Rudy and Fredy Walker

 Rudy and Fredy Walker,  Le  Trans-Atlantic 1903

Wizard of Oz

On January 21, 1903, The Wizard of Oz opened on Broadway at the brand new Majestic Theatre on Columbus Circle. It became the favorite of a generation. The audiences couldn’t get enough. The Tornado scene! Fred Stone’s boneless Scarecrow walking about on his ankles! The lovely all-girl poppy field! The glittering Emerald City! The audiences came back for seconds and thirds. They brought their kids. Everyone bought the sheet music, the phonograph records, the player-piano rolls, and Baum’s original novel! Oz had entered the American consciousness.  digitalgallery

The Wizard of Oz is one of the best-loved fairy tales and one of the best-loved films of all time. Yet few people know that it was a Broadway musical in 1903 that made Oz, Dorothy Gale, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman household names. ( Montgomery and Stone as the Tin Man and Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz.)             

Source:  digitalgallery |The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts / Billy Rose Theatre Division

The Birth of a Pearl

The Birth of a Pearl, 1903.  Dir. F.S. Armitage.

tumblr | MERMAIDSBONES

Apache De Gazza

Apache De Gazza, 1903, by Edward S. Curtis

Source: old-picture

Catwalk Performer

The Cakewalk became a popular stage act for expert dancers as well as a craze in fashionable ballrooms at the turn of the twentieth century. c. 1903

Source: aaregistry |  flickr | adiamondfellfromthesky

Zuni Indian Girls

Two Zuni Indian Girls, 1903, by Edward S. Curtis 

Source: old-picture

Ruth Bayton

Ruth Bayton was an African American performer who became popular in Europe in the 1920's. She was born in White Stone, Virginia in 1903 and lived in Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York before leaving for the Continent. - Source: flickr.