Tag Archives: Bruce Miller

Roundup: Orange Balloon Memorial March, Tyler Hicks’ Ukraine Photos …

Posted on February 24, 2025 | 4 comments

150 people met at the Westport Country Playhouse parking lot yesterday, for a special RunForTheirLives walk.

The “Orange Balloon Memorial March” honored the Bibas family, along with Oded Lifshitz, a founder of Kibbutz Nir Oz. All lived there, before being kidnapped on October 7, 2023.

RunForTheirLives-Westport founder Melinda Wasserman opened the march with moving words about how the Bibas boys had come to feel like “our own children,” followed by similarly grief-imbued comments by Jennifer Wolff.

Gathering in the Westport Country Playhouse parking lot …

Temple Israel’s Rabbi Elena Nemitoff-Bressler led the crowd in the Mourner’s Kaddish.

The group then carried orange balloons, most of them donated by Party Hardy owner Jackie Marshal.

… beginning the march downtown …

The balloons were tied onto both sides of the Ruth Steinkraus Bridge. They blew in the winter wind the rest of the day, a reminder of the flame-haired children Hamas had executed.

Event organizers called it “a stunningly moving event. Our grief-stricken community united in both mourning for those we have lost, and celebration of those who have been returned to their families and loved ones, and, of course, to Israel.”

… and leaving balloons on the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge.

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Today marks the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

For 3 years, Tyler Hicks has covered that war.

The 1988 Staples High School graduate is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer for the New York Times.

Today, in a video on the newspaper’s website, Tyler explains some of the images he’s shot.

Tyler Hicks, in a screenshot from the New York Times video.

From demolished buildings to dead soldiers and civilians, he describes what each one meant then — and what it all means today.

Click here for Tyler’s riveting photos, and stories. (Hat tip: Amy Unikewicz)

Captioning, as Tyler Hicks explains one of his images. (Photo/Tylelr Hicks for the New York Times)

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There’s nothing like theatre people.

And on March 10 (6 to 8 p.m.), 2 weeks before the curtain rises on the Westport Country Playhouse production of the backstage comedy “Theatre People,” the 94-year-old institution salutes itself, its legacy, and the people who bring its shows to life.

“Get Ready for Theatre People! An Evening of Cocktails, Fun Tales and Backstage Tours” features an “alumni panel,” with actors Mia Dillon, Keir Dullea, Joe Delafield and Michael McCormick, former co-artistic director Anne Keefe, and more. Playhouse artistic director Mark Shanahan is the moderator.

The pre-show evening also includes behind-the-scenes tours led by WCP archivist and historian Bruce Miller, and a cocktail party.

Discount ticket offers will be available at the event for performances of “Theatre People.” The comedy is set in 1948 in a Newport mansion populated with characters in love with theater. They try to write a Broadway hit, but create as much drama among themselves as on paper.

Tickets for “Get Ready for Theatre People!” are $25; $15 for Encore Club members; click here to order. Click here for more details on “Theatre People” (March 25 through April 12).

Westport Country Playhouse historian Bruce Miller, with some of the 500 head shots near the dressing rooms underneath the stage. They’ll be part of the “Theatre People” tour.

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The countdown is on for Fashionably Westport.

And only a few tickets remain.

This year’s 5th annual event is set for this Friday (February 28, 7 p.m., Westport Library). Sponsored by the Westport Downtown Association, it’s a benefit for Homes with Hope.

The show features the latest styles, from the town’s mot sophisticated and fashion-forward retailers.

Models are all local friends and celebrities. The emcee and runway director are neighbors too: Dave Briggs and Carey Price, respectively.

Click here for tickets, and more information.

There’s a silent auction too, with categories like art, beauty, business, entertainment, food and wine, health and wellness, sports and travel.

Plus (of course!) fashion.

Bidding begins this Thursday (February 27, 6 p.m.). Click here to see all items.

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We’re 3 weeks away from the 5th anniversary of the week COVID rolled into Westport.

Within 24 hours, downtown was deserted. It took months for life to return.

But even in 2025, Main Street is still quiet early on Sunday mornings. William Weiss captured this “Last Picture Show” (Westport-style) image yesterday:

(Photo/William Weiss)

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Mary Brewster comes from an artistic family.

Her father, Howard Munce, was one of Westport’s most noted and beloved artists. He died in 2016, at 100.

