Vanities, Thy Producer is Earl

Courtesy Playbill.

Today's Notable Opening Night is Aug. 27, 1931, when the latest round of Earl Carroll's Vanities opened at the now-demolished Earl Carroll Theatre. The show reopened the Carroll, which was actually a new building at the old venue's address. The Carroll lasted for less than a year in Earl's hands before becoming the property of Florenz Ziegfeld, and later Billy Rose, and later than tat, Woolworth's. In 1931, the Vanities marked the Broadway debut of Burton Lane (Finian's Rainbow, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever).

The other notable Aug. 27 opening is ...

A Tailor-Made Man, which opened at the now-demolished Cohan and Harris in 1917. Concord Theatricals: "John Paul Bart (is) an ambitious young assistant in a tailor shop. Fortune knocks at his door when a customer, preparing to attend a reception at the house of wealthy folk, leaves his evening outfit in the shop. Bart, who has wasted time doing trivial things instead of the important ones, steps into the clothes, looks over the notes on life he has jotted down, and goes to the party. Under cover of his tailor-made camouflage, his progress is phenomenal. Of course, he wins both in love and in business."

Next week, a girl of the year.