Found 13 collections related to Typescripts

Paul Osborn (1901-1988) was an American playwright and screenwriter. In 1930, Osborn achieved early success on Broadway with The Vinegar Tree. Other writings include screen adaptations of novels. In 1980, Osborn received a Tony Award for best revival for Morning's at Seven. The collection, dating from 1922 to 1985, contains typescripts of plays and screenplays, correspondence, contracts, writings of others, two scrapbooks of newspaper clipping reviews of The Vinegar Tree, contracts, programs of Osborn's plays and several photographs. less

Michael Chekhov was an actor, director, author, and teacher, whose theories on acting and directing continue to be influential. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Aug. 29, 1891, Michael Chekhov was the nephew of author and playwright Anton Chekhov. He showed early promise as an actor, and in 1912 he was invited by Constantin Stanislavsky to join the Moscow Art Theatre. After sixteen years with the group, during which he worked as both an actor and director, Chekhov left Russia and worked in Germany, France, Latvia, and Lithuania. In 1935 at the invitation of actress Beatrice Straight, Chekhov established the Chekhov Theatre Studio at Dartington Hall in Devonshire, England, assisted by Deirdre Hurst du Prey, an acting student who helped him learn English. In 1939 the war forced the studio to move overseas to Ridgefield, Connecticut. The group eventually disbanded in 1942, when many of its actors were drafted into the armed forces. Chekhov moved to California and continued to teach, lecture, and act in motion pictures such as Alfred Hitchcock's SPELLBOUND (1945), ABIE'S IRISH ROSE (1946), and RHAPSODY (1954). He wrote a book TO THE ACTOR: ON THE TECHNIQUE OF ACTING, later revised. Michael Chekhov died on Sep. 30, 1955, in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 64. In 1962 MICHAEL CHEKHOV'S TO THE DIRECTOR AND PLAYWRIGHT was published, based on lecture notes. Deirdre Hurst du Prey edited two additional books based on his ideas. Consists of thirty-two folders of typescript, compiled by Deirdre Hurst du Prey from notes taken between 1936 and 1942, during the active years of the Chekhov Theatre Studio in Devonshire, England, and in Ridgefield, Connecticut. According to Deirdre Hurst du Prey, her record of Michael Chekhov's discussions of acting technique is verbatim and unabridged, and reflects the evolution of his ideas in light of the Studio's theater experiments and productions. A few emendations have been made by hand. Mrs. du Prey's notes served as the basis for Michael Chekhov's book TO THE ACTOR which he completed in 1942. This book was first published in the 1950s in a heavily edited edition, then in a more comprehensive edition in 1991. The source material was copyrighted in 1977. In the Appendices are several related items, including a photocopy of a 1948 letter of reference written by Michael Chekhov on behalf of Deirdre Hurst du Prey, a copy of a 1969 letter to Deirdre Hurst du Prey from Michael Chekhov's widow Xenia, two typescript memoirs of Michael Chekhov, each five pages, written in 1976 by Beatrice Straight and Deirdre Hurst du Prey, a 1926 essay by Chekhov entitled "The Path of the Actor" translated from the original Russian into English in 1936, the transcript of an interview with Deirdre Hurst du Prey conducted in spring 1999 when she was 93 years old, and other documents pertaining to Michael Chekhov and his studio classes. less

