#Gertrude Lawrence

[broadwaydivastournament]

BROADWAY DIVAS SUPERLATIVES: Wait...WHAT???

Elaine Stritch's first orgasm during "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?": Crazy cantankerous Elaine Stritch was never one to mince words. Perhaps a crowning achievement in her many instances of raw candor, Elaine revealed the story behind her first-ever orgasm in an interview with "30 Rock" co-star Alec Baldwin in 2013. Elaine starred in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway and during the national tour, 1963 and 1965, respectively. She would have been in her late thirties.

"But I wanted to tell something intimate about myself to John [Turturro] about when he was interviewing me. I told him that when I was doing Virginia Woolf and when George and Martha had their scene together and George said, 'Our son is dead.' You know, that big scene? 'Our son,' he yells in my face, 'is dead.' And I went 'No!' At the height of my force, I said no to him. And I had an orgasm for the first time in my life... So this is how important that moment was on stage to me. This is unbelievable, you don't know." -source

Gertrude Lawrence (almost) drops dead during "The King and I": On August 16th, 1952, one of the great stage divas of this world--and rumored lesbian--Gertrude Lawrence collapsed backstage after a Saturday matinee of The King and I. She was admitted to a hospital shortly thereafter, and by early September, the Tony-winning star was declared dead. She was buried in the iconic champagne "Shall We Dance?" gown, and became the first person for whom Broadway dimmed the marquee lights for. She was 54. And so began the long-standing King and I curse (I say tongue-in-cheek) where every subsequent Anna Leonowens has had some terrible tragedy befall them. -source

Julie Andrews declines her Tony nomination for "Victor/Victoria": We live in a cruel and unforgivable world where Julie Andrews does not have a Tony Award. The closest she came was in 1996 where she was nominated for Victor/Victoria. As the sole nomination for the show, Julie announced that she would withdraw her name for consideration in protest on behalf of her egregiously overlooked costars and creative team. She was thought to be a locked win at the time, and though her name did remain officially on the voting ballot, the award ultimately went to Donna Murphy for The King and I, making an awkward situation for everyone involved. -source

Marin Mazzie's "pussy on fire" incident during "Passion": Well, I'll let her tell you all about it.

Patti LuPone and the ALW Memorial Pool: Patti LuPone and the infamous lawsuit that cost ALW a million dollars for breaking her Sunset Boulevard contract. Patti had an iron-clad contract that stated she would be transferring with the production to Broadway, but news broke that she would be replaced by Glenn Close. Patti, who was at the theatre when she found out, went absolutely batshit and trashed her entire dressing room. Her feud persists to this day with several ups and downs, as is her right as a Diva-with-a-capital-D.

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Honorable mentions:

Stephen Sondheim sex dungeon

Bob Fosse's womanizing and finally him collapsing in separated wife Gwen Verdon's arms and dying shortly after.

The affairs of Broadway

Anti-vaxxer Laura Osnes tanking her promising Broadway career and now performing as a circus singer.

[citizenscreen]

Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "The King and I" opened at the St. James Theatre on Broadway on March 29, 1951 and went on to win five Tony Awards. Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner starred. Brynner performed the role of the King over 4,500 times on stage in addition to the 1956 film version.

[operaqueen]

Julie Andrews - STAR!

[troquets]

Noel Coward et Gertrude Lawrence, Londres, 1930.

[letterboxd-loggd]

Men Are Not Gods (1936) Walter Reisch

January 6th 2024

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Leslie Howard, Gertrude Lawrence, and Reginald Owen in Candle Light. The play, from a book by Siegfried Geyer adapted by P.G. Wodehouse, opened at the Empire Theater on September 30, 1929, and ran for 128 performances.

