Klaw Theatre

Klaw Theatre

Avon Theatre, CBS Radio Playhouse No. 2
Address	251–257 West 45th Street Marcus Klaw
Operator	Klaw Theatre Corporation
Type	Broadway
Capacity	805
Construction
Opened	1921
Demolished	1954
Years active	1921–1953
Architect	Eugene De Rosa

The Klaw Theatre was a

in her debut Broadway role albeit a small one.

As the Klaw Theatre and later the Avon few productions had a very long run. Exceptions were the comedy

and Carl Ruggles in attendance. On November 28, 1926 Martha Graham and others in her company gave a dance recital at the Klaw, they were accompanied by pianist Louis Horst. Maxwell Anderson's Gypsy, directed by George Cukor, had a short run of 64 performances from January 14, 1929, to March 1929 but was included in Burns Mantle's The Best Plays of 1928 - 1929.

It was renamed the Avon Theatre in 1929. Strictly Dishonorable, written by Preston Sturges, had the longest run at the Avon of 557 performances from September, 1929 to January, 1931. George Bernard Shaw, Noël Coward and Oscar Wilde had their works staged at both the Klaw and Avon.

It was leased to CBS in 1934 and renamed the CBS Radio Playhouse No. 2. CBS later bought it. In 1953 CBS sold it, the new owners razed it and built a parking deck on the site, which abutted the Imperial Theatre.

As the Klaw Theatre:

• Nice People (1921)
• The Last Warning (1922)
• The Breaking Point (1923)
• Meet the Wife
  (1923)
• Hell-Bent Fer Heaven (1924)
• Scotch Mist (1926)
• Merry-Go-Round (1927)
• The Breaks (1928)
• Gypsy (1929)

As the Avon Theatre:

• Strictly Dishonorable (1929)
• Hay Fever (1931)
• The Wives of Henry VIII (1931)

The International Composers' Guild held their second series of concerts here in 1922–1923. These performances included a number of world or American premieres.^[1]

• 17 December 1922: World Premiere of Angels by Carl Ruggles
• 4 February 1923: American premiere of
  Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schoenberg
  ;
• 4 March 1923: World Premiere of Hyperprism by Edgard Varèse

External links

• Klaw Theatre at the Internet Broadway Database
• Library of Congress image of Martha Graham recital program
• pic of Humphrey Bogart as Gregory Brown in 1923 Broadway play "Meet the Wife" with Patricia Calvert and Ralph Glover
• Museum of the City of New York drawing of the Klaw, Imperial and Music Box Theatres
• musicandhistory.com 1923