Ellis Rabb papers

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id: 1822
origination: Rabb, Ellis, 1930-1998
date statement: 1930-1995 and undated
key date: 1956
identifier (local_mss): 21846
org unit: Billy Rose Theatre Division
call number: *T-Mss 1998-020
b-number: b17060097
total components: 1209
total series: 5
max depth: 7
boost queries: (none)
component layout: Default Layout
Extended MARC Fields: false
Extended Navigation: false
created: 2013-04-01 15:04:18 UTC
updated: 2026-08-15 02:37:42 UTC
status note: (missing)
Display Aeon link: true

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physdesc: {"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"32 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"65 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
unitid: {"value"=>"*T-Mss 1998-020", "type"=>"local_call"}

{"value"=>"21846", "type"=>"local_mss"}
unitdate: {"value"=>"1930-1995", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1930/1995"}

{"value"=>"undated", "type"=>"inclusive"}
date_inclusive_start: 1930
date_inclusive_end: 1995
keydate: 1930
unittitle: {"value"=>"Ellis Rabb papers"}
repository: {"value"=>"The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Billy Rose Theatre Division. <div class=\"address\">New York, New York</div>"}
abstract: {"value"=>"The Ellis Rabb Papers document the life and career of actor, director, producer, and author Ellis Rabb and the repertory company he founded in 1960, the Association of Producing Artists (APA)."}
prefercite: {"value"=>" The Ellis Rabb Papers, *T-Mss 1998-020. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts."}
origination: {"value"=>"Rabb, Ellis, 1930-1998", "type"=>"persname"}
bioghist: {"value"=>" Actor, director, producer, and author Ellis W. Rabb was born June 20, 1930 in Memphis, Tennessee. The only child of Clark Williamson (“Happy”) and Mary Carolyn (Ellis) Rabb, he was graduated from the Southern Arizona School for Boys in Tucson. Rabb attended the University of Arizona and received a B.F.A. from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1953. He also did graduate work at Yale University. Although Rabb did some work for television, his prolific career was primarily in the theater. In 1952, Rabb made his stage debut as the Dauphin in King Johnat the Antioch Area Theatre, Yellow Springs, Ohio (Shakespeare under-the-Stars), under the direction of Arthur Lithgow. Rabb performed in numerous productions of Shakespeare at the festival (sometimes directing) through 1957, also becoming artistic director that year. He made his New York debut off Broadway in Aristophanes’ The Thesmophoriazusae at Theatre East in 1955. After several off-Broadway appearances, Rabb received a Clarence Derwent Award in 1957 for his portrayal of Alceste in The Misanthrope (Theatre East, 1956). He also performed with the American Shakespeare Festival (Stratford, Conn.) in 1958, then toured in the roles of Verges and Don Pedro with ASF’s production of Much Ado About Nothing with Katharine Hepburn that same year. Rabb’s first known Broadway appearance was as General Koschnadieff in Noel Coward’s Look after Lulu! (with Jack Gilford, Tammy Grimes, and Roddy McDowall) at Henry Miller’s Theatre, 1959. For the Group 20 Players in Wellesley, Mass. (also in 1959), Rabb acted in such works as Man and Superman, Peter Pan, and Oedipus Rex, also directing Much Ado About Nothingand A Streetcar Named Desire. Cast members included Rosemary Harris, George Grizzard, Cavada Humphrey, Barry Morse, Diana Muldaur, and Sam Waterston. In December 1959, Rabb returned to Broadway as Reverend Furze in Jolly’s Progress at the Longacre Theatre. On December 4, 1959, Rabb married actress Rosemary Harris. They divorced in 1967, but remained friends and worked on a number of professional projects together over the next two decades. These included The Merchant of Venice and A Streetcar Named Desire (both directed by Rabb for the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, 1973) and The Royal Family (Rabb directed and performed at the Helen Hayes Theatre, 1976, and for television, 1977; Kirk Browning co-directed the Great Performancestelecast). Rabb and Rosemary Harris also appeared together in A Month in the Country(directed by Nikos Psacharopoulos) at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 1978. In 1960, Rabb founded the Association of Producing Artists (APA), a company of actors and producing associates, which for almost ten years, presented classical and modern works in repertory, both on and off Broadway, establishing residencies in and touring parts of the U.S., Canada, and Bermuda. As artistic director, performer, and adaptor, Rabb established a company that came, perhaps, closest to an American national theater. (See Historical Note below for additional information on APA.) In addition to his work for APA, Rabb directed such productions as Caesar and