- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"8.5 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"26 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"JPB 02-1", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"20280", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
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{"value"=>"1914-1999", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1914/1999"}
- unittitle
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{"value"=>"Ann Ronell papers"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. <span class=\"subarea\">Music Division.</span></span> <div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
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{"value"=>"Ann Ronell was a songwriter and lyricist who had an extensive career working on film scores and in musical theater in numerous capacities. The Papers include material pertaining to her professional activities along with some personal correspondence. The bulk of the materials date from the early 1920s through the 1970s, and includes scores, correspondence, subject files, biographical material, financial records and photographs. A small amount of material pertaining exclusively to the activities of her husband, Lester Cowan, are included in the papers."}
- prefercite
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{"value"=>"<p>The Ann Ronell Papers, JPB 02-1, Music Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.</p>"}
- origination
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{"value"=>"Ronell, Ann", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
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{"value"=>"<p> <span class=\"name\">Ann Ronell</span>, songwriter, lyricist and musical director for films, was born <span class=\"name\">Ann Rosenblatt</span> in Omaha Nebraska on 25 December 1905, the child of a coal dealer, <span class=\"name\">Morris Rosenblatt</span> and <span class=\"name\">Mollie Rosenblatt</span> . After graduating from Central High School in 1923, she enrolled at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. She spent two years there and then transferred to Radcliffe College where her music teachers included <span class=\"name\">Edward Burlingame Hill</span>, <span class=\"name\">Edward Ballantine</span>, <span class=\"name\">Archibald T. Davison</span> and <span class=\"name\">Walter Piston</span> . Her first compositions date to this period, but her work for the college newspaper was to be the primary launching pad for her career as a commercial songwriter. Through writing reviews and interviews, Ronell was to make the acquaintance of many of that era’s prominent musical figures. An assigment involving George Gershwin had a decisive impact which lead to her decision to choose the path of music despite the prevailing odds against the likely success of would-be songwriters in general and women in particular. Gershwin offered to connect her with some of his contacts in the music business and she was soon working as a coach and rehearsal pianist for Broadway shows. In 1932 she was to show her gratitude for his efforts on her behalf by dedicating what turned out to be her most acclaimed and widely covered song “<span class=\"title\">Willow, Weep for Me</span>” to him.</p> <p>The period between her graduation from Radcliffe in 1927 and her departure for Hollywood in 1933 was spent mostly in New York City where she was able to place a number of her songs in shows. Now recognized as her first popular success, the song “<span class=\"title\">Let’s go out in the open air</span>” appeared in <span class=\"title\">Shoot the works</span> in 1931. Despite a good deal of resistance to the very idea of a female songwriter, she was able to persevere and establish a growing catalog of works published by Irving Berlin and others.</p> <p>The Walt Disney Studios provided Ronell’s first employment in the Hollywood film music industry. While there she had a hand in the creation of “<span class=\"title\">Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?</span>” derived from a “Three Little Pigs” animated short. Around this time, she met the producer <span class=\"name\">Lester Cowan</span> who became her husband in November 1935. The majority of Ronell’s work from this point on was centered on film music, though she was to collaborate with <span class=\"name\">Nicolai Berezowsky</span> on a ballet <span class=\"title\">Ship South</span>, compose her own “operetta/ballet” <span class=\"title\">The Magic of spring</span><date>(1935)</date> and write lyrics and music for the show <span class=\"title\">Count me in</span>, produced on Broadway in <date>1942</date>. Additionally, Ronell created <span class=\"title\">Oh! Susanna in</span><date>1947</date>, a quasi-biographical folk operetta based on the life and music of <span class=\"name\">Stephen Foster</span> which was suited for performance by student and amateur groups. From the late 1940s onward, muchof her time was also spent translating and adapting opera and operetta libretti in an attempt to bring these genres to wider audiences. Her versions of <span class=\"name\">Johann Strauss</span> ’ <span class=\"title\">Gypsy Baron</span> and Friedrich von Flotow’s <span class=\"title\">Martha</span> were performed by the Los Angeles Civic Opera, the St. Louis Municipal Opera, the Metropolitan Opera (N.Y.) and elsewhere.</p> <p>Over a span of more than three decades, Ronell contributed to the soundtrack scores of numerous films, including <span class=\"title\">Down to their Last Yacht</span> (1935), <span class=\"title\">The River so Blue</span> (1938), <span class=\"title\">Blockade</span>(1938), <span class=\"title\">Algiers</span> (1938), <span class=\"title\">The Story of G.I. Joe</span> (1945), <span class=\"title\">One Touch of Venus</span> (1948), <span class=\"title\">Love Happy</span>(1949), <span class=\"title\">Main Street to Boadway</span> (1953), and <span class=\"title\">Meeting at a Far Meridian</span> (1964). She was also partially or solely responsible for aspects of the musical direction for a number of these films. Ronell was a pioneer in several areas of soundtrack recording and is sometimes given credit for introducing, in <span class=\"title\">The Story of G.I. Joe</span>, the concept of the theme song sung over the title credits of a film.</p> <p>Following her return to New York in the 1960s, Ronell served on the boards of several musical and theatrical associations and she was inducted into the National Academy of Popular Music’s Song Writer’s Hall of Fame in 1991.</p> <p>Ann Ronell died on her 88th birthday, 25 December 1993.</p>"}
- scopecontent
