- unitid
-
{"value"=>"21762", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"*T-Mss 1938-001", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b16297446", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1908-1931", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1908/1931"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Winthrop Ames papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1 box, 1 volume, 8 reels", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"2 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Billy Rose Theatre Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Most of the collection documents the workings of the New Theatre Company during its short life, 1908-1911. Ames was the managing director of this theater which was, at the time, the largest playhouse in New York City."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Ames, Winthrop, 1870-1937", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Theatrical manager, producer, director and writer, Winthrop Ames was born on November 25, 1870 into a wealthy and socially prominent family in North Easton, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard and began a career in publishing because of his family's strong opposition to a career in theater. In 1904, however, he traveled to Europe to study the \"new stagecraft\" and on his return became joint manager of the Castle Square Theatre in Boston with Loren F. Deland. This led to his appointment in 1908 as managing director of the New Theatre, the largest playhouse in New York City at Central Park West and 62nd St., with Lee Shubert as the business manager and John Corbin as the literary advisor. Founded by millionaires, the New Theatre was to be a repertory theater presenting the best in classical and modern drama free of commercial pressures. Shakespeare was to be the primary offering; the theatre opened in November 1908 with a lavish production of <span class=\"title\">Antony and Cleopatra</span>starring Julia Marlowe and E. H. Sothern. However, due to its unwieldy size and financial failure, the theater was closed by its founders after a mere two seasons.</p> <p> The New Theatre reopened as the Century, but Ames had moved on to open the Little Theatre on West 44th St. in March 1912. At 300 seats, it was the smallest playhouse in New York City. In 1913, he opened the Booth Theatre on West 45th St. with the Shuberts and managed both theaters into the 1930s. Ames had many successes as a producer including Shaw's <span class=\"title\">The Philanderer</span>(1913), <span class=\"title\">The Beggar on Horseback</span>(1924) by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly, and revivals of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas at the Booth, 1926-1929. He was also the director of his plays, demanding high standards for all aspects of each production.</p> <p> Respected in the theater world, Ames served on various committees. During World War I he organized the Over There Theatre League which sent actors to Europe to entertain the troops. He retired from theatrical management in 1932 because of poor health, returning to North Easton, but continued to be involved in theatrical affairs helping to found the Cambridge (Mass.) School of Drama. He was elected a Harvard trustee in 1929 and vice president of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1936. He also translated <span class=\"title\">The Merchant of Paris</span> from the French (1930) and wrote an adaptation of <span class=\"title\">Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs</span> (1913) under the name Jessie Braham White.</p> <p> Ames married Lucy (Fuller) Cabot in London on September 28, 1911; they had two daughters: Catherine and Joan. He died of pneumonia on November 3, 1937 in Boston, Mass. and was buried in North Easton.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>Most of the collection reflects the workings of the New Theatre. Includes correspondence, legal papers and printed material pertaining to the Theatre's founding, budgets and reports on the Theatre, and production files such as correspondence and reports about play scripts submitted for possible production, stage plans, property and lighting plots, cues, stage manager's time sheets, notes on previous productions and a schedule of the road tour of the New Theatre Company. Also includes a volume bound by the Library many years ago containing rehearsal schedules, a memo by Ames for a promptbook for <span class=\"title\">Antony and Cleopatra</span>, diagrams and forms for the New Theatre, invitations to the opening night of the New Theatre, lists of opening night attendees and original box owners, a typed report of the opening night dedication, transcripts of speeches at the opening night ceremony by Senator Elihu Root and Governor Hughes and issues of <span class=\"title\">The American Architect</span>,<span class=\"title\">The Architect</span> and <span class=\"title\">The New York Architect</span>with articles, photographs and diagrams of the New Theatre and the Little Theatre. The collection also contains a folder of correspondence and contracts, 1922-1931, of the Winthrop Ames office on production rights for plays and a bound book of caricatures by Roland Young of the 1924 production of <span class=\"title\">Beggar on Horseback</span> in which he starred titled \"Mr. Winthrop Ames Presents,\" probably a gift to Ames. Additionally, there are eight reels of microfilmed scrapbooks, containing published clippings from a variety of sources documeting Ames and his professional work.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Winthrop Ames papers are arranged in four series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21762#c453034'>Series I: New Theatre Correspondence, Legal and Other Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1908-1912</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Correspondence, contracts, reports, financial and printed material document the brief history of the New Theatre.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21762#c453042'>Series II: New Theatre Production Files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1909-1911, n.d</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Production materials shed light on the workings of the New Theatre's play department as it discussed and evaluated plays submitted for production. Other materials for specific productions include notes, cues, stage plans, light and property plots, stage manager's time sheets and reviews of prior performances. Also includes a road schedule for the New Theatre Company.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21762#c453056'>Series III: Winthrop Ames Office Correspondence and Contracts</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1922-1931</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Correspondence and contracts with playwrights and performers document Ames' work as a producer in the 1920s.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21762#c453058'>Series IV: Bound material</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1909-1924</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Consists of a volume bound by Roland Young of his caricatures and a volume of papers pertaining to the New Theatre's opening night ceremony and other affairs that was bound by the Library many years ago.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The papers arrived at the Library in 1938, probably a gift of Ames' wife Lucy after his death.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>One scroll to Winthrop Ames from the New Theatre Company signed by its members, <span class=\"date\">1911 January 8</span>.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Elisabeth Elkind</span>.</p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Microfilm reels of previously separated material to the container list by Annemarie van Roessel", "date"=>"2025-08-11"}
- date_start
-
1908
- keydate
-
1908
- date_end
-
1931
- date_inclusive_start
-
1908
- date_inclusive_end
-
1931
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Winthrop Ames papers, *T-Mss 1938-001. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}