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Collection Data
- Description
- Joan McCracken was a dancer and a star of stage and screen. Her ephemera consists of scrapbooks, clippings, programs, sheet music and some personal items.
- Names
- McCracken, Joan (Creator)
- Littlefield, Catherine (Contributor)
- Philadelphia Ballet Company (Contributor)
- Dates / Origin
- Date Created: 1930 - 1958 (Approximate)
- Library locations
- Billy Rose Theatre Division
- Shelf locator: *T-Mss 2001-010
- Topics
- Dance -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
- Motion pictures -- California
- Television
- Theater -- New York (State) -- New York
- Genres
- Clippings
- Correspondence
- Ephemera
- Programs
- Scrapbooks
- Notes
- Content: 2 linear feet (5 boxes)
- Biographical/historical: Joan McCracken was a star of stage and screen, most notably a musical comedy star. She was born in Philadelphia on December 31, 1917 (most sources say 1922). A trained ballerina, she was the youngest soloist in the Philadelphia Ballet, starring Catherine Littlefield. Joan McCracken spent one year in the Radio City corps-de-ballet before moving to the Broadway stage. Her first role was in the original production of Oklahoma! in 1943. Other roles were in Bloomer Girl, Billion Dollar Baby, Me and Juliet (1953), Peter Pan (1951), Angel in the Pawnshop, The Sleeping Prince (1957) and Clifford Odet's play The Big Knife (1949). Her films included Good News and Hollywood Canteen. She also starred in her own television show entitled Claudia (1952). She was married to the writer, Jack Dunphy and to the choreographer, Bob Fosse. She died November 1, 1961.
- Content: The Joan McCracken Ephemera consists of scrapbooks, clippings, programs, sheet music and a few personal items such as school report cards and awards. The scrapbooks document her career as a dancer and musical comedy star. There are two scrapbooks documenting her early career in ballet during the 1930s. The other scrapbooks document her theatrical career. Productions included are Angel in the Pawnshop, The Big Knife, Billion Dollar Baby, Bloomer Girl, Dance Me a Song, Galileo, Me and Juliet, Oklahoma!, Peter Pan, The Sleeping Prince, motion pictures Good News and Hollywood Canteen and her television program Claudia.
- Type of Resource
- Text
- Identifiers
- Other local Identifier: *T-Mss 2001-010
- NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b15026952
- MSS Unit ID: 21534
- Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): b3da5650-8358-013d-e4ab-0242ac110003
