Ruth and Augustus Goetz papers

Description data
Resources (attachments and links)
Repository assets
Living At
Child components

id: 5432
origination: Goetz, Ruth
date statement: 1930-1966
key date: 1930
identifier (local_mss): 21567
org unit: Billy Rose Theatre Division
call number: *T-Mss 1999-003
b-number: b15087311
total components: 370
total series: 8
max depth: 3
boost queries: (none)
component layout: Default Layout
Extended MARC Fields: false
Extended Navigation: false
created: 2013-04-01 15:05:19 UTC
updated: 2026-01-20 20:09:27 UTC
status note: (missing)
Display Aeon link: true

Description data TOP

physdesc: {"format"=>"simple", "value"=>"15 linear feet + scrapbooks and oversized"}
unitid: {"value"=>"*T-Mss 1999-003", "type"=>"local_call"}

{"value"=>"21567", "type"=>"local_mss"}
unittitle: {"value"=>"Ruth and Augustus Goetz papers"}
repository: {"value"=>"The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Billy Rose Theatre Division."}
abstract: {"value"=>"The Papers of Ruth and Augustus Goetz contain documentation of their lives and collaboration as playwrights."}
prefercite: {"value"=>"Ruth and Augustus Goetz Papers, *T-Mss 1999-003, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}
origination: {"value"=>"Goetz, Ruth", "type"=>"persname"}
bioghist: {"value"=>"Playwright, adapter and translator, Ruth Goodman Goetz was born January 12, 1912 in Philadelphia, the only child of Lily Cartun Goodman and Philip Goodman, a theatrical producer and writer. She grew up in New York City and was educated at P.S. 93 and later at Miss Marshall's Classes for Young Gentlewomen. She left Miss Marshall's at the age of 15 and attended school in Paris for two years, possibly at the Sorbonne. Mrs. Goetz studied scenic design with Norman Bel Geddes and worked as a costume and scenic designer. After a reversal in her family's finances, H. L. Mencken, a family friend, obtained a position for Ruth around 1930 with Blanche and Alfred A. Knopf in their publishing house. One source indicates she also read scripts for Samuel Goldwyn. After Philip Goodman sold some properties to the movies, he and Ruth sailed for Europe on the DeGrasse. It was on this ship that she met a stockbroker named Augustus Otto Goetz. They were married on October 11, 1932. Soon after their marriage, Augustus Goetz gave up his Wall Street job to pursue a writing career. He and Ruth returned to Europe, living in boarding houses for a year and a half while attempting to write. After returning to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where they purchased a farmhouse in Keller's Church, they began to write seriously. Their third play, Franklin Street, a comedy based on Philip Goodman's recollections of his early life in Philadelphia, was produced at the National Theater, Washington, D.C. in September 1940. One Man Show, the Goetzes' next play, opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on February 8, 1945. In 1946, their only child, Judith, was born. The Goetzes' most famous play, The Heiress, was adapted from the Henry James novel, Washington Square. After a brief out-of-town run under the same title as the novel, the Goetzes revised the play and it opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre, September 29, 1947 starring Basil Rathbone and Wendy Hiller. After the success of the play, Ruth and Augustus Goetz went to Hollywood as writers on the Paramount lot. There they wrote the screenplay for The Heiress, directed by William Wyler, which was released in 1949. Their screenplay was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award that same year. They also adapted Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie for the screen; it was released as Carrie in 1952. Other screenplays include Rhapsody (MGM, 1954), and Stage Struck (Buena Vista, 1958). After five years in Hollywood, Ruth and Augustus Goetz returned to New York, where they purchased a house at 1380 Lexington Avenue. They adapted André Gide's novel, The Immoralist for the stage, which opened at the Royale Theatre on February 8, 1954. The last play they wrote together was The Hidden River. Based on Storm Jameson's novel, The Hidden River opened at the Playhouse Theatre on January 23, 1957. Ruth Goetz continued writing subsequent to her husband's death in September 1957. She collaborated with George S. Kaufman on Ring in the New, which was never produced. She also wrote Sweet