Scope and arrangement
The Joseph Stein papers (1955-1993) document Stein's career as a playwright, librettist, and screenwriter, and the process of creating and revising his major stage and film works. Rags; The Baker's Wife; Carmelina; Zorba; and So Long, 174th Street are represented most extensively in this collection. Many unproduced film, television, and theatre projects are also contained in this collection, as well as shows to which Stein contributed as an unaccredited consultant or script doctor. These include The Rothschilds, Sheep on the Runway, and Minnie's Boys. The collection holds Productions, Business Correspondence, Contracts, Printed Matter and Sound Recordings.
Production materials illuminate Stein's writing process with multiple drafts of revised and annotated scripts, excerpts, rewritten scenes, outlines, and treatments. There are also photographs and a program from a Hebrew production of Fiddler on the Roof. Production files pertaining to Enter Laughing include programs, review, and a letter discussing weekly grosses.
This collection also contains a small amount of business correspondence. These letters document negotiations for professional projects between Stein and various collaborators, lawyers, potential producers, and agents. Correspondence frequently discusses film rights and later productions of such shows as Rags, The Baker's Wife, and Zorba.
This collection does not contain personal materials.
The Additions, dated 1943 to 2017, are mostly scripts written or adapted by Stein (and with co-authors) for theatrical productions, television and radio programs. Other files are business and general correspondence (inter-mixed), contracts, printed material, memorabilia, and sound recordings.
Most of these scripts mirror the material available in the original collection, however, new scripts may include several draft versions of that script. For example, Fiddler on the Roof will now have scripts translated to foreign languages, production notes, contracts, correspondence, commendations, playbills, and reviews. The musicals Rags, and Zorba have similar materials.
Researchers studying Stein's career will be interested in scripts not previously available in the collection including: The Body Beautiful; By the Skin of Our Teeth; Enter Laughing; Heaven Can Wait; Lovely Rita; Henry Morgan radio show; and Miracles. There are also several writings by the American author Joseph Heller (1923-1999). These may have been sent to Stein, for his opinion. Writings by Heller in the files are as follows: the scripts Picture This and We Bombed in New Haven; and his autobiography Now and Then. An interesting note written on Now and Then was "Unedited, but good enough!"
The Business Correspondence expands to include more contemporaneous material about the productions with cast information, financial, legal, staging and congratulatory messages. Fiddler on the Roof and Juno have the most additional files. Related business files are Stein's contracts for his productions including The Body Beautiful; Fiddler on the Roof; Happily Ever After; Juno; and Mrs. Gibbons' Boys.
The Printed Material holds playbills, posters, promotional materials, and reviews. All of these materials were generated by and about the productions. The playbills are extensive with samplings from the 1950s to the 2000s. These playbills represent productions from New York City (including the Broadway theatres), regional productions and abroad. The files hold playbills from California, the Kennedy Center, New York City and the United Kingdom. The promotional material files hold press kits, press releases, flyers and souvenir brochures to be sold to the public. The reviews files hold the reviews written by critics on opening night and articles about the productions. One interesting item is Mad magazine, the American humor magazine that featured a satire of Fiddler on the Roof on their cover.
Related materials include outlines and sketches for possible productions, notes, correspondence with friends and colleagues, and assorted printed matter.
Sound recordings in the collection are musical selections from Heaven Can Wait and Miracles. and The Skin of Our Teeth.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged as follows: Productions; Business Correspondence; Contracts; Printed Material; Assorted Files; Memorabilia and Sound Recordings.