveness and admirable judgment". Looking back in
16104-574: The book Dear Audience (1959) and wrote a memoir, Bohemian Girl (1970). She was a popular guest at women's clubs and colleges, where she continued to perform dramatic readings. She suffered from failing health in her final years owing to arteriosclerosis and died June 6, 1974, at age 86. She was interred in the same burial plot with her good friend, actress Florence Reed , in the Actors Fund of America section of Kensico Cemetery , Valhalla, New York . Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera
16287-415: The broadcasts and savings from both salary cuts and reorganization were not sufficient to cover the company's deficits. Representatives of the opera house, the producing company, and the artists formed a committee for fundraising among the public at large. Mainly though appeals made to radio audiences during the weekly broadcasts, the committee was able to obtain enough money to assure continuation of opera for
16470-544: The cast to improvise the remainder of the scene. An incident in 1901 had a major impact on Barrymore. In March, his father had a mental breakdown as a result of tertiary syphilis , and Barrymore, after a discussion with Ethel and gaining a court petition, took him to Bellevue Hospital . Maurice was later transferred to a private institution in Amityville , Long Island, where he suffered a "rapid descent into madness". The Encyclopedia of World Biography states that Barrymore
16653-450: The company announced the conclusion of James Levine's tenure as music director at the conclusion of the 2015–16 season. Gelb announced that Levine would also become Music Director Emeritus. On June 2, the Met board announced the appointment of Yannick Nézet-Séguin as the company's next music director, as of the 2020–2021 season, conducting five productions each season. He took the title of music director-designate, conducting two productions
16836-493: The company through the years of World War I into another decade of premieres, new productions and popular success in the 1920s. The 1930s, however, brought new financial and organizational challenges for the company. In 1931, Otto Kahn , the noted financier, resigned as head of the Met's board of directors and president of the Metropolitan Opera Company. He had been responsible for engaging Gatti-Casazza and had held
17019-554: The company, others maintain a close long-standing association with the Met, appearing many times each season until they retire. The Metropolitan Opera Company was founded in 1883 as an alternative to New York's old established Academy of Music opera house. The subscribers to the academy's limited number of private boxes represented the highest stratum in New York society. By 1880, these " old money " families were loath to admit New York's newly wealthy industrialists into their long-established social circle. Frustrated with being excluded,
17202-471: The cook in the cancelled MGM remake of Dinner at Eight (1969) – the role played by May Robson in the 1933 film. She concluded her career on a note of personal triumph with her critically acclaimed London performance as The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969). When the play traveled to off-Broadway in 1970, the New York critics' reception was lukewarm, and Yurka retired from acting soon after the show closed. Yurka collected her thoughts about acting technique in
17385-505: The couple married in September that year. Harris' father objected to the relationship and refused to attend the wedding. Shortly after the ceremony, The Dictator went on tour, and Harris was given a small role in the play. According to Peters, Barrymore "began to think of his marriage as a 'bus accident ' ". Film critic Hollis Alpert wrote that, within a week of the wedding, Katherine was complaining that she saw her new husband too infrequently. Barrymore's increasing dependence on alcohol
17568-515: The critic for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle , wrote that Barrymore "registers a personal triumph in the role", calling his performance "brilliant ... one of the best of his movie career". Later in 1931, he played a crippled puppeteer, who tries to fulfill his frustrated ambitions by manipulating the life of a young male ballet dancer and the dancer's lover (also Marsh) in The Mad Genius ;
17751-647: The dialogue and wrote that a viewer would be "deeply impressed with the rarity in screen drama on which he is looking." Grand Hotel won the Academy Award for Best Picture and was one of the highest-grossing films of the year. It was later added to the National Film Registry . In 1932, Barrymore went to RKO Pictures where he played a borderline-alcoholic lawyer in State's Attorney , and an escaped lunatic in A Bill of Divorcement , opposite Katharine Hepburn in her screen debut. Film scholar Daniel Bernardi later noted
17934-517: The early stages of a chronic drinking problem". 1897 was an emotionally challenging year for Barrymore: he lost his virginity when he was seduced by his step-mother, Mamie Floyd, and in August his grandmother, the main female role model in his life, died. Barrymore traveled with his father to England in 1898, where he joined King's College School , Wimbledon . A year later he joined the Slade School of Fine Art , to study literature and art. After