Cleopatra(starring Carrie Nye) for the American Shakespeare Festival in 1963; he also directed the 1977 Broadway production at the Palace Theatre starring Elizabeth Ashley and Rex Harrison. Other Broadway productions directed by Rabb include The Grass Harpwith Barbara Cook (Martin Beck Theatre, 1971), Veronica’s Room, starring Eileen Heckart (Music Box Theatre, 1973), Who’s Who in Hell, with Peter Ustinov (the play’s author), Beau Bridges, Olympia Dukakis, and Christina Pickles (Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, 1974), The Royal Family with Rosemary Harris, George Grizzard (replaced by Rabb), Eva Le Gallienne, and Sam Levene (Helen Hayes Theatre, 1975), and You Can’t Take It with You, with Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards (Plymouth Theatre, 1983); Rabb later joined the cast. Rabb also directed for regional theaters and other companies, including the Old Globe Theatre (San Diego, California), American Conservatory Theatre (San Francisco, California), and the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center. For the latter, Rabb directed productions of Twelfth Nightwith Blythe Danner (1972), Enemies with Nancy Marchand, Philip Bosco, Barbara Cook, and Frances Sternhagen (1972), The Merchant of Venice with Rosemary Harris, Sydney Walker, Philip Bosco, and Christopher Walken (1973), and A Streetcar Named Desire with Rosemary Harris and James Farentino (1973). He also directed Edward IIfor John Houseman’s Acting Company, with Patti LuPone and Kevin Kline (1975). In 1980, Rabb was named as one of the five-person directorate for the Vivian Beaumont Theater. That same year, he directed the Lincoln Center Theater Company’s opening production, The Philadelphia Story, with Blythe Danner, at the Beaumont. A true Renaissance man, Rabb directed Dido and Aeneas(1966), Long Hair? A Tribal Dance (1969), and the operetta, Orpheus in the Underworld (1967), for the Performing Arts Foundation of Kansas City (Missouri). For the Dallas Civic Opera, Rabb also directed Orpheus in the Underworld (1968), as well as Aida, with Elena Souliotis, Shirley Verrett, and Cynthia Gregory (1969). Throughout his career, Rabb continued to perform--from the extensive classic repertoire of the Antioch Shakespeare Festival and the APA--to Kaufman and Hart comedies. A few of his notable roles were “Robert” in David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre (Theatre de Lys, 1977), Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner for Circle in the Square (1980), and Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnestat San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre (1982) and East Hampton’s John Drew Theater (l983). Along with performing and directing, Rabb wrote numerous scripts for theater, film, and television (mostly unproduced), as well as other works of fiction. Clap Your Hands, which Rabb wrote with Nicholas Martin, with music by Claibe Richardson, was directed by Rabb at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in 1983. Another of Rabb’s works, So Many Women (also titled A Life Without Illusion), a musical written with Claibe Richardson, appears to have had a performance in 1981. The cast included Patti LuPone, Robert LuPone, Allegra Kent, Christopher Walken, Douglass Watson, Mary Louise Wilson, and G. Wood [sic]. Rabb also drew costume and scene sketches for a number of productions, especially for Shakespeare’s plays. In addition to the 1957 Clarence Derwent Award, Rabb’s numerous awards include a Tony Award in 1976 as director of The Royal Family. He was also nominated for a 1966 Tony Award as Best Director for You Can’t Take It with You. Rabb was also the recipient of an Obie Award in 1962, for his work with APA, the Lola D’Annunzio Award, 1965, an Honorary Doctorate from Southwestern (College) at Memphis, 1977, a New England Theatre Conference Special Award, 1980, and the Amphion Award in 1984. (Several of these awards are represented in the papers.) Although Rabb continued to work until the 1990s, these productions are not represented in the papers. Having returned to live in his native Memphis in the 1980s, Rabb died there of heart failure at the age of 67, on January 11, 1998."}