Love Remember'd, which closed in New Haven in 1959 following the death of its star, Margaret Sullavan. Mrs. Goetz also adapted and translated several French plays, including L'Amour Fou by Andre Roussin (produced out of town in 1963 and 1964 as Madly in Love). She collaborated with Bart Howard on Play on Love, which they adapted from Comme au Theatre by Francoise Dorin. The play opened at St. Martin's Theatre, London on January 14, 1970. Other plays include a number of unproduced works, such as her adaptation of The Odyssey for a Cup of Tea by Jean Michel Ribes (1974), Giving and Taking(1977), and C'Etait Comment Dejas (How It Was and Is) by Jean Bouchaud, which she adapted (1980). Around 1962, Ruth Goetz also wrote A Class of One, her unpublished memoir. Throughout the 1970s, Ruth Goetz spent extended periods of time in London, where her daughter Judith and her family lived. She also traveled frequently to Europe. A lifelong registered Democrat, she campaigned for Franklin D. Roosevelt, speaking and writing in 1940 and 1944 and later worked for the civil rights cause. Mrs. Goetz also served actively for several decades on the boards and as an officer of several professional organizations such as The Authors League Fund, The Authors League of America, The Dramatists Guild, The Dramatists Guild Fund, the New York Institute for the Humanities, and Young Playwrights, Inc. She was appointed to Community Planning Board No. 8 of New York and worked as a volunteer at P.S. 9 in Harlem through the Public Education Association, a group which attempted to raise reading scores in underprivileged schools. Ruth Goetz currently lives in New York City. Augustus Otto Goetz was born in Buffalo, New York in 1899, to Augustus, an insurance man, and Blanche Goetz. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a member of the varsity crew. According to some sources, he attended a number of Catholic schools, such as Fordham University and Georgetown University. Mr. Goetz served as a Navy flier in World War I. In 1930, he worked as a lifeguard in Atlantic City. He went to work as a bond salesman and trader on Wall Street and began to think about becoming a writer. Augustus Goetz married Ruth Goodman in 1932 and they lived for several years in Paris, Vienna and elsewhere in Europe. In addition to his collaborations with Ruth Goetz, in 1939, Augustus Goetz wrote a series of humorous stories, including Home is Where You Hang Yourself with S.J. Perelman, which was published in the New Yorker. Augustus Goetz died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City after a brief illness on September 30, 1957. Producer and author Philip Goodman, father of Ruth Goetz, was born in Philadelphia in 1885. As a young man, he came to New York and worked on a magazine edited by Theodore Dreiser. He later went into the advertising business and eventually owned his own agency and published The Ad News, a trade magazine. Although the exact year is unknown, it is known that Philip Goodman married Lily Cartun sometime before 1912, when Ruth was born. Because of his admiration for the work of the writer Don Marquis, Philip Goodman convinced him to write a play about his character Clem Hawley, The Old Soak. In 1922, Arthur Hopkins produced the play with the same title at the Plymouth Theatre in New York on August 22, 1922. In 1923, Goodman produced the musical comedy Poppy, which featured W.C. Fields and Madge Kennedy. Other Philip Goodman productions include Dear Sir by Edgar Selwyn, music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Howard Dietz (1924), The Ramblers by Guy Bolton, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, featuring Clark and McCullough (1926), The Wild Man of Borneo by Marc Connelly and Herman J. Mankiewicz (1927), the musicals The Five O'Clock Girl by Guy Bolton, Fred Thompson, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby (1927), and Rainbowby Lawrence Stallings and Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Vincent Youmans (1928). In 1929, Goodman produced Among the Married by Vincent Lawrence. Philip Goodman's final production was Washington Heights also by Vincent Lawrence (1931). His final years were devoted to writing plays. One of these, Lady at Large was produced by the Shuberts out of town. He died of a heart ailment on July 20, 1940 in New York City at the age of 55. Franklin Street, his memoirs of his early years in Philadelphia, was published by Alfred A. Knopf two years after Philip Goodman's death. (It appears that Ruth Goetz completed this book.)"}