18117-522: The end of this run of Hamlet , Barrymore traveled to Paris, where Oelrichs had stayed during his residence in London, but the reunion was not a happy one and the couple argued frequently. When he returned to America, she remained in Paris, and the couple drew up a separation agreement that provided Oelrichs with $ 18,000 a year and stated that neither could sue for divorce on the grounds of adultery. While he had been in London, Warner Bros and Barrymore entered into
18300-409: The evenings, while planning or rehearsing the next production during the day, and by the time he appeared as Richard, he was spending his daytimes filming Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . He spent six weeks recuperating under the ministrations of his father's friend, wrestler William Muldoon , who ran a sanitarium. During the summer of 1920, Oelrichs became pregnant with Barrymore's child, and a quick divorce
18483-571: The exterior scenes for his latest movie, Sherlock Holmes , in which he played the title role. He then returned to New York to work on the film's interior scenes in January 1922. Barrymore became involved in the pre-production work for the film and provided designs for Moriarty's lair. The film was released later that year and was generally thought "a little dull and ponderous, with too many intertitles ", although James W. Dean of The Evening News of Harrisburg opined that "the personality of Barrymore
18666-659: The family to the Upper East Side of Manhattan in 1900. Her parents used their modest income to provide Blanche with singing lessons in New York even before she entered high school (1901–03). Her vocal talent attracted the admiration of composer and singer Harry Burleigh , and she won a scholarship at age 15 to study voice and ballet at the Metropolitan Opera School (1903–05). She appeared in an amateur Czech-language production of Michael William Balfe 's The Bohemian Girl and made her Metropolitan Opera stage debut in
18849-460: The family. The following year, when Barrymore was 11 years old, his mother died from tuberculosis ; her consistent touring and his absence at school meant that he barely knew her, and he was mostly raised by his grandmother. The loss of their mother's income prompted both Ethel and Lionel to seek work as professional actors. Barrymore's father was mostly absent from the family home while on tour, and when he returned he would spend time at The Lambs ,
19032-663: The feet of the little lady who carried the Grail with such reverent and touching consecration to her sacred duties." She continued her studies at the Met Opera School but was dismissed when she injured her voice singing the role of Leonora in Verdi 's Il Trovatore in an amateur production. She transferred to the Institute for Musical Art (1905–07), forerunner of the Juilliard School but
19215-501: The film was a commercial failure. With disappointing box office returns from their five-film deal, Warner Bros. decided not to offer Barrymore a contract renewal. Instead, Barrymore signed a non-exclusive contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and took a $ 25,000 salary cut per film. Barrymore's first film for MGM was the 1932 mystery Arsène Lupin , in which he co-starred with his brother Lionel. In The New York Times , Hall called Barrymore's performance "admirable" and wrote that "it
19398-413: The film was not an unqualified success, the cast, including Barrymore, was generally praised. Around this time, Barrymore acquired the nickname "the Great Profile", as posters and photographs of him tended to favor the left-hand side. He later said: "The right side of my face looks like a fried egg. The left side has features that are to be found in almost any normal anthropological specimen, and those are
19581-483: The film work and the higher fees he earned from it, Barrymore continued to seek stage work, and in January 1914 he played the lead in The Yellow Ticket at New York's Eltinge Theatre . The role marked a departure from the light comedy of his previous performances, a result of Sheldon urging him to turn towards more dramatic parts. The Yellow Ticket was not the breakthrough that Barrymore wanted. A few months before
19764-550: The film's producer, signed Astor. After completing his Warner Bros. contract with When a Man Loves , with Costello, Barrymore joined United Artists (UA) under a three-film deal. For the next three years, according to Morrison, he "enjoyed unprecedented prosperity and spent lavishly". Nevertheless, he received some harsh reviews. Critic and essayist Stark Young wrote in The New Republic that Barrymore's films were "rotten, vulgar, empty, in bad taste, dishonest, noisome with
19947-446: The filming of one scene, he again forgot his lines and even the name of his character. Filming was postponed until the following day, but the result was the same. After he took a break for a few days, he returned to the set, but he still could not remember any of the script, and RKO replaced him with Ricardo Cortez . Soon afterwards, he suffered a mental and physical breakdown and was hospitalized. Costello confirmed that his drinking over
20130-671: The following year by appearing in a short run of A Thief for a Night in McVicker's Theatre, Chicago, before returning to New York, and the Thirty-Ninth St. Theatre, for a two-month run in Believe Me Xantippe . In late 1913, Barrymore made his first confirmed feature film, the romantic comedy An American Citizen , with Adolph Zukor 's Famous Players Film Company . When the film was released in January 1914, Barrymore "delighted movie audiences with an inimitable light touch that made