She’s been knitting baby hats for quite a while. Now she has created a business: Hat Cakes. (The design looks like a little cake.)

She staged one on a plate, with miniature animals and fake snow. Images posted on social media have received positive feedback. Mothers (and grandmotherss) especially love them.

Contact marybrewste@gmail.com for more information. We hope Hat Cakes sell like hot cakes.

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As winter slowly — v-e-r-y slowly — prepares for its transition to spring, the days are growing longer.

Jerry Kuyper captured this hopeful sunset, in the woods off Rayfield Road, for today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature.

(Photo/Jerry Kuyper)

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And finally … Jerry Butler — “The Iceman,” who as the first leader of the Impressions, as a duet with Betty Everett and as a solo artist had a long and successful career — died Thursday in Chicago.

He was 85, and suffered from Parkinson’s.

Among his many hits:

(Welcome to another week — and, each day, another Roundup bringing you news of events, people and sights all around Westport. Please click here to support your hyper-local blog. Thank you!)

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Posted in Downtown, Politics, Westport Country Playhouse

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Friday Flashback #287

Posted on March 11, 2022 | 7 comments

Bruce Miller is the Westport Country Playhouse company manager. He is my go-to guy whenever I need to know, say, how many times some newly deceased actor appeared on stage there, in the 1940s.

But this post is not about the Playhouse.

Bruce writes:

Though I’ve been at the Playhouse since 2001, my family has a Westport connection that goes back a couple dozen years before that.

I’ve just found 4 Polaroids from 1975.  My dad, Dick Miller, had recently purchased Welch’s Hardware on Main Street. It’s currently the location of Shoe-Inn.

Dick Miller, with his Welch’s vehicle.

Dad had been on the road as a wholesale salesman to independent hardware stores throughout the state. When he learned the long-time Westport store was available, he and his cousin Chuck Steinbrick jumped at the chance to own their own place.

They joined competitors at Westport Hardware on the other end of Main Street. Both provided the town with personal, knowledgeable service.

Welch’s Hardware on Main Street. Note that traffic was two-way then.

Within a year they also purchased Harrison’s Hardware in Milford. Chuck continued to run Welch’s, while my dad managed the much larger store up the coast.

He also enticed me to leave my teaching career in Ohio so I could join him in retail. Eventually we were joined by my mother, 2 brothers, an aunt, uncle and numerous cousins. Hardware, paint, and plumbing supplies became the focus of family dinner conversations!

The arrival of big box store in the mid-1980s led to the demise of many family owned shops, Welch’s among them.

Until then, Main Street had mostly independent stores. I still shop downtown, and I still find helpful, friendly clerks. But I miss the unique mix of stores and personalities that made Main Street a special place to shop.

Parker Harding Plaza entrance to Welch’s Hardware. (Photos courtesy of Bruce Miller)

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Posted in Downtown, Friday Flashback, Local business

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Beneath Playhouse Stage, A Hallway Of History

Posted on July 10, 2017 | 6 comments

The list of actors who have graced the Westport Country Playhouse stage is long and luminous.

Alan Alda. Tallulah Bankhead. Richard Dreyfuss. Joel Grey. June Havoc. Helen Hayes. James Earl Jones. Liza Minelli. And of course our own Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.

Their head shots line the walls beneath the famous stage. Before every performance, actors in the current production walk out of their dressing rooms, past those photos.

Westport Country Playhouse company manager Bruce Miller, with some of the head shots near the dressing rooms underneath the stage.

Many of the 500 head shots show less famous actors. They too are part of the Playhouse’s wonderful history of 87 years, and more than 800 shows.

But on one wall — at the end of a hallway — hang 25 images. They are men and women who appeared at least once on the stage above.

The unidentified photos hang at the end of a hall.

They have no tags. Their names have been lost to the ages.

Yet one by one, company manager Bruce Miller is figuring out who they are.

The story begins with that very 1st show in 1931:”The Streets of New York.” Dorothy Gish’s photo went up in the wood-paneled lobby. For more than 70 years, dozens of other head shots joined hers.

For the 2003 renovation, Playhouse officials cleared the catacombs of photos, programs and other records. About 20% were moldy; they were thrown out.

The rest were stored off-site, in Bridgeport. When a sprinkler head bust, half of those items were lost.

Do you know this man …

During the renovation, someone decided to switch the locations of the head shots and the posters advertising previous shows. The idea was that the actors would appreciate seeing photos of their predecessors right outside the dressing rooms; theatergoers, meanwhile, would want to see the posters.