Nathan "Nate" Salsbury (1846-1902) was producer and manager of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, a highly successful show business enterprise that toured the United States, Europe, and elsewhere from the 1880s well into the 20th century, and featured William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Born in Illinois in 1846, Nathan Salsbury entered the U. S. Army while still in his teens, first as a drummer boy and eventually as a soldier with the 89th Illinois Regiment of Infantry, fighting in Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas. After the war, he became an actor in various stock companies, appeared for a time with his own troupe, Salsbury's Troubadours, then retired from performing in 1887. Meanwhile, in 1883, Salsbury had been a key figure in the launch of Buffalo Bill's Wild West, an outdoor extravaganza that dramatized frontier life, built around the personality of onetime soldier, scout and hunter William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917). The show, which also starred sharpshooter Annie Oakley and, for one season, Chief Sitting Bull, was a worldwide success for many years, outlasting its producer and manager Nate Salsbury, who died on Christmas Eve of 1902, at the age of 56. His daughter Rebecca Salsbury James (1891-1968) was an artist who lived for most of her life in Taos, New Mexico. Consists of a typescript of Nate Salsbury's reminiscences, much of which concerns his Civil War experiences, his life as a touring actor, and, briefly, his years with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. In addition to Salsbury's memoir, there are four folders of correspondence, mostly written to Rebecca Salsbury, although there is one telegram to Cody and Salsbury from actor Henry Irving. There is one letter dated 1917 to Rebecca's brother Milton Salsbury from actor James O'Neill, and a number of condolence letters to Rebecca upon Milton's death in August 1927, including one from James' son, playwright Eugene O'Neill. There is also a two-page account, written in 1943 by Wild West Show factotum Harry Tarleton, of a musical production Nate Salsbury mounted around 1895 called Black America, which featured an all African-American cast, and toured several cities in the U.S. before it disbanded. less

Director James Light (1894-1964) veteran of the Provincetown Players and its offshoot, the Experimental Theatre Company, was best known for his work with Eugene O'Neill, staging the original productions of THE EMPEROR JONES, THE GREAT GOD BROWN, and others. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, James Light came to New York in 1917, after graduating from Ohio State University, intending to pursue additional studies at Columbia. Through a chance meeting with George Cram Cook, artistic director of the Provincetown Players, Light was cast in a small role in Susan Glaspell's play CLOSE THE BOOK. Soon he left acting behind, and by 1920 was an associate director. He staged the premiere production of Eugene O'Neill's THE EMPEROR JONES that year, and later presented O'Neill's ALL GOD's CHILLUN GOT WINGS and THE GREAT GOD BROWN. James Light also directed E. E. Cummings' HIM, Virgil Geddes' THE EARTH BETWEEN, and Paul Green's IN ABRAHAM'S BOSOM. He later served as Dean of the Drama Faculty at The New School for Social Research in New York and taught at Yale University. James Light died in New York City on Feb. 11, 1964, at the age of 69. The two James Light typescripts are titled THE PARADE OF MASKS and A NEW MARIONETTE THEATRE. In his 11 page essay THE PARADE OF MASKS, which is undated, Light writes about the the use of masks in various Provincetown Players productions of Eugene O'Neill's plays. A NEW MARIONETTE THEATRE, also undated, is unfinished, ending mid-sentence on Page 7. less

Gladys Malvern was an author who wrote articles and several books about the theater, including biographies of performers Joseph Jefferson, Katharine Cornell, and Harry Lauder, as well as dancer Anna Pavlova. The majority of the Gladys Malvern papers consists of an undated and untitled 87-page typescript on the history of world theater, from the Greeks and the Elizabethans to the modern era. The typescript, which is heavily emended, appears not to have been published. Internal evidence suggests that it was written in 1945. Also in the collection is a 12-page typescript of an article about actress Helen Hayes, written during the spring of 1944 and submitted to AMERICAN GIRL magazine. Malvern corresponded with Hayes' secretary prior to writing the piece, and that correspondence is included. Also present are four 2-page pieces apparently written for a radio series which featured celebrated New York restauranteur George Rector, in which Rector reminisces about famous theater people he has known such as Sarah Bernhardt and Eddie Foy. It is unclear whether the pieces were ever broadcast. Three letters written to Malvern during 1957 are also included, and concern her conversion to the Christian Science faith. less

