The Letter

Philip Barry’s play, The Philadelphia Story debuted on Broadway on March 28, 1939. Barry had written the romantic comedy specifically for Katharine Hepburn, and she was so eager to rid of herself of the stench of “box office poison” after her last few films had failed, that she became an unbilled producer of the play […]

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Bringing Al Hirschfeld’s art to the Solowey Studio is very special to me. As many of you know, I spent thirteen years visiting Hirschfeld in his studio at least once a week to organize the archive of his career. We became quite close. I organized the first museum retrospective of his artwork, as well as […]

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Even though Ben Solowey spent the summer in Paris in 1924, he retained his work ethic. When he was not painting plein air around the city, he took croquis classes at the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs (now known as the Musée des Arts Décoratifs) at 107 rue de Rivoli in the Marsan wing of […]

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When producer Max Gordon came to John D. Rockefeller about investing in a musical based on Johann Strauss’ relationship with his father, set to Strauss’s most popular melodies with new lyrics, and a book by Moss Hart, he had no idea that Rockefeller would not only say yes, but offer the brand new Center Theatre, […]

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Charles “Chic” Sale was a vaudevillian whose specialty was playing “rural parts’ or what we would call country bumpkins. He was successful enough at it that the Shuberts put him in their annual Passing Show revues, and even Ziegfeld put him into one of his Midnight Frolics. He found fame in 1929 writing The Specialist, […]

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The Cole Porter musical Anything Goes cemented Ethel Merman’s status as a star. While she had made a hit in the Gershwin’s Girl Crazy three seasons before, Anything Goes, filled with a hit laden score that includes “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” and the title tune, showed […]

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2017 marks two special anniversaries for The Studio of Ben Solowey. 75 years ago, Ben and Rae Solowey moved permanently to Bucks County. 25 years ago, we began to present regular interpretive exhibitions at the Solowey studio of Ben’s work, his contemporaries, and occasionally a contemporary artist. Our plan is to celebrate both anniversaries this […]

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  Immigrants continue to be in the news. While Central American immigrants are the focus of attention and sadly, scorn today, a century ago that attention and invective was aimed toward Jewish immigrants, primarily from Central Europe. Those that came to New York congregated on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and a remarkable culture blossomed […]

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Japonisme was the term used to describe the influence of Japanese art on fashion and aesthetics on Western culture. Like many artists of his generation, Ben was influenced by Japanese woodcuts and had several hanging in his home, and through the European interpretation of the woodcuts in the work of Impressionist artists such as Manet, […]

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I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer. The weather has cooperated, and here on the farm it has been as lush as ever. The response to my new book on Al Hirschfeld and its companion exhibition, as well as for my Grateful Dead exhibition in Chicago has been very gratifying. I am always delighted […]

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