User talk:BDG Writer

NYC Broadway Theaters

An African American family came up as the first people of color to usher in a Broadway theatre. No dates were found specifically related to ushering. Also, the date of 1966 for Darren McGavin playing the king, in “The King and I” at the Bew York State Theater (as it was called then).

That was my first job as an usher. It was 1963 or 64 when the show opened. I was hired as a temp by then union president May Rupert. She was a friend to my mother. I was just starting high school and did not join the union. Miss Rupert passed away just before I turned 18 and the person who took her place did not give me any more assignments. Nor allow me into the union.

However, the almost three years I worked as a substitute, I started at the State now known as Koch Theater and worked every Theater on Broadway and It was a delightful experience!

I do not remember meeting any other people of color in any of the theaters I worked in. From the King and I, to Mary Mary, The Odd Couple, Barbara Streisand in Hello Dolly, Sammy Davis Junior and Lola FaLana in Golden Boy...the yearly new car shows, so many others. There were dance companies from other countries as well. Drummer children from China and Yemenite dancers at the State that I remember to this day.

BDG Writer (talk) 12:09, 10 November 2017 (UTCa