{"value"=>" The Association of Producing Artists (APA and later APA-Phoenix) was founded on January 3, 1960 by Ellis Rabb, its artistic director, with a group of actors and producing associates. A draft of a prospectus lists a “Proposal: To build an artistically complete producing unit – dedicated to a backbone structure of classical plays, and the development and encouragement and production of new plays of classical ambition and accomplishment...” Names on the January 1960 membership roster included Barbara Barrie, Jacqueline Brookes, Clayton Corzatte, Chase Crosley, Keene Curtis, Richard Easton, Pauline Flanagan, Bob (Robert Alan) Gold, George Grizzard, Rosemary Harris, Mariette Hartley, Hurd Hatfield, Cavada Humphrey, Tom Jones, Jerome Kilty, Jack McQuiggan, Nancy Marchand, Stephen Porter, Paul Sparer, Frances Sternhagen, and Sada Thompson. In the subsequent years of the company’s existence, such theater notables as Brian Bedford, Barry Bostwick, Anne Francine, Will Geer, Tammy Grimes, Uta Hagen, Helen Hayes, Katherine Helmond, John Houseman, Michael Learned, Eva Le Gallienne, Enid Markey, Donald Moffat, Cathleen Nesbitt, Christina Pickles, Alan Schneider, and Nancy Walker (to name but a few), would join its ranks for one or more productions. Jack O’Brien was associate director from approximately 1964 to 1969. The company’s first professional repertory engagement was in Hamilton, Bermuda (May-June 1960), where they performed Anatol(a musical version of Arthur Schnitzler’s work by Tom Jones and Lilly Lessing), Man and Superman, The Seagull, and The Taming of the Shrew. Among the company members were Rosemary Harris, Richard Easton, Dee Victor, Paul Sparer, David Hooks, Olive Dunbar, Earl Montgomery, Eve Roberts, Keene Curtis, Betty Hellman, Edward Grover, Jack McQuiggan, and Rabb (who directed). A summer tour that same year included engagements at Bucks County Playhouse (New Hope, Pa.), Theatre-by-the-Sea (Matunuck, R.I.), the John Drew Theater (East Hampton, N.Y.), and the Olney Theatre (Olney, Md.), beginning an annual series of summer bookings that would grow to include other venues, such as the Boston Arts Festival (1961, 1963, and 1964), the Highfield Theatre (Falmouth Mass., 1961), Huntington Hartford Theatre (Los Angeles, 1966 and 1967), the Royal Alexandra Theatre (Toronto, 1966, 1967), and the Stanford Summer Festival of the Arts (Palo Alto, California, 1968). In September, 1960, the APA kicked off the McCarter Theatre’s (Princeton, N.J.) inaugural season as a producing entity, with a two-month repertory season that included Man and Superman, Anatol, The Lady’s Not for Burning, Right You Are, The Tavern, The Seagull, Scapin, Box and Cox, The Cat and The Moon, and The Importance of Being Earnest. The company returned to the McCarter Theatre in February 1961, presenting five Shakespeare plays. Fall 1961 saw the APA in residence at the Fred Miller Theatre (Milwaukee, Wisc.) where the company performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Seagull, The Tavern, The School for Scandal, and Fashion. APA’s first New York engagement was at the Folksbiene Playhouse on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in March 1962. Also in 1962, the company began its annual fall residence at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, which lasted for seven seasons, until 1968. In addition to its ever-growing classical repertory, the APA also presented at Ann Arbor the world premieres of We, Comrades Three, adapted from the works of Walt Whitman by Richard Baldridge, in 1962, and Archibald MacLeish’s Herakles(1965). Works such as Jean Giraudoux’s Judith (1964) were also presented at Ann Arbor. APA began its association with the Phoenix Theatre in New York in 1964 with two engagements presented by the Phoenix at their East 74th Street theater. Productions included Right You Are, The Tavern, Scapin, and Impromptu at Versailles. By the time of its November 23, 1965 successful Broadway debut in Kaufman and Hart’s You Can’t Take It with You at the Lyceum Theatre, APA had become known as APA-Phoenix, signifying the affiliation of the two groups. The alliance ended in 1969. In August 1967, APA-Phoenix presented the American premiere of Eugene Ionesco’s Exit the King (under the title The King Dies) at the Huntington Hartford Theatre (Los Angeles,), directed by Rabb, starring Richard Easton, with sets designed by Rouben Ter-Arutunian. The company was the only official representative of the U.S. at Montreal’s Expo 67, where it played You Can’t Take It with You, Right You Are, and War and Peace, Oct. 9-14, 1967, in addition to a Royal Alexandra Theatre (Toronto) engagement. Despite critical acclaim and awards (including a 1961-1962 Vernon Rice Award, and a 1968 Special Tony Award), as well as some institutional, foundation, and government support, the high cost of doing repertory always plagued the APA. Its final production was Private Lives with Tammy Grimes and Brian Bedford (Lyceum Theatre, 1969-1970). Rabb unsuccessfully attempted to reincarnate the company around 1976. The APA, considered one of America’s finest theater companies, was perhaps America’s greatest hope for a national theater."}
