- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"6.05 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"15 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"*T-Mss 1986-002", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"21280", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1940-1989", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1940/1989"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1940
- date_inclusive_end
-
1989
- keydate
-
1940
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Alexander Scourby papers"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</span> <span class=\"subarea\">Billy Rose Theatre Division.</span> <div class=\"address\"><span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Alexander Scourby Papers document the professional career of the prolific actor and narrator through contracts, correspondence, photographs, scripts, and other material. Although he had a long and varied career as an actor and narrator on stage, screen, and radio, Alexander Scourby considered his most important work to be the performances he gave as a voice actor in the Talking Books recordings he made for the American Foundation for the Blind."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Alexander Scourby Papers, *T-Mss 1986-002. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Scourby, Alexander, 1913-1985", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Although he had a long and varied career as an actor and narrator, Alexander Scourby (1913-1985), considered his most important work to be the performances he gave as a voice actor in the Talking Books recordings he made for the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). Of Greek heritage, Scourby was born in Brooklyn, New York, where his father worked as a restaurateur and commercial baker. In 1931, he graduated from the Brooklyn Manual Training High School. He had developed an interest in writing and performing while in high school, serving as co-editor of the school magazine and yearbook and making his first appearance on stage in a school production of <span class=\"title\">The Meanest Man in the World</span>. Scourby briefly attended the University of West Virginia in Morgantown, West Virginia, but returned to New York in February 1932 to help out with the family business following the death of his father.</p> <p>In 1933, Scourby became an apprentice with the Civic Repertory Theatre, run by Eva Le Galliene, where he received a thorough professional training. He made his Broadway debut in 1936 as the Player King in the Leslie Howard production of <span class=\"title\">Hamlet</span>. It was through cast mate, Wesley Addy, that Scourby was introduced to the opportunities offered by the American Foundation for the Blind. Scourby auditioned for the AFB in 1937, and, after playing a few small parts in recordings of plays, he soon found a niche in which he could utilize his impressive speaking voice by reading novels and other works of literature for the Talking Books service. Over the next forty years, he would provide the narration for over 500 books. His best known recording became the full set of the King James version of the Bible (1966).</p> <p>Scourby also began working extensively in radio during the 1940s, with recurring roles on several soap operas and regular appearances on the NBC weekly religious program, <span class=\"title\">The Eternal Light</span>. Scourby also did broadcasts in Greek and English for the Office of War Information during the Second World War. In 1943, he married Lori von Eltz, an actress who went by the professional name of Lori March. The two occasionally worked together on theater, film, and television projects. Scourby remained active in summer stock and New York theater throughout the 1940s and early 1950s. Notable productions in which he was featured included Rodney Ackland's adaptation of <span class=\"title\">Crime and Punishment</span> (1947) with Claude Rains, <span class=\"title\">Detective Story</span> (1949), <span class=\"title\">Darkness at Noon</span> (1951), and the Theatre Guild revival of <span class=\"title\">Saint Joan</span> (1951) with Uta Hagen.</p> <p>During the 1950s, Scourby began to work more often as an actor in films, frequently playing villains. Among his films were <span class=\"title\">Affair in Trinidad</span> (1952), <span class=\"title\">The Big Heat</span> (1953), <span class=\"title\">Ransom</span> (1956), and <span class=\"title\">Giant</span> (1956). He also worked increasingly in television as both an actor and narrator. His television credits as an actor include <span class=\"title\">Playhouse 90</span>, <span class=\"title\">Circle Theater</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Studio One</span>. As a narrator, he was associated with the NBC television series, <span class=\"title\">Project 20</span>, for many years. Although his work in film and television saw Scourby dividing his time between California and New York, by the 1960s he actively sought employment doing television commercial voice-overs in order to spend more time on the East Coast. In later years, Scourby and his wife maintained a residence in Manhattan and a country home in Newtown, Connecticut.</p> <p>In addition to continuing to record Talking Books, both for the AFB and Lectern Records, a company he founded, Scourby also worked steadily as a narrator of documentary, educational, and promotional films during the final two decades of his life. In 1983, he became the host of the public television series, <span class=\"title\">Live from the Met</span>. It was while he was in Boston, taping his segments as the host for a National Public Radio broadcast of Handel's oratorio, <span class=\"title\">Semele</span>, that Scourby unexpectedly took ill and died.