20313-442: The following year. He began his career in 1903 and first gained attention as a stage actor in light comedy, then high drama, culminating in productions of Justice (1916), Richard III (1920), and Hamlet (1922); his portrayal of Hamlet led to him being called the "greatest living American tragedian". After a success as Hamlet in London in 1925, Barrymore left the stage for 14 years and instead focused entirely on films. In
20496-549: The formation of the Northern Ohio Opera Association led by future U.S. Senator Robert J. Bulkley with the express purpose of underwriting long-term touring contracts with the Met. Cleveland was a particular lucrative stop for the Met, which had no competition in the form of a local opera company, and performances were held in the enormous Public Auditorium, which sat well over 9,000 people. The Met's national tours continued until 1986. Italian opera returned to
20679-481: The former Met bass Herbert Witherspoon , died of a heart attack barely six weeks into his term of office. This opened the way for the Canadian tenor and former Met artist Edward Johnson to be appointed general manager. Johnson served the company for the next 15 years, guiding the Met through the remaining years of the depression and the World War II era. The producing company's financial difficulties continued in
20862-642: The greatest operatic artists in the world then graced the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House in Italian as well as German and French repertory. Notable among them were the brothers Jean and Édouard de Reszke , Lilli Lehmann , Emma Calvé , Lillian Nordica , Nellie Melba , Marcella Sembrich , Milka Ternina , Emma Eames , Sofia Scalchi , Ernestine Schumann-Heink , Francesco Tamagno , Francesc Viñas , Jean Lassalle, Mario Ancona , Victor Maurel , Antonio Scotti and Pol Plançon . Henry Abbey died in 1896, and Maurice Grau continued as sole manager of
21045-681: The illustrations by Gustave Doré , "my interest was aroused, and a new urge was born within me. I wanted to be an artist". He was expelled from the school in 1891 and was sent to Seton Hall Preparatory School in New Jersey, where Lionel was already studying. Barrymore was unhappy at Seton and was soon withdrawn, after which he attended several public schools in New York, including the Mount Pleasant Military Academy . In 1892, his grandmother Louisa Drew's business began to suffer, and she lost control of her theater, causing disruption in
21228-545: The inability of making The Sea Beast as a sound film, Barrymore returned to Moby Dick as the source for a 1930 film of the same name . Peters thinks little of the film, describing it as "a seesaw between the cosmic and the comic, a travesty of Melville as well as a silly film all on its own". The following year, Barrymore played the title role of a manipulative voice coach in Svengali , opposite Marian Marsh . Martin Dickstein,
21411-418: The issue of Nesbit's morality; he worried that he might be asked whether he had arranged for Nesbit to have an abortion , disguised as an appendectomy , even though Nesbit had undergone two previous "appendectomies". Barrymore was never called as a witness because Thaw pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. In May 1902, Barrymore was fired from his newspaper position after producing a poor illustration for
21594-512: The latter film, Barrymore played madcap Broadway impresario Oscar Jaffe, a role in which he demonstrated a "rare genius as a comedian". Morrison writes that the portrayal was one "that many consider to be his finest contribution to film". In 2011, the picture was added to the National Film Registry, where it was described as Barrymore's "last great film role". In May 1934, Barrymore was filming Hat, Coat and Glove for RKO when, during
21777-577: The latter were The Song of Bernadette (1943) – again for David O. Selznick – in which she played Jennifer Jones ' aunt and The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944), as the Abbess of San Luis Rey chapel. Notably, one of her co-stars in the latter film was Alla Nazimova (who had suggested Yurka's casting as Madame Defarge) playing the Marquessa Doña Maria. In The Southerner (1945), an American frontier drama directed by Jean Renoir , Yurka's Mama Tucker
21960-680: The lead role in Winchell Smith 's play The Fortune Hunter at the Gaiety Theatre in September the same year. It was his longest-held role, running for 345 performances until May 1911, initially at the Gaiety Theatre in New York, and then on tour. The critic for The New York Times thought the play was, "acted with fine comedy spirit by John Barrymore ... [who] gave indisputable signs last night of grown and growing powers." In mid-1910 Barrymore met socialite Katherine Corri Harris , and
22143-411: The leading Ibsen heroines on the Broadway stage. Despite Nazimova's endorsement, Yurka was the 67th actor tested for the role. Yurka threw herself into the part – quite literally. Her final fight scene with Edna May Oliver (who was only four years older than Yurka) showed the two actresses tumbling over tables and over the floor, offering a hint of Yurka's onstage physicality. Although not nominated for
22326-479: The many home grown artists to become stars at the Met in the 1940s. Ettore Panizza , Sir Thomas Beecham , George Szell and Bruno Walter were among the leading conductors engaged during Johnson's tenure. Kurt Adler began his long tenure as chorus master and staff conductor in 1943. Succeeding Johnson in 1950 was the Austrian-born Rudolf Bing who had most recently created and served as director of
