Avery Willard photographs

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

id: 582
origination: Willard, Avery
date statement: 1919-1993 [bulk 1940-1970]
key date: 1919
identifier (local_mss): 21738
org unit: Billy Rose Theatre Division
call number: *T-Vim 1999-026
b-number: b16093406
total components: 2292
total series: 5
max depth: 6
boost queries: (none)
component layout: Default Layout
Extended MARC Fields: false
Extended Navigation: false
created: 2013-04-01 14:58:57 UTC
updated: 2026-08-14 02:32:08 UTC
status note: (missing)
Display Aeon link: true

Description data TOP

physdesc: {"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"34 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"76 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
unitid: {"value"=>"*T-Vim 1999-026", "type"=>"local_call"}

{"value"=>"21738", "type"=>"local_mss"}
unitdate: {"value"=>"1919-1993", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1919/1993"}

{"value"=>"1940-1970", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1940/1970"}
date_inclusive_start: 1919
date_inclusive_end: 1993
keydate: 1919
unittitle: {"value"=>"Avery Willard photographs"}
repository: {"value"=>"The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Billy Rose Theatre Division. <div class=\"address\"> New York, New York</div>"}
abstract: {"value"=>"The collection documents the photography career of Avery Willard, photographer, filmmaker, actor, publisher, and gay rights activist."}
prefercite: {"value"=>"Avery Willard Photographs, *T-VIM 1999 - 026. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts."}
origination: {"value"=>"Willard, Avery", "type"=>"persname"}
bioghist: {"value"=>"Photographer, filmmaker, publisher, performer, and gay activist, Avery Willard (a.k.a. Bruce King), was born Avery Willard Parsons, Jr.in Marion, Virginia on May 16, 1921. Growing up in Virginia as a child who loved movies and the theater, he wrote to film stars and collected autographs. During World War II, he worked in Washington, D.C. for the Veterans Administration. Coming to New York after World War II, Willard began working as a performer in summer stock. He performed at the Bayonne Opera Company in productions such as Abie’s Irish Rose and Arsenic and Old Lace. Avery Willard also toured in the Shubert production of The Merry Widow in 1944, but did not wish to continue working as a touring actor. Around this time, he began taking photographs when his mother, Mary King Willard Grissom, gave him a box camera. Willard enjoyed taking photographs of his fellow actors, and eventually found that his true calling was photography. In the 1940s, he photographed at his apartment/studio just off Fifth Avenue. Even after he began his work as a professional photographer, he occasionally worked as an assistant stage manager or performer in Off-Broadway productions. Avery Willard was most active as a photographer from the late 1940s through the 1960s. His work included portraits of many aspiring and famous actors, actresses, musicians, and dancers, as well as photographs of theatrical productions, mostly Off-Broadway, but also for Broadway, and other productions. Many of Willard’s photographs of Off-Broadway productions appeared in the theater annual, Theater World. Among Avery Willard’s subjects (numbering more than two thousand) are: Bea Arthur, Lloyd Bridges, Richard Burton, Carol Channing, Montgomery Clift, Maurice Evans, Hermione Gingold, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Charlton Heston, Louis Jourdan, Lotte Lenya, Butterfly McQueen, Jayne Mansfield, Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Anthony Quinn, William Saroyan, Maureen Stapleton, Robert Sterling, Jessica Tandy, Gwen Verdon, and many others. Photographs of some notable figures in music and dance are also included, such as Harold Arlen, Leonard Bernstein, Ruth Brown, Pablo Casals, Nat King Cole and Trio, Vernon Duke, Libby Holman, Helen Humes, Cissy Houston, Zizi Jeanmaire, Gian Carlo Menotti, Mabel Mercer, Marie Powers, Roland Petit, Pearl Primus, Ted Shawn, and Mary Lou Williams. The hundreds of Off-Broadway productions photographed by Willard include a 1956 Joseph Papp production of Colleen Dewhurst in William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler at