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Creator
Radio City Music Hall (New York, N.Y.)
Call number
*T-Mss 2002-005
Physical description
2 lf (6 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Radio City Music Hall Collection of the Papers and Designs of James Stewart Morcom and John William Keck, *T-Mss 2002-005, 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.

The manuscript and photograph collection of James Stewart Morcom and John William Keck contains a scrapbook, newspaper and magazine clippings, photo albums, photographs, theater programs, souvenir brochures, playbills, theater journals, and a copy of a 32-page oral history transcript. The majority of the collection pertains to Radio City Music Hall.

Biographical/historical information

James Stewart Morcom (1906-1988) was a stage designer who served as the fifth Art Director for Radio City Music Hall.

James Morcom came to New York in 1926 and, from the following year until 1931, worked at the newly built Roxy Theatre as assistant to scenic designer Clark Robinson. When Robinson became the second Art Director for the new Radio City Music Hall in 1933, Morcom again assisted him before moving on to other projects. During the Depression Morcom designed display windows, created backdrops for the Columbia Burlesque theater chain, contributed designs to various plays, night club revues, and films, and also found work with the Federal Theatre Project. In 1936 Morcom worked in London on Cochran's Coronation Revue. After returning to the United States and seeing Orson Welles in the title role of Doctor Faustus in his Mercury Theatre stage production of the Marlowe play, Morcom contributed designs to several Mercury productions, including Five Kings, Too Much Johnson, and Native Son. During World War II he served in the Special Service Arts Department, designing sets and costumes for productions in Paris and London. After post-war study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, Morcom returned to New York where, after contributing designs to Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe and the New York City Ballet, Morcom became Art Director of Radio City Music Hall in 1950. He was succeeded in the position in 1973 by John William Keck.

John William Keck was born in Greenwich Village, New York City, on December 4, 1929. He attended the High School of Music and Art and attended Pratt Institute. Keck got his start as a summer stock scene painter in the 1950s, and eventually became a respected scenic designer. Keck was a designer for several years at Radio City Music Hall before he succeeded James Stewart Morcom as Art Director in 1973. He resigned from the position in the spring of 1980, and later designed sets for the Metropolitan Opera House.

Scope and arrangement

The manuscript collection of James Stewart Morcom and John William Keck includes papers and photographs that chart the professional careers of the two designers.

Both Morcom and Keck held the post of Art Director for Radio City Music Hall in New York, and the majority of the collection relates to their respective tenures. Also included are papers and photographs documenting work by each man for other institutions, such as Morcom's designs for the Roxy Theatre, Morcom's and Keck's designs for Jones Beach Theatre productions, and Keck's designs for the Nolan Scenery Studios and the Metropolitan Opera House. The papers of the Morcom and Keck collection includes newspaper and magazine clippings, souvenir brochures and programs, playbills, journal articles, a transcript of Morcom's oral history of his work with the Federal Theatre Project, and Morcom's personal scrapbook. The subject content of the Morcom and Keck photograph collection inclues costume and production scenes at various venues, publicity photographs, images of scenery being constructed, and Keck's career in summer stock. The dates for the papers and photographs of Morcom are 1926 to 1982, and the dates for Keck are 1948 to 1994. This collection also contains a sizeable set of color and black & white photographs of Radio City Music Hall productions that date from 1933 to 1978. Most photographs include descriptive information on production, performers, date, etc.

The Radio City Music Hall collection of the papers of James Stewart Morcom and John William Keck is arranged in three series:

  • Series I: James Stewart Morcom
    1926-1982

    Items in Papers and Photographs include newspaper and magazine clippings, souvenir brochures, programs, journal articles, photographs, and a copy of an oral history transcript. Morcom's personal scrapbook includes newspaper and magazine clippings, programs, playbills, photographs, and ephemera related to his professional career.

  • Series II: John William Keck
    1948-1994

    Items include business correspondence, newspaper clippings, programs, and souvenir brochures. Photographs contain black & white and color images of theater sets and scenic design construction. This sub-series also contains a small collection of water colors.

  • Series III: Radio City Music Hall Photographs
    1933-1978

    Sub-series 1 contains the 1933 photo album of G.S. Eyssell, President of Radio City Music Hall Corporation and Managing Director. Sub-sub-series A consists of (18) photographs that were originally mounted on gold cardboard backing. Sub-sub-series B consists of (59) photographs that were not bound or mounted, but do have descriptive information. Sub-sub-series C are (24) photographs in which almost all the images have no descriptive information, and have only an apparent internal catalog number assigned to them.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

The Radio City Music Hall Papers and Designs of James Stewart Morcom were donated to the New York Public Library of Performing Arts in early 2002 by Jerry Marshall of New York City.

Processing information

Processed by Christine Sanchez; machine-readable finding aid created by Mary Ellen Rogan.

Separated material

Audiovisual materials separated from archival collections are cataloged individually and can be found in the Library catalog. Search CATNYP, The New York Public Library catalog.

One record album entitled Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, an original cast album of the Radio City Music Hall Productions, Inc. 1979 state show was separated to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound.

Related Material

Designs from the Radio City Music Hall Collection of James Stewart Morcom and John William Keck can be found in *T-VIM 2002-005

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

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