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The 1930s
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The Gilmore Years
Paul and Virginia Gilmore
Paul Gilmore (1873-1962) was once one of America's most popular stage actors who also appeared in no fewer than 10 silent films. Additionally, he owned and managed for many years the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City, giving work to such future stars as Robert Walker Sr., Jennifer Jones and Carl Reiner. Gilmore reached full star status in late 1900 with his performance in "The Dawn of Freedom" at the Fourteenth Street Theatre in New York City. He performed relentlessly all over the country in scores of plays, more often than not he played the swashbuckling lover role. Audiences flocked to see him in productions such as "Captain Debonnaire," "The Mummy and the Hummingbird" and "The Boys of Company B."
He returned to New York City where he settled down in Greenwich Village over a tobacco warehouse that he would transform into the Paul Gilmore Cherry Lane Theatre. Divorced from his fourth wife by the 1930s, he was joined by his daughter, Virginia, and together they ran the small venue and starred in many of its productions.
In 1948, the Gilmores moved to Duluth, Minnesota, where they established the Gilmore Comedy Theatre in a 40- by 80-foot Quonset hut they constructed along Lake Superior. The theater opened on July 14, 1949, with a production of "This Thing Called Love." Gilmore operated the theater until age and declining health forced him to sell it in 1955.
Gilmore and his daughter retired to Dubuque, Iowa, where they resided at 418 Raymond Place. Gilmore died while wintering in Palm Springs, Florida, on December 29, 1962, at the age of 89. He is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Key West, Iowa. Regina “Virginia” Cooper Gilmore died in Dubuque on September 22, 1981.
1939
Reserve For Murder
by Gregory Dean
1937
That Rib of Adam
Book by F.G. Manley.
Music by Henry W. Closson.
Directed by Ruth Putnam Mason.
with Jack Landes, Ruth Norris, Daniel Stowell, John Irwin, Marion Light, Sybil Wylie, etc.
Produced by The Show Shop
The Bishop Misbehaves
by Frederick Jackson
with Virginia Gilmore, Phylis Isley, Robert Walker and Paul Gilmore
1936
Accent on Youth
by Samson Raphaelson
presented by Paul Gilmore
*The Jazz Singer movie was based on his play of the same name
*He was one of the screenwriters of Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion
Dracula
by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston
directed by Paul Gilmore
with Paul and Virginia Gilmore, Sonya Simetsky, Reita Harowitz, Ann Paul, Mable Hill, Mary Elizabeth Honaghan, Emily Julian, Delmar Neutzman, Stanley Blum, Stanley La Butus, Sydney Prevore, Jerry Gallon, Marvin Ware, Ken Michell, Charlotte Luck, Charlotte Charague, Eleanor Eaton, Pierre Vekony, Light Bourne and Robert Loynaz
Strictly Dishonorable
by Preston Sturges
with Paul Gilmore, Edward Burchett, and Virginia Gilmore
1935
The Phantom
by Dion Boucicault
Mystery Theatre with Paul Gilmore
Murdered Alive!
by Wilbur Braun
Mystery Theatre with Paul Gilmore
with Patricia O. Dare, Dorothy George, Connie Drake, Mrs. Damon Lyon, Penn Cameron, Elivra Visconti, John Downs, Jack Saltzman, Lee Bright, Joseph Cantor, Clara Spindig, Thomas Canning
1934
A Successful Calamity
by Clare Kummer
directed & produced by Paul Gilmore
with Marjorie Andre, James Canty, Marie Chiquet, Tom Dunne, Harry Forbes, William Galloway, Paul Gilmore, Virginia Gilmore, Julia Johnson, LeRoy Miller, Alexander Speight, Earle Tuttle
Trojan Women
by Euripides
1933
Man Crazy
Mystery Theatre with Paul Gilmore
by Stephen Sanford
with Frances Arnold, Fredric Cali, Eloise Ferrier, Evelyn Finkles, James Hale, Dolores Leon, Dorothea Mallory, Vincent Mallory, Elsia Michael, Thad Sharretts, Sylvia Singer, Jack Stern
*Photo is of stage and silent film star Paul Gilmore, who had taken over management of Cherry Lane Theatre at this time, renaming it “The Paul Gilmore Cherry Lane Theatre”
1932
The Beast Tamer
by Leah Medisca
with Charles Boehme, Guerita Donnelly, Neryda Montez, Francis Stone, Mary Martin McCarthy, Mimosa Fejos, Richard Reeves, Joseph Gallo, Mary Shaw, Ann Allen, Marie Stark, Lou Brignoli, Isabelle Prince, Rose Clayman, Ray Bellows, Sol Burrows, Harry Wilson, and David Schreiber
1930
The Passion of Judas
by Ivan Sokoloff
performed by the Dramawrights
The Bigot
by Slater LaMaster
directed by Paul Gilmore
with J. Harrison Taylor, Victoria Montgomery, Lauriel Wood, Doris Ryder, Rocco Caporaso, Harold Kathman, William H. Malone, Alfred Cooper, Charles Sobel
Settings by Harry Smith
