Jean Dalrymple

Jean Dalrymple

Jean Dalrymple (September 2, 1902 – November 15, 1998[1]) was an American theater producer, manager, publicist, author and playwright who was instrumental in the founding of New York City Center and is best known for her productions there.

Biography

Born in Morristown, New Jersey, Dalrymple, as a teenager, worked as a stenographer on Wall Street and then had a vaudeville act on the Keith-Albee-Orpheum circuit with Dan Jarrett.[2] She began working as a press agent for the theater producer John L. Golden, and wrote a play, Salt Water.

In 1932 she married Ward Morehouse, the New York Sun theater critic.[3] That marriage ended in divorce. She later married Major General Philip De Witt Ginder.[4] She had no children.

Dalrymple served on the Board of City Center, and in the 1980s, was president of the Light Opera of Manhattan. At City Center, she produced such works as Our Town; Porgy and Bess; Othello starring Paul Robeson and Jose Ferrer; A Streetcar Named Desire starring Uta Hagen and Anthony Quinn; Pal Joey with Bob Fosse; King Lear with Orson Welles[5] and many others.

Dalrymple's written works include a 1963 autobiography, September Child; the story of Jean Dalrymple; Careers and Opportunities in the Theatre (1969); and The Quiet Room : a play in three acts (1958).[6]

Dalrymple died in 1998 at her apartment on West 55th Street, across the street from City Center Theater, aged 96, following a battle with cancer.[7] She is buried at West Point Cemetery next to her second husband.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Jean Dalrymple, Persuasive Dreamer Who Brought Theater to City Center, Dies at 96", The New York Times obituary, November 17, 1998
  2. ↑ Vaudeville, Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America by Frank Cullen, Florence Hackman, and Donald McNeilly. New York: Routledge, 2007.
  3. ↑ "Jean Dalrymple Wed" The New York Times. March 31, 1932
  4. ↑ Obituary, Ginder, General Philip DeWitt. The New York Times. November 11, 1968
  5. ↑ From The Last Row, Jean Dalrymple. James T. White and Company, Clifton, New Jersey: 1975
  6. ↑ WorldCat.org website, retrieved September 30, 2008
  7. ↑ Notice of Jean Dalrymple's passing, including cause of death
  8. ↑ The Russian Tea Room: A Love Story. Faith Stewart-Gordon. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999; p. 145

Further reading

External links