Scope and arrangement
The Playwrights' Producing Company Press Department Records consist of correspondence of William Fields and Walter Alford, 1940-1960, and Show Files, 1930s-1950s, along with biographical files and clippings.
Fields' and Alford's correspondence is with performers, magazines, newspapers, radio stations, photographers, charities, and others concerning arrangements for publicity appearances by such stars as Joan Fontaine, Deborah Kerr, Audrey Hepburn. There is not much correspondence with the Playwrights' Company partners. A typescript of a short biographical note about Lotte Lenya with accompanying letters by Kurt Weill, 1944, and Lenya, n.d., is included.
Show Files consist largely of press releases for each show. They also contain drafts of programs, cast lists, printed notices and programs, biographical questionnaires completed by performers, correspondence, memoranda, telegrams, and clippings. Shows represented include Abe Lincoln In Illinois, 1938; Candle in the Wind, 1941; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1956-1957; The Country Wife, 1957; Jezebel's Husband, 1952; Journey to Jerusalem; Juno, (a musical adapted by Joseph Stein and Marc Blitzstein from Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock), 1959; Miss Liberty, 1949; Look After Lulu, 1959; Ondine, 1954; The Rugged Path, 1946; and Small War on Murray Hill, 1956. Some additional biographical questionnaires and biographical information solicited by the Press Department, and clippings are also included.
The Playwrights' Producing Company records are arranged in three series: