Theatre Register

Hope Emerson

Shows · Hope Emerson

Actor 1897–1960 On stage 19301948

Hope Emerson (October 29, 1897 – April 24, 1960) was an American actress, vaudevillian, nightclub performer, and strongwoman. Emerson started acting when she was three years old during a production with her mother. Her career started when she advertised sheet music by playing the piano at a 10-cent store. Emerson made her Broadway debut in Lysistrata in 1930. She starred in other plays, radio programs, films, television shows, and commercials. She often played the role of a villain in comedies and dramas. Emerson's performance in Caged "became the standard model for women's prison films." Her roles included being a circus strongwoman, a nefarious masseuse-conspirator, a mail-order bride, and…

On stage 7 productions, 18 years

1930 Lysistrata 44th Street Theatre · Revival · directed by Doris Humphrey 252 perf.
1932 Smiling Faces Shubert Theatre · Original · directed by R.H. Burnside 31 perf.
1942 The New Moon Carnegie Hall · Revival · directed by John Pierce 24 perf.
1944 Chicken Every Sunday Henry Millers Theatre · Original · directed by Lester Vail
1947 Street Scene Adelphi Theatre · Revival · directed by Charles Friedman 148 perf.
1947 The Magic Touch International Theatre · Original · directed by Herman Rosten 12 perf.
1948 The Cup of Trembling Music Box Theatre · Original 31 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 once1 names

Doris Patston 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. 1 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.

In the literature1 passages

  • Cast: Norman Cordon, Anne Jeffreys, Polyna Stoska, Brian Sullivan, Hope Emerson, Sheila Bond, Danny Daniels, Don Saxon, Juanita Hallebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.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 — actor — 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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