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Winthrop Ames

January 01, 1970

Winthrop Ames (November 25, 1870 – November 3, 1937) was an American theatre director and producer, playwright and screenwriter.

Winthrop Ames

For three decades at the beginning of the 20th century, Ames was an important force on Broadway, whose repertoire included directing and producing Shakespeare and classic plays, new plays, and revivals of Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas.

Biography edit

Ames was born in North Easton, Massachusetts to Cathrine Hobart and Oakes Angier Ames, members of a wealthy manufacturing family.[1][2] Ames studied art and architecture at Harvard University.[3] He worked in the publishing business before turning to a career in the theatre. In 1911, Ames married Lucy (Fuller) Cabot in London, and the couple had two daughters named Catherine and Joan.[4][5][6]

Early career edit

In 1904, Ames toured Europe to study the management techniques of sixty opera and theatre companies. Upon his return to America, he became manager of Boston's Castle Square Theatre. In 1908, he was appointed as the managing director of the New Theatre, at Central Park West and 62nd Street in New York. In November 1909, the theatre opened officially to the public with an opulent production of Antony and Cleopatra starring Julia Marlowe and E. H. Sothern. The New Theatre was the largest playhouse in New York City at that time, and Ames began to mount ambitious productions, ranging from Shakespeare and other classics to modern works. The theatre was a financial failure and closed after only two seasons.[4]

In 1912, bucking the tide of Broadway commercialism, Ames used his own money to build the Little Theatre at 240 West 44th Street with the express idea of putting on experimental dramas and to give an opportunity to new playwrights. This theatre had 300 seats and was, at the time, the smallest legitimate theatre in New York. One of the plays he presented in October of the first year of operation was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which he billed as the "First play written entirely for the enjoyment of children." Ames wrote the play under the pseudonym "Jessie Graham White" from the stories of the Brothers Grimm. The play received favorable reviews. He also built the Booth Theatre on West 45th Street in 1913 and managed both the Little Theatre and the Booth until 1930.[4]

Ames's most notable Broadway productions included an adaptation of Prunella (1913), The Philanderer (1913), A Pair of Silk Stockings (1914), and Pierrot the Prodigal (1916). During World War I, Ames organized the Over There Theatre League, which arranged for actors to travel to Europe to entertain troops.[4]

Later years edit

 
Katharine Cornell in Ames' production of Will Shakespeare (1923)

After the war, Ames began to direct most of the Broadway shows that he produced, including The Betrothal (1918), The Green Goddess (1921), The Truth About Blayds (1922), Will Shakespeare (1923), Beggar on Horseback (1924), Minick (1924), Old English (1924), White Wings (1926), Escape (1927), The Merchant of Venice (1928) and Mrs. Moonlight (1930).

By the 1920s, after the extraordinary success of the Gilbert and Sullivan works in America at the end of the nineteenth century, the popularity of Gilbert and Sullivan in the U.S. had waned. Ames revived interest in these comic operas with lavish and lively seasons of Iolanthe, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado from 1926 to 1929. Ames directed the productions himself at the Booth Theatre, which received critical praise.[7] He also toured the Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the United States.[8] His productions paved the way for American tours by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1930s. Time magazine wrote of Ames' production of Iolanthe: "It is generally agreed that in this entertainment he has done the best job of any producer attempting one of the famous series in our time. The only anxiety now is that he may be distracted before he has revived everyone of the operas in an equally felicitous vein. ... The show is now accepted as incomparably the finest musical preparation of its type in town, and probably in the world.[9]

In the 1920s, Ames began leasing his theatres to other producers, and he produced his last Broadway play in 1930. In 1931, as he wound down his business affairs with age and poor health, he sold the Little Theatre building to The New York Times. In 1959, the theatre was converted back to a theatre and was briefly renamed in 1964 as the "Winthrop Ames Theatre", and in 1983 it was renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre. In 1932, Ames left New York to retire to North Easton, but there he helped to found the Cambridge School of Drama. In 1929, he was elected a trustee of Harvard and in 1936 became vice president of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

In addition to writing his children's adaptation of Snow White in 1913, Ames was commissioned by the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation to write the screenplay for their 1916 motion pictures Oliver Twist and Snow White.[10] He also translated The Merchant of Paris from the French in 1930 and wrote other plays.

