Bernard Ries Theater Scrapbook, 1902-1933 | Sargeant Memorial Collection

By Ella Frances Swain

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Collection Overview

Title: Bernard Ries Theater Scrapbook, 1902-1933

ID: 001/01/MSS 0000-230

Primary Creator: Ries, Bernard (1879-1933)

Extent: 1.0 Boxes

Arrangement: Arranged in chronological order.

Date Acquired: 12/04/2012

Subjects: Manhattan (New York, N.Y.), Music, Norfolk (Va.), Norfolk (Va.)--History, Opera--19th century, Theater--19th century, Theater--20th century

Forms of Material: Autographs (manuscripts), Clippings (information artifacts), Magazines (periodicals), Obituaries, Photographs, Playbills, Prints (visual works), Scrapbooks, Sheet music

Languages: English

Scope and Contents of the Materials

One 1902-1929 personal scrapbook containing editorial cartoons, playbills, and clippings from publications including The Theatre/Theatre Magazine, Harper’s Weekly, New York Star, New York Tribune, Liberty Magazine, and The Virginian-Pilot. Subject matter includes American and European theatrical performers such as Joseph Jefferson, Henry Irving, David Belasco, Richard Mansfield, Maude Adams, and Sarah Bernhardt, as well as notable performances like Uncle Tom’s Cabin and artwork by Charles Dana Gibson. The scrapbook contains dozens of articles on theater culture, including proper etiquette for attendees, theater superstitions, theatrical costumes, makeup, and stagecraft.

The Bernard Ries Theater Scrapbook also includes hundreds of personal inscriptions, drawings, caricatures, photographs, and signatures by Ries or theatrical performers from 1904 to 1929, most of whom performed in Norfolk, Virginia at either the Granby Theater or the Colonial Theater from 1904 to 1911. Some of the more notable pages feature performers Frank Byron, Irene Franklin, W. C. Fields, and Virginia Shaw, and the performance of Pocahontas at the premier opening of the Colonial Theater on June 6, 1907 in downtown Norfolk. Also included are editorial cartoons of performances held at the Colonial Theater in 1909.

The scrapbook also contains a clipping on the 1908 E. M. Robinson court case which described a suggestion by State’s Attorney John G. Tilton that the Ten Commandments had been “revised” in Norfolk, along with Ries’s own inscribed revision of the commandments.

Finally, the scrapbook contains an unsigned lithograph print featuring “Doc Ries” and his scrapbook, an undated photograph of the exterior of Ries’s pharmacy on 168 Granby Street, and two undated copies of a photograph of the pharmacy’s interior with Ries’s scrapbook on display.

Biographical Note

Born in Norfolk, Virginia on March 1, 1879, Bernard Ries was the only son of Abraham Ries, a German immigrant and language teacher, and Pauline Pfiefer, a milliner from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. From at least 1870 to 1911, the Ries family operated a millinery business on Church Street where Bernard worked as a clerk for several years in his youth. Affectionately known as “Doc,” Bernard worked for almost a decade as a druggist in downtown Norfolk after successfully passing his Virginia Board pharmacist examinations in 1902. Two years after becoming its manager, Bernard appeared to be operating College Place Pharmacy as his own by 1906. By late 1910, he had moved the business from its original location on 168 Granby Street to 150 Granby Street. It appears that eventually Ries switched professions and by 1918, had found employment with the advertising department of the Virginian Pilot Publishing Co., where he worked until his death on November 29, 1933. Ries married Sadie Levenstein on November 10, 1927, and it appears that the couple had no children before Barnard’s untimely death a few years later. Sadie passed away on October 5, 1981. Ries and his wife, along with both his parents and one of his older sisters, Eva, are buried in a family plot at Hebrew Cemetery in Norfolk, Virginia.

Subject/Index Terms

Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)
Music
Norfolk (Va.)
Norfolk (Va.)--History
Opera--19th century
Theater--19th century
Theater--20th century

Administrative Information

Repository: Sargeant Memorial Collection

Access Restrictions: This collection is open to all researchers.

Use Restrictions: The status of copyright for these materials is governed by Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.). Copyright restrictions may apply.

Acquisition Source: Ellen Van Os by donation

Preferred Citation: Bernard Ries Theater Scrapbook, MSS 0000-230, Sargeant Memorial Collection, Norfolk Public Library, Norfolk, Virginia.

Processing Information: Processed February 7, 2018.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Box:

[Box 1: Loose Materials from Scrapbook, 1908-1933],
[Box 2: Scrapbook, circa 1902-1929],
[All]

Box 2: Scrapbook, circa 1902-1929