- unitid
-
{"value"=>"*T-MSS 2010-104", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"18398", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b19073750", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1931-1992", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1931/1992"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1931
- date_inclusive_end
-
1992
- keydate
-
1931
- date_start
-
1931
- date_end
-
1992
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Joe Layton papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"12.7 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"31 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"id"=>"THE", "value"=>"Billy Rose Theatre Division"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Joe Layton (1931-1994) was an Emmy and Tony award-winning American choreographer, director, and producer of stage productions, television specials, and live concerts. The Joe Layton papers (1931-1992) document his professional career and his marriage to actress Evelyn Russell. The collection includes correspondence, photographs, production binders, scrapbooks, scripts, and sound and video recordings."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Joe Layton papers, *T-Mss 2010-104. Billy Rose Theater Division, The New York Public Library</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Layton, Joe, 1931-", "type"=>"persname", "role"=>"creator"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Joe Layton (1931-1994) was an Emmy and Tony award-winning American choreographer, director, and producer of stage productions, television specials, and live concerts. The Joe Layton papers (1931-1992) document his professional career and his marriage to actress Evelyn Russell. The collection includes correspondence, photographs, production binders, scrapbooks, and scripts.</p> <p>Joe Layton (1931-1994) was born Joseph Lichtman in Brooklyn, New York to James and Sadie Lichtman. As a child, Layton took singing and dancing lessons, and performed in school plays, local theater productions, and at resorts in the Catskills. When Layton was sixteen, he had his first break as a dancer, appearing in Oklahoma! on Broadway. He went on to dance in High Button Shoes (1947), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949), Miss Liberty (1949), Michael Todd's A Night in Venice (1952), and Wonderful Town (1953).</p> <p>In 1953, Layton joined an Army Special Services Unit in Colorado Springs, CO, where he choreographed and directed shows on the base. He was discharged in 1954 and went to Europe to work as choreographer, director, and dancer for George Reich's company Les Ballet Ho in Paris.</p> <p>Layton returned to the United States in 1956 where he got a job at the renowned Taminent Playhouse in the Poconos choreographing summer stock productions. He soon began directing as well, an activity he found naturally interconnected to choreography. In 1959, Layton received his first major choreographic debut, choreographing a revival of Once Upon a Mattress, starring Carol Burnett. That same year, he also choreographed On the Town and The Sound of Music, and married actress Evelyn Russell. In 1960, he choreographed Tenderloin and Greenwillow, receiving his first Tony Award nomination for the latter. In 1962, Layton had his Broadway directorial debut with the critically acclaimed No Strings, which he also choreographed. His choreography for No Strings won a Tony Award.</p> <p>Layton became known as an innovative and imaginative choreographer and director, and went on to choreograph and direct numerous stage productions including Drat! The Cat! (1965), George M! (1968), for which he won a second Tony Award, Dear World (1969), Bette Midler's Clams on the Half Shell Revue (1975), and Platinum (1978). He directed The Girl Who Came to Supper (1963), Peterpat (1965), Sherry! (1967), The National Theatre of the Deaf (1969), Two by Two (1970), An Evening with Diana Ross (1976), Barnum (1980), for which he won two more Tony Awards, Bring Back Birdie (1981), The Three Musketeers (1984), Harrigan n' Hart (1985), and a re-staged, national tour of Woman of the Year (1983) with Lauren Bacall.</p> <p>In 1964, Joe Layton began his first year as director of The Lost Colony, a symphonic outdoor drama performed yearly on Roanoke Island, North Carolina. Layton refreshed the production, which had been staged since 1937, improving light and staging techniques. He continued to direct the production for over twenty years, until the mid-1980s.</p> <p>Layton traveled to Japan in 1969 to direct the Tokyo production of Scarlett, a musical adaptation of Gone with the Wind, in Japanese. In 1972, he directed a translation of Scarlett at the Theatre Royal in London and, in 1973, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. While the Tokyo production was a popular success, the London and Los Angeles shows garnered mostly negatives reviews.</p> <p>In addition to his work on stage musicals, Layton began doing work for television, first choreographing a Mary Martin Thanksgiving special (1960) and The Gershwin Years (1961), before directing four specials starring Barbra Streisand. He won an Emmy in 1965 for the first special My Name is Barbra. Subsequent shows were Color Me Barbra (1966), Barbra Streisand...and Other Musical Instruments (1973), and The Belle of 14th Steet(1967). Layton went on to do television specials for Hal Linden (1968), Olivia Newton-John (1976), the Carpenters (1976), Paul Lynde (1977-1979), Cher (1979), and for a Dolly Parton and Carol Burnett show, Dolly & Carol in Nashville (1979). Layton also worked with feature films, doing the choreography for Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) and producing the film version of Annie (1982).</p> <p>Layton directed a live concert for Raquel Welsh in Las Vegas called Really, Raquel, as well as concerts for Lionel Richie and Diahann Carroll. Additionally, he staged two Commitment to Life Benefits, raising funds for the Los Angeles AIDS Project.</p> <p>Layton did not completely abandon his work in ballet. He choreographed Double Exposure (1972) for the Robert Joffery Ballet Company, O.W. for the London Royal Ballet, and Grand Tour for the Birmingham Royal Ballet.</p> <p>Layton died in 1994. Russell died earlier, in 1976, from cancer. The couple had one son, Jeb Layton.</p>"}
