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Creator
Kaye, Paula, d. 2005
Call number
*T-Mss 2007-002
Physical description
1.1 linear feet (3 boxes, 2 volumes)
Preferred Citation

Paula Kaye and Al Goldin papers, *T-Mss 2007-002. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
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Paula Kaye (d. 2005), born Paula Lucille Kleinman, was a dancer in theater and revues. Her husband, Al Goldin, was a theater producer and general manager. They had a son, Joseph Goldin. The Paula Kaye and Al Goldin papers (1935-1980) primarily document Paula Kaye's dance career from 1935 to 1946 through photographs and scrapbooks. They also contain small quantities of papers and photographs regarding Al and Joseph Goldin.

Biographical/historical information

Paula Kaye (d. 2005), born Paula Lucille Kleinman, was a dancer in theater and revues. In the 1930s she performed with revues touring the United States and South America. On Broadway, she appeared in the musicals Three Waltzes (1937-1938) and the 1946 revival of Show Boat, for which she was dance captain. She also performed in touring productions of musicals such as Oklahoma and Pal Joey.

Kaye's husband, Elias (Al) Goldin, was a theater producer and general manager. Among the many Broadway productions he managed were Moss Hart's Light Up The Sky, Anniversary Waltz, and Funny Girl (for which he was associate producer as well). He was also a manager at the Jones Beach Marine Theater.

Kaye's and Goldin's son, Joseph Goldin, worked at the New York State Theater (or one of the Lincoln Center constituents) in the 1990s.

Scope and arrangement

The Paula Kaye and Al Goldin papers (1935-1980) primarily document Paula Kaye's dance career from 1935 to 1946 through scrapbooks, photographs, and a dance notebook. They also contain small quantities of papers and photographs regarding Al and Joseph Goldin.

The Paula Kaye papers cover Kaye's dance career in the United States and South America. Of particular interest is a notebook detailing the choreography for the 1946 Broadway revival of Show Boat.

The three scrapbooks, dating from 1935 to 1939, are composed of photographs, letters, postcards, programs, and clippings. All are well-labeled. One documents several productions: a tour of Brazil and the Caribbean with the Danny Dare Dance School, the musical Three Waltzes with Kitty Carlisle, and other revue jobs. It includes signed photographs of Carlisle and Michael Bartlett. The other two scrapbooks are devoted to specific engagements: the Chester Hale Comets, a Rockettes-style dancing troupe active in the mid-west; and Leslie, a ballet-revue that performed in Buenos Aires.

The photographs, dating from 1935 to 1945, contain performance and informal shots of Kaye and her fellow dancers, and signed publicity prints of the stars of the revues, including the dance teams Jane Moore and Billy Revel, Carl and Lois Littlefield, and Georgie Tapps and Vivienne Allen; and the vocalist Vickie Henderson. Productions shown include revues in Brazil and touring editions of Pal Joey and Oklahoma.

The Al Goldin papers mainly hold photographs of Goldin dating from the productions Light Up The Sky (1948), Show Boat (1956, at the Jones Beach Marine Theater), and in unidentified venues. They also contain a contract pertaining to a 1964 touring production of Camelot.

The Joseph Goldin papers are composed of drawings of a stage setting for an unidentified theater or dance production, dating from 1980; negative stills from the film The Shangai Cobra; and a poster for the film Kung-Fu Mama (1973).

Arrangement

The papers are in three divisions: Paula Kaye papers, Al Goldin papers, and Joseph Goldin papers.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Unknown, 2007

Processing information

Compiled by Matthew Snyder, 2014

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

The author/creator retains copyright of materials. For information on obtaining permission to publish, contact the Theatre Division at theatre@nypl.org.