A Woman to Know: Rose McClendon
A leading role is taken by the exceptionally fine actress of color, Rose McClendon. — 1935 Playbill
(image via The New York Public Library)
Octavia, Sally, Goldie, Medea — these are the roles that solidifed the Harlem actress as an icon of the Broadway stage. After Rose played Serena in the hit musical "Porgy and Bess," Playbill dubbed her the most successful actor of color — actor, not just actress — of the early 20th century. Later in life, despite near-constant lung problems, she used her star power to headline a series of political dramas, including Langston Hughes's "Mulatto."
In 1935, she founded the Negro People's Theater, a drama company that funded shows in New York,Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and even Seattle. Just one year later, however, on the eve of her first performance as Lady Macbeth, Rose called in for an understudy. Her long battle with pneumonia had finally weakened her stage stamina, and she died in 1936. Later that year, the Negro People's Theater rebranded — now, they were "The Rose McClendon Players."
Add to your library list:
The Life and Times of Porgy and Bess: The Story of an American Classic (Hollis Alpert)
Black Drama (Loften Mitchell)
Voices of the Black Theater (Loften Mitchell)
Black Manhattan (James Weldon Johnson)
Read more:
Rose McClendon's scrapbooks (The New York Public Library)
Rose McClendon (The Internet Broadway Database)
A builder of the black stage (AA Registry)
Rose McClendon (Black Past)
Porgy and Bess (Inside the Playbill)
Rose McClendon (Broadway Photographs)
Carl Van Vechten's Rose McClendon Collection (Howard University)
Black Women Take on Broadway (The Museum of UnCut Funk)
Rose McClendon: Harlem's Gift to Broadway (Playbill)
** Send your own recommendations for women to know! Reply to this newsletter with your lady and she could be featured in an upcoming edition. You can browse the archive here. **