22509-490: The money." Barrymore began to contact his family's theatrical connections to find work and approached Charles Frohman , who had been the producer of Captain Jinks and had also been an employer of Barrymore's mother Georgie a decade earlier. Frohman thought that Barrymore had comedic potential but needed more experience before making a Broadway debut. Barrymore joined the company of McKee Rankin , Sidney Drew's father-in-law, on
22692-484: The new Rockefeller Center . The plan was dropped in 1929 when it became apparent that it would produce no savings, and because the Met did not have enough money to move to a new opera house. It soon became apparent that the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and subsequent depression had resulted in a dangerously large deficit in the company's accounts. Between 1929 and 1931 ticket sales remained robust, but subsidies from
22875-544: The new Manhattan opera house, but also started a long tradition of touring throughout the country. In the winter and spring of 1884 the Met presented opera in theaters in Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia (see below), Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Washington D.C., and Baltimore. Back in New York, the last night of the season featured a long gala performance to benefit Mr. Abbey. The special program consisted not only of various scenes from opera, but also offered Marcella Sembrich playing
23058-761: The officers of the Met joined forces with the officers of the New York Philharmonic to build the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts , where the new Metropolitan Opera House building opened in 1966. The Met's first season at Lincoln Center featured nine new productions, including the world premiere of Marvin David Levy 's Mourning Becomes Electra . However, the company would not premiere any new operas for decades afterwards, until 1991's The Ghosts of Versailles by John Corigliano . One critic described
23241-456: The once ascetic face, a dissipation only underlined by the studio's attempt to reconstruct with lights, filters and make-up a spiritual beauty that had been corrupted." The film was a critical and commercial failure, and MGM lost significant amounts of money. The New Yorker thought the three Barrymores had produced their worst work. The year 1933 was a busy one for Barrymore, and his decline began to be evident. He appeared in five films during
23424-400: The opera season of 1931/32. Cravath also engineered a reorganization of the management company by which it was transformed from a corporation, in which all participants were stockholders, to an association, whose members need not have a financial interest in operations. Apart from this change, the new Metropolitan Opera Association was virtually identical to the old Metropolitan Opera Company. It
23607-559: The outbreak of World War I , he took a vacation to Italy with Sheldon to enjoy a temporary break from his worsening marriage. He returned from Italy and accepted another serious stage role, that of an ex-convict in Kick In , at New York's Longacre Theatre . The play was a success, and Barrymore received praise from the critics; The New York Times reviewer thought that in a play that had "uncommonly able and sincere playing", Barrymore acted his role with "intelligence and vigor and impart[ed] to it
23790-441: The paper while hung over. He spent time as a poster designer but realized it was not lucrative enough for his lifestyle, which was being partly financed by Ethel, who was also paying for their father's care. While discussing his future with his brother, Barrymore said "it looks as though I'll have to succumb to the family curse , acting", and he later admitted that "there isn't any romance about how I went on stage. ... I needed
23973-461: The performance "marked a measurable advance in the gradual process of bringing [Barrymore's] technical fluency abreast with his winged imagination and his real genius for the theatre". Although a commercial and critical success, the play closed after 31 performances when Barrymore collapsed, suffering a nervous breakdown. Since appearing in Redemption he had worked ceaselessly, appearing on stage in
24156-589: The performing company and the opera house was transferred to the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association from the company's original partnership of New York society families. Zinka Milanov , Jussi Björling , and Alexander Kipnis were first heard at the Met under Johnson's management. During World War II when many European artists were unavailable, the Met recruited American singers as never before. Eleanor Steber , Dorothy Kirsten , Helen Traubel (Flagstad's successor as Wagner's heroines), Jan Peerce , Richard Tucker , Leonard Warren and Robert Merrill were among
24339-416: The period as "a quarter-century in which the notion of commissioned work reminded Met administrators of the emblematic failure of Samuel Barber 's Antony and Cleopatra and the lukewarm reception of Marvin David Levy's Mourning Becomes Electra ." Following Bing's retirement in 1972, the Met's management was overseen by a succession of executives and artists in shared authority. Bing's intended successor,
24522-456: The poisonously vindictive revolutionary Thérèse Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities . Producer David O. Selznick 's first choice for the part of Madame Defarge was the Russian-born stage actress Alla Nazimova , who turned it down but recommended Yurka, declaring her the "only" actress for the part. The two women hadn't yet met but were well acquainted with one another's work inasmuch as they were