Consists of an undated 52-page typescript by George Wotherspoon, which appears to have been written in the late 1940s. Entitled "A Lady of Many Amours," Wotherspoon's manuscript is focused primarily on actress Lillie Langtry and her extramarital relationship with a wealthy American sportsman named Frederick Gebhard. Wotherspoon also writes of Langtry's stage career, her reputed relationship with Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, and about the societal mores of the era. Wotherspoon also writes of Langtry's daughter Jeanne. The typescript is labelled "Part 7," which suggests that this text was part of a larger work which does not survive. Included is a pamphlet of biographical information about Lillie Langtry, written by H. T. Porter and issued by the Société Jersiaise in 1973. Also included are three photographs of Lillie Langtry, one of her father, and one of her grave. less

The Breen family was one of the popular performing families of American show business, playing the stages of America, Australia, and elsewhere during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Patriarch Thomas D. Breen, born of Irish immigrants in Massachusetts in 1868, fled his hometown as a teenager with a travelling medicine show. After a brief spell as a blackface minstrel, Breen honed his juggling skills and began touring the vaudeville circuits of the United States and the music halls of Europe. Breen and his first wife had four children, and, after her death, he remarried and had five more, one of whom died in infancy. Seven of the surviving Breen children joined their father in his stage act, either juggling, dancing, doing acrobatics, playing a musical instrument, or some combination of these skills. After the family act broke up around 1921, the younger Breens formed a number of specialty acts, either solo or with partners from outside the family, and continued performing in vaudeville, musical comedy, nightclubs, movies, and in the circus. Consists of a bound typescript written by Charles Breen (b. 1908), the youngest and only non-performing member of the Breen Family, accompanied by a portfolio of photographs of the various Breens. The typescript was apparently written during the late 1980s/early 1990s, completed in 1993, then privately bound under the title MEMOIRS AND STUFF. The text is divided into two sections, the first of which, entitled "The Show Business Breens," gives a general history of the Breens' professional careers, as a group and as solo performers. The first section is 75 pages and ends with a Breen family career chronology. In Book 2, "The Maverick," Charles Breen explains why he chose not to join the family act, and details his own career, first as a jazz musician, later as an electrical engineer. This section consists of 164 pages plus one errata slip. The portfolio of photographs includes pictures of all the performing Breens, and also includes a photo inscribed to the Breens by silent film star Ramon Novarro. less

Minda Lothar, author of RAGE OF JOY: THE DIVINE SARAH BERNHARDT (1968), a novel based on the life of actress Sarah Bernhardt, also wrote a paper analyzing what she termed the Avante-garde Woman personality type, primarily drawing upon women associated with the theater as her models for discussion. The typescript and notes for Minda Lothar's The Avante-garde Woman consist of 12 folders, each containing one section of the work. Textual evidence suggests that Lothar wrote this paper in 1957, but it appears never to have been published. The first chapter features analysis of the Avant-garde type as represented by fictional women, such as Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Henrik Ibsen's Nora Helmer and Hedda Gabler, Arthur Wing Pinero's Paula Tanqueray, and Tennessee Williams' Blanche Du Bois. In the second chapter, Lothar discusses real life actresses such as Sarah Bernhardt, Eleanora Duse, Gertrude Lawrence, and Tallulah Bankhead, as well as the French novelist George Sand. In the third and final chapter, Lothar examines the different ways these women dealt with the challenges each faced in their lives. Also included is an outline for the paper. less

Edward Albee (1928-2016) was an American, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright known for such works as The Sandbox (1959), and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962). This collection contains an annotated printer's setting typescript and three copy-edited galleys for his two-act play The Man Who Had Three Arms, which was published by Athenaeum in 1985. less

Theoni V. Aldredge, a Greek-American (1922-2011), was a stage and screen costume designer noted for her work on the Broadway production of Dreamgirls. The Theoni Aldredge Dreamgirls designs and script, dated 1981 to 1985, holds Aldredge's copies of costume sketches, a final draft of the production, and a costume inventory. less