- unitid
-
{"value"=>"18692", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"*T-Mss 2008-001", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1898-1987", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1898/1987"}
{"value"=>"1920-1978", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1920/1978"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Smith and Dale papers, additions"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"11 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"4.86 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Billy Rose Theatre Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Joe Smith and Charlie Dale were a well-known vaudeville duo known as Smith and Dale who performed around the United States for over seventy years. The collection contains an extensive run of scripts for Smith and Dale sketches, material reflecting the later life and career of Joe Smith following Charlie Dale's death, and early material relating to their other comedy team The Avon Comedy Four."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Smith and Dale", "type"=>"corpname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Smith and Dale were a well-known vaudeville duo who performed together for over seventy years. Joe Smith was born as Joseph Sultzer on February 16, 1884 and Charlie Dale was born as Charles Marks on September 6, 1881. Both men were born in New York City. They met in December of 1898 after getting in an accident while riding bicycles. Both boys had rented bikes from the same shop and they brought they bikes back to the shop bickering with each other all the way. The shop owner told them that they reminded him of Weber and Fields, and that the two should perform together. The two began to sing and dance in the saloons of the Bowery, performing first in black-face. Their names became Smith and Dale when they found a printer who had made up calling cards for a vaudeville act of that name who had subsequently declined to pay for the cards. Smith and Dale got a deal on the cards and their show names, and real names, were changed forever.</p> <p>In 1900, they joined the Imperial Vaudeville and Comedy Company, which played in the Catskills. After a few years, they returned to New York and began performing with two new partners, Will Lester and Jack Coleman, who were working as singing waiters at the Avon Care on 116th St. Using the name of the saloon, the four became known as The Avon Comedy Four. One of their first sketches was based off of a sketch perfected by Smith and Dale, <span class=\"title\">The New Schoolteacher</span>. The Avon Comedy Four would play on different iterations of altercations at a school. Lester and Coleman were later replaced by Irving Kaufman and Harry Goodwin. In 1914, The Avon Comedy Four headlined the first all-American bill at London's Finsbury Park Empire. In 1916, the group added a restaurant sketch, with Smith playing the chef who feigns illness when he gets too many orders. Kaufman left The Avon Comedy Four in 1919 and was replaced by Dale's brother Lew. The quartet ended soon after and Smith and Dale continued as a duo. They developed the new sketch, <span class=\"title\">Dr. Kronkheit</span>, which became one of their most famous and long lasting sketches.</p> <p>In 1929, Paramount did a film short <span class=\"title\">The False Alarm Fire Company</span> that was based off of the Smith and Dale sketch <span class=\"title\">Battery to the Bronx</span> that first debuted in 1925. The sketch opens with a song, <span class=\"title\">Canal Street</span>, and then moved into a scene in the office of lawyer U. R. Struck (played by Dale) and then to Harlem which Smith and Dale placed two firemen who were too busy playing cards to attend a fire.</p> <p>Aside from vaudeville, the pair appeared in a number of reviews and in several short films and three features, including <span class=\"title\">Manhattan Parade</span> (1931), <span class=\"title\">The Heart of New York</span> (1932) and <span class=\"title\">Two Tickets to Broadway</span> (1951). Additionally, they made frequent television appearances, and participated in the Judy Garland show at the Palace, which opened on October 16, 1951. In their later years, Smith and Dale both became residents of the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey. Dale died in 1971. Smith kept on making appearances and performing comedy, including many recordings for Dial-a-Joke, until his death ten years later in 1981.</p>"}
- custodhist
-
{"value"=>"<p>The papers were mostly compiled by Joe Smith with some material added to the collection by Terry McGrath following Smith's death.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection documents the careers of vaudeville duo Smith and Dale and contains early material relating to The Avon Comedy Four, an extensive run of scripts for Smith and Dale sketches, and material reflecting the later life and career of Joe Smith following Charlie Dale's death. The collection consists of awards, correspondence, news clippings, photographs, props, writings, and a small amount of legal and financial records. The correspondence is minimal and is often from third parties, usually to, or from, Terrence McGrath, Smith's friend and occasional comedic partner from the 1970s. The correspondence primarily discusses performance rights, the history of Smith and Dale, and includes condolence letters received by McGrath following Smith's death. Of special note is a letter from Arthur \"Bugs\" Baer to Smith reminiscing about their early years performing together. Photographs contain portraits, sketches, movie stills, and photographs that include pictures of Smith and Dale, The Avon Comedy Four, Eddie Bracken, George Burns, Walter Matthau, Lee Meredith, George Sidney, Ed Sullivan, Sophie Tucker, and Ed Wynn. The writings have notes regarding sketches going back to The Avon Comedy Four, lyrics for comedic songs, scripts, and an unpublished, unproduced screenplay called <span class=\"title\">Stage Struck: The life story of Smith and Dale and their Avon Comedy Four</span> written by Smith and Dale with Aaron Fishman. The scripts are mostly undated and often include working scripts in various iterations, cue cards, and scores. The typewriter is a Smith-Corona Skyriter, which was a small, portable typewriter that would have been easy to travel with.</p>"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection is arranged alphabetically by subject.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by Terry McGrath, 2008.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Compiled by Susan Malsbury.</p><p>Material was reboxed. Original folder titles were maintained when apparent.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p><span class=\"archref\">Smith and Dale papers, 1903-1981. Billy Rose Theatre Collection, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts..</span></p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Expanded component and created new container for typewriter and updated extents accordingly; added agents and subjects with new authorities as needed - Annemarie van Roessel", "date"=>"2021-11"}
- date_start
-
1898
- keydate
-
1898
- date_end
-
1987
- date_inclusive_start
-
1898
- date_inclusive_end
-
1987
- date_bulk_start
-
1920
- date_bulk_end
-
1978
- extent_statement
-
4.86 linear feet (11 boxes)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Smith and Dale papers, additions, *T-Mss 2008-001. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}