Lewisohn, Irene (05 September 1892–04 April 1944), theater patron and practitioner and philanthropist, was born in New York City, the daughter of Rosalie Jacobs and Leonard Lewisohn, a German-Jewish immigrant who made his fortune in the mining and processing of copper and other minerals. The deaths of Lewisohn’s parents before she was ten years old left her older sister Alice and her with considerable wealth—and the social burden of such wealth. The daughter of a philanthropist, Lewisohn was impressed by the Henry Street Settlement, one of her father’s causes. After attending the Finch School in New York, she studied dance independently and eventually found her calling in the unique combination of social service and the arts....
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Lewisohn, Irene (1892-1944), theater patron and practitioner and philanthropist
Anne Fletcher
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Perry, Antoinette (1888-1946), actress and director for whom the Tony Awards were named
Ellis Nassour
Perry, Antoinette (27 June 1888–28 June 1946), actress and director for whom the Tony Awards were named, was born in Denver, Colorado, the daughter of William Russell Perry, a city clerk, and Minnie Betsy Hall, an artist and Christian Science healer. Perry’s father, who was Catholic, and his wife separated over religious differences two weeks after their marriage and divorced shortly following their child’s birth. Her mother married twice again. Perry, nicknamed Tony, wrote in a 1930s article that even in grade school she had felt an urge to be an actress, in part because of the encouragement of her uncle, actor George Wessells. “My uncle trained me as a child—in Shakespearean men’s parts—and stimulated my desire,” she recalled. “When I was six, I didn’t say I’d become an actress. I felt I was one. No one could have convinced me I wasn’t.”...
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Price, Vincent (1911-1993), actor and art collector
Stephen G. Marshall
Price, Vincent (27 May 1911–25 October 1993), actor and art collector, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Vincent Leonard Price, a candy company president, and Marguerite Cobb Willcox. Price studied art history and English at Yale University and toured Europe as a member of the Yale Glee Club. After graduating in 1933, he made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain work as an actor in New York, then took a teaching job with the Riverdale (N.Y.) Country Day School. In 1934 Price began graduate study in fine arts at London University’s Courtald Institute. He wrote his master’s thesis on “Dürer and the School of the Danube” and auditioned for roles on the London stage....
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Price, Vincent (1911-1993)
Maker: Carl Van Vechten
In
Vincent Price. In Angel Street, 1942. Photograph by Carl Van Vechten. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LOT 12735, no. 945 P&P).
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Robinson, Edward G. (1893-1973), actor
Shoshana Klebanoff
Robinson, Edward G. (12 December 1893–26 January 1973), actor, was born Emanuel Goldenberg in Bucharest, Romania, the son of Morris Goldenberg, a builder, and Sarah Guttman. He immigrated to the United States in 1902. The family settled in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where his father ran a candy store and Emanuel attended P.S. 137, graduating in 1906. That year the family moved to the Bronx, where his father opened an antique shop and Emanuel attended P.S. 20 before being accepted at Townsend Harris High School. In 1910 Emanuel enrolled at the New York City College. He joined the campus drama club, the Elizabethan Society, and worked part time at an etching and lithograph printing shop, where he acquired the foundation for his extensive knowledge of the art world. In 1911 he was awarded a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His closest friend at the academy was Joseph Schildkraut, son of Rudolf Schildkraut, famous as a leading actor of the Yiddish Theater and a future successful actor in his own right. At the academy Emanuel changed his name to Edward G. Robinson, the ...