scopecontent: {"value"=>" The Ellis Rabb papers comprise both papers documenting Rabb’s life and career, as well as papers for the repertory company he founded in 1960, the Association of Producing Artists (APA). The papers contain correspondence, clippings, financial papers, contracts, programs, publicity material, scripts and manuscripts, photographs, scrapbooks, blueprints, and designs for productions relating to both Rabb and APA. The bulk of the papers chronicle the activities of the APA (later APA-Phoenix) from just prior to its inception in 1960 to its final production, Private Lives(1969-1970); also included are financial papers and other materials relating to the company in subsequent years. The papers provide a valuable window into the day-to-day issues that the APA faced while trying to build and maintain a repertory company as a viable entity. There are also papers documenting Rabb’s career in the theater, independent of APA. APA’s papers are filed chronologically, with correspondence and general administrative papers filed at the beginning of each year. Papers for specific engagements follow. Files for APA’s earliest activities are more comprehensive than those for the company’s final years. Most of the company’s seven fall seasons (1962-1968) with the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor are well-documented. Scripts for many of APA’s productions, from A Penny for a Song (1962) to The Cocktail Party (1969), are contained in the papers. They are mostly blocking and stage managers’ scripts. However, there are also a few of Rabb’s scripts, most notably War and Peace (1964), which contains numerous handwritten notes and revisions. Papers in the Ellis Rabb series pertain mostly to his career outside of APA and include a small number of general items such as biographies, clippings, and a sketch. Materials relating to his productions and professional projects range from his early days as an actor and director for the Antioch Shakespeare Festival (Yellow Springs, Ohio) in the 1950s, to his portrayal of Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest at the John Drew Theater, East Hampton, N.Y. in 1983. Rabb’s work for the Dallas Civic Opera and the Performing Arts Foundation of Kansas City (Missouri) is also documented. Several projects, such as Clap Your Hands (written with Nicholas Martin) (1983), So Many Women (with music by Claibe Richardson), and Unlikely: But Not Impossible, are included in the Productions and Professional Projects series. Many of Rabb’s unproduced and unpublished plays, screenplays, treatments, works of fiction and non-fiction, poems, and general observations are found in the Writings series. Photographs are mostly related to both APA and Rabb’s professional projects, although there are also some portraits of Rabb and APA members. Additional photos are contained in the Scrapbooks and Oversized series. The papers contain six scrapbooks that range from 1930 to 1986. Five of these appear to have been compiled by Rabb’s mother; the sixth contains material for the 1952 Antioch Shakespeare Festival (Shakespeare under-the-Stars) and include handwritten commentary by Rabb. The scrapbooks include some unique material (such as correspondence, photos, and ephemera documenting Rabb’s childhood and family), not otherwise found in the papers. Supplemental materials documenting Rabb’s career and APA can also be found in the scrapbooks. Oversized materials include costume and set sketches (mostly by Rabb), ground plans and blue prints, photos, publicity materials, and a few window cards. Of special interest are Oliver Smith’s blueprints for the opera, Dido and Aeneas, directed by Rabb for the Performing Arts Foundation of Kansas City (Missouri) in 1966."}

{"value"=>"The Ellis Rabb papers are arranged in five series:\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21846#c528352'>Series I: Association of Producing Artists (APA),, , and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1959 - 1982</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>35 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series includes correspondence, financial papers, scripts, production and publicity materials, clippings, programs, and other ephemera documenting the repertory company founded by Ellis Rabb in 1960, the APA, until its demise in 1970.This series consists of administrative records for APA, as well as materials documenting its decade of productions, from 1960 to 1970. Materials include correspondence, financial papers, contracts, clippings, programs, publicity materials, production materials, and ephemera. Correspondence and general administrative papers are filed at the beginning of each year. Papers for specific engagements follow. A few materials for the Portable Phoenix, the company’s educational project, as well as workshops run by APA, are also included in the series. Much of the correspondence was written by Rabb (some never sent), although a significant number of letters and memos are from Robert Alan Gold, APA’s business manager. Of particular interest is a 1960 prospectus for the company, as well as membership and attendance lists. Some notables represented in the correspondence include Katharine Hepburn, Arthur Laurents, Norman Rosten, Alan Schneider, Gale Sondergaard, Thornton Wilder, and Blanche