Theatre Marquee with James Caan (1960), The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, with Montgomery Clift, Maureen Stapleton, Kevin McCarthy, and Sam Jaffe (Phoenix Theatre, 1954), and Another Evening with Harry Stoones, a revue by Jeff Harris, with Barbra Streisand, Diana Sands, and Dom DeLuise (Gramercy Arts Theatre, 1961). Broadway productions photographed include Dial \"M\" for Murder by Frederick Knott, (1953 and 1955), Mid-Summer by Vina Delmar (1953) with Geraldine Page, and The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams (1951) with Maureen Stapleton and Eli Wallach. Avery Willard also did assignments for a number of businesses and organizations. Most notable among his corporate clients was Emmons Jewelry, a costume jewelry company, whose products were sold at home parties. In the 1960s, Willard photographed numerous celebrities for Emmons, including Kaye Ballard, Vivian Blaine, James Caan, Merv Griffin, Guy Lombardo, Robert Morse, Cyril Ritchard, Tony Roberts, Luise Rainer, Janice Rule, Martha Scott, Dick Shawn, Jean Shepherd, Bobby Short, Elaine Stritch, Gwen Verdon, and many others. As staff photographer for the American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA), Willard photographed over fifty of the acclaimed ANTA Matinee Series productions at the Theatre de Lys from 1957 to 1963, as well as parties, places, and events for the organization. Avery Willard also photographed a number of productions for the APA (Association of Producing Artists) and accompanied the group when they performed in Bermuda in 1960. From 1957 to1971, he took photos of numerous student productions for the School of Performing Arts. He also photographed the 1962 ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island, where then-First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, unveiled the model for the proposed National Cultural Center. Willard developed an interest in the art of montage, which he utilized extensively in his work, and wrote an article on this subject that was published in Photography Handbook #175 (Fawcett, 1953). Sometime following the Stonewall uprising in Greenwich Village in 1968, under the name Bruce King, Willard began publishing a newspaper, Gay Scene, which he published until 1992. With the increase of other gay-oriented newspapers and publications, Gay Scene’s circulation decreased over the years and the newspaper became increasingly difficult for him to sustain. (Gay Scene is not represented in the collection.) Avery Willard also appears to have started a company called Ava-Graph that produced gay pornographic films. In 1992, Avery Willard broke his hip and recuperated in the Fieldston Lodge Nursing Home in Riverdale, New York. While at Fieldston Lodge, Willard wrote profiles of the staff for the home’s newsletter and gave talks about his career as a photographer of the stars. He died in the Bronx on September 7, 1999."}
scopecontent: {"value"=>"The Avery Willard Photographs consist primarily of prints, proofs, contact sheets, negatives, oversized prints, and slides, spanning Willard’s professional photography career. Most of the photos were taken from the late 1940s to the 1960s, and cover a range of subjects. Almost all of the images are in black and white, but a small number are in color. Negatives and contact sheets are more numerous than prints. Studio portraits of both aspiring and famous actors and actresses constitute the bulk of the collection, although other performing arts personalities can also be found. Among the portraits are a number of nudes, mostly male. There are also numerous images of rehearsal and studio photos of theatrical productions, especially for Off-Broadway. Avery Willard’s commercial work is also represented, particularly his work for Emmons Jewelry and School of the Performing Arts. Personal material contains some photos of family, many with friends, portraits of Willard, and a scrapbook of photos from the 1940s. Avery Willard’s numerous negatives of motion picture stills, as well as autographed celebrity photographs, are also included. A small representation of personal papers contains correspondence, writings by Willard, a few family papers, some miscellaneous papers, such as business cards, publicity materials, and ephemera."}