24705-424: The position of president since the beginning of Gatti-Casazza's term as manager. The new chair, prominent lawyer Paul Cravath , had served as the board's legal counsel. Retaining Gatti-Casazza as manager, Cravath focused his attention on managing the business affairs of the company. In 1926, as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center , a plan was floated to move the opera from the building on 39th Street to
24888-473: The previous two years had worsened, and she described him as a "hopeless alcoholic". Barrymore's relationship with Costello was deeply troubled and, believing she was going to declare him mentally incompetent, he left their home in Los Angeles and traveled first to London and then to India. He returned to the U.S. in early 1935 and settled in New York, leaving his wife in Los Angeles. Shortly after his return, he
25071-571: The roster of leading artists. Kathleen Battle , who in 1977 made her Met debut as the Shepherd in Wagner's Tannhäuser , became an important star in lyric soprano roles. Bass-baritone Simon Estes began a prominent Met career with his 1982 debut as Hermann, also in Tannhäuser . The model of General Manager as the leading authority in the company returned in 1990 when the company appointed Joseph Volpe . He
25254-500: The same year. The couple had a heated argument in public shortly afterward, and he again spent time in Kelley's Rest Home and hospital, which cost him an average of $ 800 daily, draining his finances. When he came out, he collapsed on the Maytime set. On January 15, 1937, he was served with divorce papers, and a month later he filed for bankruptcy protection, with debts of $ 160,000. The divorce
25437-420: The son of Cio-Cio San as a bunraku -style puppet, operated in plain sight by three puppeteers clothed in black. Gelb focused on expanding the Met's audience through a number of fronts. Increasing the number of new productions every season to keep the Met's stagings fresh and noteworthy, Gelb partnered with other opera companies to import productions and engaged directors from theater, circus, and film to produce
25620-440: The spotlight, Barrymore took vacations on his yacht, Infanta ; it cost him over $ 35,000 a year to run, and so he sold it in 1938 after encountering financial difficulties. Barrymore's alcohol dependence meant most studios were unwilling to employ him, but MGM risked casting him in the role of Mercutio in their 1936 film Romeo and Juliet . To minimize disruption to the schedule, the studio put Barrymore in Kelley's Rest Home,
25803-514: The studios reacted positively with offers of work. This led to appearances in nine films in 1937 and 1938, including as Colonel Nielson in three Bulldog Drummond films, and roles in True Confession and Marie Antoinette . He was offered predominantly supporting roles, but he worked conscientiously on the films and as a result was able to honor his debts. His memory was still problematic, and he used cue cards as an aid; his fellow actors and
25986-481: The title role, and Franco Corelli as Calàf, was called the Met's "biggest hit in 10 years". For the 1962/1963 season, Renata Tebaldi , popular with Met audiences, convinced a reluctant Bing to stage a revival of Adriana Lecouvreur , an opera last presented at the Met in 1907. In 1963, Anthony Bliss, a prominent New York lawyer and president of the Metropolitan Opera Association (MOA), convinced
26169-462: The translation by Edith Hamilton . In 1958, she appeared at the Belasco Theater in Huntington Hartford 's Jane Eyre . In the last 15 years of her life, few stage or film roles came her way. She appeared sporadically in television shows in the '50s, notably, Lux Video Theater , The Philip Morris Playhouse and Ponds Theater . She was shocked at being offered the brief role of Mrs. Wendell
26352-408: The two Barrymores were warmly regarded by the critics. Around this time, Barrymore began a relationship with a married mother of two, Blanche Oelrichs , a suffragist from an elite Rhode Island family with what Peters calls "anarchistic self-confidence". Oelrichs also published poetry under the name Michael Strange. While their relationship began in secret, it became more open after Oelrichs' husband
26535-497: The violin and the piano, as well as the famed stage actors Henry Irving and Ellen Terry in a scene from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice . Abbey's inaugural season resulted in very large financial deficits. The Metropolitan Opera began a long history of performing in Philadelphia during its first season, presenting its entire repertoire in the city during January and April 1884. The company's first Philadelphia performance
26718-510: The voice and diction trainer, to ensure he sounded right for the part, and the pair worked together daily for up to six hours a day for six weeks. After the debut in March 1920, the critics were effusive in their praise. The Washington Herald observed that the audience were "held by the sheer power of Barrymore's performance", which was "remarkable for ... [the actor's] unexpected vocal richness", while Woollcott, in The New York Times , thought
26901-474: The voice of John Barrymore sweep through the 'ether' with a sound of finality; it seems that they are his words and no one else could speak them with such lifelike force". Peters disagrees however, and considers that "because he was desperate he pressed too hard and ended by caricaturing, not capturing, his great Shakespearean acting". Throughout the NBC series, Barrymore had been reliable, sober, and responsible, and