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{"value"=>"<p>The Ann Ronell Papers consist of approximately 8.5 linear feet of material documenting Ronell’s musical education and her career as a composer, arranger, lyricist and musical director for films. Scores and subject files, containing the bulk of her correspondence, along with material gathered for biographical purposes constitute the vast majority of the collection. Financial records, photographs and material belonging to here husband, Lester Cowan are also present. Folders 536-548 are filed with oversize materials.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Ann Ronell papers are arranged in five series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20280#c550281'>Series II: Subject files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1931-1993 (1934-1977, 1936-1993, n.d. (1936-1960, 1932-1991, n.d. (1934-1978</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Subject files series consists of approximately 4.2 linear feet of material, arranged alphabetically and then chronologically within sub-groupings. Due to the original placement of letters within her general files, the Ronell papers have both chronologically and alphabetically arranged sub-series of correspondence within the subject files. There is no independent correspondence series, but letters, including those from <span class=\"persname\">Nicolai Berezowsky</span>, <span class=\"persname\">Leonard Bernstein,</span> <span class=\"persname\">F. Scott Fitzgerald</span>, <span class=\"persname\">George Gershwin</span>, <span class=\"persname\">Lorin Maazel</span> (at age nine), <span class=\"persname\">Frances Ryerson</span> and <span class=\"persname\">Kurt Weill</span>, can be found filed alphabetically within this series. In addition to correspondence, this series contains lyrics for many of Ronell’s songs, working drafts and associated materials for musical projects and a number of concert programs related to the activities of her colleagues.</p> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1: Musical works and projects, 1936-1993, n.d. (bulk 1936-1960)</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Correspondence and general files, 1932-1991, n.d. (bulk1934-1978)</li></ul></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20280#c550578'>Series III: Biographical</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1914-1997 (1924-1979, 1932-1997, n.d, 1923-1944 (1923-1927</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Biographical series consists of approximately one linear foot of material. Most of the items in this series deal with Ronell’s professional activities, but there are 10 folders of material drawn from her secondary school and college days. Materials represented include press releases, scrapbooks, clippings and extended articles, transcripts of radio broadcasts and personal documents.</p> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1: Professional activities, 1932-1997, n.d.</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Student material, 1923-1944 (bulk 1923-1927)</li></ul></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20280#c550635'>Series IV: Financial</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1933-1965, 1945-1959, 1939, 1942, n.d.</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Financial series consists of eight folders of material and is arranged chronologically. The bulk of the material in this series consists of royalty statements, performance ledgers and associated correspondence.</p> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1: A.S.C.A.P. performance ledgers, 1945-1959</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Royalty statements, 1933-1965</li> <li>Sub-series 3: Other financial correspondence and receipts, 1939, 1942, n.d.</li></ul></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20280#c550645'>Series V: Iconography</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>ca. 1920-1980, ca. 1920-1945, n.d., ca. 1935-ca. 1980</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Iconography series consists of approximately .4 linear feet of material. The series consists of photographs which are grouped into pictures of her family, pictures of Ronell, her activities and associates and pictures that cannot be directly connected to a specific event or project. Most of the family photographs can be roughly dated but identification of most of the individuals pictured is problematic. Of particular note in this series are snapshots of the composer <span class=\"persname\">Nicolai Berezowsky</span> as a child and a portrait of <span class=\"persname\">Lotte Lenya</span> taken by <span class=\"persname\">George Platt Lynes</span>.</p> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1: Family photographs, ca. 1920-1945, n.d.</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Photographs of Ann Ronell and associates, ca. 1935-ca. 1980, n.d.</li></ul></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20280#c550681'>Series VI: Lester Cowan papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1960-1975</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Lester Cowan papers series consists of six folders containing notes and memos written by Ronell’s husband, the producer Lester Cowan, and correspondence pertaining to various of his professional projects. A file titled “Chateau Marmont” (their residence in Los Angeles during the 1970s) appears to contain material intended for an autobiography.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p> <ul> <li>Series I: Scores <ul> <li>Sub-series 1: Scores by or adapted by Ann Ronell <ul> <li>Sub-sub-series a: Published scores</li> <li>Sub-sub-series b: Manuscript scores</li></ul></li></ul> <ul> <li>Sub-series 2: Scores by other composers <ul> <li>Sub-sub-series a: Published scores</li> <li>Sub-sub-series b: Manuscript scores</li></ul></li></ul></li> <li>Series II: Subject and correspondence files <ul> <li>Sub-series 1: Musical works and projects</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Correspondence and general files</li></ul></li> <li>Series III: Biographical <ul> <li>Sub-series 1: Professional activities</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Student material</li></ul></li> <li>Series IV: Financial <ul> <li>Sub-series 1: A.S.C.A.P. performance ledgers</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Royalty statements</li> <li>Sub-series 3: Other financial correspondence and receipts</li></ul></li> <li>Series V: Iconography <ul> <li>Sub-series 1: Family photographs</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Photographs of Ann Ronell and associates</li></ul></li> <li>Series VI: Lester Cowan papers</li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The bulk of the Papers were a gift from Ann Ronell’s brother-in-law Robert Cowan in 1996. These were added to materials previously donated by Radcliffe College.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Music Division, The New York Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1914
- date_inclusive_end
-
1999
- keydate
-
1914
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- processinfo
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{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Peter Hirsch; Machine-readable finding aid created by Peter Hirsch.</p>"}
- extent_statement
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8.5 linear feet (26 boxes)
- date_start
-
1914
- date_end
-
1999