{"value"=>"The Avery Willard photographs are arranged in five series:\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21738#c447958'>Series I: Personalities, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>Undated</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>43 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'>The largest in the collection, this series contains mostly black and white proofs, contact sheets, and negatives, with a small number of color prints, negatives, and slides, of studio portraits of actors, actresses, musicians, dancers, and other figures ranging from the unknown to the most famous. There are early photos of Bea Arthur, Charlton Heston, Lee Grant, Kim Hunter, Paul Lynde, and Patrick O’Neal, to name a few. In some instances, Willard did montage prints combining various photos of the subject, including one of WNEW disc jockeys Gene Rayburn and Dee Finch with Avery Willard’s cat, Bobby. Among the notable personalities Willard photographed are: Harold Arlen, Richard Burton, Pablo Casals, Carol Channing, Montgomery Clift, Vernon Duke, Maurice Evans, Hermione Gingold, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Libby Holman, Zizi Jeanmaire, Louis Jourdan, Lotte Lenya, Jayne Mansfield, Gian Carlo Menotti, Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Roland Petit, Marie Powers, Anthony Quinn, Ted Shawn, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, and Gwen Verdon. Many of the portraits were taken for Emmons Jewelry in the 1960s. Personalities who posed for Emmons include celebrities of the period, such as Phil Ford and Mimi Hines, Jill Haworth, Sheree North, Enzo Stuarti, and Monique Van Vooren. African-American performers can also be found, including Ruth Brown, Vinnette Carroll, Buck Clayton, Nat King Cole, Delta Rhythm Boys, Earle Hyman, Helen Humes, Cissy Houston, Rosetta Le Noire, Claudia McNeil, Butterfly McQueen, Helen Martin, Mabel Mercer, Josephine Premice, Pearl Primus, Bobby Short, Maxine Sullivan, Clarice Taylor, Ethel Waters, Mary Lou Williams, and Teddy Wilson. Writers photographed include Polly Adler, author of A House Is Not a Home, Michael Gazzo, Carson McCullers, Ogden Nash, William Saroyan, Paul Shyre, and others. There are several weddings and parties in this series, such as the Rosemary Harris-Ellis Rabb wedding in 1959 and a 1962 birthday party for Susan Loesser, Frank Loesser’s daughter. Also included in this series are negatives made by Avery Willard of publicity photos of many Hollywood film stars such as Alan Ladd, Myrna Loy, George O’Brien, Robert Stack, Rudolph Valentino, and Mae West. Additional portraits can be found in the Oversized Personalities series, as well as in some of the studio photos in the Productions series.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21738#c449180'>Series II: Productions, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1951</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>16 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series contains mostly black and white contact sheets, negatives, prints (some montages), and slides for theatrical productions, mostly Off-Broadway, photographed by Willard. Because most of the productions Avery Willard photographed were Off-Broadway, many productions featured up-and-coming stars, such as Robert Culp in He Who Gets Slappedby Leonid Andreyev, Actor’s Playhouse (1956), Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd in Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams, Gramercy Arts Theatre (1960), Colleen Dewhurst in an early Joseph Papp production of The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (1956), Olympia Dukakis in A Man’s a Manby Bertolt Brecht, Masque Theatre (1962), Joel Grey, Tammy Grimes, and Charlotte Rae in The Littlest Revue by Ben Bagley, Phoenix Theatre (1956), James Earl Jones and Colleen Dewhurst in The Eagle Has Two Heads by Jean Cocteau, Actor’s Playhouse (1956), James Earl Jones in Bohikee Creek by Robert Unger, Stage 73 (1966), and Barbra Streisand, Diana Sands, and Dom DeLuise in Another Evening with Harry Stoonesby Jeff Harris, Gramercy Arts Theatre (1961). For the ANTA Matinee Series at the Theatre de Lys, from 1957 to 1964, Willard photographed about fifty productions, among them Come to the Palace of Sin by Michael Shurtleff with John Cullum, Gene Hackman, Marian Mercer, and Estelle Parsons, I Rise in Flames, Cried the Phoenixby Tennessee Williams (1959), Roxie Roker and Billy Dee Williams in Look at Any Man by Harding Lemay (1963), Maidens and Mistresses at Home in the Zooby Meade Roberts (1958), and The Moon Shines on Kylenamoe and Figuro in the Night by Sean O’Casey (1962). There are also studio and publicity photographs of cast members for a number of Broadway productions, including Dial \"M\" for Murderby Frederick Knott (1953 and 1955), The Immoralist by Ruth and Augustus Goetz (1954), Mid-Summer by Vina Delmar (1953), and The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams (1951). Several Broadway show openings are also in the collection. A number of productions of African-American plays and Yiddish theater productions are also documented, as are industrial shows, and out of town productions, such as the White Barn Theatre in Westport, Connecticut. Notes and lists regarding photo orders are also found in the folders. Dance and opera productions are arranged alphabetically at the end of the series. Additional Production studio photos may be found in the Oversized series.