{"value"=>"<p>Series contains correspondence, notes, agreements, contacts, vouchers, receipts, scripts, programs, marketing materials, contact lists, reviews, rehearsal schedules, typescripts of lyrics, and published sheet music. The series is arranged alphabetically in ten sub-series by production category: Broadway; Off-Broadway and Regional; Special Concerts and Productions; Unproduced Projects and Uncredited Arrangements; Television; Dance Theater; Films; Industrials and Commercials; Recordings; and Individual Artists. For many of his shows and recording sessions, Henderson kept a large binder labeled \"L. H. Workbook\" or \"Pre-Production Book\" containing many of these materials. He made detailed charts listing each song, its order in the show, and the stages of production, which help document his creative process as orchestrator and arranger. Henderson's scribbled comments about rehearsals or auditions reveal insights about his preferences for performers' styles, as well as his process of arranging and revising his work. <em>That's Entertainment</em> (1972) contains notes on music dynamics and a query to himself on how to translate \"spoken emotion into vocal emotion.\" Lists of changes for <em>The First</em> (1981), based on the Jackie Robinson's first season in Major League baseball, indicate that one song, \"The National Pastime\" was originally to be called \"This Year's Nigger.\" Letters of appreciation and support appear from noted performers, composers, writers and musicians, with whom he worked, including Carol Haney, Polly Bergen, Carol Lawrence, Nancy Wilson, Teo Macero, Juanita Hall, Charlayne Woodard, Tammy Grimes, and Cy Coleman. Opening night telegrams from lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green and composer Jule Styne, express their gratitude and deep admiration of Henderson's orchestrations for their Broadway show <em>Do Re Mi</em>. Occasionally, correspondence will reveal disagreements during the production process, such as occurred in a Victor Borge television show and a telethon for sickle-cell anemia.</p> <p>A particularly significant group of material in the Broadway sub-series traces the development of one of Henderson's most successful productions, <em>Ain't Misbehavin'</em> (1978), from its inception at the Manhattan Theatre Club, through its Broadway production and tours, including London (coinciding with the final illness and death of his wife Margo) and Paris (where Henderson was injured in a stage accident). The London folder contains an 11-page letter from the show's director, Richard Maltby, written in September 1979, critiquing in detail the company's \"cold\" and \"ragged\" performance. There are also programs, reviews, opening night telegrams from show business notables, financial records, and Henderson's notes on auditions and scheduling. Material for some of his earliest Broadway shows, such as <em>Flower Drum Song</em> (1958) and <em>Funny Girl</em> (1964), is limited largely to reviews and advertisements, although the folders for <em>Do Re Mi</em> (1960) contains numerous song lists with changes in the order, notes, correspondence, scripts, and reviews. <em>Beggar's Holiday</em> (1946) contains only material for a revival with some original published sheet music. Material for another of Henderson's important Broadway productions, <em>Jelly's Last Jam</em> (1992), is not included in the collection, although there are revised drafts and notes for an earlier 1985 workshop version, <em>Mr. Jelly Lord</em>. Correspondence and notes for <em>The Crystal Tree</em>, a 1981 production by the AMAS Repertory Theatre, directed by Henderson's wife Billie Allen, in the Off-Broadway sub-series trace the show's roots to its original concept by Henderson and Doris Julian in 1956 and their difficulties in getting it produced in the years following.</p> <p>Material in the Unproduced and Uncredited sub-series, such as correspondence and annotated scripts, document the difficulties faced by Henderson in translating the wide range of his ideas into successful productions. In 1954, he and Billy Strayhorn collaborated on an experimental musical, <em>Rose-Colored Glasses</em>. The file contains extensive notes and story treatments are in Henderson's hand. Other story and character outlines and lyrics written on The Copasetics, Inc. stationery are likely in Strayhorn's hand, as he founded and presided over this organization of show business professionals for many years. While Henderson later told Strayhorn's biographer that Duke Ellington intervened during the creation of the show and it was never completed, there is no reference to that in the material. (The show was later produced by David Rousseve in a 2003-2004 workshop, with a new book exploring the lives of several jazz greats, including Strayhorn and Henderson, as they struggled in the shadow of Ellington.) As noted above, Henderson discusses his relationship with Ellington in a 1974 draft reminiscence found in the General Correspondence folder of the Professional Papers series.