#William Jourdan Rapp

[thefugitivesaint]

Paul Raphael Meltsner (1905-1966), ''Harlam'', 1929 Source

[outoftowninac]

HILDA CASSIDY

1931

Hilda Cassidy is a play in three acts by William Jordan Rapp, Henry Lieferant and Sylvia Lieferant. 

In January 1931, producer A.H. Woods announced he had acquired the play and  would star Pauline Lord. Fay Bainter was also mentioned for the lead. By the end of January, the title role was cast with Katherine Alexander. William Harrigan (son of Ned Harrigan of Harrigan and Hart) would co-star. Woods was still unsure if he would bring the play to Broadway soon - or hold it till next season. 

The play takes place in the yard of a tenement on 3rd Avenue in New York City (Act I); the backroom of Tom Cassidy's Cigar Store (Act II); the Cassidy living-room (Act III).

Hilda Cassidy is the long-suffering wife of a loutish husband. He gets involved in bootlegging and goes to prison. When he comes out, he finds his now-grown daughter is to marry a man just like he used to be. Hilda, on the other hand, enables them to elope. 

On February 17, 1931, the world premiere of Hilda Cassidy took place on the Subway Circuit at Brandt’s Windsor Theatre in Bronx NY.  William A. Brady Jr. (son of the famous producer) staged the play. 

Since the characters age of the course of the three acts, it was decided to rehearse a second, younger cast for Act Two, just in case the actors playing the characters were unconvincing as their younger selves. 

The leading lady was profiled in the papers, listing her ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’.  Sounds like a very particular woman! 

During the first two decades of the 20th century, Atlantic City was a hub of theatrical activity. But by 1931, only one theatre was presenting live legit theatre, and then only on a part-time basis. Atlantic City’s play incubator status had been usurped by the Subway Circuit. 

Despite this, the play left the Bronx for Atlantic City, doing a week at Nixon’s Apollo Theatre on the Boardwalk opening February 23rd. Surely Broadway was next...

But that was not the case, as was reported as early as the beginning of 1931, producer Woods closed the play. His announced intent was to save it for the following season. 

The play basically disappeared for two years. When it finally resurfaced, much had changed. One of the writers, William Jourdan Rapp, requested his name be taken off the play. The new production would be backed by Harold Stone and Bernard Kaplan, but they withdrew at the last minute, turning producing chores over to Robert Stephens Inc. The leading role would be played by Stella Adler, on loan from the Group Theatre. The Broadway production was to open on April 26th at the Martin Beck Theatre (now the Al Hirschfeld).  

Just before the play started rehearsals, producers were unable to cast one key character: a wooden cigar store Indian. The second act takes place in a family-run cigar store, and what self-respecting tobacconist didn’t have a wooden Indian out front? Famed photographer Ansel Adams took the above photo in 1933, the same year the play was staged. 

In addition to the missing wooden Indian, the set involved a turntable. Just as it had in the Bronx, the technical requirements of the play caused a slight delay in opening.   

When it finally arrived, the opening night party was a Who's Who of music: Mrs. Irving Berlin, Wanda Toscaninl, Ira and George Gershwin, and Jascha Heifetz. The party was short-lived when the reviews came out. 

“Hilda Cassidy is played by Stella Adler, a fine actress who is wholly unsuited to the demands of this part. She seems to have had good deal of trouble with her lines last night, but it was probably due to many last-minute changes In the script.”  ~  ROWLAND FIELD

“It is far from being a play which will make history, and there are better shows in town.” ~ ALVIN J. KATTON

By Monday morning, May 7, 1933, Hilda Cassidy was gone after just 4 performances on Broadway. 

