- unitid
-
{"value"=>"*T-Mss 1964-005", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"21400", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1925-1960", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1925/1960"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Herbert M. Prentice papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"simple", "value"=>"38 linear feet (75 boxes)"}
- repository
-
{"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
-
{"value"=>"The collection is almost entirely bound promptbooks, annotated with notes and cues by Prentice, for the plays he produced. The extensive handwritten staging directions as well as many loose lighting and property plots, cast lists and set design diagrams provide substantial documentation of these productions of the regional British theater in this period (1920s-1950s). There are also some autobiographical writings, notes and drafts for speeches he gave, a small amount of correspondence, mostly with playwrights, photographs from unidentified productions and some photographs of Prentice with colleagues."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Herbert M. Prentice Papers, *T-Mss 1964-005, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Prentice, Herbert M, 1890-", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p><span class=\"persname\">Herbert M. Prentice</span>, British producer, director and designer staged hundreds of plays during his career including many first productions as well as popular revivals. His focus was on well known playwrights of his time including <span class=\"persname\">James Bridie</span>, <span class=\"persname\">Noel Coward</span>, <span class=\"persname\">St. John G. Ervine</span>, <span class=\"persname\">Ian Hay</span>, <span class=\"persname\">Frederick Lonsdale</span>, <span class=\"persname\">W. Somerset Maugham</span>, <span class=\"persname\">A.A. Milne</span>, <span class=\"persname\">Eugene O'Neill</span>, <span class=\"persname\">J. B. Priestley</span>, <span class=\"persname\">George Bernard Shaw</span>, and <span class=\"persname\">Oscar Wilde</span>.</p> <p>His first production was <span class=\"title\">The Silver Box</span> at the <span class=\"corpname\">Little Repertory Theatre</span> in Sheffield in 1918. He formed the <span class=\"corpname\">Sheffield Repertory Company</span> and directed plays there for seven years. He was then with the Festival Theatre, Cambridge and the Repertory Theatre, Northampton before being hired as producer by Sir Barry Jackson for the <span class=\"corpname\">Birmingham Repertory Theatre</span> in 1932. He was at the Birmingham until 1940 and staged many first productions there including <span class=\"title\">The Adding Machine</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Brontes of Haworth Parsonage</span> and <span class=\"title\">1066 and All That</span>. His first London production was <span class=\"title\">Once in a Lifetime</span> in 1933. During this period he also produced plays at the Malvern Festivals (1934-1937) including <span class=\"title\">Saint Joan</span> with Wendy Hiller on the occasion of George Bernard Shaw's 80th birthday.</p> <p>In the 1940s and 1950s Prentice staged plays at the Sheffield, Southport Repertory Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, Birmingham, the Civic Theatre at Chesterfield and the Pitlochry Festival. Prior to his tenure at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Prentice designed most of the settings for his productions. He also wrote a few of the stage adaptations he produced, including one for <span class=\"title\">Alice in Wonderland</span>.</p>"}
- custodhist
-
{"value"=>"<p> The Herbert M. Prentice Papers were purchased from B.F. Stevens and Brown, Ltd. of London in August 1964.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection is almost entirely bound promptbooks annotated with notes and cues by Prentice for the plays he produced. The extensive handwritten staging directions on the scripts as well as the many loose lighting and property plots, cast lists, and set design diagrams provide substantial documentation of these productions of the regional British theater in this period (1920s-1950s). There are also some autobiographical writings, notes and drafts for speeches he gave, a small amount of correspondence mostly with the playwrights, photographs from unidentified productions and some photographs of Prentice with colleagues.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Herbert M. Prentice papers are arranged in three series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21400#c298427'>Series I: Correspondence and other papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1935-1960</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains autobiographical material, mostly handwritten manuscripts and notes by Prentice on his career in the theater. His writings are on loose pages and in two notebooks, one dated 1960. Includes notes and drafts for speeches, notes taken during a rehearsal and correspondence with the playwright <span class=\"persname\">Ralph de Pomerai</span> discussing his plays.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21400#c298433'>Series II: Promptbooks and other production files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1922-1954</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series makes up the bulk of the collection because related papers such as correspondence, set designs, lighting and property plots and cast lists, have been kept with the play to which they pertain. It is arranged alphabetically by playwright. Most of the promptbooks are bound volumes consisting of the typed, usually published, pages of the scripts unbound and then pasted into larger, blank volumes, allowing ample room for Prentice's extensive notations. Some contain photographs and cast lists from original (pre-Prentice) productions. A few of these bound volumes contain two different plays. These are necessarily arranged under only one playwright with the other given an added entry for retrieval. Many of the volumes have a number pasted on the front which undoubtedly was relevant to Prentice. However, since not all volumes were numbered, this was not the system chosen for arrangement.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21400#c298801'>Series III: Photograph</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p> This small series consists of informal photographs of Prentice with colleagues including <span class=\"persname\">Cyril Phillips</span> and <span class=\"persname\">George Bernard Shaw</span>, at rehearsals for <span class=\"title\">Saint Joan</span> at the <span class=\"corpname\">Malvern Festival</span> and with star <span class=\"persname\">Wendy Hiller</span> after the show, and unidentified production photographs.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Series I: Correspondence and other papers</li> <li>Series II: Promptbooks</li> <li>Series III: Photographs</li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Papers: Purchase, B.F. Stevens & Brown, Ltd, 08/--/1964</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Elisabeth Elkind.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"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
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.</p>"}
- note
-
{"value"=>"Photographs from identified productions and programs have been removed and placed in the Library's Photographs and Programs files"}
{"value"=>"A complete list of play titles is available in the Theatre Collection's database"}
- date_start
-
1925
- keydate
-
1925
- date_end
-
1960
- date_inclusive_start
-
1925
- date_inclusive_end
-
1960