- unitid
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{"value"=>"*T-Mss 1987-010", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"21559", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unittitle
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{"value"=>"Flo Ziegfeld-Billie Burke papers, 1907-1984"}
- physdesc
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{"format"=>"simple", "value"=>"8.25 linear feet (17 boxes, 1 slipcase and 1 oversized portfolio)"}
- repository
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{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.</span><div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center</span><span class=\"addressline\">40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498</span></div>"}
- abstract
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{"value"=>"The collection consists mainly of materials from Billie Burke's career, which include her play, radio, and film scripts, and a relatively small amount of clippings, photographs, and business papers. Materials relating to her career predominate, but there is material relating to Ziegfeld's later career as well."}
- prefercite
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{"value"=>"<p>Flo Ziegfeld - Billie Burke Papers, *T-Mss 1987-010, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
- origination
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{"value"=>"Burke, Billie, 1885-1970", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
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{"value"=>"<p>Florenz Ziegfeld (1867-1932) has become a mythical figure in the annals of American show business. Born in Chicago, the son and namesake of a classical musician and music teacher, he opted for a career in popular entertainment, first as a booker of vaudeville acts and later, as the producer of a number of plays mainly to showcase the talents of his first wife Anna Held. He found his true niche as the synthesizer of a form of revue which became known as the <span class=\"title\">Follies</span>. Produced without a thought to expense, the <span class=\"title\">Follies</span> were the benchmark against which other producers' revues were measured. From the first <span class=\"title\">Follies</span> in 1907 to the last lavishly produced under his aegis in 1931, he succeeded in perfecting the form and making his shows the launching pad for such talented performers as Nora Bayes, Marilyn Miller, W. C. Fields, Will Rogers, Eddie Cantor, Bert Williams, Fanny Brice, amid countless others. In addition to the <span class=\"title\">Follies</span>, Ziegfeld presented a number of book musicals, the most famous of which was <span class=\"title\">Show Boat</span>, long considered the watershed in the development of the American musical form.</p> <p>Billie Burke (1885-1970) was born Mary William Ethelburt Burke in Washington, D.C., the daughter of a charismatic singing clown with the Barnum and Bailey Circus named Billy Burke and a fortyish widow with four children. Their only child was a red-headed girl, who was nicknamed \"Billie\" for her father. Mrs. Burke became the quintessential stage mother, pushing her daughter on the stage at an early age. After attending school in England and France, Billie made her debut at the age of 14 in a London musical titled <span class=\"title\">The School Girl</span>. Gradually getting more and more substantial parts, she was spotted by American producer Charles Frohman, who lured her and her mother to New York with an offer to play opposite the matinee idol John Drew in the play <span class=\"title\">My Wife</span>. From this point on, she starred in a number of Broadway productions under Frohman's management, but after her marriage to Florenz Ziegfeld in 1914, her husband became her manager. In 1916, she began a movie career simultaneously with her stage performances and by the arrival of talking pictures, she shuttled back and forth from the movies to the stage during the rest of her career. Her most famous movie roles were as Glinda the Good Witch in <span class=\"title\">The Wizard of Oz</span> and as the wife of Cosmo Topper in the famous film series <span class=\"title\">Topper</span>. She wrote her autobiography <span class=\"title\">With a Feather on my Nose</span> in 1949 and a book of self-improvement <span class=\"title\">With Powder on My Face</span> in 1959.</p>"}
- custodhist
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{"value"=>"<p>This collection was presented to the Billy Rose Theatre Division by Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson, the only daughter of Billie Burke and Florenz Ziegfeld, in 1974 and was processed in 2000. The papers relate to Billie Burke and to Florenz Ziegfeld when their lives intersected not merely personally but professionally. A large part of the collection deals with Burke's career after Ziegfeld's death in 1932.</p>"}
- scopecontent
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{"value"=>"<p>The Florenz Ziegfeld-Billie Burke Papers covers Burke's career approximately from the time when she first went on the stage in the early years of the twentieth century until her retirement, and superficially covers that portion of Ziegfeld's career and life after Burke and he were married. Although there are scripts included that represent Ziegfeld productions, most of them concern Burke's career as a stage actress and later, as a radio and film actress. The business papers are especially noteworthy because they include several contracts between Ziegfeld and A. L. Erlanger and other producers and also because there are financial records of some of the Ziegfeld productions.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Flo Ziegfeld-Billie Burke papers, 1907-1984 is arranged in four series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21559#c309925'>Series I: Scripts</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1912-1959</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The entire series comprises typescripts of various stage plays, \"sides\" or running parts, radio scripts, and several copies of the film script for the movie <span class=\"title\">The Great Ziegfeld</span>.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21559#c310023'>Series II: Contracts and Business Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1906-1954</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series includes contracts between Billie Burke and producers for her appearances in plays and one for a TV appearance as well as contracts between Ziegfeld and co-producers, writers, etc. Also included are financial statements concerning Ziegfeld productions.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21559#c310064'>Series III: Clippings</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1906-1959</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Reviews of Billie Burke in both her stage and film roles plus feature articles about her life and career form the core of this series. Noteworthy is the file containing Ziegfeld obituaries and tributes. A slipcased album of clippings from her appearances in 1944 is also included. Files relating to the <span class=\"title\">Ziegfeld Follies</span> produced after Ziegfeld's death are also included.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21559#c310112'>Series IV: Photographs</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1907-197?</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Many photographs of Billie Burke in both her stage and movie roles as well as publicity portraits comprise this series. Also included are miscellaneous pictures of performers who appeared in Ziegfeld productions and one separate oversized picture of Burke.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
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{"value"=>"<p>The collection is organized in four series and four sub-series: <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Series I: Scripts <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1: Play scripts</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Radio scripts</li> <li>Sub-series 3: Radio Guest Spot scripts</li> <li>Sub-series 4: Film scripts</li></ul></li> <li>Series II: Contracts and Business Papers</li> <li>Series III: Clippings</li> <li>Series IV: Photographs</li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- separatedmaterial
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{"value"=>"<ul class=\"list\"> <li>Gertrude Newell - Costume designs for <span class=\"title\">Little Old New York</span> *T-VIM 1987-010A</li> <li>Donald Oenslager - Costume designs for <span class=\"title\">Life With Mother</span> *T-VIM 1987-010B</li> <li>Walter Tittle - Portraits of Billie Burke</li> <li>Jean Vere - Portraits of Billie Burke (in pastel)</li></ul>"}
- processinfo
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{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Mary Henderson and Mary Ellen Rogan.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
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{"value"=>"<p>Some collections held by the Dance, Music, Recorded Sound, and Theatre Divisions at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL's online catalog for detailed location information. For general guidance about requesting offsite materials, please consult: https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/lpa/requesting-archival-materials Photocopying prohibited.</p>"}
- userestrict
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{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
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{"value"=>"<p>Robert Baral Papers - *T-Mss 1983-001</p>"}