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.5

917 – Liu Yan declares himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu. 1590 – Alexander Farnese's army forces Henry IV of France to lift the siege of Paris. 1661 – Fall of Nicolas Fouquet: Louis XIV Superintendent of Finances is arrested in Nantes by D'Artagnan, captain of the king's musketeers. 1666 – Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings, including Old St Paul's Cathedral, are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died. 1697 – War of the Grand Alliance: A French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron at the Battle of Hudson's Bay. 1698 – In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry. 1725 – Wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska. 1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia. 1781 – Battle of the Chesapeake in the American Revolutionary War: The British Navy is repelled by the French Navy, contributing to the British surrender at Yorktown. 1791 – Olympe de Gouges writes the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen. 1793 – French Revolution: The French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror. 1798 – Conscription is made mandatory in France by the Jourdan law. 1812 – War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Wayne begins when Chief Winamac's forces attack two soldiers returning from the fort's outhouses. 1816 – Louis XVIII has to dissolve the Chambre introuvable ("Unobtainable Chamber"). 1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas. 1839 – The United Kingdom declares war on the Qing dynasty of China. 1862 – American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia crosses the Potomac River at White's Ford in the Maryland Campaign. 1877 – American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska. 1882 – The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City. 1882 – Tottenham Hotspur, a Premier League football club from North London, is founded (as Hotspur F.C.). 1887 – A fire at the Theatre Royal, Exeter, kills 186. 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: In New Hampshire, United States, the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, ends the war. 1906 – The first legal forward pass in American football is thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin). 1914 – World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins. Northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing on the capital. 1915 – The pacifist Zimmerwald Conference begins. 1921 – Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle party in San Francisco ends with the death of the young actress Virginia Rappe: One of the first scandals of the Hollywood community. 1927 – The first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney, is released by Universal Pictures. 1932 – The French Upper Volta is broken apart between Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger. 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Llanes falls to the Nationalists following a one-day siege. 1938 – Chile: A group of youths affiliated with the fascist National Socialist Movement of Chile are executed after surrendering during a failed coup. 1941 – Whole territory of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany. 1942 – World War II: Japanese high command orders withdrawal at Milne Bay, the first major Japanese defeat in land warfare during the Pacific War. 1943 – World War II: The 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment lands and occupies Lae Nadzab Airport, near Lae in the Salamaua–Lae campaign. 1944 – Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg constitute Benelux. 1945 – Cold War: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signalling the beginning of the Cold War. 1945 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama. 1948 – In France, Robert Schuman becomes President of the Council while being Foreign minister; as such, he is the negotiator of the major treaties of the end of World War II. 1957 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista bombs the revolt in Cienfuegos. 1960 – Poet Léopold Sédar Senghor is the first elected President of Senegal. 1960 – Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) wins the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome. 1969 – My Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai. 1970 – Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province. 1970 – Jochen Rindt becomes the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship (in 1970), after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix. 1972 – Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine are murdered the following day. 1975 – Sacramento, California: Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford. 1977 – Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 1 spacecraft. 1978 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David, Maryland. 1980 – The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo. 1984 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage. 1984 – Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment. 1986 – Pan Am Flight 73 from Mumbai, India with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport. 1990 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers slaughter 158 civilians. 1991 – The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, comes into force. 1996 – Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina as a Category 3 storm with 115 mph sustained winds. Fran caused over $3 billion in damage and killed 27 people. 2012 – An accidental explosion at a Turkish Army ammunition store in Afyon, western Turkey kills 25 soldiers and wounds four others.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.5

917 – Liu Yan declares himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu. 1590 – Alexander Farnese's army forces Henry IV of France to lift the siege of Paris. 1661 – Fall of Nicolas Fouquet: Louis XIV Superintendent of Finances is arrested in Nantes by D'Artagnan, captain of the king's musketeers. 1666 – Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings, including Old St Paul's Cathedral, are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died. 1697 – War of the Grand Alliance : A French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron at the Battle of Hudson's Bay. 1698 – In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry. 1725 – Wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska. 1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia. 1781 – Battle of the Chesapeake in the American Revolutionary War: The British Navy is repelled by the French Navy, contributing to the British surrender at Yorktown. 1791 – Olympe de Gouges writes the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen. 1793 – French Revolution: The French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror. 1798 – Conscription is made mandatory in France by the Jourdan law. 1812 – War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Wayne begins when Chief Winamac's forces attack two soldiers returning from the fort's outhouses. 1816 – Louis XVIII has to dissolve the Chambre introuvable ("Unobtainable Chamber"). 1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas. 1839 – The United Kingdom declares war on the Qing dynasty of China. 1862 – American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia crosses the Potomac River at White's Ford in the Maryland Campaign. 1877 – American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska. 1882 – The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City. 1882 – Tottenham Hotspur, a Premier League football club from North London, is founded (as Hotspur F.C.). 1887 – A fire at the Theatre Royal, Exeter, kills 186. 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: In New Hampshire, United States, the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, ends the war. 1906 – The first legal forward pass in American football is thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin). 1914 – World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins. Northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing on the capital. 1915 – The pacifist Zimmerwald Conference begins. 1921 – Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle party in San Francisco ends with the death of the young actress Virginia Rappe: One of the first scandals of the Hollywood community. 1927 – The first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney, is released by Universal Pictures. 1932 – The French Upper Volta is broken apart between Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger. 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Llanes falls to the Nationalists following a one-day siege. 1938 – Chile: A group of youths affiliated with the fascist National Socialist Movement of Chile are executed after surrendering during a failed coup. 1941 – Whole territory of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany. 1942 – World War II: Japanese high command orders withdrawal at Milne Bay, the first major Japanese defeat in land warfare during the Pacific War. 1943 – World War II: The 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment lands and occupies Lae Nadzab Airport, near Lae in the Salamaua–Lae campaign. 1944 – Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg constitute Benelux. 1945 – Cold War: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signalling the beginning of the Cold War. 1945 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama. 1948 – In France, Robert Schuman becomes President of the Council while being Foreign minister; as such, he is the negotiator of the major treaties of the end of World War II. 1957 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista bombs the revolt in Cienfuegos. 1960 – Poet Léopold Sédar Senghor is the first elected President of Senegal. 1960 – Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) wins the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome. 1969 – My Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai. 1970 – Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province. 1970 – Jochen Rindt becomes the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship (in 1970), after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix. 1972 – Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine are murdered the following day. 1975 – Sacramento, California: Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford. 1977 – Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 1 spacecraft. 1978 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David, Maryland. 1980 – The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo. 1984 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage. 1984 – Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment. 1986 – Pan Am Flight 73 from Mumbai, India with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport. 1990 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers slaughter 158 civilians. 1991 – The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, comes into force. 1996 – Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina as a Category 3 storm with 115 mph sustained winds. Fran caused over $3 billion in damage and killed 27 people. 2012 – An accidental explosion at a Turkish Army ammunition store in Afyon, western Turkey kills 25 soldiers and wounds four others.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.5

