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Creator
Crawford, Cheryl, 1902-1986
Call number
*T-Mss 1973-004
Physical description
51.3 linear feet (83 boxes, 49 vols.
Preferred Citation

Cheryl Crawford Papers, *T-Mss 1973-004, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

Cheryl Crawford, producer and director. Her papers include correspondence, production files, scripts, photographs, ephemera, ledgers, financial materials and scrapbooks documenting her career.

Biographical/historical information

Producer / director Cheryl Crawford was a founding member of the Group Theatre in 1931, and of the Actors Studio in 1947. Born in Akron, Ohio, Crawford became involved with the Theatre Guild in the 1920s, first as secretary, later as actress and stage manager, and ultimately as casting director. With Lee Strasberg she co-directed the Group Theatre's first production The House of Connelly in 1931 and went on to direct and/or produce many plays in the decades which followed, on Broadway and off, including One Touch of Venus, the 1942 revival of Porgy and Bess, Brigadoon, Flahooley, and Sweet Bird of Youth. Cheryl Crawford co-founded the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan, and Robert Lewis, and remained with that organization until her death in 1986.

  • 1902 Born in Akron, Ohio
  • 1921 Enters Smith College
  • 1924 Goes to the Provincetown Theatre on Cape Cod
  • 1925 Goes to New York and enrolls in the Theatre Guild School
  • July 1926 Directs for Theatre Guild summer stock company
  • Fall 1926 Becomes casting secretary for the Theatre Guild
  • 1929 Takes Theatre Guild production of Porgy to London
  • Fall 1929 Becomes stage manager for Theatre Guild production
  • 1931 Founds Group Theatre with Harold Clurman and Lee Strasberg
  • 1935 Visits Moscow and Moscow Art Theatre with Harold Clurman
  • 1937 Begins working as an independent producer
  • 1940 First season of Crawford running the Maplewood Theatre
  • 1942 Maplewood Theatre closes; Porgy and Bess opens at the Majestic Theatre
  • October 1943 One Touch of Venus opens
  • 1944 Broadway revival of Porgy and Bess opens
  • 1945 Involvement in the beginning of ANTA
  • 1946 Produces for the American Repertory Theatre
  • 1947 ANTA begins experimental theatre project at the Princess Theatre
  • 1947 Actors' Studio founded; Brigadoon opens
  • 1948 Rejects offer to produce Death of a Salesman ; Paint Your Wagon opens
  • 1951 Lee Strasberg becomes Artistic Director of Actors' Studio
  • 1951 Resigns from ANTA
  • 1956 Leonard Bernstein introduces the project West Side Story
  • 1957 Rejects opportunity to produce West Side Story
  • 1959 Sweet Bird of Youth opens
  • 1962 Becomes involved with Actors' Studio
  • 1963 Opening of Actors' Studio Theatre
  • 1964 Actors' Studio Theatre closes - final production The Three Sisters
  • 1966 Produces Chu Chem
  • 1974 Yentl opens
  • 1986 Cheryl Crawford dies

Producer / director Cheryl Crawford was a founding member of the Group Theatre in 1931, and of the Actors Studio in 1947. Born in Akron, Ohio, Crawford became involved with the Theatre Guild in the 1920s, first as secretary, later as actress and stage manager, and ultimately as casting director. With Lee Strasberg she co-directed the Group Theatre's first production The House of Connelly in 1931 and went on to direct and/or produce many plays in the decades which followed, on Broadway and off, including One Touch of Venus, the 1942 revival of Porgy and Bess, Brigadoon, Flahooley, and Sweet Bird of Youth. Cheryl Crawford co-founded the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan, and Robert Lewis, and remained with that organization until her death in 1986.

Producer / director Cheryl Crawford was a founding member of the Group Theatre in 1931, and of the Actors Studio in 1947. Born in Akron, Ohio, Crawford became involved with the Theatre Guild in the 1920s, first as secretary, later as actress and stage manager, and ultimately as casting director. With Lee Strasberg she co-directed the Group Theatre's first production The House of Connelly in 1931 and went on to direct and/or produce many plays in the decades which followed, on Broadway and off, including One Touch of Venus, the 1942 revival of Porgy and Bess, Brigadoon, Flahooley, and Sweet Bird of Youth. Cheryl Crawford co-founded the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan, and Robert Lewis, and remained with that organization until her death in 1986.

Scope and arrangement

The Cheryl Crawford papers span the years 1920-1986 and include correspondence, office files, production files, scripts, financial records, scrapbooks, photographs, programs, clippings, ephemera and memorabilia. The strength of the collection is in the correspondence and production materials. Many of the scripts are annotated prompt books. Of special note are the materials for Porgy and Bess that includes a prompt book of the Broadway production and a file on West Side Story that Cheryl Crawford rejected as a project. Correspondence in the collection includes letters from such notables as Tennessee Williams, Thornton Wilder, Lillian Hellman, Elia Kazan, Mary Martin, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Geraldine Page and Eli Wallach. Production materials include files on Porgy and Bess, Sweet Bird of Youth, Camino Real, Brigadoon, Oh Men!, Oh Women, Paint Your Wagon and The Rose Tattoo. There is also some small amount of materials on the Theatre Guild, Group Theatre, American Repertory Theatre and Actors' Studio, though this material is very sketchy.

The Cheryl Crawford papers are arranged in eight series:

  • Series I: Correspondence
    1937-1986

    This series includes correspondence from friends and business associates both about personal and business matters. Some overlapping of subject information may occur in the content of these files and the production files. Correspondents include Hugh "Binkie" Beaumont, Tovah Feldshuh, Richard Halliday, Lillian Hellman, Jack Holmes, Randall Jarrell, Tom Jones, Bel Kaufman, Elia Kazan, Lotte Lenya, Oscar Lewenstein, Mary Martin, Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Harvey Schmidt, James Thurber, Eli Wallach, Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams, Audrey Wood and Joanne Woodward.

