Oral Histories

Interview of Maudie Prickett Cooper

Stage, film, and television actress. Performer at the Pasadena Playhouse and wife of co-founder, executive vice president, and manager Charles Prickett.
Subtitle:
Character Parts and Community Challenges
Series:
Pasadena Playhouse Oral History Series
Topic:
Theater
Biographical Note:
Stage, film, and television actress. Performer at the Pasadena Playhouse and wife of co-founder, executive vice president, and manager Charles Prickett.
Interviewer:
Galm, Bernard
Interviewee:
Cooper, Maudie Prickett
Persons Present:
Cooper, Galm, and Joel Gardner who operated the equipment during the videotaping.
Place Conducted:
Tapes I to II, III Side two to IV: Cooper's home in Pasadena, California; Tape III Side three: Room 134A in Powell Library at UCLA.
Supporting Documents:
Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research.
Interviewer Background and Preparation:
The interview was conducted by Bernard Galm, acting director, UCLA Oral History Program; B.A., English, St. Johns University; Fulbright scholar, 1957-58, Free University, Berlin; graduate study, School of Drama, Yale University, and Department of Theatre Arts, UCLA.
Processing of Interview:
Editing was done by Susan Tamayo, assistant editor, Oral History Program. The verbatim transcript of the interview was checked against the original tape recordings and edited for punctuation, paragraphing,correct spelling, and verification of proper nouns. Words and phrases inserted by the editor have been bracketed. The final manuscript remains in the sameorder as the original taped material.Cooper reviewed and approved the edited transcript. She made only minor changes, with few additions or deletions.Freelance journalist Diane Alexander and Playhouse board member Peggy Ebright wrote the introduction to the volume. Other front matter and the volume's index were prepared by Oral History Program staff.
Length:
5 hrs.
Language:
English
Copyright:
Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
Series Statement:
This series documents the founding and early history of the Pasadena Playhouse.
Abstract:
Growing up in Denver; elocution, ballet, and drama lessons; parents' interest in theater; cast in character roles in high school plays; study at University of Denver and University of Wyoming; fellow students at University of Wyoming: Helen Inkster, Isabel Jewell, and Curt Gowdy; teaching high school at Superior, Wyoming, 1935-37; scholarship to Pasadena Playhouse, 1937; Fairfax P. Walkup, dean of Playhouse School of the Theatre; training at School of the Theatre; Charles Prickett and casting for Mainstage productions; Gilmor Brown's directing style; Prickett's relationship to Playhouse; marriage to Prickett; acting career; early Los Angeles theaters; Brown's Playbox theater; other Playhouse students: Robert Preston, Dana Andrews, Gig Young, Celeste Holm, Mabel Albertson, Robert Rockwell, Russell Arms, Eleanor Parker; visitors to Playhouse School: Maude Adams, Tennessee Williams, William Saroyan, Dorothy Parker, Edna May Oliver; production of Suds in Your Eye, directed by Lenore Shanewise; Edgar Bergen broadcasts from Pasadena Playhouse; motion picture and television roles; Ford Foundation community theater project; changes in motion picture industry; Hazel series; Jack Benny's show; views on professionalism and importance of academic training.