Yurka. The company’s early years through 1966, are more thoroughly documented than its later seasons, 1968-1969 and 1969-1970. Correspondence with the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, where APA played each fall from 1962 to 1968, is extensive. There are also applications for fellowships, including one from Karen Lynne Gorney. Productions were sometimes first presented in Ann Arbor, including one of APA’s biggest successes, You Can’t Take It with You (1965). Of note are stage managers’ humorous reports regarding the cats used for this production (September 29, 30 and October 3, 1965). The company also made its successful 1965 Broadway debut at the Lyceum Theatre with the Kaufman and Hart comedy. APA’s affiliation with the Phoenix Theatre, from its first engagement at its East 74th Street theater in 1964, to its seasons at the Lyceum Theatre (1965-1966 to 1968-1969) as the APA-Phoenix, is also well-represented in the papers. There is some overlap between the APA-Phoenix and University of Michigan correspondence. Summer tours are also documented, including two summers at the Huntington Hartford Theatre (Los Angeles, 1966 and 1967). For APA’s final production, Private Lives, there are only copies of a November 18, 1969 contract with producer David Merrick. Some financial papers and other materials relating to APA in the years following its dissolution can also be found in this series.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21846#c529026'>Series II: Ellis Rabb Papers, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1952 - 1995</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>16.5 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series is comprised of papers relating mostly to Rabb’s professional work outside of APA and includes correspondence, scripts and manuscripts, clippings, production materials, programs, and other ephemera. <ul> <li>Sub-series 1: General Files A-Z</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Productions and Professional Projects</li> <li>Sub-series 3: Writings</li></ul></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21846#c529352'>Series III: Photographs, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1946 - 1983</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>5.5 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series comprises both photos for Ellis Rabb’s career, as well as photos specifically related to the APA and APA-Phoenix. There are also contact sheets, a number of negatives, and a few slides. The APA photos span almost the entire decade of the company’s existence (1960-1970) and consist mostly of studio and production photos, but also include some publicity and rehearsal photos. For example, there are numerous publicity photos for the APA’s first professional engagement in Bermuda, as well as for the APA-Phoenix’s trip to Montreal in 1967. A number of head shots for individuals, (such as Keene Curtis and Rosemary Harris), and “members and friends” (such as Barry Bostwick, Morris Carnovsky, Eva Le Gallienne, Will Geer, and Cathleen Nesbitt) can also be found in this series. Of particular note are several photos of Princess Grace and Prince Ranier of Monaco visiting after a performance of The Show-Off (Huntington Hartford Theatre, Los Angeles, 1967). The Ellis Rabb photos include portraits from the 1950s to the 1980s, and photos documenting his theater work both as director and performer, from the Wellesley Summer Theatre and School (1946-1947), to his portrayal of Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnestat the Old Globe Theatre (1982) and at the John Drew Theater (1983). Portraits include a photo of a sketch of Rabb by Russel [sic] Redmond. There are also several photos of Rabb receiving awards, such the Clarence Derwent Award in 1957, and an Honorary Doctorate from Southwestern (College) at Memphis in 1977.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21846#c529497'>Series IV: Scrapbooks</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1930 - 1986</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>3 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series consists of six scrapbooks, five of which appear to have been compiled by Rabb’s mother; the sixth is coverless and chronicles the 1952 season for the Antioch Shakespeare Festival (Shakespeare-under-the-Stars). It also contains handwritten comments by Rabb. The five numbered scrapbooks contain mostly clippings, but also photos, correspondence, programs, publicity material, and other ephemera relating to Rabb’s life and career. Often, materials are not in exact chronological order, although the scrapbooks are organized by year. Moreover, the dates listed on the front covers do not always correspond exactly to the dates of the materials in the scrapbook, especially in scrapbook “#V – 1978 - 1986” which has some material (on the last pages) dating