DANIEL BLUM - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 12/31/1946 - HFSID 317075

DANIEL BLUM
The founder of Theatre World types and signs a letter to Sidney A. Blackmer, soliciting photos for the publication's forthcoming edition. Blackmer, already an established actor in Theatre World, includes an unsigned note on the verso of this letter, inquiring about updates to his résumé.
Typed Letter Signed: "Daniel Blum", 1 page, 8½x11. New York City, December 31, 1946. To "Dear Mr. Blackmer", in full: "After having successfully published two volumes of THEATRE WORLD, the complete pictorial and statistical yearbook of the Broadway Theatrical Season, we are now collecting material for the Third Volume, covering the season 1946-47 and plan to include a brief resume of your theatrical career. Will you please fill in the enclosed questionnaire and mail it to us. It is our editorial policy to publish in the biographical section as many portraits of actors as possible. In past volumes of THEATRE WORLD we have used pictures of the players who cooperated by sending their photographs. We would appreciate your submitting a picture which we can use and retain for our permanent files. Cordially." Sidney A. Blackmer includes an unsigned handwritten note on verso: "Did my list of credits include/39 East Trimmed in Scarlet/The Spring Board The Love Child," in black ink. While these weren't Blackmer's most recent performances to date, it is likely they were omitted from the previous résumé in the Theatre World files. Blackmer also most likely penned the note in the top left corner of the page. Daniel Blum founded Theatre World in 1945, serving as its chief editor until his death in 1964. Aided by Norman McDonald and John A. Willis (his successor as chief editor), Blum also conceived what would become the prestigious Theatre World Awards for promising new actors in the New York stage, Broadway and later off-Broadway as well. Theatre World, founded in 1945 by Daniel Blum, is America's oldest annual record of Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theatre, referenced by industry professionals, historians, students and theatre fans worldwide. Until 1998, when a separate nonprofit corporation was established, Theatre World's editorial staff bestowed the prestigious Theatre World Awards for outstanding Broadway and Off-Broadway debuts. Screen World (from 1950) and Dance World (from 1966), administered from the same office, furnished comprehensive information on those entertainment genres. SIDNEY A. BLACKMER (1895-1973) made his film debut in the popular silent serial, The Perils of Pauline (1914). He played Theodore Roosevelt a dozen times, including the lead role in Teddy Roosevelt, Rough Rider (1940). Although he won a Tony as Best Actor-Drama for Come Back, Little Sheba (1950), most of his screen roles were supporting ones. Prominent films included The Little Colonel (1935), Duel in the Sun (1946), The High and the Mighty (1954), How to Murder Your Wife (1965) and Rosemary's Baby (1968). He made frequent TV guest appearances through the 1960's. Normal mailing folds. Lightly toned. Lightly creased. Fine condition.