27084-475: The war. In December, 1945, she appeared at the Majestic Theatre for two readings of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex with classics scholar Eugene O'Neill, Jr. Yurka was active in theater causes all her life. She supported the 1919 actors' strike. She later vigorously defended the interests of American actors against a British invasion of American theaters. She aligned herself with Tallulah Bankhead 's defense of
27267-572: The works of Wagner and other German composers as well as in Italian and French operas sung in German. Damrosch died only months into his first season at the Met. Edmund Stanton replaced Damrosch the following year and served as general manager through the 1890–91 season. The Met's six German seasons were especially noted for performances by the celebrated conductor Anton Seidl whose Wagner interpretations were noted for their almost mystical intensity. The conductor Walter Damrosch , Leopold's son, also initiated
27450-458: The wretched prisoner in Justice , step forward into a new position on the American stage." The critic went on to say that Barrymore gave "an extraordinary performance in every detail of appearance and manner, in every note of deep feeling ... a superb performance." From early 1916, Barrymore had been living apart from Katherine, and she sued for divorce in November 1916. By the time the divorce
27633-478: The year, including as a meek schoolteacher-turned-businessman in Topaze , opposite Myrna Loy , and Dinner at Eight , with Lionel. Peters opines that Barrymore's portrayal of a washed-up alcoholic actor "could well have fixed ... in the public's and MGM's mind that John Barrymore was a drunken has-been." After the run of films with MGM, the company ended its contact with Barrymore amid its financial woes caused by
27816-480: The years immediately following the desperate season of 1933–34. To meet budget shortfalls, fundraising continued and the number of performances was curtailed. Still, on given nights the brilliant Wagner pairing of the Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad with the great heldentenor Lauritz Melchior proved irresistible to audiences even in such troubled times. To expand the Met's support among its national radio audience,
27999-408: The years – and as his private life became more public – he became, despite his genius in the theater, a tabloid character." Although film historians have opined that Barrymore's "contribution to the art of cinematic acting began to fade" after the mid-1930s, Barrymore's biographer, Martin Norden, considers him to be "perhaps the most influential and idolized actor of his day". Barrymore
28182-405: Was "an evening that will be memorable in the history of the American theater". while John Corbin , the drama critic for The New York Times , agreed, writing that "in all likelihood we have a new and a lasting Hamlet". The reviewer for Brooklyn Life stated that Barrymore had "doubtless won the right to be called the greatest living American tragedian". In 1963, Orson Welles said that Barrymore
28365-410: Was "one of his best film performances". In December 1933, Barrymore agreed with RKO to film Hamlet . He underwent screen tests and hired Carrington to act as vocal coach again, but during one session, his memory failed him again, and the project was eventually scrapped. Barrymore starred in two films released in 1934, the drama Long Lost Father and the screwball comedy Twentieth Century . In
28548-539: Was James Levine. Engaged by Bing in 1971, Levine became principal conductor in 1973 and emerged as the Met's principal artistic leader through the last third of the 20th century. During the 1983–84 season the Met celebrated its 100th anniversary with an opening night revival of Berlioz's mammoth opera Les Troyens , with soprano Jessye Norman making her Met debut in the roles of both Cassandra and Dido. An eight-hour Centennial Gala concert in two parts followed on October 22, 1983, broadcast on PBS . The gala featured all of
28731-539: Was a mistress of architect Stanford White . Barrymore later described Nesbit as "the most maddening woman. ... She was the first woman I ever loved", and he proposed marriage to her. Nesbit's mother did not think that, as a struggling artist, Barrymore was a good match for her daughter. To break off their relationship her mother sent Nesbit away to school in New Jersey. In 1906, White was shot in public by Nesbit's then-husband, Pittsburgh millionaire Harry K. Thaw . Barrymore expected to testify at Thaw's murder trial on
28914-476: Was also a cause of marital problems, and he explained that "unhappiness increased the drink, and drink increased the unhappiness". Barrymore's next two plays – Uncle Sam and Princess Zim-Zim , both from 1911 – were critically and commercially weak, but the second work introduced him to playwright Edward Sheldon , who would "reshape ... [Barrymore's] entire career". In January 1912, Barrymore appeared together with his sister in A Slice of Life at
29097-632: Was an occasional director and playwright. She remained active in theater and film until the late 1960s. Her most famous film role was Madame Defarge in MGM 's version of A Tale of Two Cities (1935), but she was also the compassionate aunt in The Song of Bernadette (1943). Another memorable role was as Zachary Scott 's widowed mother in The Southerner (1945). Born Blanch Jurka, apparently in St. Paul, Minnesota , she