- custodhist
-
{"value"=>"<p>The materials were maintained by Rhoda Dresken, Layton's longtime personal assistant and manager, following his death.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>This collection includes production material used by Layton in his role as a director, choreographer, and producer for stage productions, television specials, and live concerts, as well as personal and business correspondence, photographs, and awards. Production material is arranged by chronological order followed by alphabetical order- chronological material is primarily scrapbooks, with each scrapbook representing multiple productions, while alphabetical material is arranged by production title.</p> <p>The scrapbooks were compiled by Layton and his family members and demonstrate Layton's career from early dance and theater performances in public schools in Brooklyn to choreographing Broadway shows and producing major television productions. Additionally, the scrapbooks document his marriage to Evelyn Russell and Russell's career as a stage actress. The scrapbooks contain both personal and professional material. Personal material include photographs of Layton, Russell, and their son Jeb, correspondence and cards, and material relating to the death of Russell and both of Layton's parents. Professional material includes clippings, correspondence, legal contracts, opening night cards and telegrams, programs, and photographs including headshots, production stills, rehearsal photographs, and casual backstage snapshots of performers like the Carpenters, Carol Channing, Danny Kaye, and Barbra Streisand.</p> <p>The correspondence in the collection is distributed throughout the scrapbooks and in one file of separated material. The correspondence is not extensive, often consisting of cards or notes in recognition of a significant occasion, such as a birthday or the opening of a show. Notable correspondents include Lauren Bacall, David Begelman, Carol Channing, Cy Coleman, Noel Coward, Lillian Hellman, Kenneth Jeffrey Feld, Betsy Friday, John Huston, James Kirkwood, Dorothy Lamour, Mary Martin, Bette Midler, Olivia Newton-John, William F. Paley, Lionel Richie, Joan Rivers, Jerome Robbins, Richard Rodgers, Mary Rodgers, Rosalind Russell, Mark Rydell, Kenny Sacha, Liz Smith, Ray Stark, Barbra Streisand, Jule Style, and Doreen Wells.</p> <p>Production binders are composed of annotated scripts, cast lists and contact sheets, correspondence, photographs, rehearsal schedules, rundowns, sheet music, and storyboard sketches. Unsorted material contains loose programs and clippings. The small selection of separated photographs are primarily family photographs. Slides include family snapshots, rehearsal photographs, and production stills- many are duplicates of photographs found in the scrapbooks and would be a good place for a researcher to begin their research.</p> <p>This collection contains sound and video recordings. Sound recordings include recordings of Androcles and The Lion, The Case of the Dead Flamingo Dancer, and Grand Tour, recordings of Noel Coward, Diahann Carroll, Diana Ross, Marianne Tatum, and an audio recording of Layton receiving his Tony Award for George M!.</p> <p>Video recordings consist of recordings of the rehearsals of Carol Channing and Her Ten Stout-Hearted Men and performances of George M!, National Theatre of the Deaf, No Strings, On the Town, Sail Away, Scarlett, and The Sound of Music. Footage of Noel Coward in his home in Les Avants, Switzerland and England (1961-1962) and footage of Layton and Russell, most notably of Russell performing with the Smothers Brothers, is held here.</p> <p>Inquiries regarding audio and video in the collection may be directed to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound (rha@nypl.org). Audio and video materials will be subject to preservation evaluation and migration prior to access.</p>"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection is arranged into two groupings: Production Material and Personal Miscellany. Production Material is arranged chronologically then alphabetically within. Personal Miscellany is arranged alphabetically. All the material is based upon productions. Note that the material in Personal Miscellany is similar to the correspondence and photographs found in the Production Material section, only these documents are loose and not affixed in a scrapbook.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by Rhoda Dresken in 2009.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"type"=>"processing", "value"=>"<p>Compiled by <span class=\"name\">Susan Malsbury</span>, <span class=\"date\">2011</span></p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>The scrapbooks and photo albums were removed from their bindings though they remain in their original order. The scrapbooks are fragile and care should be used when examining them. Select scrapbooks are restricted pending conservation treatment. Awards are closed due to damage.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Inquiries regarding audio and video in the collection may be directed to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound (rha@nypl.org). Audio and video materials will be subject to preservation evaluation and migration prior to access.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"archref\">Higgins Family papers, 1923-1971. Billy Rose Theatre Collection, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</span> <span class=\"archref\">Tamiment Playhouse Alumni: Oral Histories and Shows, 1955-1988. Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.</span> <span class=\"archref\">Tamiment Playhouse Records, 1927-1987. Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.</span>"}
- dsc_type
-
combined
- extent_statement
-
12.7 linear feet (31 boxes)