917 – Liu Yan declares himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu. 1590 – Alexander Farnese's army forces Henry IV of France to lift the siege of Paris. 1661 – Fall of Nicolas Fouquet: Louis XIV Superintendent of Finances is arrested in Nantes by D'Artagnan, captain of the king's musketeers. 1666 – Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings, including Old St Paul's Cathedral, are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died. 1697 – War of the Grand Alliance : A French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron at the Battle of Hudson's Bay. 1698 – In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry. 1725 – Wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska. 1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia. 1781 – Battle of the Chesapeake in the American Revolutionary War: The British Navy is repelled by the French Navy, contributing to the British surrender at Yorktown. 1793 – French Revolution: The French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror. 1798 – Conscription is made mandatory in France by the Jourdan law. 1812 – War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Wayne begins when Chief Winamac's forces attack two soldiers returning from the fort's outhouses. 1816 – Louis XVIII has to dissolve the Chambre introuvable ("Unobtainable Chamber"). 1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas. 1839 – The United Kingdom declares war on the Qing dynasty of China. 1862 – American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia crosses the Potomac River at White's Ford in the Maryland Campaign. 1877 – American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska. 1882 – The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City. 1882 – Tottenham Hotspur, a Premier League football club from North London, is founded (as Hotspur F.C.). 1887 – A fire at the Theatre Royal, Exeter, kills 186. 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: In New Hampshire, United States, the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, ends the war. 1906 – The first legal forward pass in American football is thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin). 1914 – World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins. Northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing on the capital. 1915 – The pacifist Zimmerwald Conference begins. 1921 – Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle party in San Francisco ends with the death of the young actress Virginia Rappe: One of the first scandals of the Hollywood community. 1927 – The first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney, is released by Universal Pictures. 1932 – The French Upper Volta is broken apart between Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger. 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Llanes falls to the Nationalists following a one-day siege. 1938 – Chile: A group of youths affiliated with the fascist National Socialist Movement of Chile are executed after surrendering during a failed coup. 1941 – Whole territory of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany. 1942 – World War II: Japanese high command orders withdrawal at Milne Bay, the first major Japanese defeat in land warfare during the Pacific War. 1943 – World War II: The 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment lands and occupies Lae Nadzab Airport, near Lae in the Salamaua–Lae campaign. 1944 – Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg constitute Benelux. 1945 – Cold War: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signalling the beginning of the Cold War. 1945 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama. 1948 – In France, Robert Schuman becomes President of the Council while being Foreign minister; as such, he is the negotiator of the major treaties of the end of World War II. 1957 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista bombs the revolt in Cienfuegos. 1960 – Poet Léopold Sédar Senghor is the first elected President of Senegal. 1960 – Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) wins the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome. 1969 – My Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai. 1970 – Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province. 1970 – Jochen Rindt becomes the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship (in 1970), after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix. 1972 – Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine are murdered the following day. 1975 – Sacramento, California: Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford. 1977 – Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 1 spacecraft. 1978 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David, Maryland. 1980 – The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo. 1984 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage. 1984 – Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment. 1986 – Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport. 1990 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers slaughter 158 civilians. 1991 – The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, comes into force. 1996 – Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina as a Category 3 storm with 115 mph sustained winds. Fran caused over $3 billion in damage and killed 27 people. 2012 – An accidental explosion at a Turkish Army ammunition store in Afyon, western Turkey kills 25 soldiers and wounds four others.