Tad Mosel papers

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id: 5867
origination: Mosel, Tad
date statement: 1935-1991
key date: 1935
identifier (local_mss): 21736
org unit: Billy Rose Theatre Division
call number: *T-Mss 1979-006
b-number: b16087018
total components: 330
total series: 3
max depth: 6
boost queries: (none)
component layout: Default Layout
Extended MARC Fields: false
Extended Navigation: false
created: 2013-04-01 15:05:26 UTC
updated: 2026-01-20 20:13:08 UTC
status note: (missing)
Display Aeon link: true

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unitid: {"value"=>"*T-Mss 1979-006", "type"=>"local_call"}

{"value"=>"21736", "type"=>"local_mss"}
unitdate: {"value"=>"1935-1991", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1935/1991"}
unittitle: {"value"=>"Tad Mosel papers"}
physdesc: {"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"7.92 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"19 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
repository: {"value"=>"The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.<div class=\"address\"> New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498</div>"}
abstract: {"value"=>"The papers document the career of Tad Mosel, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, performer, biographer, and writer for television and film."}
langmaterial: {"value"=>"English"}
prefercite: {"value"=>"Tad Mosel Papers, *T-Mss 1979-006. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts."}
origination: {"value"=>"Mosel, Tad", "type"=>"persname"}
bioghist: {"value"=>"Playwright and biographer Tad Mosel was born George Ault Mosel, Jr. on May 1, 1922 in Steubenville, Ohio to Margaret and George Ault Mosel. With his older brother, James, he was raised in Larchmont and New Rochelle, New York. Mosel attended Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts and New Rochelle High School and knew from the age of sixteen that he wanted to write for the theater. From 1940 to 1943, he attended Amherst College, where he majored in English and wrote his first play, The Happiest Years(1942). A member of the class of 1944, he left college to serve in the Army Air Forces Weather Service, both in the U.S. and the South Pacific. Mosel left the service in 1946, having earned the rank of sergeant. He returned to Amherst College where he was president of the campus dramatic group, the Masquers, receiving his B.A. degree in 1947. Around this time, Mosel also became director of the Longmeadow Players in Springfield, Massachusetts. Determined to become a playwright, he entered Yale Drama School in 1947. Mosel left in 1949 to join the Broadway cast of the play At War with the Army by James B. Allardice, in which he played a lost private who never utters a word while he tries to find his company. He remained with the show for almost a year. Mosel had his first teleplay, Jinxed, produced on Chevrolet Tele-Theater in 1949. In 1951, he began working to enter the M.A. degree program at Columbia University, where John Gassner was a strong influence. From 1951 to 1953, Mosel was also employed as a clerk selling tickets for Northwest Airlines. For his M.A. degree requirement, he wrote The Lion Hunters, a play rejected at first by his Columbia faculty advisor, but subsequently produced Off Broadway at the Provincetown Playhouse in 1952. During this time, Mosel was writing plays for television, several of which were televised on the critically acclaimed CBS program Omnibus in 1953. These included two stories by James Thurber: The Figgerin’ of Aunt Wilmaand This Little Kitty Stayed Cool. (Carol Channing and Elliott Reid were in the cast of the latter.) Mosel’s agent, Priscilla Morgan, brought his teleplay, The Haven, to the attention of the now legendary television producer, Fred Coe. The Haven was aired on Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse in 1953 and again in 1961 on the United States Steel Hour, starring Shirley Booth and Gene Raymond. Throughout the “Golden Age of Television” in the 1950s, Mosel’s plays could be seen regularly on programs featuring the best in American drama. The Decision of Arrowsmith, based on Sinclair Lewis’s novel, aired on CBS Medallion Theatre in 1953 and starred Henry