29280-482: Was arranged with her husband, which left her and Barrymore free to marry in August that year; a daughter, Diana Barrymore , followed in March 1921. Soon after the birth, he began rehearsals for Clair de Lune , which his wife had adapted from Victor Hugo 's 1869 novel The Man Who Laughs . Barrymore persuaded Ethel to play the role of the Queen ;– it was the first time the two had appeared on stage together in over
29463-569: Was born John Sidney Blyth in the Philadelphia home of his maternal grandmother Louisa Lane Drew and was known by family, friends and colleagues as "Jack". Although the Barrymore family Bible puts his date of birth as February 15, 1882, his birth certificate shows February 14. He was the youngest of three children. His siblings were Lionel (1878–1954), and Ethel (1879–1959). His father was Maurice Barrymore , an Indian -born British actor who had been born Herbert Blyth, and had adopted Barrymore as
29646-599: Was commissioned into the army and then posted to France. Both Oelrichs and Sheldon urged Barrymore to take on his next role, Fedya Vasilyevich Protasov, in Leo Tolstoy 's play Redemption at the Plymouth Theatre . The critic for The New York Times felt that, although Barrymore's performance was "marred by vocal monotony", overall the performance was "a distinct step forward in Mr. Barrymore's artistic development ... There
29829-427: Was constantly "haunted by the bright and dark spell of his father", and his close friend Gene Fowler reported that "the bleak overtone of this breaking of his parent's reason never quite died away in Barrymore's mind, and he was haunted by fears he would suffer the same fate". The same year, Barrymore began an affair with a beautiful artists' model , " Florodora girl" and aspiring actress named Evelyn Nesbit , who
30012-472: Was dismissed from there for the same reason. Having lost her chance at an operatic career, she took the Institute director's suggestion and tried for a career on the theater stage. Through persistence, she managed to get an audition with the theater impresario David Belasco . According to her autobiography, he said to her: "Your diction is clear and pure. Your voice has good timbre. I can sense that you have temperament. We must find out if you can act." He gave her
30195-538: Was finalized in December 1917, he had taken the lead role in the film Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman . He had also tried to enlist in the U.S. Army following the country's entry into World War I, but Army doctors discovered that he had varicose veins , and he was not accepted for military service. For over a year beginning in April 1917, he appeared together with Lionel in a stage version of George du Maurier 's 1891 novel Peter Ibbetson . The play and
30378-514: Was founded in 1883 as an alternative to the previously established Academy of Music opera house and debuted the same year in a new building on 39th and Broadway (now known as the "Old Met"). It moved to the new Lincoln Center location in 1966. The Metropolitan Opera is the largest classical music organization in North America. Until 2019, it presented about 27 different operas each year from late September through May. The operas are presented in
30561-424: Was granted in April, but the couple reconciled before it was finalized. Barrymore decided to work on more Shakespeare roles. In June 1937, he signed with NBC Radio to produce a series of six episodes under the name Streamlined Shakespeare , which also featured Barrie. The first program was Hamlet , which was well received by critics. The New York Times commented that "Shakespeare's lines uttered dramatically by
30744-546: Was hoped the association would be able to save money as it renegotiated contracts which the company had made. During this period there was no change in the organization of the Metropolitan Real Estate Opera Company which owned the opera house . It remained in the hands of the society families who owned its stock, yet the subsidies that the house and its owners had given the producing company fell off. In March 1932, Cravath found that income resulting from
30927-551: Was hospitalized for a month with bronchitis and influenza . A 19-year-old fan, Elaine Jacobs , visited him, and the two became good friends. On his release from the hospital, her mother invited him to recuperate at their house. She changed her name to Elaine Barrie, which she explained was to get "as near to Barrymore as I dared", and they began a relationship. In May, the couple underwent the first of several professional collaborations, when they appeared on Rudy Vallée 's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour radio show. Costello filed for
31110-549: Was in agreement, and considered the performance to be "a masterpiece", and "a remarkable piece of work". The film was so successful that the US Navy used stills of Barrymore in its recruiting posters. After planning for over a year – largely in secret – Barrymore played his first Shakespeare part, the title role in Richard III . Conscious of the criticism of his vocal range, he underwent training with Margaret Carrington,
31293-489: Was of Faust (with Christina Nilsson) on January 14, 1884, at the Chestnut Street Opera House . The Met continued to perform annually in Philadelphia for nearly eighty years, taking the entire company to the city on selected Tuesday nights throughout the opera season. Performances were usually held at Philadelphia's Academy of Music , with the company presenting close to 900 performances in the city by 1961 when