Ames died of pneumonia in 1937 in Boston at age 66 and was buried in North Easton.[11] Like other influential Broadway theater producers, Ames's likeness was captured in caricature by Alex Gard for the wall of Sardi's, the New York City Theater District restaurant. The picture is now part of the collection of the New York Public Library.[12]

Ames was inducted, posthumously, into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981.[13]

Notes edit

  1. ^ "Ames Family Papers, 1812-2008", Biographical Notes, Five Colleges Archives and Manuscript Collections
  2. ^ "Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FXN7-LPG : 11 March 2018), Infant Ames, 25 Nov 1870, Easton, Bristol, Massachusetts; citing reference ID #94, Massachusetts Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 1,428,073.
  3. ^ Harvard University. Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Harvard University (The University. Cambridge, Massachusetts)
  4. ^ a b c d Elkind, Elisabeth. "Guide to the Winthrop Ames Papers, 1908-1931", Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (2006)
  5. ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915, database (https://www.ancestry.com/ : accessed 23 Jan 2020) General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office. © Crown copyright. Published by permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Office for National Statistics. You must not copy on, transfer or reproduce records without the prior permission of ONS. Database Copyright © 1998-2003 Graham Hart, Ben Laurie, Camilla von Massenbach and David Mayall. Name:Winthrop Ames Registration Year:1911 Registration Quarter:Jul-Aug-Sep Registration district:Strand Parishes for this Registration District:View Ecclesiastical Parishes associated with this Registration District Inferred County:London Volume:1b Page:1320 Records on Page: Name Winthrop Ames Lucy Fuller
  6. ^ "Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLGT-C2K6 : 26 November 2019), Winthrop Ames in entry for Catherine Hobart Ames, 1919.
  7. ^ Hurley, G. M. "Gilbert and Sullivan – And Winthrop Ames," The New Yorker, June 6, 1931, p. 70
  8. ^ Hickman, Walter D. "Parliament Dudes Become Fairies", Indianapolis Times, March 29, 1928, p. 4
  9. ^ , Time magazine, May 03, 1926
  10. ^ Winthrop Ames at the IMDB database
  11. ^ Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901–1980, database (accessed via Ancestry.com, 23 January 2020) Department of Public Health, Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. Massachusetts Vital Records Index to Deaths [1916–1970]. Volumes 66–145. Facsimile edition. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Name: Winthrop Ames, Death Date: 1937, Death Place: Boston, Massachusetts, US, Volume Number: 23, Page Number: 420, Index Volume Number: 94, Reference Number:F63.M363 v.94
  12. ^ The New York Public Library Inventory of Sardi's Caricatures
  13. ^ "26 Elected to the Theater Hall of Fame." The New York Times, March 3, 1981.

References edit

  • MacArthur, David Edward. Ames: The Gentleman as Producer-Director, Educational Theatre Journal, Vol. 16, No. 4 (December, 1964), pp. 349–59, The Johns Hopkins University Press
  • "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJP-CY48 : 16 March 2018), Winthrop Ames, 1903; citing Passport Application, Massachusetts, United States, source certificate #69698, Passport Applications, 1795-1905., Roll 620, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
  • "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDJ-S6YW : 16 March 2018), Winthrop Ames, 1915; citing Passport Application, Massachusetts, United States, source certificate #13063, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 280, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
  • "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJP-Z8B6 : 16 March 2018), Winthrop Ames, 1917; citing Passport Application, New York, United States, source certificate #78036, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, Roll 443, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
  • "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJG-59VR : 16 March 2018), Winthrop Ames, 1923; citing Passport Application, New York, United States, source certificate #281803, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, Roll 2248, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

