Theatrical showman was born 120 years ago today, and, though he died in 1966, he lives on through The Billy Rose Theatre Division of The New York Public Library at Lincoln  Center, one of the largest and most comprehensive archives devoted to the theatrical arts.  The photograph of Rose, above, is from that archives, as are  the items below.

Sarah Bernhardt

Edwin Booth

A program for Edwin Booth in Hamlet, 1866. Edwin Booth as Hamlet. He first performed the role at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1864, and last at the Broadway Theatre in 1891.

Wedding dance: set design for the stage production Fiddler on the Roof by set designer Boris Aronson (1900-1980)

Dear World, 1969

Actor Peter O’Toole as Henry Higgins and Actress Amanda Plummer as Eliza Doolittle posing in the play “Pygmalion,” 1987

Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon in rehearsal for New Girl in Town, 1957, which Fosse choreographed, and Verdon starred as Anna. (It was directed by George Abbott)

Actor Richard Burton in a scene fr. the revival of the Broadway musical “Camelot”.

(L-R) Director Hal Prince & composer Stephen Sondheim in a rehearsal shot from. the Broadway musical “Merrily We Roll Along”, 1981

Ben Vereen in Pippin

Ethel Merman and waiters in a scene from the Broadway production of the musical “Hello, Dolly!”.

A scene from the Broadway production of the musical “Hair”.

Actors Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor in a publicity shot for the Broadway production of the play “Private Lives.”

Maya Angelou and Charles Gordon in a 1961 Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet’s The Blacks.

Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins

Milk and Honey, 1961

Gwen Verdon as Roxie Hart & Chita Rivera as Velma Kelly in scene from the original Broadway production of the musical “Chicago.” (New York), 1975.

The Blue Bird

Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters in Sunday in the Park with George, opened May 2, 1984. Its fourth Broadway production opened February 23, 2017

Actos Equity strike 1919

Oh Calcutta 1972