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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Thr 582

G. E. Calthrop costume designs for Cavalcade

Overview

Costume designs by G. E. Calthrop for Noel Coward's play Cavalcade, which opened at the Drury Lane Theatre, London, England in 1931.

Dates

  • Creation: 1931

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Extent

.5 linear feet (1 box)

Original watercolor, pencil, and ink costume designs by G. E. Calthrop (Gladys E. Calthrop). Most designs include annotations designating the following: sketch number; act and scene number; actor's name; and colors, fabrics, and ornaments to be used in design. All designs are unsigned. Also includes: a theater program which contains a photograph of the cast and also G. E. Calthrop; a numbered autograph manuscript list recording all the drawings included in this collection; and the cover from the case formerly holding these designs.

Biographical / Historical

Noel Coward's historical extravaganza Cavalcade, opened at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (now the Drury Lane Theatre), London, England in 1931. The play ran from October 13, 1931 through September 10, 1932. Cast included Mary Clare, Edward Sinclair,John Mills, and others. The scenery and costumes were designed by Gladys E. Calthrop. The plot chronicled about thirty years in the lives of two British families, the Marryots and the Bridges , from New Years Eve 1899 to New Years Eve 1933. One family is well-to-do and the other is not as well off, and the play shows various historical events through their eyes such as the Titanic disaster, the death of Queen Victoria, and World War I. The play required a huge cast, gargantuan sets, and a complex hydraulic stage.

Physical Location

pf

Immediate Source of Acquisition

No accession number. Source unknown.

Processing Information

Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt

Title
Calthrop, G. E. G. E. Calthrop costume designs for Cavalcade, 1931: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou02081

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

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