External links edit

 
Wikisource has original works by or about:
Winthrop Ames

January 01, 1970
winthrop, ames, november, 1870, november, 1937, american, theatre, director, producer, playwright, screenwriter, three, decades, beginning, 20th, century, ames, important, force, broadway, whose, repertoire, included, directing, producing, shakespeare, classic. Winthrop Ames November 25 1870 November 3 1937 was an American theatre director and producer playwright and screenwriter Winthrop Ames For three decades at the beginning of the 20th century Ames was an important force on Broadway whose repertoire included directing and producing Shakespeare and classic plays new plays and revivals of Gilbert and Sullivan s Savoy operas Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Early career 1 2 Later years 2 Notes 3 References 4 External linksBiography editAmes was born in North Easton Massachusetts to Cathrine Hobart and Oakes Angier Ames members of a wealthy manufacturing family 1 2 Ames studied art and architecture at Harvard University 3 He worked in the publishing business before turning to a career in the theatre In 1911 Ames married Lucy Fuller Cabot in London and the couple had two daughters named Catherine and Joan 4 5 6 Early career edit In 1904 Ames toured Europe to study the management techniques of sixty opera and theatre companies Upon his return to America he became manager of Boston s Castle Square Theatre In 1908 he was appointed as the managing director of the New Theatre at Central Park West and 62nd Street in New York In November 1909 the theatre opened officially to the public with an opulent production of Antony and Cleopatra starring Julia Marlowe and E H Sothern The New Theatre was the largest playhouse in New York City at that time and Ames began to mount ambitious productions ranging from Shakespeare and other classics to modern works The theatre was a financial failure and closed after only two seasons 4 In 1912 bucking the tide of Broadway commercialism Ames used his own money to build the Little Theatre at 240 West 44th Street with the express idea of putting on experimental dramas and to give an opportunity to new playwrights This theatre had 300 seats and was at the time the smallest legitimate theatre in New York One of the plays he presented in October of the first year of operation was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which he billed as the First play written entirely for the enjoyment of children Ames wrote the play under the pseudonym Jessie Graham White from the stories of the Brothers Grimm The play received favorable reviews He also built the Booth Theatre on West 45th Street in 1913 and managed both the Little Theatre and the Booth until 1930 4 Ames s most notable Broadway productions included an adaptation of Prunella 1913 The Philanderer 1913 A Pair of Silk Stockings 1914 and Pierrot the Prodigal 1916 During World War I Ames organized the Over There Theatre League which arranged for actors to travel to Europe to entertain troops 4 Later years edit nbsp Katharine Cornell in Ames production of Will Shakespeare 1923 After the war Ames began to direct most of the Broadway shows that he produced including The Betrothal 1918 The Green Goddess 1921 The Truth About Blayds 1922 Will Shakespeare 1923 Beggar on Horseback 1924 Minick 1924 Old English 1924 White Wings 1926 Escape 1927 The Merchant of Venice 1928 and Mrs Moonlight 1930 By the 1920s after the extraordinary success of the Gilbert and Sullivan works in America at the end of the nineteenth century the popularity of Gilbert and Sullivan in the U S had waned Ames revived interest in these comic operas with lavish and lively seasons of Iolanthe The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado from 1926 to 1929 Ames directed the productions himself at the Booth Theatre which received critical praise 7 He also toured the Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the United States 8 His productions paved the way for American tours by the D Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1930s Time magazine wrote of Ames production of Iolanthe It is generally agreed that in this entertainment he has done the best job of any producer attempting one of the famous series in our time The only anxiety now is that he may be distracted before he has revived everyone of the operas in an equally felicitous vein The show is now accepted as incomparably the finest musical preparation of its type in town and probably in the world 9 In the 1920s Ames began leasing his theatres to other producers and he produced his last Broadway play in 1930 In 1931 as he wound down his business affairs with age and poor health he sold the Little Theatre building to The New York Times In 1959 the theatre was converted back to a theatre and was briefly renamed in 1964 as the Winthrop Ames Theatre and in 1983 it was renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre In 1932 Ames left New York to retire to North Easton but there he helped to found the Cambridge School of Drama In 1929 he was elected a trustee of Harvard and in 1936 became vice president of the National Institute of Arts and Letters In addition to writing his children s adaptation of Snow White in 1913 Ames was commissioned by the Famous Players Lasky Corporation to write the screenplay for their 1916 motion pictures Oliver Twist and Snow White 10 He also translated The Merchant of Paris from the French in 1930 and wrote other plays Ames died of pneumonia in 1937 