  • Series II: Organizations
    1936-1968

    This series includes correspondence, production files, contracts, production ideas and other materials relating to Cheryl Crawford's involvement in American Repertory Theatre, ANTA and Actors' Studio, Theatre Guild and Group Theatre.

  • Series III: Cheryl Crawford Office Files
    1945-1971

    This series includes correspondence, production files and notes, contracts and other materials relating to Cheryl Crawford's work as an independent producer. Included in this series is a file on the collection of Agnes DeMille.

  • Series IV: Independent Productions
    1938-1977

    Included in the production files are correspondence, contracts, scripts, production notes and ideas, box office statements and financial papers dealing with the business of theatrical production. Productions include works produced by Cheryl Crawford as an independent producer. PLEASE NOTE: All contracts are restricted and have been pulled from the files. Permission from the curator is required to view contracts.

  • Series V: Unproduced Works
    1945-1986

    Included in this series are scripts, notes and production ideas for plays considered by Cheryl Crawford but not produced by her. There are also unidentified play excerpts. Some titles include Conversation at Midnight by Edna St. Vincent Millay (clippings from Los Angeles production), The Damask Cheek by John Van Druten, The Fair Country by Jack Holmes (includes correspondence, production files and scripts), The Farmer's Hotel by John O'Hara, The Flowering Peach by Clifford Odets, Hold Back the Dawn by Ketti Frings, Lizzie by Edward Padula (play about Lizzie Borden), The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (casting notes), Post Mortem by Lynn Parker, The Silent Partner by Clifford Odets, Vieux Carre by Tennessee Williams and West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein (correspondence and notes).

  • Series VI: Personal Papers and Ephemera
    1920-1986

    Included in this series are awards, an early scrapbook, personal photographs and ephemera, photographs and programs from her college productions at Smith College, programs from the Wharf Players a photograph of the Provincetown Players and a Japanese art book signed by the members of the Actors Studio.

  • Series VII: Financial Ledgers & Receipt Books

    Included in this series are production ledgers from some of Cheryl Crawford's plays. These include Brigadoon and Paint Your Wagon, among others. Receipt books include stock certificate books from the American Repertory Theatre. Of special note are two ledger volumes concerning M.T.R. Washburn entitled Ancestry. The connection to this collection has not been determined.

  • Series VIII: Scrapbooks
    1938-1950

    This series includes scrapbooks of clippings about Cheryl Crawford as well as scrapbooks documenting Cheryl Crawford's productions. Titles include Family Portrait, Porgy and Bess, One Touch of Venus, The Tempest, Love Life, Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, Regina and The Closing Door. There are also scrapbooks under the topic of the Maplewood Theatre in New Jersey and the American Repertory Theatre.

Administrative information

Custodial history

The Cheryl Crawford papers were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in 1973.

Source of acquisition

Gift, Cheryl Crawford, 1973

Processing information

Processed by Mary Ellen Rogan and Susan McArthur.

In 1995 through 1997 the collection was reprocessed, rehoused and conserved. In 2000 a finding aid was created for the Web.

Separated material

    Autographed Photographs
  • Judith Anderson - 1
  • Tallulah Bankhead - 1
  • Ingrid Bergman - 1
  • Zoe Caldwell - 1
  • Tovah Feldshuh - 2
  • Patricia Huston - 1
  • Mary Martin - 4
    "B" - File Photographs
  • Teresa Helburn - 1
  • Anna Christie - 3
  • Autumn Crocus - 1
  • Camino Real - 1
  • Charley's Aunt - 1
  • Elmer the Great - 1
  • The Emperor Jones - 1
  • Flahooley - 11
  • Girls of Summer - 1 contact sheet, 15 negative strips
  • The Guardsman - 3
  • Her Cardboard Lover - 1
  • The Hot Mikado - 3
  • John Gabriel Borkman - 1 contact sheet
  • A Kiss for Cinderella - 10
  • The Male Animal - 2
  • The Man Who Came to Dinner - 3
  • Melody Jones - 1
  • Native Son - 1
  • One Touch of Venus - 3
  • Our Betters - 2
  • Porgy and Bess - 1
  • Regina - 21
  • The Royal Family - 2
  • The Second Mrs. Tanqueray - 5
  • The Tempest - 2
  • Twelfth Night - 1
  • Yentl - 5
    "A" File Photographs
  • Anna Christie - 17
  • Bernadine - 46
  • Escapade - 56
  • The Fourposter - 112
    *T-Cabinet
  • Wooden box lined in blue velvet containing the Lawrence Langner Award. Award is bronze with the image of Langner on the front. Back is inscribed "To Cheryl Crawford for a lifetime of achievement in the American theatre, June 5, 1977."
  • Brandeis University Creative Arts Award in Theatre to Cheryl Crawford, 1964
    Originals - *T-VIM 1973-004
  • Androcles and the Lion - set design by Wolfgang Roth for the American Repertory Theatre production (1946)
  • Brigadoon - costume design by David Ffolkes inscribed to "Cheryl"
  • Regina - set design by Horace Armistead (1949)

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 theatre@nypl.org

Access restrictions

Some collections held by the Dance, Music, Recorded Sound, and Theatre Divisions at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL's online catalog for detailed location information. For general guidance about requesting offsite materials, please consult: https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/lpa/requesting-archival-materials Patrons are requested to use service copies of material in Boxes 1 and 2; originals are available by permission only. Access to the contracts in the Independent Productions series by permission from the curator only.