The Lambs® Consolidated
Membership Roster
1874 - 2003
Compiled by Lewis Hardee, Historian
Introduction
This is the most comprehensive compilation of The
Lambs' membership to date. It should, however, be considered a work in progress,
as with each turn of the calendar more names and information appear to update
and correct the record.
The roster contains more
than 6000 entries. It is a compilation of all rosters at The Lambs' Archives at
3 West 51st Street, its home since 1976; at The Billy Rose Theatre Collection of
the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center; and at The New York Historical
Society. Most of these were published in the Club's "Blue Books", i.e.
Certificates of Incorporation, Constitution, By-Laws,
Officers, Members and Committees, for the years 1885-86, 1897, 1899,
1904, 1907, 1911, 1915, 1922, 1938-39, 1943-44, 1944-52. Additional rosters were
printed in a commemorative volume of 1900, Annals of The Lambs, and the
January-February 1950 issue of The Lambs' Script, the Club's newsletter,
The Script,
which began publication in 1932. Separately printed rosters were also issued in
1925, 1935 and 1962. Names of other members not found in these official printed
rosters were gathered from scattered issues of The Lambs' Script and
souvenir journals of the Clubs' Gambols.
During its more than 132
years' history, The Lambs has had some fifteen meeting places and clubhouses.
For more than half a century, during 1910-1960, it was the greatest theatrical
club the world had ever seen. In 1925 its membership stood at 1,700. Its roster
was a Who's Who in theatre and the arts. With the loss of its landmark
44th Street clubhouse in 1973, many of its archives were deposited at The Billy
Rose Theatre Collection. Given the many moves to different locations, and the
vicissitudes of the Club over the years, it is not surprising that its
membership records were inconsistently and often haphazardly maintained.
Names in the roster are
entered as they appeared in the above sources. No attempt has been made to
determine the full name when nicknames or abbreviations were used. Dates used in
Column 2 indicate the date the member was elected. When conflicting dates were
found, the earliest date was used. Column 3 usually refers to the year the
member dies, but a few instances may refer to the year the member resigned or
was dropped.
Column 4 shows the
membership category, Prof (Professional), for many years applied to actors
only , and not to members of any of the related theatrical professions, such as
writers, musician, designer, etc. - those were classified as Non-Prof (Non-Professional). The
term was later more inclusive. About 1970 the term Non-Theat
(Non-Theatrical) came to indicated the layman. At times the terms "Theatrical"
and "Professional" were interchanged and accepted to mean the same thing.
Non-Res
(Non-Resident) indicates that the member was residing outside a 50 mile radius
of New York City at the time the particular roster was printed; the member may
have been a full time resident of New York at a different time.
Junior Memberships at a
reduced fee were instituted in 1949 to encourage younger members; after a trial
period the membership would be converted to a regular category or dropped. In
2004 this category was reintroduced and redefined for Professional members under
30 years of age.
Column 5 contains
incidental information derived from the cited rosters as well as random sources.
This information should be used only as a point of reference. An Ensign, USN,
e.g., may have later had a higher rank. Hines in The Pajama Game is cited
as Eddy Foy, Jr.'s representative role; the actor may well have had a different
opinion.
Many have requested additional information on relatives who were past members
of The Lambs. We regret that we have no information other than that contained in our web
site prior to 1975, when our archives were transferred to the New York Public
Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY
10023-7498. You may wish to bring your research efforts there.
Acknowledgements
I'd like to express special thanks to Wagner College which provided a Faculty Master's Grant to underwrite the initial input of the data into computerized form, to Erika White for accomplishing this task; to Martha D'Arbanville for helping to coordinate this stage of the project; to Mike Mearian for extensive proofreading and annotating of the entries; to Marc Baron and Joyce Audley for their invaluable assistance in gleaning hundreds of records from a nearly fifty-year run of The Lambs' Script; and to Gerry Ruth for her patience and skills in updating the final printout.
The Lambs is a registered trademark of The Lambs, Inc.
-Lewis J. Hardee, Jr.