custodhist: {"value"=>"The bulk of the papers were donated in 1999 to The Billy Rose Theatre Division by Ruth Goetz. There were some materials donated earlier which were integrated into this collection."}
scopecontent: {"value"=>"The Ruth and Augustus Goetz papers span the years 1900-1996 and consist of personal papers, including Goodman family papers, and Goetz family papers, correspondence, production materials, scripts, materials relating to other projects, photographs, clippings, ephemera, and several ledgers and scrapbooks. Because Augustus Goetz died in 1957, many of the materials pertain specifically to Ruth Goetz. The Goodman family papers date from the early decades of the century, when Ruth's father, Philip Goodman, was producing Broadway shows. Since many of Ruth and Augustus Goetz's friends and associates included working theater professionals and other writers, such as Enid Bagnold, Kitty Carlisle and Moss Hart, Lillian Hellman, and Florence and Harold Rome, the papers provide a valuable insight into the 20th century theater and literary worlds. The papers are especially rich in scripts and contain early drafts and handwritten revisions for a number of plays by Ruth Goetz and Augustus Goetz, both produced and unproduced. Scripts by other playwrights and writers such as James M. Cain, Don DeLillo, John Guare, Tina Howe, and Vincent Lawrence are also included. Some correspondence and notes relating to the Goetzes' works come from the files of their literary agent, Leah Salisbury. Until her death in 1975, Mrs. Salisbury continued to serve as Ruth Goetz's representative. These papers offer a glimpse into the playwright/agent relationship and into the negotiation process. Personal papers consist of datebooks, journals and address books, biographical materials, Goodman family papers, Goetz family papers, and articles, essays, and speeches by Ruth Goetz. The family papers include some writings by Philip Goodman, photographs of Philip Goodman, Ruth and Augustus Goetz and their daughter, Judith, other family and friends, and the Goetzes' home in Keller's Church, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The correspondence series includes personal and professional letters to and from Ruth and Augustus Goetz. Since Ruth Goetz often kept clippings and other ephemera relating to many of those with whom she corresponded, these materials have been included with their correspondence. Organization materials contain papers relating to professional associations with which Ruth Goetz was affiliated, such as The Authors Guild and The Authors League of America, The Dramatists Guild, The Dramatists Guild Fund, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, New Dramatists, the Writers Guild of America West, and Young Playwrights Inc., as well as two institutions to which she donated materials-New York Public Library and the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. The production series consists largely of scripts, correspondence, contracts, royalty statements, some production materials and ephemera relating to the Goetzes' produced plays and films: Franklin Street, The Heiress, The Hidden River, The Immoralist, Madly in Love, One Man Show, Play on Love (Comme au Theatre), Stage Struck (Motion picture), Sweet Love Remember'd, and Washington Square, an earlier and unsuccessful version of The Heiress. Because of its huge success, The Heiress is the most thoroughly documented of the productions and includes materials on productions of the play throughout the world, as well as adaptations to musicals, an opera, film, television and radio. Other projects contain writings and background materials for script ideas, television show proposals, play fragments, and a China travel journal. The projects are mostly by Ruth Goetz, but there are also several by Augustus Goetz. The series includes A Class of One, an unpublished memoir by Ruth Goetz. Unproduced and other scripts encompass playscripts by Ruth and Augustus Goetz which were never produced as well as plays, poetry, one book proposal and a published book by other authors. The scrapbooks and ledgers series consists of two scrapbooks mostly of clippings, probably belonging to Ruth Goetz and Philip Goodman and financial ledgers of Ruth and Augustus Goetz."}