Photo: NYPL

[vintagestagehotties]

Hot Vintage Stage Actress Round 1

Gertrude Lawrence: London Calling! (1923 West End); Tonight at 8.30 (1936 West End); Liza Elliott in Lady in the Dark (1941 Broadway); Anna Leonowens in The King and I (1952 Broadway)

Jane Froman: Ziegfeld Follies of 1934 (1934 Broadway); Keep off the Grass (1940 Broadway); Artists and Models (1943 Broadway)

Propaganda under the cut

Gertrude Lawrence:

these pictures make me go insane a little. sir that should be me!!

Jane Froman:

so beautiful. a disability hero icon legend

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

A DAME BEFORE HER TIME -- A DAME TO DIE FOR.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on a promotional image of English actress & singer Julie Andrews as British glamour icon Gertrude "Gertie" Lawrence, from the 1968 American biographical musical film "Star!," directed by Robert Wise. 📸: Herbert Dorfman/Getty Images.

Source: www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/g32825588/julie-andrews-young.

[corallapis]

Olga “Oggie” Lynn (1882-1961), born Lowenthal, was a singer and singing teacher, who, despite being somewhat older than most of the Bright Young Things, was a staple of their circle. She was “short,” “dumpy,” and “jolly,” and would often host tableuax vivants for charity or sing at parties with “a rather sweet, pure little voice” when she wasn't giving lessons. She “was inclined to get into situations with which she could not cope and was always being helped by her friends,” chief among them Oliver Messel.

For a time, she lived together with Gladys Cooper, Lady Idina Sackville, and Tallulah Bankhead. According to Chips Channon, she and Tallulah Bankhead were “the queens of London's wickedest world — la haute lesbie [coterie of smart lesbians].” Her girlfriend, Maud “the Admiral” Nelson (1904-1969), though “unable to type,” was secretary first to Napier, Lord Alington, and then Cecil Beaton. It is undoubtedly Maud Nelson to whom Anthony Powell refers when he describes the mixed make-up of the parties of the age:

At one end of the scale there'd be quite smart people, Diana Cooperish sort of figures and so on. At the other there'd always be a lot of these girls who were sort of living on the margin — you know, they'd do a little modeling; at the same time they were not quite tarts but they were being half kept. And then it would tail off into the queer, almost criminal world — lesbians dressed as admirals, that sort of thing. (emphasis mine, qtd. in Taylor, Bright Young People)

As a Christmas present, in 1933, Baba and Cecil Beaton gifted Olga Lynn a scrapbook filled with signed photographs of their friends, giving us a glimpse of her social circle. It included Lady Idina Sackville; Violet, Duchess of Rutland; Gertrude Lawrence; Lady Diana Cooper; Napier, Lord Alington; Sir Michael Duff; Audrey Pleydell-Bouverie; and Viola Tree.

[perioddramapolls]

Period dramas dresses tournament: Black dresses Round 1- Group A: Diana Spencer, The crown (gifset) vs Gertrude Lawrence, Star! (pics set)

[thejazzera]

Noel Coward's play Private Lives, September 1930

"Laurence Olivier, Adrienne Allen, Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence in a scene from Coward's play Private Lives, September 1930. Critics and theatregowers were shocked by Coward's and Lawrence's animated portrayal of a rowing couple who physically fought on stage. Lawrence was renowned for her trouser suits in this production designed by Edward Molyneux."

Scanned from "Decades of Fashion" by Harriet Worsley.

[citizenscreen]

Publicity photos of Yul Brynner (The King) and Gertrude Lawrence (Anna) for Broadway’s “The King and I” in 1951.

[operaqueen]

Julie Andrews - STAR! - 1968

[carbone14]

Gertrude Lawrence - 1923

Photo de James Abbe

[thatwritererinoriordan]

If you like very old-fashion music, Gertrude Lawrence's rendition of "Mad About the Boy" is not bad.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Gertrude Lawrence and Noel Coward in the comedy "The Red Peppers," November 30, 1936, at the National Theater. The play ran in repertory with two others, which together comprised "Tonight at 8:30." All the plays were written by Coward and starred him and Lawrence.

Photo: Associated Press