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Keith/Albee

Pages

: A. Dubois & Son correspondence, 1942-1943

: A. S. Henry correspondence, 1941-1943

: A. Spiwak correspondence, 1941-1943

: Abda Corporation ledger, Pawtucket, RI, February 7-October 16, 1920

: Abda Corporation ledger, Pawtucket, RI, July 9-October 29, 1921

: Abda Corporation ledger, Pawtucket, RI, October 23, 1920-July 2, 1921

: Air raid instructions for theaters, 1942-1943

: A.J. Kirwan correspondence, 1941-1943

: Al O. Bondy correspondence, 1942

: Albee theaters movie photographs, 1938-1965

: Albee Theatre liquidation sale, June 1970

: Albee Theatre miscellaneous people correspondence, 1941-1943

: Albee Theatre newspaper and radio budget, 1946

: Albee Theatre passes and pass lists, 1940-1943

: Albee Theatre patrons comments, 1940-1942

: Albee Theatre patrons injuries and complaints, 1941-1942

: Albee Theatre purchasing, 1941

: Alex E. Reoch correspondence, 1943

: Allen E. Claxton correspondence, 1941

: American Red Cross correspondence, 1940-1942

: B. F. Keith's Theatre Program, 1902-1911

: Ben A. Boyar telegram to George French, May 10, 1941

: Benj. Domingo correspondence, 1941, 1948

: Bijou Theatre programs, New York, 1891 and 1902

: Bill Morton correspondence, 1942-1948

: Blanche F. Livingston correspondence, 1943

: Bookings for "Life With Father," 1941

: Boston Museum 53rd season, 1893

: Brink's Incorporated correspondence, 1941-1942

: Bryant College correspondence, 1941-1942

: Building lease, 1942

: Building maintenance and construction correspondence, 1941-1943

: C. McGerigle correspondence, 1940-1942

: Chamber of Commerce letter to RKO Albee Theater, October 1943

: Charles F. Horstman correspondence, 1940-1943

: Correspondence on boiler maintenance, 1942

: Criterion Theatre, London, between 1900-1910?

: C.S. Fretz correspondence, 1941-1942

: C.W. Koerner correspondence, 1941-1942

: David Cummins correspondence, November 1941

: Design a Dress for Peggy Ryan contest, August 1942

: Director's reports, ephemera, August 2, 1909-October 30, 1918

: Donald Morgan correspondence, 1941-1942

: E. F. Albee Theatre treasurer's statement book, Providence, 1919-1920

: E. L. Alperson letters, 1942

: E. Waxberg correspondence, 1941

: Edward M. Fay correspondence, 1942-1943

: E.F. Albee Theatre seating diagram, 1910s

Pages

In collections

University of Iowa

Description

Details

Title: Keith/Albee
Contributor: Albee, Edward Franklin, 1857-1930
Keith, B. F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1846-1914
Date Created: 1894/1935
Description: Benjamin Franklin Keith and Edward Franklin Albee became partners in the late 1880s to promote "polite" vaudeville. They lavishly remodeled several theaters on the east coast and began producing a brand of "high class" vaudeville. Crude remarks and risque costumes were censored from performances, and they even attempted to prohibit rude behavior by audiences. Keith was the financial head of the circuit, while Albee was the general manager and owner of several theaters. In 1906, Keith and Albee established the United Booking Office. Every act that sought employment at any of the member theaters had to work through this central office, which in turn charged a five percent commission per act. Thus Keith and Albee expanded their power base. In the 1920s the Keith/Albee circuit merged with a western chain of vaudeville theaters to form the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Circuit. In 1928, $4,500,000 worth of stock was sold to Joseph P. Kennedy's Radio Corporation of America (RCA) establishing the Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO). After this merger, motion pictures became the primary form of entertainment, while vaudeville survived only as an accompaniment to the feature film. The Keith/Albee collection primarily reports vaudeville programming in Rhode Island between 1894 and 1935, but it includes unique resources for studying vaudeville throughout the east coast and Ohio with a series of Managers' Reports spanning 1902-1923. The Keith/Albee circuit, as represented in these Reports, involves theaters in Providence, Pawtucket, and Woonsocket, Rhode Island; Boston and Webster, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Cleveland, Ohio. Theaters in Detroit, Washington, D.C., and New York City also appear with some regularity. The records of Keith/Albee chronicle the expansion of their circuit, changes in its leadership, and the eventual decline of vaudeville. Items dating as late as 1952 are as diverse as usher's manuals to building permits, air raid precautions to price schedules, and cash books to correspondence. The bulk of the collection is made up of 150 oversized scrapbooks (each about 16"Hx12"W and averaging over 250 pages). There are 29,216 scrapbook pages total.
Subjects: Library of Congress Subject Headings: Motion picture industry
Vaudeville
Theater management
Theatrical managers
Subjects: Corporate Bodies: Edward F. Albee Stock Co.
B.F. Keith (Firm)
Archival Collection: Keith/Albee
Keith/Albee Collection
Collection Identifier: MSC0356
Collection Guide: http://aspace.lib.uiowa.edu/repositories/2/resources/2
Host institution: University of Iowa. Libraries. Special Collections Department
Rights Management: Educational use only, no other permissions given. U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this item. Commercial use or distribution of this digital object is not permitted without written permission.
Contact Information: Contact the Special Collections Department at the University of Iowa Libraries: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/contact
Item Type (DCMI): Collection
Item Type (AAT): scrapbooks
clippings (information artifacts)
correspondence