- unitid
-
{"value"=>"21318", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"*T-Mss 1993-038", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b21958245", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1923-1979", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1923/1979"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Otto Harbach papers, additions"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"5 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1.58 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"40 audio recordings", "unit"=>"audio_recordings"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"16 moving image recordings", "unit"=>"moving_image_recordings"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Billy Rose Theatre Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Otto Harbach (1873-1963) was an author, librettist and lyricist, best known for songs such as \"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,\" \"Love Nest,\" \"Indian Love Call,\" and \"The Night Was Made For Love;\"; and for musicals and plays such as <span class=\"title\">No, No, Nanette</span>; <span class=\"title\">Roberta</span>; <span class=\"title\">The Firefly</span>; and <span class=\"title\">The Cat and the Fiddle</span>. These additions to the Otto Harbach papers, dating from 1923 to 1979, are comprised of an oral history, writings, scores, scripts, lyrics, photographs, a scrapbook, home movies, and other sound and moving image recordings."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Harbach, Otto, 1873-1963", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Otto Harbach, author, librettist and lyricist, was born in Salt Lake City on August 18, 1873. His parents, Adolph Julius Hauerbach and Hansena Olsen, were Danes who had converted to Mormonism and migrated to the United States in 1863 (Harbach changed the spelling of his name in 1917). Encouraged by his family, Harbach headed east to Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. There he distinguished himself, becoming first the oratorical champion of the college, and then winning the state championship in 1895 in a contest for which William Jennings Bryan was one of the judges. After graduation Harbach accepted a professorship in English at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. In 1901 he arrived in New York to work on a Ph.D. at Columbia, but a lack of funds soon led him to work as a journalist and later as an advertising copywriter.</p> <p>During his years in New York, Harbach began to think of Broadway as a career and while office work occupied his days, his free time was spent working with Karl Hoschna, his first collaborator, trying to create and sell a musical. It wasn't until 1908, after the success of <span class=\"title\">Three Twins</span>, for which Hoschna was the composer, that Harbach quit his job and devoted himself to writing. Over the course of his career Harbach had more than 50 works produced on Broadway. He was also well-known as a \"script doctor\", rewriting and revising plays for various producers. Harbach's own works were, for the most part, musicals for which he provided both the book and the lyrics. His contributions were not only memorable lyrics and credible plots, but also a new style of musical, where the songs were an integral part of the story. Among his collaborators were the composers Karl Hoschna, Rudolf Friml, Jerome Kern, Louis Hirsch, Herbert Stothart, Vincent Youmans and Sigmund Romberg, and the lyricists Oscar Hammerstein II, Irving Caesar, Frank Mandel, and John Murray Anderson. Harbach's most well-known works include the songs \"Love Nest,\",\"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,\" \"Indian Love Call,\" \"One Alone,\" \"Rose Marie,\" \"The Night Was Made for Love,\", and the plays <span class=\"title\">The Firefly</span>; <span class=\"title\">Roberta</span>; <span class=\"title\">Rose Marie</span>; <span class=\"title\">No, No, Nanette</span>; <span class=\"title\">Desert Song</span>; <span class=\"title\">Kid Boots</span>; <span class=\"title\">The Song of the Flame</span>; and <span class=\"title\">The Cat and the Fiddle</span>. Harbach also wrote several non-musical plays including <span class=\"title\">Up in Mabel's Room</span> and <span class=\"title\">The Silent Witness</span>.</p> <p>Harbach worked with major Broadway figures of his day on a creative basis to enhance the profession as a whole through the American Society of Composer's Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Joining as a charter member in 1914, he worked with ASCAP for more than 40 years as a director, and served as president from 1950-1953. By all accounts his colleagues not only admired his work, but respected the man. Socially, Harbach belonged to the Lambs, the Friars and the Dutch Treat Club, but much of his time was spent with his family at their home in Mamaroneck, New York, where Harbach also did much of his work.