in Boston at age 66 and was buried in North Easton 11 Like other influential Broadway theater producers Ames s likeness was captured in caricature by Alex Gard for the wall of Sardi s the New York City Theater District restaurant The picture is now part of the collection of the New York Public Library 12 Ames was inducted posthumously into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981 13 Notes edit Ames Family Papers 1812 2008 Biographical Notes Five Colleges Archives and Manuscript Collections Massachusetts Births 1841 1915 database with images FamilySearch https familysearch org ark 61903 1 1 FXN7 LPG 11 March 2018 Infant Ames 25 Nov 1870 Easton Bristol Massachusetts citing reference ID 94 Massachusetts Archives Boston FHL microfilm 1 428 073 Harvard University Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Harvard University The University Cambridge Massachusetts a b c d Elkind Elisabeth Guide to the Winthrop Ames Papers 1908 1931 Billy Rose Theatre Division The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts 2006 England amp Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index 1837 1915 database https www ancestry com accessed 23 Jan 2020 General Register Office England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes London England General Register Office c Crown copyright Published by permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Office for National Statistics You must not copy on transfer or reproduce records without the prior permission of ONS Database Copyright c 1998 2003 Graham Hart Ben Laurie Camilla von Massenbach and David Mayall Name Winthrop Ames Registration Year 1911 Registration Quarter Jul Aug Sep Registration district Strand Parishes for this Registration District View Ecclesiastical Parishes associated with this Registration District Inferred County London Volume 1b Page 1320 Records on Page Name Winthrop Ames Lucy Fuller Massachusetts State Vital Records 1841 1920 database with images FamilySearch https familysearch org ark 61903 1 1 QLGT C2K6 26 November 2019 Winthrop Ames in entry for Catherine Hobart Ames 1919 Hurley G M Gilbert and Sullivan And Winthrop Ames The New Yorker June 6 1931 p 70 Hickman Walter D Parliament Dudes Become Fairies Indianapolis Times March 29 1928 p 4 New Plays Time magazine May 03 1926 Winthrop Ames at the IMDB database Massachusetts Death Index 1901 1980 database accessed via Ancestry com 23 January 2020 Department of Public Health Registry of Vital Records and Statistics Massachusetts Vital Records Index to Deaths 1916 1970 Volumes 66 145 Facsimile edition Boston MA New England Historic Genealogical Society Boston Massachusetts Name Winthrop Ames Death Date 1937 Death Place Boston Massachusetts US Volume Number 23 Page Number 420 Index Volume Number 94 Reference Number F63 M363 v 94 The New York Public Library Inventory of Sardi s Caricatures 26 Elected to the Theater Hall of Fame The New York Times March 3 1981 References editMacArthur David Edward Ames The Gentleman as Producer Director Educational Theatre Journal Vol 16 No 4 December 1964 pp 349 59 The Johns Hopkins University Press United States Passport Applications 1795 1925 database with images FamilySearch https familysearch org ark 61903 1 1 QVJP CY48 16 March 2018 Winthrop Ames 1903 citing Passport Application Massachusetts United States source certificate 69698 Passport Applications 1795 1905 Roll 620 NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 Washington D C National Archives and Records Administration n d United States Passport Applications 1795 1925 database with images FamilySearch https familysearch org ark 61903 1 1 QKDJ S6YW 16 March 2018 Winthrop Ames 1915 citing Passport Application Massachusetts United States source certificate 13063 Passport Applications January 2 1906 March 31 1925 280 NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 Washington D C National Archives and Records Administration n d United States Passport Applications 1795 1925 database with images FamilySearch https familysearch org ark 61903 1 1 QVJP Z8B6 16 March 2018 Winthrop Ames 1917 citing Passport Application New York United States source certificate 78036 Passport Applications January 2 1906 March 31 1925 Roll 443 NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 Washington D C National Archives and Records Administration n d United States Passport Applications 1795 1925 database with images FamilySearch https familysearch org ark 61903 1 1 QVJG 59VR 16 March 2018 Winthrop Ames 1923 citing Passport Application New York United States source certificate 281803 Passport Applications January 2 1906 March 31 1925 Roll 2248 NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 Washington D C National Archives and Records Administration n d External links edit nbsp Wikisource has original works by or about Winthrop Ames Winthrop Ames at the Internet Broadway Database nbsp Works by Winthrop Ames at LibriVox public domain audiobooks nbsp Winthrop Ames papers 1908 1931 held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Winthrop Ames diary 1909 1911 held by the Manuscript and Archives Division New York Public Library Links to postcards showing scenes from Ames Gilbert and Sullivan productions at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive Winthrop Ames at Find a Grave Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Winthrop Ames amp oldid 1212470257, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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