back to 1945. Materials found in these scrapbooks provide a valuable supplement to the other papers in the collection, especially for several of Rabb’s productions including Jolly’s Progress (1959) and The Dain Curse (television, 1978). The first scrapbook, “#I: 1930 – 1963,” contains the only materials in the collection documenting Rabb’s early years, education, and some materials relating to his family life. For example, it includes some childhood and family photos, notes from family and friends, and certificates for activities such as horsemanship. Of particular note are the invitation to, clippings about, and photo of Rabb’s wedding to Rosemary Harris, December 4, 1959, at the Church of the Ascension in New York City. Also of interest in Scrapbook #II is a typed short note from Katharine Hepburn re: unnamed production, Dec. 30, 1976, as well as a note from Kirk Douglas congratulating Rabb on his Tony Award, Apr. 20, 1976. Scrapbook #V includes a 1984 obituary for Rabb’s father. The unnumbered scrapbook documenting the Antioch Shakespeare Festival’s 1952 season is in fragile condition and includes a number of photos that have become detached from the scrapbook pages.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21846#c529504'>Series V: Oversized, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1952 - 1983</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>5 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series contains photos and contact sheets, costume and set sketches (many by Rabb), ground plans and blueprints, a few publicity materials, and window cards relating to both Rabb and APA. There are also music scores for The Hostage (probably for the APA production at University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, 1964), a print of a Russel [sic] Redmond drawing of Rabb in the Old Globe Theatre production of The Tempest, 1982, and a hand-printed humorous “definition” of “The Rabb” (undated). Photos include productions in which Rabb acted or directed, such as Hamlet (ca. 1956), The Misanthrope (Theatre East, 1956), The Philadelphia Story(contact sheets) (Vivian Beaumont Theater, 1980), King Lear (Antioch Shakespeare Festival, 1956), and contact sheets for The Importance of Being Earnest(Old Globe Theatre, 1982). Many of the costume and set sketches found in Scrapbook #IV were done by Rabb for Antioch Shakespeare Festival productions, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1956), Othello, and Romeo and Juliet. However, other productions such as Philoctetes (Theatre de Lys, 1959) and a proposed production of The Tempest (for Missouri Repertory Theatre, 1979) are also represented. Of particular note is a costume design possibly by Nancy Potts, possibly for The Philadelphia Story at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, 1980. Ground plans and blueprints include those for Hamilton City Hall (1959); APA’s first repertory engagement was in Hamilton, Bermuda in 1960. Other ground plans and blueprints for APA and APA-Phoenix include two for the Phoenix Theatre (one by Esther Scott), ca. 1964, and James Tilton’s blueprints for The Cherry Orchard(1967), Three Mysteries for Two Clowns(1966), and Right You Are (1966 and 1967). Ground plans and blueprints for Rabb’s productions outside of APA include Douglas W. Schmidt’s blueprint for Veronica’s Room (1973), and Oliver Smith’s blueprints for the Performing Arts Foundation of Kansas City, Missouri production of the opera Dido and Aeneas (1966). There are posters for Enemies (Vivian Beaumont Theater, 1972) and The Merchant of Venice(Vivian Beaumont Theater, 1973), and window cards for the APA-Phoenix productions of Exit the King and The Show-Off (Lyceum Theatre, 1968).</div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
arrangement: {"value"=>" <ul> <li>Series I: Association of Producing Artists (APA), 1959 - 1982, 1992 <ul> <li>Sub-series 1: Chronological Files</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Scripts</li></ul></li> <li>Series II: Ellis Rabb, 1952-1995 and undated <ul> <li>Sub-series 1: General Files A-Z</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Productions and Professional Projects</li> <li>Sub-series 3: Writings</li></ul></li> <li>Series III: Photographs</li> <li>Series IV: Scrapbooks</li> <li>Series V: Oversized</li></ul>", "supress_display"=>true}
acqinfo: {"value"=>" The Ellis Rabb Papers were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 1998 and 2007 by Rosemary Harris Ehle."}
userestrict: {"value"=>"For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division."}
processinfo: {"value"=>"Processed by Camille Croce Dee; Machine-readable finding aid created by Camille Croce Dee."}
extent_statement: 32 linear feet (65 boxes)
date_start: 1930
date_end: 1995

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Ellis Rabb papers

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