- unitid
-
{"value"=>"22472", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"*T-Mss 2014-102", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b20636383", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1909-1965", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1909/1965"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Florence Ryerson and Colin Clements papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"7 boxes, 6 volumes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"4.42 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Billy Rose Theatre Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Florence Ryerson (1892-1965) and Colin Clements (1894-1948) were a married American writing team who created plays, novels, and short stories. The Florence Ryerson and Colin Clements papers date from 1909 to 1965 and contain scrapbooks, typescripts, notes, and correspondence."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Ryerson, Florence", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p> Florence Ryerson (1892-1965) was an American writer. Born Florence Willard in Southern California, she was the daughter of journalist and author Charles Dwight Willard. She retained the last name of her first husband, Harold Swayne Ryerson, with whom she had one son. While a student at Pasadena High School, Ryerson wrote <span class=\"title\">Wan o' the Wood</span>, a play that was later produced by the Los Angeles Children's Theatre in 1911. Her numerous short stories appeared in publications such as <span class=\"title\">The American Magazine</span>, <span class=\"title\">Ladies Home Journal</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Metropolitan</span>. Ryerson also wrote for film, and was co-author of the script for the 1939 screen version of <span class=\"title\">The Wizard of Oz</span>.</p> <p>Colin Clements (1894-1948) was an American writer. In the late 1910s, Clements attend drama educator George Pierce Baker's 47 Workshop in playwriting at Harvard University. He then wrote and published several series of short plays such as <span class=\"title\">The Touchstone and Other Plays</span> (1919), <span class=\"title\">Plays for a Folding Theater</span> (1923) and <span class=\"title\">Plays for Pagans</span> (1924).</p> <p>In 1927, Clements met Ryerson while directing a small play in California. They married a year later and soon after began collaborating. They wrote plays for Broadway such as <span class=\"title\">Glamour Preferred</span> (1941), <span class=\"title\">Harriet</span> (1943), and <span class=\"title\">Strange Bedfellows</span> (1948); and novels such as <span class=\"title\">Fear of Fear</span> (1931), <span class=\"title\">Diana Laughs</span> (1932), and <span class=\"title\">The Borgia Blade</span> (1937). Appleton-Century Company published several of their mystery novels. In the 1930s, Ryerson and Clements acquired the Albert Workman 19th century ranch in California and renamed it Shadow Ranch. They lived on the property for several years before selling it in 1948. Now, Shadow Ranch is one of Los Angeles' historic-cultural monuments and a city park.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Florence Ryerson and Colin Clements papers date from 1909 to 1965 and contain scrapbooks, typescripts, notes, and correspondence. The collection is not a comprehensive representation of their work, and is more reflective of Ryerson's experiences and career.</p> <p>The bulk of the collection consists of scrapbooks. A few of the scrapbooks document the reception of Ryerson's and Clements's collaborations such as the clippings for <span class=\"title\">Fear of Fear</span>, <span class=\"title\">Diana Laughs</span>, and <span class=\"title\">The Borgia Blade</span>. There is also a guide to the screen version of <span class=\"title\">The Wizard of Oz</span> in <span class=\"title\">Photoplay Studies</span> magazine. The other scrapbooks highlight periods in their individual careers. One pertains to Clements's theatrical work for amateur groups such as his <span class=\"title\">Plays for a Folding Theater</span> and <span class=\"title\">Plays for Pagans</span>. There is a scrapbook of Ryerson's short story clippings with a table of contents that includes the name of the story, where it was published, the date, and the amount she received for publication. Additionally, there is a scrapbook of materials from Ryerson's life as Florence Willard and her early theatrical efforts such as clippings and programs from the 1911 Los Angeles Children's Theatre's first production of <span class=\"title\">Wan o' the Wood</span>; her costume designs for <span class=\"title\">Bury Fair</span> (1914); and correspondence related to her first marriage.</p> <p>There are some writing files that include story development outlines, work diaries, drafts, correspondence, and research materials for <span class=\"title\">Oh! Susanna</span>, <span class=\"title\">Sombr</span>a, and <span class=\"title\">The Beckoning Fair One</span> among others.</p> <p>There are various autobiographical materials that detail their careers and personal lives such as Ryerson's \"How Did You Land on Broadway?\" and \"I Look at My Life\" narratives; a comprehensive list of their books and Ryerson's individual writing projects; and correspondence and notes about Ryerson's father's life and work.</p> <p>The collection holds background information on Shadow Ranch before it became a California historic monument. There are clippings, personal photos, and correspondence about legal matters. There is also correspondence between Ryerson and the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission once the property was turned into a city park. Ryerson wrote several narratives about the ranch itself and her family's experience living on the property.</p> <p>The Additions, dated 1934 to 1964, are mostly scripts which are rough drafts with editorial comments. These scripts were integrated into the Script files and include <span class=\"title\">Cinderella</span>; <span class=\"title\">The Dark House</span> (co-written with Alice D.G. Miller); <span class=\"title\">Early American</span>; and <span class=\"title\">Spring Green</span>. One script <span class=\"title\">Oh! Susanna</span> received a significant amount of new material including correspondence by Ryerson, and scripts for the New York and Pasadena tryouts.</p> <p>The Notes files expand with information about Ryerson's creative process for developing scripts. The topics include detective stories, musical comedy ideas, plays, short stories and the work <span class=\"title\">Strange Bedfellows</span>.</p> <p>There are also two files that hold autobiographical content. One file was named \"auto notes\" by Ryerson. These notes mostly describe her childhood and young adulthood. The file was filed with the Autobiographical Materials.</p> <p>The second file \"Circus Story, Work Diary,\" dated 1947, was written by Ryerson to describe her working relationship with Clements and their struggle to complete scripts. According to Ryerson, Clements proposed to write a circus story for high schools. This file was placed with the Work Diaries.</p> <p>Materials in the collection were assigned catalog numbers before final processing, and those numbers are retained as notes in the container list.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by Unknown</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Joyce Joseph</span> in <span class=\"date\">2015</span>.</p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"5 boxes processed by Valerie Wingfield\n ", "date"=>"2022-11-28"}
- date_start
-
1909
- keydate
-
1909
- date_end
-
1965
- date_inclusive_start
-
1909
- date_inclusive_end
-
1965
- extent_statement
-
4.42 linear feet (7 boxes, 6 volumes)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Florence Ryerson and Colin Clements papers, *T-Mss 2014-102. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}