Music Box Theatre
239 West 45th Street | Times Square | built 1920
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1919
Sam Harris and Irving Berlin land on the name Music Box before the theater exists
According to one account recorded in the city's landmark report, producer Sam Harris told Irving Berlin in 1919 that he might build a theater. Berlin said he had a perfect title for it, and when Harris assumed he meant a song, Berlin explained that he meant the theater itself: the Music Box. The next year Harris, newly parted from his partner George M. Cohan, teamed with Berlin to build it.
- 1921
The Music Box opens with Irving Berlin's first Music Box Revue, with young Miriam Hopkins in the chorus
The Music Box Theatre opened on September 22, 1921 with the first of Irving Berlin's Music Box Revues. Berlin himself appeared with Sam Bernard, Florence Moore and Joseph Santley, and the young Miriam Hopkins sang in the chorus. Four editions of the revue were staged in all, drawing performers such as Fanny Brice, Grace Moore and Bobby Clark.
Source: playbill.com
- 1921
Critics call Crane's Georgian-style Music Box the daintiest theatre in America
The new house drew as much praise as the revue it was built for. Variety's Jack Lait called it the daintiest theatre in America, the New York Herald remarked that it actually had a facade, and American Architect-Architectural Review gave it eight pages in February 1922. A contemporary journal explained that C. Howard Crane had used a Georgian manner for an intimate house seating about a thousand.
- 1924
Producer Earl Carroll is briefly jailed over photographs shown outside the Music Box
Earl Carroll's Vanities in 1924 was the second production ever presented at the Music Box, after Irving Berlin's revues. That November, Carroll was jailed for a short time after displaying photographs outside the theater that were labeled obscene.
“Its producer, Earl Carroll, was briefly jailed in November 1924 after showing "obscene" photos outside the Music Box.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1925
The Music Box stages its first straight play, The Cradle Snatchers, with young Humphrey Bogart
After years given over largely to Irving Berlin's Music Box Revues, the theater staged its first straight play in 1925, the comedy The Cradle Snatchers. The cast included the young Humphrey Bogart. Two more comedies followed, Chicago in 1926 and Philip Barry's Paris Bound in 1927.
“The first straight play produced at the Music Box following Berlin's Revues was The Cradle Snatchers (1925), whose cast included the young Humphrey Bogart.”
- 1930
George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart fill the Music Box with hits, starting with Once in a Lifetime
Through the 1930s the theater was given over largely to shows by Kaufman and Hart, alone or with collaborators. Once in a Lifetime, their Hollywood satire with Jean Dixon, ran 410 performances in 1930. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind's Gershwin musical Of Thee I Sing followed, running 446 performances in 1931 and 1932 and winning the first Pulitzer Prize given to a musical.
“Of Thee I Sing, which ran 446 performances in 1931-32 and won the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to a musical…”
- 1931
Of Thee I Sing, the first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize, plays the Music Box
Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind wrote Of Thee I Sing, a Gershwin musical that was the Music Box's next production after Once in a Lifetime. It ran 446 performances in 1931 and 1932 at the theater. The show won the first Pulitzer Prize ever awarded to a musical.
“Of Thee I Sing, which ran 446 performances in 1931-32 and won the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to a musical.”
- 1938
Of Mice and Men, staged by Kaufman at the Music Box, wins the Drama Critics Circle award
In the 1930s the Music Box was home to a string of hits by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, and Kaufman directed them. He also directed John Steinbeck's own stage adaptation of Of Mice and Men there. That production took the 1938 New York Drama Critics Circle Award.
“Kaufman also directed ... John Steinbeck's dramatization of his novel Of Mice and Men which won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1938.”
- 1942
Mike Todd's revue Star and Garter opens with Gypsy Rose Lee and runs 605 performances
Star and Garter, produced by Michael Todd, opened at the Music Box on June 24, 1942, with Bobby Clark, Gypsy Rose Lee and Georgia Sothern in the cast. Its songs came from a long list of writers, among them Irving Berlin, Harold Rome, Al Dubin and Harold Arlen. It ran 605 performances.
- 1944
Marlon Brando makes his Broadway debut in I Remember Mama at the Music Box
Rodgers and Hammerstein produced John Van Druten's I Remember Mama at the Music Box, and it ran 714 performances in 1944-45. A young Marlon Brando made his Broadway debut in the show, whose cast also starred Mady Christians and Oscar Homolka. The theater had been leased to independent producers show by show since the death of Sam Harris in 1941.
“…with 714 performances in 1944-45. The young Marlon Brando made his Broadway debut in this production…”
- 1953
William Inge's Picnic opens, the first of three long-running Inge hits at the Music Box
Picnic opened on February 19, 1953, and ran 477 performances; its cast included Ralph Meeker, Eileen Heckart and Paul Newman. Playwright William Inge followed it at the theater with Bus Stop in 1955, starring Elaine Stritch and Kim Stanley, which ran 478 performances. The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, opened in December 1957, lasted 468 performances.
- 1971
Irving Berlin says he kept his share of the Music Box out of sentiment
When the Music Box turned 50 in 1971, Irving Berlin told the New York Times that he had sold real estate over the years but held on to this theater, calling it a sentimental interest. He wondered aloud what a songwriter wanted with a theater at all. The landmark report adds that Berlin and Harris supervised outside productions so carefully that only three shows in the theater's first 25 years closed before reaching 100 performances.
- 1987
The city makes the Music Box a landmark, and the Shuberts, Nederlanders and Jujamcyn sue
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Music Box's facade and interior on December 8, 1987, part of a sweep of Broadway theaters that year. In June 1988 the Shuberts, the Nederlanders and Jujamcyn sued to overturn the designations of 22 theaters, arguing that landmark status limited alterations. The suit reached the U.S. Supreme Court, but the designations were upheld in 1992.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2007
The Shubert Organization buys the Berlin family's share of the Music Box
The Music Box was built for Irving Berlin and producer Sam Harris and opened in 1921. In 2007 the Shubert Organization, which had shared ownership of the theater, purchased it from Berlin's daughters. Playbill describes the house as a popular setting for intimate productions, with a capacity it lists at 860.
Source: playbill.com
Further reading
- Music Box TheatreWikipedia
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