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21738#c449686'>Series III: Subjects, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>Undated</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>4.25 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series documents the institutions, businesses, objects, pets, places, and events Avery Willard photographed, principally as commercial work. It contains contact sheets, negatives, some prints, and a few slides, almost exclusively in black and white. <ul> <li>Sub-series 1: Organizations, 1955 - 1971</li> <li>Sub-series 2: School of Performing Arts, 1957 - 1971</li> <li>Sub-series 3: General, 1946 - 1984 and Undated</li></ul></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21738#c449910'>Series IV: Personal Materials, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>Undated</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>3.25 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series consists largely of contact sheets, negatives, proofs, and slides for photographs of Avery Willard, his parents and friends, his professional and personal interests, as well as photographs belonging to him. There are some personal papers, including correspondence, family papers, and ephemera. <ul> <li>Sub-series 1: Photographs, 1924 - 1971 and Undated</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Papers, 1919 - 1993 and Undated</li></ul></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21738#c450036'>Series V: Oversized, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>Undated</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>9 boxes (12 x 15)</div>\n<div class='series-description'>The oversized materials consist of black and white prints of personalities, productions, subjects, and personal materials. There is also one magazine, Envoy (Winter 1962), that contains a piece on Manhattan displaying Avery Willard’s photographs. <ul> <li>Sub-series 1: Personalities, 1947 - 1968 and Undated</li> <li>Sub-series 2: Productions, 1948 - 1965 and Undated</li> <li>Sub-series 3: Subjects, 1952 - ca. 1960 and Undated</li> <li>Sub-series 4: Personal Materials, 1940 - 1962 and Undated</li></ul></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
arrangement: {"value"=>" <ul> <li>Series I: Personalities</li> <li>Series II: Productions</li> <li>Series III: Subjects <ul> <li>Sub-series 1 - Organizations</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - School of Performing Arts</li> <li>Sub-series 3 - General</li></ul></li> <li>Series IV: Personal Materials <ul> <li>Sub-series 1 - Photographs</li> <li> Sub-series 2 - Papers</li></ul></li> <li>Series V: Oversized <ul> <li>Sub-series 1 - Personalities</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - Productions</li> <li>Sub-series 3 - Subjects</li> <li>Sub-series 4 - Personal Materials</li></ul></li></ul>", "supress_display"=>true}
acqinfo: {"value"=>"The Avery Willard Photographs were purchased by the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 1999 from John M.Cox, Jr."}
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>45 r.p.m Records <ul> <li> Pal Joey Cast Recording with V. Segal and H. Lang - 1 boxed set of 7 records, Columbia Masterworks [1950]</li></ul></li></ul> <ul> <li>Audiotapes (10 tapes including audiocassette) - 7 in. <ul> <li>Columbo, Russ - “X Label, Recorded NYC 1931 and 1932;” Merman, Ethel - “X Label, Recorded NY Sep. 1932;” Niesen, Gertrude - “NY Oct./Nov. 1933;” West, Mae</li> <li>Cox, Ida - “Moanin’, Groanin’ Blues” - 1923-1927</li> <li>“Happy Go Lucky - Honky Tonk Piano”</li> <li>Holiday, Billie - “Lady in Satin,” Columbia; Verve (Recital by B. Holiday), Undated</li> <li> On Your Toes, Col[umbia], Undated</li></ul> “The Original Sound of the 20’s,” 3 ¾, Columbia Undated</li> <li>Powers, Marie - Musical version of The Glass Menagerie, Undated</li> <li>Unidentified - 2 tapes</li> <li>Audiocassette: 1 cassette of Avery Willard Photo Retrospective (Talk at Fieldston Manor Nursing Home, Riverdale, NY, 2/26/1993)</li></ul> <ul> <li>2 - 8 x 10 photos of Sleeping Beauty, Sadler’s Wells