</p> <p>The Television sub-series traces Henderson work from its earliest years, as musical director for Polly Bergen, in both her 1957-1958 variety series and specials, Victor Borge and Phil Silvers in several specials in the 1960s, Ann-Margret, the <em>Miss Teen USA</em> pageants throughout the 1980s, and several public television productions. The materials trace the evolution of the shows, with Henderson's notations on rehearsals, script changes, the show's order of production, and the addition of special lyrics, as well as financial records and contracts included in his production books. There is also a script and correspondence concerning the 1982 adaptation of <em>Ain't Misbehavin'</em> for television, for which Henderson was nominated for an Emmy for music direction.</p> <p>The Special Concerts, Dance, Film, and Industrials and Commercials sub-series contain less material then the Broadway and Television ones. The Dance materials include typescript treatments and clippings for a 1958 ballet choreographed by his friend Peter Gennaro. In the Film sub-series there is evidence of another early Henderson collaboration with John Latouche, lyricist for <em>Beggar's Holiday</em>, with the holograph lyrics of the song \"The Girl With the Pre-Fabricated Heart,\" which Henderson may have arranged for the first surrealist film, <em>Dreams That Money Can Buy</em> (1948). His feature film work included <em>The Slams</em> (1973), with Jim Brown. There is considerable material regarding the sequencing of the music in the film, and substantial notes on characters and themes, scripts, and lists. In the Industrials and Commercials sub-series, there are scripts, specialty lyrics, programs, contracts, notes, and scheduling lists documenting the annual announcement show for new Oldsmobile models, which Henderson orchestrated for 30 years, from the 1950s to the 1980s.</p> <p>The material for the Recordings sub-series documents the many orchestras with whom Henderson worked, including his own. He was an arranger for Andre Kostelanetz on a number of albums throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and for the Canadian Brass in the 1980s, generating numerous contracts, invoices, and scheduling notes. The most significant material concerns both the Luther Henderson orchestra and sextet, which recorded in the 1950s and early 1960s. Included are typescripts and hand-written notes for proposed recording projects, correspondence with recording companies and producers regarding efforts to re-release his albums, and memoranda and correspondence concerning ideas for an album, <em>Last Night When We Were Young</em> recorded by the sextet in 1956, with biographical profiles of Henderson, and the vocalists Marian Bruce (later Marian Bruce Logan, wife of Henderson's close friend and physician, Dr. Arthur C. Logan) and Ozzie Bailey.</p> <p>The materials in the Individual Acts sub-series generally consist of contracts, invoices, correspondence, lyrics and sheet music, lists of songs, rehearsal schedules, and notes on choice of songs, accompanying musicians, and ideas for the act. The nightclub acts containing most of this material (as well as the greatest number of arrangements in the SCORES series) include Tammy Grimes, Nancy Wilson, Carol Lawrence, Dinah Shore, Liza Minnelli, Diahann Carroll, Teresa Brewer, Shani Wallis, and Leslie Uggams. In the Nancy Wilson folder is also correspondence regarding management agreements and disagreements. For Dinah Shore, he wrote special lyrics and spoken material. Henderson would also assist guest performers on television variety shows with one or two numbers as part of a larger show. For smaller projects, such as performances by Katherine Dunham, Melba Moore and Ben Vereen, there is less material, limited to signed invoices and scheduling notes. Some performers such as Dinah shore and Melba Moore worked with Henderson on both club acts and television, with production materials in both sub-series. Oversized advertisements, clippings, and programs may be found in the Oversize box.</p>"}