THE IMPORTANT AMERICAN THEATER & TELEVISION PRODUCER VINTON FREEDLEY'S SUBSTANTIAL THEATRICAL SCRAPBOOK collection of program clippings with a full AUTOGRAPH TABLE OF CONTENTS penned by him. by Freedley, Vinton (1891-1969). American theater and television producer, known for his staging of works by Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Richard Rodgers - [1926].

[New York], 1912 through 1926. [1926]., [1926].. Fair. - Quarto, 15-3/4 inches high by 11-1/2 inches wide. A disbound scrapbook with black cloth covers once bound with cord along the left edge. The American theatrical producer Vinton Freedley's handsome bookplate is mounted on the front cover and also on the front pastedown. The producer's bookplate is attractively illustrated with a ship under full sail framed within a floral decorated border with the masks of comedy and tragedy along the bottom. The scrapbook's covers are heavily rubbed and stained with wear to the edges and corners. What is being offered here is the young Freedley's scrapbook consisting of 36 pages of clippings mounted onto both sides of 18 sheets plus an 8-page alphabetical index on 4 sheets penned in his hand. The clippings, chronologically glued into the scrapbook, date from his years at Harvard through the days of his first early productions. The clippings appear to be from programs and mostly consist of the list of cast and crew from 466 productions which Freedley likely attended in the days leading up to his early successes. The edges of the brittle browned scrapbook pages are chipped and soiled and the clippings, most glued into the book, are in varying condition.

Laid in at the front is the retained carbon copy of a 2-page typed letter which Freedley wrote to the noted archaeologist Dr. Joseph C. Hoppin seeking financing and offering the doctor capital stock in the 1924 production of "Lady Be Good". "Due to the Astaires tremendous success in London we have already had four offers for the English rights, the which we have refused, as we feel we can obtain anything we care to ask within reason for such rights later on provided we do not wish to make the production there ourselves."

Also laid in is a 9-1/2 inch high by 6-1/2 inch wide sheet of paper upon which are typed the lyrics to "My Prince of Dreams" probably the song from the 1910 Broadway show "The Jolly Bachelors". The typed page has been glued onto 11 inch high by 8-1/2 inch wide paper annotated "Enter from steps" penciled along the top and the address "28 W 57" penciled vertically across the right.

The American theater and television producer Vinton Freedley (1891-1969) was a member of The Delphic Club and The Hasty Pudding while attending Harvard in the early 1910's. Graduating from Harvard in 1914, he then attended The University of Pennsylvania. Soon after graduating, he met and teamed up with Alex A. Aarons in 1923. Together they produced some of Broadway's most notable 1920s musicals, including "Lady Be Good", featuring Adele & Fred Astaire, "Oh, Kay!" and "Funny Face". The two men built the Alvin Theatre but lost it during the Depression and broke up their partnership. Freedley continued to produce alone, some of his most successful productions being "Anything Goes " [1934], "Red, Hot and Blue!" [1936] and "Cabin in the Sky" [1940]. He is best remembered for his productions of works by Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Richard Rodgers, and for such television shows as "Talent Jackpot" and "Showtime U.S.A."