31476-473: Was one of the biggest money-makers of the year for Warner Bros. Although Barrymore wanted Astor to play the female lead, she was unavailable, and Dolores Costello was cast in her place. He later said that "I fell in love with her instantly. This time I knew I was right", and the couple began an affair. Costello's father was angered by the relationship, but his complaints were ignored by both Costello and her mother: Costello's parents separated and were divorced as
31659-599: Was persuaded by his father to join him on stage for a few performances of a short play, "A Man of the World" which his father had produced in Fort Lee, New Jersey near his home in town. He appeared in the same piece again the following year, but he still thought of the experience as merely a way to supplement his income, rather than as a possible future career. In October 1901, Ethel was appearing in Philadelphia in Captain Jinks of
31842-607: Was playing in Buffalo, Barrymore's father died in Amityville and was buried at Glenwood Cemetery in Philadelphia. At the close of the US tour, The Dictator visited Britain from April 1905, where it played at the Comedy Theatre . The critic for The Observer wrote that Barrymore "admirably seconded" Collier. When he returned to America, Barrymore appeared at the Criterion Theatre in a double bill of works by J. M. Barrie ; he played
32025-422: Was the Met's third-longest serving manager, and was the first head of the Met to advance from within the ranks of the company after having started his career there as a carpenter in 1964. During his tenure the Met's international touring activities were expanded and Levine focused on expanding and building the Met's orchestra into a world-class symphonic ensemble with its own Carnegie Hall concert series. Under Volpe
32208-405: Was the best Hamlet he had seen, describing the character as "not so much princely – he was a man of genius who happened to be a prince, and he was tender, and virile, and witty, and dangerous". Barrymore and Hopkins decided to end the run at 101 performances, just breaking the record of one hundred by Edwin Booth , before the play closed in February 1923. In November and December that year,
32391-446: Was the fourth of five children of Karolína and Antonín Jurka, Czech Roman Catholic emigrants from Bohemia . Her father was a teacher and librarian. She inherited her father's artistic and scholarly interests, including a love of music and acting. She finished grade school before her father lost his job teaching Czech language at the Jefferson School in St. Paul. He found a new position with the Czech Benevolent Society in New York and moved
32574-471: Was the lead in a B movie shoot-'em-up, Queen of the Mob (1940), in which Yurka played a gangster matriarch closely based on the contemporary outlaw, Ma Barker. Her severe, vaguely imperious looks led to her casting in a rogue's gallery of austere or villainous parts. Through the 1940s and with decreasing frequency in the 1950s, she appeared in a succession of B parts that wasted her talents, occasionally landing supporting character parts in A list movies. Among
32757-434: Was the opening of the Met's artistic roster to include singers of color. Marian Anderson 's historic 1955 debut was followed by the introduction of a gifted generation of African American artists led by Leontyne Price (who inaugurated the new house at Lincoln Center), Reri Grist , Grace Bumbry , Shirley Verrett , Martina Arroyo , George Shirley , Robert McFerrin , and many others. Other celebrated singers who debuted at
32940-471: Was the widowed daughter-in-law of cantankerous Granny Tucker played by Beulah Bondi . Yurka had the role of Mrs. Hunter in the soap opera Valiant Lady . Yurka never left the theater, but as her Hollywood roles became less satisfying after the war, the pace of both her film and stage roles fell off. During World War II, she contributed her time and talent to the war effort as a theater performer. She toured with theater troupes in Europe both before and after
33123-438: Was too thick for him ... he was a great fencer, an athlete, a man who led an active, healthy life. How can you make a sickly half-wit out of a man like that?" Barrymore again used Carrington as a vocal coach; rehearsals started in October, and the play opened on November 16, 1922. The production was a box-office success, and the critics were lavish in their praise. Woollcott, writing for the New York Herald , opined that it
33306-455: Was uncomplimentary, writing to Peggy Ashcroft that "Barrymore, who is like a monstrous old male impersonator jumping through a hoop, should really have been shot." Word about Barrymore's problems on and off the set spread around the industry, and he did not work on another film for over a year until he had a supporting role in the musical film Maytime . His divorce from Costello was finalized in October 1936, and he married Barrie in November
33489-422: Was unsettled. In October 1882, the family toured in the US for a season with Polish actress Helena Modjeska . The following year his parents toured again with Modjeska but left the children behind. Modjeska was influential in the family, and she insisted that all three children be baptized into the Catholic Church . In 1884 the family traveled to London as part of Augustin Daly 's theatrical company, returning to
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