{"value"=>"The Ruth and Augustus Goetz papers are arranged in eight series:\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21567#c310274'>Series I: Personal Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series is divided into five sub-series: Journals, Diaries and Datebooks, Biographical Materials, Goodman Family Papers, Goetz Family Papers, and Articles, Essays and Speeches and includes correspondence, photographs, ephemera, clippings, financial documents, and legal documents relating to Ruth and Augustus Goetz and Ruth Goetz's family, the Goodmans.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21567#c310330'>Series II: Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1940-1994</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1 linear foot</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series also contains ephemera such as clippings and memorial service programs kept by Ruth Goetz for individuals with whom she had some association. Frequent correspondents include Rebecca \"Becky\" Bernstein, Constance Cummings, Leah Salisbury (the Goetzes literary agent), and Genevieve Ulmann of the Marguerite Scaltiel literary agency in Paris. Some notable correspondents are Peggy Ashcroft, Enid Bagnold, Hugh \"Binkie\" Beaumont, James M. Cain, Aaron Copland, Olivia de Havilland, John Gielgud, Kitty and Moss Hart, Lillian Hellman, Al Hirschfeld and Dolly Haas Hirschfeld, S. J. Perelman, J.B. Priestley, Samson Raphaelson, Ralph Richardson, Florence Rome, Stephen Sondheim, Gore Vidal, and William Wyler. Some correspondents are unidentified or identified by first name only.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21567#c310390'>Series III: Organizations</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the organization and chronologically within each file. They include correspondence, printed materials, by-laws, financial reports, contracts, and other business papers relating to organizations with which Ruth Goetz was associated.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21567#c310419'>Series IV: Productions</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'>Dramatists Play Service statements are included at the end of the series. These are mostly covering The Heiress, but also including The Immoralist and The Hidden River.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21567#c310566'>Series V: Other Projects</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1949-ca. 1980</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>.41 linear feet</div>\n<div class='series-description'>Arranged alphabetically by project title, this series contains writings, background materials, unidentified script fragments, proposals, correspondence, contracts, and clippings related to projects mostly by Ruth Goetz but also by Augustus Goetz. Of particular interest is A Class of One, Ruth Goetz's unpublished memoir. The projects are: Alcuin by Ruth Goetz (ca. 1980); A Class of One (ca. 1962?); Conquest of Mexico, a play fragment by Ruth Goetz and possibly Augustus Goetz (n.d.); La Facture by Francoise Dorin, materials relating to a possible adaptation by Ruth Goetz (1968); Finish the Scene and Your Psyche Is Showing, television show proposals by Ruth and Augustus Goetz (1953, 1958); My Life as a Wife by Ruth Goetz, describing her meeting Billy Rose (1979); New Year's Eve at the Willingdon Club by Ruth Goetz (n.d.); notes for a script fragment of My Daughter's My Daughter by Ruth Goetz (1963-1964); materials relating to an unproduced motion picture The Sailor's Return by Ruth and Augustus Goetz (1949-1970); A Short Trip to China, a travel journal by Ruth Goetz (1978); notes on adaptation by Ruth Goetz (ca. 1963); unidentified writings by Ruth Goetz (n.d.).</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21567#c310582'>Series VI: Scripts (Unproduced and Others)</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>ca. 1940-1992</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1.9 linear feet</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series consists of unproduced playscripts by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, some correspondence, programs and clippings for foreign language productions, relating to the plays, as well as playscripts, poems, and one published volume by other authors. Projects by Ruth and Augustus Goetz are filed first and are arranged alphabetically by play title; works by other authors are arranged alphabetically by author. Scripts included are: How It Was and Is (English version of C'Etait Comment Deja by Jean Bouchaud) by Ruth Goetz, Giving and Taking by Ruth Goetz, Howard and Irene (one-act play) by Ruth Goetz, A Night at Sea (Screenplay) by Ruth Goetz, The Odyssey for a Cup of Tea by Jean-Michel Ribes, adapted by Ruth Goetz, The Party by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, Other Heroes (a.k.a. The Suffering Cats) by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, The Suffering Cats by Ruth Goodman (Goetz) and Augustus Goetz, Galahad Rides Again by James M. Cain, Counterintelligence: Semi-Private and Motel TV (one-act plays) by Don DeLillo, Cinders by Janusz Glowacki, translated by Christina Paul, Eye Contact (Screenplay) by John Guare for Louis Malle, I Hate My Life(Screenplay) by John Guare for Louis Malle, Lydie Breeze by John Guare, Mine (Screenplay) by John Guare for Martin Scorsese, Women and Water: Lydie Breeze: Part Two by John Guare, Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe, and Nothing Less by Vincent Lawrence.