Hirschfeld contributed to this original production when he showed Rodgers and Hammerstein and Jerome Robbins home movies he had made of Siam court dances that he had made on his trip there in 1947.
(Clockwise From Top Left) Celeste Holm in King and I; Betty Field & Burgess Meredith in The Four Poster; Maggie McNamara in The Moon Is Blue; Robert Mariotti in Mrs. McThing; Eddie Dowling in Paint Your Wagon; and Barbara Baxley in I Am A Camera
When Gertrude Lawrence went on vacation in the summer of 1952 R&H stalwart Celeste Holm took over the role of Anna. Hirschfeld recorded many of the replacements seen that summer.
(From L To R) Ralph Meeker in Picnic; Jordan Bentley in Wonderful Town; Alfred Drake in King and I; and Jack Cassidy in Wish You Were Here
In the summer of 1952, Yul Brynner took a vacation and another Oklahoma! veteran, Alfred Drake took over the role of the King. Hirschfeld brought together all the hunks on Broadway for this drawing.
Barbara cook played Anna in this City Center revival and later recorded the role for a 1964 Columbia studio recording.
Opera singer Rise Stevens played the lead in 1964 production, part of Lincoln Center's summer series of musicals presented by Richard Rodgers.
Towers played the role of Anna to Yul Brynner’s King in this 1976 revival and tour. It was her last Broadway appearance, having first appeared in 1965.
Yul Brynner as the King was among the iconic performers in signature roles that surrounded their composer, Richard Rodgers on this Stereo Review cover.
Dancers from The King and I are included along with nine other productions in this tour de force portrait of choreographer Jerome Robbins who returned to Broadway to put together this evening of his greatest Broadway dances.
Both Donna Murphy and the production itself won Tonys in 1996. Lou Diamond-Phillips was nominated for one for his role as The King, his only Broadway appearance.
This is a rare drawing that Hirschfeld did for the New York Times Editorial page.
These sketches appeared in "Westward Ha! (Or Around the World in 80 Clichés)," a book collection of articles from the round-the-world trip that S.J. Perelman took with Hirschfeld in 1947.
"The Hirschfeld Century: The Art of Al Hirschfeld" is the first major retrospective of the acclaimed portraitist, who immortalized celebrities and Broadway productions with his iconic drawings for nine decades. On view at The New-York Historical Society through Oct. 12, the exhibition features over 100 original drawings from the artist's early work for Hollywood studios to his last drawings for the New York Times. Highlights include classic portraits of Charlie Chaplin, Carol Channing, Ella Fitzgerald, Jane Fonda, and Ringo Starr, as well as cast drawings from such landmark productions as Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story and The Glass Menagerie.
The book "The Hirschfeld Century: Portrait of an Artist and His Age," published by Alfred A. Knopf and featuring biographical text by David Leopold, is currently available exclusively at The New-York Historical Society exhibition, and will be available in bookstores around the country July 7. The artist's extraordinary career is revealed in more than 360 of his iconic black-and-white and color drawings, illustrations, and photographs. Hirschfeld's influences, his techniques, and his evolution from his earliest works to his last drawings, are all chronicled.
