Womens Renaissance Costumes
As Broadway plays continued to flourish, a bevy of pretty girls were written into the scenes of Florodora, a romantic comedy. From that Florodora girls came the idea for Ziegfeld's Follies, where women made up the majority of the cast, and individual stars were less important.Nevertheless, comedic plays continued in popularity with such stars as Julia Marlowe and Laurette Taylor. Serious drama made stars of Helen Hayes and Russian immigrant, Alla Nazimova, Lia Sophia, and Eleonora Duse.
Repertory theaters found success in the 1920s and 30s with English female star Eva LeGallienne, who took America by storm. Another type of storm was created when Mae West was taken to court on obscenity charges for her stage role in Pleasure Man. With the advent of film, many stage greats made the transition. Still, theater forged ahead with women working behind the scenes in associations and guilds. During The Great Depression, playwright Rachel Crothers helped to organize the Stage Relief Fund to assist actors. Dramatic actress Selena Royle helped start and run the Actor's Dinner Club for those in need. Another woman who had a profound impact on providing training and theater chapters throughout the country with federal funding was Hallie Flanagan.
In spite of or maybe because of the war, musicals grew in popularity in the 1930s and 40s. Big name women stars included Gertrude Lawrence, Ethel Merman, Lynn Fontanne, Rachel Crother, Sophie Tucker, June Knight, and Eleanor Powell. Likewise, Lillian Hellman became known as a serious playwright with Tallulah Bankhead making a name for herself in Hellman's plays.
Major plays began to go directly to film. And then film stars began making returns to the stage, staring with Katherine Hepburn in 1940. The trend of film stars having their beginnings on the stage changed. Movie stars were born or discovered but not so much trained in the theater. Time and women have changed things in the world of theater. Instead of stage personalities becoming stars; nowadays, film and television celebrities want to try their hand at the live theater, whether it's Broadway or local dinner theaters. Thanks to the women who paved the way, women in theater today can command the positions, salary, and respect of their male counterparts.