Now — thanks largely to those patrons — the gaps in the Playhouse’s history are being filled in.

Once a month, Miller says, someone calls or emails with something like this: “We were cleaning out my grandmother’s attic. We found a poster for this old show. Do you want it?”

… or this woman?

Playhouse staffers help too.

John Mosele was intrigued by the photo of an unknown mustached man. Working only with a partial name and Google, Mosele found the name “Emil Bundesmann” on a Spanish website.

Bundesmann turned out to be a member of the Playhouse’s original repertory company. He appeared in — and served as stage manager for — that 1st-ever show, “The Streets of New York.”

Anton Bundesmann, looking very suave.

After staging 3 plays in New York, Bundesmann was hired by David O. Selznick as a casting director — supervising screen tests for “Gone With the Wind.”

Under the name “Anthony Mann,” Bundesmann then directed films for Paramount, RKO and MGM, including 7 with James Stewart. His final 3 films were “Cimarron,” “El Cid” and “The Fall of the Roman Empire.”

Meanwhile, for years the only thing anyone at the Playhouse knew about the 1934 production of “The Virginian” was that Henry Fonda was in it. One day, Miller’s wife was talking to someone, when the Playhouse was mentioned. The woman said her mother had acted in “The Virginian.” She gave Miller her mother’s head shot. It now hangs near Fonda’s.

A young Henry Fonda.

But what about those photos the Playhouse has always had — yet remain unidentified?

Each year during the springtime open house, someone peers closely and says, “Oh, that’s so-and-so.” Miller searches online to confirm. Often, he can match the actor to the show.

Surprisingly, Miller says, the folks who know these long-ago actors are baby boomers — even millennials. They recognize the faces from movies — not plays.

A few of the identifications come from older actors. No one, however, has yet identified him or herself.

That would be a great plot twist.

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Posted in Arts, Entertainment, Looking back, People, Westport Country Playhouse

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A Historic Hanging Beneath The Playhouse Stage

Posted on May 5, 2014 | 4 comments

Bert Lahr, Dorothy Gish, Paul Robeson, Helen Hayes, Henry Fonda, Patricia Neal, Alan Alda, Cicely Tyson, Richard Thomas, Jane Powell, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward — they’re just a dozen of the hundreds of actors who have appeared at the Westport Country Playhouse.

Their publicity shots hang proudly outside the dressing rooms nestled snugly below that fabled stage. Preparing for their roles, today’s performers are reminded of the 8 decades of stars who came before them.

A few of the photos, though, have no names. Taken in the early days of the Playhouse — just a few years after Lawrence Langner turned an old red barn into one of America’s premier summer theaters — they show men and women whose names have been lost to history. Today, it takes tremendous sleuthing — or luck — to put a name to a 1930s face.

A while back, Playhouse technical director John Mosele was intrigued by the photo of a mustached man, hanging in the “unlabeled” collection.

The intriguing photo.

The intriguing photo.

Mosele carefully peeled the picture from its backing, revealing the partial name “ndsmann.”‘

Soaking the photo to remove more glue, it seemed to read “Hinton B__dsmann.”

A Google search led to “Emil Bundesmann” — on a Spanish website.

Further searching brought up an article about Anthony Mann. His birth name was Emil Anton Bundsmann.

Ta da!

Anton Bundsman — yes, that’s the 3rd way his last name was spelled — was a member of the original repertory company at the Playhouse. He appeared in the very 1st production — The Streets of New York — and also served as its stage manager.

After staging 3 plays in New York, Bundsman was hired by David O. Selznick as a casting director. In that role, he supervised screen tests for Gone with the Wind.

Anthony Mann

Anthony Mann

Later — under the name Anthony Mann — he directed films for Paramount and RKO, and many classic westerns for MGM. His final films included Cimarron with Glenn Ford, and the epics El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire. (He withdrew from Spartacus, after quarreling with former Westporter Kirk Douglas.)

Just think: such an accomplished actor/director as Anton Bundsman/Anthony Mann hung in such obscurity, for so long, on the walls of the theater where he got his start.

And wonder too who else lurks, forgotten and undiscovered, underneath that very historic stage.

(Hat tip to Westport Country Playhouse company manager Bruce Miller for much of this fascinating information.)

 

 

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Posted in Arts, Entertainment, Looking back, People, Westport Country Playhouse

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