Loading...
Creator
Padula, Edward, 1916-2001
Call number
*T-Mss 2003-050
Physical description
7.77 linear feet (19 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Edward Padula papers, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Edward Padula (1916-2001) was an American producer, director and writer of stage plays and musicals from the 1940s to the 1990s. The Edward Padula papers contain production materials and personal ephemera.

Biographical/historical information

Edward Padula (1916-2001) was an American producer, director and writer of stage plays and musicals from the 1940s to the 1990s. Padula, the son of Italian immigrants, was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. He enrolled in college at the University of Pennsylvania, but later transferred to Yale University's School of Drama, where he completed his degree.

Padula's career in show business began during his summer vacations from Yale, when he worked at the Westport Playhouse. Other early jobs included a stint at the Theatre Guild and another working in NBC's development of musicals and plays for the burgeoning field of Television. Padula's first Broadway credit was an early musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, called The Day Before Spring (1945). He also worked in Hollywood as a dialogue coach for Paramount in the forties.

He continued to work in regional theatre and television until getting back to Broadway as an assistant director on the musical Seventh Heaven (1955). He worked as a stage manager on plays No Time for Sergeant (1955) and God and Kate Murphy (1959); and musicals Rumple (1957) and Saratoga (1959).

In 1960, Padula's career and life changed forever when he envisioned a musical about teenagers and their dating lives. To fulfill his vision he got a pair of untried young songwriters, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams to write the score, and a talented movie star dancer who was gradually making the transition into choreographing and directing for the stage, Gower Champion, to stage it. As the producer, Padula had to work tirelessly to get the show put on, but it turned out to be the tremendously popular show, Bye Bye Birdie.

After Bye Bye Birdie, Padula produced Strouse and Adams' next show, All American (1962) as well as the musicals Bajour (1964) and A Joyful Noise (1966). He also produced the play, Red White and Maddox (1969), the musical Park (1970); and a revue called Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope (1972).

Although Padula's official credits stop in the early seventies, he continued to be professionally active. He turned to writing musicals, none of which made it to Broadway. One project he devoted a lot of time to was a musical about Lizzie Borden. He worked on this project, under various titles from the sixties to the nineties.

Padula's 25 year marriage to Thelma Prescott ended in the late sixties or early seventies. After his divorce, Padula was in a relationship with Robert Moeser until Moeser's death in 1993. Edward Padula died in Water Mill, New York on November 1, 2001.

Scope and arrangement

The Edward Padula papers contain production materials and personal ephemera. The production files concern plays Padula worked on as a producer, director, assistant director and stage manager, from the mid-fifties to the mid seventies. These files also concern the many unproduced projects Padula devoted the final thirty years of his life to. Produced shows include the monster hit musical Bye Bye Birdie, which Padula conceived and produced. Unproduced projects include Lizzie, a musical about Lizzie Borden Padula worked on for decades and Nighthawks, a dramatization of Edward Hopper's famous painting. The production files consist mainly of scripts, but also contain correspondence, notes, outlines, contracts, research materials, programs and publicity materials.

This collection also has a small amount of personal ephemera. This includes personal correspondence, family history materials and files on friends Ira Harrington Smith and Robert Moeser. The photographs include a few of Padula and various friends, and several of his wife Thelma Prescott, but the majority of the photographs here are of an unidentified children's theater production. The personal files also contain information from professional organizations Padula was involved in, most notably the Dramatists' Guild. There are also writings and ideas for writing projects by Padula, including drama, poetry, prose and songs.

Arrangement

The production files in the Edward Padula papers are arranged alphabetically by title. The personal files are arranged alphabetically by category.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by Elise Quimby, 2003.

Processing information

Compiled by Diana Bertolini.

There was a very loose organization in the collection when it arrived, with material for certain shows grouped together. The production files were organized alphabetically, by title and the personal files alphabetically, by category. Most of the collection was loose, but some materials were in folders. Where possible, original folders were retained, though many were damaged and had to be replaced.

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.