- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"2 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"3 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"*T-Mss 1981-015", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"21780", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1903-1981", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1903/1981"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1903
- date_inclusive_end
-
1981
- keydate
-
1903
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Smith and Dale papers"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library Performing Arts.</span> <span class=\"subarea\">The Billy Rose Theatre Division</span> <div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Joe Smith and Charlie Dale were partners in one of vaudeville’s most famous and successful comedy acts, later translating many of their most popular sketches to other media, including radio, motion pictures and television. The Smith and Dale Papers include contracts, correspondence, photographs, scripts and other professional material from the team, as well as clippings documenting their joint career and Smith’s activities after Dale’s death."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Smith and Dale Papers, *T-Mss 1981-015. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Smith, Joe, 1884-1981", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>When vaudeville was the primary form of public entertainment in America, Smith and Dale were among its most important stars. As they traveled across the country, audiences enjoyed their many signature comedy sketches, in which a simple relationship, such as doctor / patient or teacher / student, would serve as the basis for a dizzying stream of jokes, ranging from the silly to the philosophical.</p> <p> Smith and Dale met as teenagers in New York City in 1898. Smith was born Joseph Sultzer in 1884 and Dale was born Charles Marks in 1881. As they told it throughout their professional lives, they had each rented bicycles for the afternoon and accidentally crashed them into each other. As they dragged their damaged bicycles back to the shop where they had both rented them, the two boys argued and insulted each other. When they arrived at the shop, the owner heard them arguing, told them they sounded like the comedy team Weber and Fields and lent them a tandem bike for free, on the condition that they stop fighting and get to know one another. They soon discovered a shared interest in performing, decided to join forces and remained a team for the next seventy-three years.</p> <p> Once they began seeking work in vaudeville, they needed cards to identify them and their act. When they went to commission cards from a printer, they saw he was offering a steep discount on cards for “Smith and Dale”, an act that had never picked up the cards they had commissioned. Upon learning the price of new cards, Sultzer and Marks became Smith and Dale on the spot.</p> <p> The team joined forces with two other young men to create a variety act known as The Avon Comedy Four. Smith and Dale incorporated their comedy sketches and after some musical numbers by Harry Goodwin and Irving Kaufman, all four joined together for a musical comedy finale.</p> <p> Smith and Dale became major stars in vaudeville, and their sketches were nationally famous. Audiences around the country knew and loved <span class=\"title\">School Days</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Tax Examiner</span> and <span class=\"title\">Dr. Kronkhite and His Only Living Patient</span>, among others. The nature of vaudeville suited Smith and Dale very well. They were perfectionists, preferring to hone their material until it was exactly as they wanted it. Traveling the vaudeville circuit from coast to coast allowed them to perfect their sketches without any concern about repeating themselves.</p> <p> Once vaudeville was rendered extinct by the double blow of network radio and talking pictures, Smith and Dale lost their place as headlining stars. They continued to work and were always popular and well-remembered, but the new media did not lend themselves to perfectionism. Once a sketch had been aired on radio or, later, television, it could not be repeated the next time. Mass media consumed material infinitely faster than vaudeville had, and Smith and Dale had no interest in competing at that pace. They made periodic appearances on radio and television, recreating their old sketches until Dale’s death in 1971. Smith continued making public appearances and performing comedy, including many recordings for Dial-a-Joke, until his death in 1981.</p> <p> Neil Simon’s play, <span class=\"title\">The Sunshine Boys</span>, which told the story of a vaudeville team’s reunion, was loosely based on Smith and Dale’s professional history. Unlike Simon’s volatile Lewis and Clark, however, Smith and Dale were quite close throughout their partnership.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Smith and Dale Papers reflect the later life of Joe Smith, including correspondence, clippings and photographs from the 1970s. There is older material included as well, documenting the careers of Smith and Dale, but this older material is far less extensive, most likely the remains of what Smith saved when he entered The Actors Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey. The collection mixes personal and professional subjects, including both Smith’s and Dale’s marriage licenses, poems from Smith to his wife and friends, as well as handwritten copies of Smith and Dale comedy sketches.</p>"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Alphabetical</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Smith and Dale Papers were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 1981 by The Actors’ Fund of America.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Lee Spilberg; Machine-readable finding aid created by Lee Spilberg.</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
2 linear feet (3 boxes)
- date_start
-
1903
- date_end
-
1981