Theatre Register

Catherine Littlefield

Shows · Catherine Littlefield

Choreographer 1905–1951 On stage 19241925

Catherine Littlefield (September 16, 1905 – November 19, 1951) was an American ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet teacher, and director. She founded the Philadelphia Ballet (originally the Littlefield Ballet) in Philadelphia in 1935. It was the first American ballet company to tour Europe and the first to present a full-length (or three-act plus prologue) version of The Sleeping Beauty in the United States. In addition to producing American-themed ballets such as Barn Dance, Terminal, Cafe Society and Ladies' Better Dresses, Littlefield choreographed Broadway musicals and Sonja Henie's professional ice skating shows. She was among the first class of inductees (1987) into the National Museu…

On stage 2 productions, 1 years

1924 Annie Dear Times Square Theatre · Original · directed by Edward Royce 103 perf.
1925 Louie the 14th Cosmopolitan Theatre · Original · directed by Edward Royce 319 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

Worked with more than once12 names

William May 2 productions
Rona Lee 2 productions
Nyo Lee 2 productions
Ned Hamlin 2 productions
Marguerite Boatwright 2 productions
Lelia Mcguire 2 productions
Joan Clement 2 productions
Helen Herendeen 2 productions
Gertrude McDonald 2 productions
Florentine Gosnova 2 productions
Edna Johnson 2 productions
Dorothy Brown 2 productions

Both names in the same cast list, more than once. It is not evidence of a partnership — a long-running company puts the same forty people together every night — but it is where one would start looking. 11 of these names are not links because we hold no record behind them; the name is set from the identifier and its punctuation may be wrong.

Also credited on3 works

Follow The Girls
Sweethearts
The Firebrand of Florence

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature2 passages

  • staged by Catherine Littlefield. Orchestra under the direction of Maurice Abravanel. Orchestrations by Kurt Weill and Ted Royal. Cast, starring Earl Wrightson (Cellini), Beverly Tyler (Angela), Melville Cooper (Duke), featured Lotte Lenya (Duchess), Randolph Symonette (Hangman), Gloria Story (Emilia), Paul Best (Marquis), Ferdi Hoffman (O…theatre-pdfs/The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin - Gershwin, Ira, 1896-1983.txt
  • entangled in the difficulties of the mise en scéne. Catherine Littlefield’s successtheatre-pdfs/sim_theatre-arts_1941-01_25_1.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — choreographer — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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