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Alexander Scourby Papers document the professional career of the prolific actor and narrator through contracts, correspondence, photographs, scripts, and other material. While the collection does not encompass the first five years of Scourby's acting career, it does otherwise provide a fairly comprehensive picture of his working life. The bulk of this collection is comprised of scripts for a variety of projects in which Scourby was involved either as an actor or voice actor and chiefly covers his work in films, theater, and television. Project files contain some additional information on a similarly wide range of productions. These files vary in content, but may contain clippings, correspondence, financial records, partial scripts, as well as promotional material relating to an individual project. The collection includes a small selection of publicity photographs, as well as snapshots taken in Greece and on the set of the film, <span class=\"title\">The Glory Brigade</span> (1953). Correspondence included among the Professional Papers, which largely consists of fan letters from users of Talking Books, attests to the value of Scourby's ground-breaking contributions to the development of this field.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Alexander Scourby papers are arranged in four series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21280#c292227'>Series I. Professional Papers, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1940 - 1989</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>3 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Professional Papers series consists primarily of correspondence and contracts. The correspondence, which is mainly professional in nature, is composed largely of fan mail and other letters in appreciation of Scourby's work as a narrator for the blind. Also of interest is a set of employment diaries that records Scourby's daily activities in radio broadcasting and recording over a twelve-year period. This series also includes some English translations of writings in Greek apparently made by Scourby. Material that postdates the death of Scourby includes condolence letters and other correspondence sent to his wife.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21280#c292272'>Series II: Photographs, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1951 - 1982</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1 box</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Photograph series contains several publicity photographs relating to Alexander Scourby’s work as a narrator and actor. Also of note is a small set of candid rehearsal photographs of an unidentified theatrical troupe with Katina Paxinou and Alexis Minotis in various locations in Greece, including Delphi and the Acropolis in Athens. There is also another selection of snapshots taken on the set of the film, <span class=\"title\">The Glory Brigade</span> (1953).</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21280#c292282'>Series III: Project Files, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1956 - 1984</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>2 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Project Files series documents various types of projects with which Scourby was associated, including live dramatic readings, films, narration, plays, speeches, and Talking Books and other recordings. Material in files may include clippings, correspondence, financial records, promotional materials, and partial scripts.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21280#c292321'>Series IV: Scripts, circa and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1941 - 1985</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>9 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Scripts series is comprised of complete scripts for many of the productions on which Scourby worked either as an actor or narrator. Scripts cover much of Scourby's work in commercials, films, theater, and television. Also included among the play scripts are actor's sides for roles performed by Scourby in the Broadway productions of <span class=\"title\">Crime and Punishment</span> (1949) and <span class=\"title\">Darkness at Noon</span> (1951).</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p> <ul> <li>Series I: Professional Papers, 1940-1989 and undated</li> <li>Series II: Photographs, 1951-1982 and undated</li> <li>Series III: Project Files, 1956-1984 and undated</li> <li>Series IV: Scripts, 1941-1985 and undated</li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Alexander Scourby Papers were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 1986 by Mrs. Alexander Scourby.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection originally was processed and cataloged in 1991; additional material was incorporated into the collection in 2007. Sound recordings and films were separated from the collection and catalogued individually. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound holds the sound recordings and films are stored in the Donnell Library Media Center.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.</p>"}
- note
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection originally was processed and cataloged in 1991; additional material was incorporated into the collection in 2007. Sound recordings and films were separated from the collection and catalogued individually. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound holds the sound recordings and films are stored in the Donnell Library Media Center</p>", "encodinganalog"=>"500"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Helice Koffler; Machine-readable finding aid created by Helice Koffler.</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
6.05 linear feet (15 boxes)
- date_start
-
1940
- date_end
-
1989