</p> <p>Harbach married Ella Smith Dougall in Salt Lake City in 1918. They had two sons, Robert and William. The family also included Ella's children from her previous marriage, Bernard and Virginia Dougall. Otto Harbach died in New York in 1963.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Otto Harbach papers, additions (1923-1979), are comprised of writings, scores, scripts, lyrics, photographs, a scrapbook, home movies, Harbach television appearances, and audio recordings of Harbach's work.</p> <p>Writings consist primarily of <span class=\"title\">The Life Of Otto Harbach</span>, the transcript of an extensive oral history conducted by Harbach's son William shortly before his father's death. William Harbach prefaced the transcript with a short memoir of his father by Oscar Hammerstein II. Also present in the writings are the text of an award-winning speech Harbach wrote while at Knox College, \"The Hero Of Compromise,\" and a later article, \"When Music Marries Drama.\"</p> <p>Scores hold vocal/chorus parts for two Harbach projects, <span class=\"title\">Choose Your Partners</span> (music by Peter De Rose), and <span class=\"title\">Hayfoot-Strawfoot</span> (music by Jerome Kern).</p> <p>Scripts (all typed) are present for five Harbach plays or musicals, including <span class=\"title\">Kitty's Kisses</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Three Twins</span>, and <span class=\"title\">The Firefly</span>. The typed lyrics, arranged by production, include songs from <span class=\"title\">Criss Cross</span>, <span class=\"title\">Dr. Deluxe</span>, <span class=\"title\">High Jinks</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Katinka</span>, among others. The lyrics also contain a list of songs Harbach registered for copyright as of 1927.</p> <p>The photographs show scenes from <span class=\"title\">Ginger</span>, <span class=\"title\">Kid Boats</span>, <span class=\"title\">Rose Marie</span>, <span class=\"title\">Wild Rose</span>, and unidentified productions.</p> <p>The scrapbook contains letters of condolence following Harbach's death, obituaries, and memorial programs; it also holds a program for a 1957 concert devoted to Harbach's work. Among the condolences are letters from President Kennedy, Nelson Rockefeller, Jacob Javits, Carl Sandburg, Steve Allen, Bob Hope, Irving Berlin, and other figures in the arts and government.</p> <p>The letters from William Osteck (an artist representative) are to William Harbach, and concern a proposal for a televised tribute to Otto Harbach's collaborator, Rudolph Friml.</p> <p>The audio and moving image recordings contain fifteen home movies of Harbach and his children and grandchild, both at home and on vacations. A list of their contents, created by William Harbach, is in box 4, folder 22. Other contents include an excerpt of <span class=\"title\">The Steve Allen Show</span> featuring Otto Harbach, from 1959; an audio recording of Harbach's funeral; a 1957 interview with Oscar Hammerstein II; recordings of songs from <span class=\"title\">Bugles In April</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Cat and the Fiddle</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Roberta</span>; and a 1979 program at the 92nd Street Y in New York City titled \"Lyrics & Lyricists - An Evening With Otto Harbach.\"</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by Lisa Setos (granddaughter of Otto Harbach), 2018.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Matthew Snyder</span> in <span class=\"date\">2019</span>.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Inquiries regarding audio and moving image materials in the collection may be directed to the Billy Rose Theatre Division (theatre@nypl.org). Audio and moving image materials may be subject to preservation evaluation and migration prior to access.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Otto Harbach papers, *T-Mss 1993-038, Billy Rose Theatre Division.</p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Added identification of production photographs in Box 4, folder 20. --SL", "date"=>"2022-10-24"}
- date_start
-
1923
- keydate
-
1923
- date_end
-
1979
- date_inclusive_start
-
1923
- date_inclusive_end
-
1979
- extent_statement
-
1.58 linear feet (5 boxes). 40 audio recordings. 16 moving image recordings
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Otto Harbach papers, additions, *T-Mss 1993-038. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}