Fonda. For the Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, Mosel’s works included Ernie Barger Is Fiftyand Other People’s Houses (1953), Guilty Is the Strangerwith Paul Newman (1954), and The Lawn Party(1954), with Geraldine Fitzgerald in the cast. Mosel adapted Robert E. Sherwood’s play, The Petrified Forest, for television in 1955; Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Henry Fonda, and Jack Klugman appeared in the Producer’s Showcaseproduction on NBC. Two of his works televised on Studio One include The Five-Dollar Bill(1957) and The Presence of the Enemy (1958) with E.G. Marshall. Mosel wrote four original plays for Playhouse 90: The Playroom(1957) with Mildred Dunnock, Tony Randall, and Patricia Neal, If You Knew Elizabeth (1957), The Innocent Sleep(1958) with Hope Lange and Buster Keaton, and A Corner of the Garden (1959) with Eileen Heckart and Gary Merrill. In 1958, Fred Coe asked Mosel to adapt James Agee’s novel A Death in the Family for the stage. All the Way Home, Mosel’s play, opened at the Belasco Theatre on November 30, 1960. Directed by Arthur Penn, the cast included Colleen Dewhurst, Arthur Hill, Lillian Gish, and Aline MacMahon. The play was ready to close before the end of the first week, but was saved by a national “plug” by Ed Sullivan in his newspaper column. It became known as “the miracle on Forty-fourth Street” and went on to win the New York Drama Critics Circle award. In May 1961, Mosel won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and used the prize money to throw a party for the cast, crew, producers, and entire staff of the play. In 1963, he wrote the screenplay for the film version. Continuing to write for television in the 1960s, Mosel’s works include That’s Where the Town’s Going (Westinghouse Presents, 1961) with Kim Stanley, The Invincible Teddy Roosevelt(Our American Heritage, 1961) with George Peppard, and Secrets (CBS Playhouse, 1968) with Barbara Bel Geddes, Arthur Hill, and Eileen Heckart. He also wrote the book for a musical version of his television play Madame Aphrodite, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The production opened December 29, 1961 at the Orpheum Theatre and closed after thirteen performances. Mosel wrote the screenplays for the film Dear Heart (1964), based on his television play The Out-of-Towners, and for Up the Down Staircase, the 1967 film based on Bel Kaufman’s book. He traveled to the U.S.S.R when the film was screened at the Fifth International Film Festival in Moscow in 1967. With André and Dory Previn, in 1968 Mosel also worked on a musical version of Great Expectations(unproduced) by Charles Dickens, for film and stage. As the author of two episodes he wrote for the PBS series The Adams Chronicles (1975-1977), Mosel received two Emmy nominations. With Gertrude Macy, he wrote Leading Lady: The World and Theatre of Katharine Cornell, a biography published by Little, Brown in 1978. Mosel’s play, Here Lies Lucy Cloughreceived its world premiere at Kenyon Festival Theater (Kenyon College, Mount Vernon, Ohio) in 1984. Mosel was a visiting critic at Yale School of Drama and has taught at University of North Carolina, University of Pennsylvania, and the New School for Social Research. He has been awarded honorary degrees by the College of Steubenville, the College of Wooster, and Kenyon College. Mosel has served on the board of the Jane Austen Society. He lives in Concord, New Hampshire."}
scopecontent: {"value"=>"The Tad Mosel Papers consist primarily of his scripts, but also include general professional papers and production materials spanning his career as a playwright, performer, biographer, and writer for television and film. These materials include numerous clippings, a small number of programs, photographs, and ephemera. No personal materials are included in the papers. The papers are especially rich in scripts, including various drafts of many of Mosel’s television plays. Of particular note are the evolving versions of his Pulitzer Prize winning play, All the Way Home. There are also a number of reviews and clippings relating to Leading Lady: The World and Theater of Katharine Cornell, the biography Mosel wrote with Gertrude Macy, published by Little, Brown in 1978."}

