Paul Robeson in Othello, 1943

Dianne Wiest as Desdemona in 1982

Edwin Booth as Iago in Othello 1871

The photographs of Edwin Booth as Iago in “Othello” in 1871, Paul Robeson in the title role of the same play 72 years later and Dianne Wiest as Desdemona in a production 40 years after that,  are among some 30,000 photographs that chronicle some 5,000 Broadway productions in the Museum of the City of New York’s theater collection. The museum is continuing the process of putting them all online. Here is a sample, including Sarah Bernhardt in an 1880 production of “Adrienne Lecouvreur,” Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy in the original 1948 production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Katharine Hepburn’s final Broadway role… and Samuel Beckett in rehearsal with Billie Whitelaw in 1984. Click on any picture to see it enlarged, and read the caption.

Sarah Bernhardt in the title role of “Adrienne Lecouveur” in 1880. The play is about the leading French actress of the 18th century and her mysterious death.

Lillian Russell 1893

Marilyn Miller as Peter Pan, 1924

Fanny Brice and Albert Carroll (as Fanny Brice) in “Grand Street Follies” 1929

Florence Reed as Lady Macbeth 1928

Katharine Cornell as Juliet and Basil Rathbone as Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet”. 1934

Lillian Gish as Ophelia in Hamlet, 1936

Tallulah Bankhead in “Antony and Cleopatra” 1937

Lynn Fontanne as Manuela and Alfred Lunt as Serafin in “The Pirate” 1942

Celeste Holm as Ado Annie Carnes and Lee Dixon as Will Parker in “Oklahoma!” 1943

Sophie Tucker in High Kickers, 1941

Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy in A Streetcar Named Desire 1948

“Leonard Sillman’s New Faces of 1952” Eartha Kitt (center), Paul Lynde (right)

Gwen Verdon and Eddie Phillips in Damn Yankees, 1955

Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke ,Patricia Neal et al in The Miracle Worker, 1959-61

Faye Dunaway as Margaret More and William Roderick as Sir Thomas More in “A Man for All Seasons” 1963

Glenda Jackson in Marat/Sade, 1965

Katharine Hepburn and Dorothy Loudon in West Side Waltz, 1981, Hepburn’s final Broadway production.

Billie Whitelaw and Samuel Beckett rehearsing “Rockaby”. in 1984