Ballet (1950)</li></ul> <ul> <li>Programs: <ul> <li>White Barn Theatre - Irene Innocente, 1958, Mr. Biggs and Too Close for Comfort,1959 (2 copies) Yes and After, 1958 (2 copies)</li> <li> Bohikee Creek, 1966, Career 1959, When We Dead Awaken, 1966 (3 copies)</li></ul></li> <li>Photographs - Personalities - A File: <ul> <li>Baxley, Barbara (5)</li> <li> Bethencourt, Francis</li> <li>Bruce, Carol</li> <li>Derr, Richard</li> <li>Ford, Ruth</li> <li>Gingold, Hermione</li> <li>Goodman, Dody</li> <li> Keller, Greta</li> <li>Landis, Jessie Royce (2)</li> <li>Mansfield, Jayne</li> <li>Morse, Robert</li> <li>Nault, Fernand</li> <li>Neimark, Burt</li> <li>O’Malley, J. Pat</li> <li>Osterwald, Bibi</li> <li>Roberts, Tony (2)</li> <li>Scott, Martha (2)</li> <li>Verdon, Gwen (2)</li> <li>Wilkinson, June</li> <li>Willard, Avery (2)</li></ul></li> <li>Productions - Photographs - A File <ul> <li> La Ronde (1960)</li> <li> The Mikado(1948)</li> <li> The Rose Tattoo(1951)</li> <li> The Seagull(1954)</li></ul></li> <li>Photographs - Personalities - B File <ul> <li>Adler, Polly (2)</li> <li> “Lord” Alan and “Sir” Richard</li> <li>Arden, Toni</li> <li>Baxley, Barbara</li> <li>Bergen, Polly (4)</li> <li>Bridges, Lloyd</li> <li>Castle, Richard</li> <li>Channing, Carol (5)</li> <li>Corio, Ann (3)</li> <li>Derr, Richard</li> <li>Dufour, Val</li> <li>Erickson, Leif (2)</li> <li>Forsythe, John & others</li> <li>Franciosa, Anthony (2)</li> <li>Ghostley, Alice (4)</li> <li>Gingold, Hermione (5)</li> <li>Graham, Ronny</li> <li>Griffith, Andy (4)</li> <li>Hawthorne, Jim</li> <li>Heston, Charlton</li> <li>Huber, Gusti</li> <li>Jourdan, Louis (6)</li> <li>Kiley, Richard and others</li> <li>Landis, Jessie Royce (3)</li> <li>Lee, Peggy (5)</li> <li>Lewis, Lila (2)</li> <li>Mansfield, Jayne</li> <li>Medford, Kay (2)</li> <li>Mercer, Mabel</li> <li>Nesbitt, Cathleen & others</li> <li> Newman, Paul</li> <li>North, Sheree</li> <li> Oberon, Merle</li> <li>O’Neal, Patrick (3)</li> <li>Page, Geraldine (2)</li> <li>Powers, Marie</li> <li>Rainer, Luise</li> <li>Rayburn, Gene and Finch, Dee (2)</li> <li>Ritter, Thelma (3)</li> <li>Saroyan, William</li> <li>Sterling, Robert (2)</li> <li>Tozzi, George (Giorgio) (2)</li> <li>Valentine, Paul</li> <li>Verdon, Gwen (4)</li> <li>Williams, Mary Lou</li> <li>Unidentified (4)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul> <li>Personalities Photographs - C File <ul> <li>Burton, Richard</li> <li>Carey, Macdonald</li> <li>Channing, Carol</li> <li>Forsythe, John</li> <li>Gish, Lillian (Mounted 8 x 10 montage)</li> <li>Griffith, Andy (2)</li> <li>Haworth, Jill</li> <li>Keller, Greta</li> <li>Kiley, Richard</li> <li> Melvin, Allan</li> <li>Mercer, Mabel</li> <li>Quinn, Anthony</li> <li>Rainer, Luise</li> <li>Willard, Avery</li></ul></li></ul> <ul> <li>Productions - Photographs - B File <ul> <li> Abie’s Irish Rose (1954) (2)</li> <li> Antigone(1956)</li> <li> Bohikee Creek (1966)</li> <li> The Book of Job(ca. 1963)</li> <li> Dial \"M\" for Murder (1953) (15)</li> <li> Gently Does It (1953)</li> <li> Glory in the Flower and The Purification (1959)</li> <li> The Immoralist (1954)</li> <li> La Ronde (1960)</li> <li> Lysistrata (1959)</li> <li> Mid-Summer(1953) (6)</li> <li> Misalliance (1953) (4)</li> <li> New Faces of 1952(2)</li> <li> New Girl in Town (1957) (3)</li> <li> Notes from the Underground (1960)</li> <li> The Rose Tattoo(1951)</li> <li> The Seagull (1954) (2)</li> <li> Talk to Me Like the Rain…(1958)</li> <li> The Taming of the Shrew (1956)</li> <li> The Wonder Hat (1959)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul> <li>Productions - Photographs - C File <ul> <li> Dial \"M\" for Murder (1953) (2)</li> <li> In Good King Charles’s Golden Days (1957)</li> <li> Mid-Summer (1953)</li> <li> Misalliance (1953)</li> <li> New Faces of 1952 (2)</li> <li> The Rose Tattoo (1951)</li> <li> Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?(M. McCambridge) (1964)</li></ul></li></ul> <ul> <li>Miscellaneous Photos by A. Willard (6 and 1 photo of boxer probably not by Avery Willard)</li></ul>"}
accessrestrict: {"value"=>"Photocopying prohibited."}
userestrict: {"value"=>"For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division."}
relatedmaterial: {"value"=>"Willard’s gay erotic films are located in The New York Public Library’s Manuscripts and Archives Division."}
langmaterial: {"value"=>"English"}
processinfo: {"value"=>"Processed by Camille Croce Dee, Lenora Grice, Rick Hunter, Ronald Limage; Machine-readable finding aid created by Camille Croce Dee."}
extent_statement: 34 linear feet (76 boxes)
date_start: 1919
date_end: 1993
date_bulk_start: 1940
date_bulk_end: 1970

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/thewilla.pdf

Avery Willard photographs

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