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21567#c310630'>Series VII: Scrapbooks and Ledgers</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series contains two scrapbooks and four financial ledgers. One scrapbook clearly belonged to Philip Goodman; the other appears to have belonged to Ruth Goetz, but it is unclear. The ledgers contain financial data for Ruth and Augustus Goetz.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21567#c310639'>Series VIII: Oversized</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1949-1992</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1 flat box</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series includes three pieces by the artist Mel Calman; one drawing is L'auteur applaude and is in poor condition. Also included are photographs by Houston Rogers of the original London production of The Heiress, with Peggy Ashcroft and Ralph Richardson, and a color photograph autographed by the cast of The Heiress at the Richmond Theatre, England.</div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
arrangement: {"value"=>"The collection is organized into eight series and 28 sub-series. They are: <ul> <li>Series I : Personal Papers <ul> <li>Sub-series 1 - Journals, Diaries and Datebooks</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - Biographical Materials</li> <li>Sub-series 3 - Goodman Family Papers</li> <li>Sub-series 4 - Goetz Family Papers</li> <li>Sub-series 5 - Articles, Essays and Speeches</li></ul></li> <li>Series II : Correspondence</li> <li>Series III : Organizations <ul> <li>Sub-series 1 - The Authors Guild/The Authors League of America</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - The Dramatists Guild, Inc.</li> <li>Sub-series 3 - The Dramatists Guild Fund, Inc.</li> <li>Sub-series 4 - Eugene O'Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference</li> <li>Sub-series 5 - New Dramatists</li> <li>Sub-series 6 - The New York Institute for the Humanities</li> <li>Sub-series 7 - Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research</li> <li>Sub-series 8 - Writers Guild of America West, Inc.</li> <li>Sub-series 9 - Young Playwrights Inc.</li></ul></li> <li>Series IV : Productions <ul> <li>Sub-series 1 - Franklin Street</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - The Heiress</li> <li>Sub-series 3 - Here Today</li> <li>Sub-series 4 - The Hidden River</li> <li>Sub-series 5 - The Immoralist</li> <li>Sub-series 6 - Madly in Love</li> <li>Sub-series 7 - One Man Show</li> <li>Sub-series 8 - Play on Love (Comme au Theatre)</li> <li>Sub-series 9 - Stage Struck (Motion picture)</li> <li>Sub-series 10 - Sweet Love Remember'd</li> <li>Sub-series 11 - Washington Square</li> <li>Sub-series 12 - Dramatists Play Service</li></ul></li> <li>Series V : Other Projects</li> <li>Series VI Scripts : Unproduced and Others</li> <li>Series VII : Scrapbooks and Ledgers <ul> <li>Sub-series 1 - Ledgers</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - Scrapbooks</li></ul></li> <li>Series VIII : Oversized</li></ul>", "supress_display"=>true}
separatedmaterial: {"value"=>"Audiovisual materials separated from archival collections are cataloged individually and can be found in the Library catalog. Search CATNYP, The New York Public Library catalog. <ul> <li> 1 33 1/3 l.p. album - Song and Dance</li></ul> <ul> <li> Painting -\"Flowers for Polly\" (17 x 21 inches) by Harold Rome (1968)</li></ul> <ul> <li> The Heiress - Theatre Royal Haymarket, 8/19/1950</li> <li> The Heiress - Richmond Theatre (England), July/Aug. 1992 (Souvenir Program)</li> <li> How to Succeed in Business...(Musical) - Richard Rodgers Theatre, 1995 (Souvenir program)</li> <li> Lerner and Loewe: A Very Special Evening - Winter Garden Theatre, 5/14/1979 (Souvenir Program)</li> <li> The Nest - Bush Theatre (London) [no date]</li> <li> Show Boat (Musical) - Gershwin Theatre, 1995 (Souvenir Program)</li> <li> Sweet Love Remember'd - Shubert Theatre (New Haven), 12/1959-1/1960</li> <li> Washington Square (Musical) - Washington Theater Club (Washington, D.C.), 3/1972</li></ul> <ul> <li>Descriptive Booklet: NT Studio: The Way Ahead for the National Theatre of Great Britain, [n.d.]</li> <li>Descriptive Booklets: The Story of the Wisconsin Union Theater (Madison?), ca. 1949</li></ul> <ul> <li> The Heiress - Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), 1976</li> <li> The Heiress - Lincoln Center Theater, 1995?</li> <li> The Heiress (L'Heritiere) (Opera) - Grand Theatre de Nancy, 1974</li></ul>"}
processinfo: {"value"=>"Processed by Camille Croce Dee."}

{"value"=>"The collection was processed and cataloged in June 2001."}
accessrestrict: {"value"=>"Photocopying prohibited."}
userestrict: {"value"=>"For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division."}
unitdate: {"value"=>"1930-1966", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1930/1966"}
date_inclusive_start: 1930
date_inclusive_end: 1966
acqinfo: {"accession_number"=>"THE Mss 1973-007"}

{"date"=>"1973", "source"=>"Goetz, Ruth", "method"=>"Gift", "extent"=>"15 o", "value"=>"Gift, Goetz, Ruth, 1973"}
keydate: 1930
date_start: 1930
date_end: 1966

Update Collection TOP

Update from EAD XML File

Resources TOP

PDF finding aid

Current PDF finding aid: https://nyplorg-data-archives.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/collection/pdf_finding_aid/thegoetz.pdf

Ruth and Augustus Goetz papers

Description data TOP

Update Collection TOP

Update from EAD XML File

Resources TOP

PDF finding aid

File attachments

Links to external resources

Repository Assets

Living at NYPL Archives

Export Collection to ArchivesSpace

Child components TOP