{"value"=>"The Tad Mosel papers are arranged in three series:\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21736#c441766'>Series I: General Professional Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1939, 1991, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series consists of papers relating to Mosel’s career, from his earliest theatrical endeavors as an actor and director in high school and at Amherst College, to the awards, speaking engagements, and honorary degrees he received as a distinguished writer for the theater, television, and film. There is little correspondence, but the series does contain a letter signed by Rod Serling inviting Mosel to join the Editorial Board of Television Quarterly, as well as a note from David Susskind. Also included in this series are several articles written by Mosel recounting his work as a writer during television’s “Golden Age,” as well as numerous clippings, mostly documenting his professional activities. Of particular note are the clippings relating to Leading Lady, the biography of Katharine Cornell, written by Mosel with Gertrude Macy, published by Little, Brown in 1978.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21736#c441788'>Series II: Production Materials</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1935 - 1987, 1949, 1953, 1955, 1958, 1962, 1968, 1977, 1964, 1967</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series contains mostly clippings, but also correspondence, programs, and some photographs relating to theater, film, and television productions on which Mosel worked as a performer, director, or writer. The papers chronicle his early appearances as an actor in high school and college productions, as well as in the Broadway production of James B. Allardice’s play At War with the Army (1949). Especially well-documented is All the Way Home, the play for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. Of particular note is the U.S. Copyright Office certificate for Jinxed, a teleplay that aired on Chevrolet Tele-Theatre January 17, 1949. The 1961 musical Mosel wrote with Jerry Herman, Madame Aphrodite, and his 1984 play Here Lies Lucy Clough are also represented. A large number of the papers document Mosel’s work for television, including Ernie Barger is Fifty (Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, 1953), The Haven (Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, 1953), The Petrified Forest (Producer’s Showcase, 1955), The Innocent Sleep (Playhouse 90, 1958), That’s Where the Town’s Going (Westinghouse Presents, 1962), Secrets(CBS Playhouse, 1968), and The Adams Chronicles (PBS, 1977). There are also materials relating to the films Dear Heart(1964) and Up the Down Staircase(1967). Of particular interest are the materials on the screening of Up the Down Staircaseat Fifth International Film Festival, held in Moscow in 1967, and Mosel’s report of his experiences there.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21736#c441875'>Series III: Scripts, ca.</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1950 - 1975, 1958, 1968</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series consists of scripts written by Mosel for theater, television, and film, both produced and unproduced. The bulk of the scripts are for television. The various drafts for a number of the scripts, such as The Innocent Sleep (1958) and Secrets (1968), provide a window into each play’s evolution. Included in the series is an untitled dramatization of the letters of John and Abigail Adams by William Gibson. <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1 - Television</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - Theater and Motion Pictures</li> <li>Sub-series 3 - Unproduced</li></ul></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
arrangement: {"value"=>" <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Series I: General Professional Papers</li> <li>Series II: Production Materials</li> <li>Series III: Scripts <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Sub-series 1 - Television</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - Theater and Motion Pictures</li> <li>Sub-series 3 - Unproduced</li></ul></li></ul>", "supress_display"=>true}
acqinfo: {"value"=>"The Tad Mosel Papers were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 1979 and 1991 by Tad Mosel."}
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. Rodgers and Hammerstein Archive of Recorded Sound <ul class=\"list\"><li>Audiotapes relating to Katharine Cornell Biography (11): <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Gertrude Macy Tape #1 on Jimmy Vincent, 12/16/1974</li> <li>Gertrude Macy #2: 1950s - Keene Curtis, etc.</li> <li>Gertrude Macy: 1950s Captain Carvalho, 1/14/1975</li> <li>Gertrude Macy: #1 - Chauffeurs strike, politics, Peter Cornell and money, etc., 1/14/1975</li> <li>Radio Program Curiosity Shop WVXW-FM Cincinnati Segment on K.C., 3/17/1983</li> <li>Gertrude Macy tape #1 on Jimmy Vincent, 12/16/1974</li> <li>Gertrude Macy #2 1950s - Keene Curtis, etc.</li> <li>Getrude Macy - Herod & Mariamn [sic]; Gert Macy fired</li> <li>Gertrude Macy - Touring BOWS(The Barretts of Wimpole Street) - Charles Waldron, Wilfred Lawson</li> <li>Gertrude Macy - Cedric Hardwicke takes over Mr. Barrett in BOWS tour</li> <li>Gertrude Macy - Courtship, marriage; Larry and Vivien; Guthrie’s cancer</li> <li>Dunlop; Dr. Noyes - Berlin; Jeannette - Detroit; NTFC (No Time for Comedy) Tour</li></ul></li></ul> Billy Rose Theatre Division <ul class=\"list\"><li>Periodicals: <ul class=\"list\"> <li> Writers Guild of America, East Newsletter, July-Aug. 1979</li> <li> Writers Guild of America/West Newsletter, Oct. 1967</li></ul></li></ul> <ul class=\"list\"><li>Programs: <ul class=\"list\"> <li> All the Way Home, Colonial Theatre, Boston, 1960</li> <li> All the Way Home, Belasco Theatre, NYC, 1960 (2)</li> <li> All the Way Home, The Branson School, Calif.</li> <li> Here Lies Lucy Clough, Kenyon Festival Theatre, 1984 (2)</li></ul></li></ul>"}
processinfo: {"value"=>"Processed by Camille Croce Dee; Machine-readable finding aid created by Camille Croce Dee."}
userestrict: {"value"=>"For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division."}
date_start: 1935
keydate: 1935
date_end: 1991
date_inclusive_start: 1935
date_inclusive_end: 1991
extent_statement: 7.92 linear feet (19 boxes)

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Tad Mosel papers

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