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Creator
Barker, Margaret, 1908-1992
Call number
*T-Mss 1992-003
Physical description
19.61 linear feet (46 boxes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation

Margaret Barker Papers, *T-Mss 1992-003. 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.

This collection of personal and family papers, correspondence, production files, scripts, writings, and ephemera provide a wealth of documents on the life of actress, producer and director, Margaret Barker, a founding member of the Group Theatre, and her family.

Biographical/historical information

Actress, director, writer, and producer, Margaret Taylor Barker was born in Baltimore, Maryland on October 10, 1908. The daughter of a prominent physician, Dr. Lewellys Franklin Barker, and Lillian Halsey Barker, she had two siblings, John H. Barker, who was institutionalized after a disease left him mentally retarded, and William “Halsey” Barker, who became a physician.

“Beany,” as she was nicknamed, attended the Calvert and Bryn Mawr Schools in Baltimore. Her classmates at the Bryn Mawr School included Mildred Natwick and Eleanor Phelps. Ms. Barker attended Bryn Mawr College for two years, where her Dramatic Club contemporaries included Katharine Hepburn. Ms. Barker made her debut at the Bachelor’s Cotillion in Baltimore in 1926.

Margaret Barker made her Broadway debut in The Age of Innocence, starring Katharine Cornell in 1928. She performed in George Cukor’s company in Rochester, New York in 1929 and went on to train and perform at Jessie Bonstelle’s Detroit Civic Theatre for forty-two weeks in such plays as Oscar Wilde’s Salome and Ten Nights in a Barroom. 1930 saw her return to Broadway where she was an understudy in Arthur Hopkins’s production of So This Is New York. Ms. Barker then landed the role of Henrietta Moulton Barrett in the Katharine Cornell production of The Barretts of Wimpole Street by Rudolf Besier.

After six months, she left The Barretts of Wimpole Street to become a founding member of the Group Theatre in 1931. Ms. Barker appeared in four of the Group’s productions: The House of Connelly by Paul Green (1931), Men in White by Sidney Kingsley (1933), Till the Day I Die by Clifford Odets (1935), Gold Eagle Guy by Melvin Levy (1934), and The Case of Clyde Griffiths by Erwin Piscator and Lena Goldschmidt (1936). Other appearances while a Group Theatre member included Black Diamondby Stanley Kimmel at the Provincetown Playhouse (1933), Hilda Cassidy by Henry and Sylvia Lieferant at the Martin Beck Theatre (1933), and Weep for the Virgins by Nellise Child at the Forty-Sixth St. Theatre (1935). In the Group’s early years, Ms. Barker received love letters from Alan Baxter and Clifford Odets. She traveled to Russia in the spring of 1937, with a tour led by Norris Houghton, and returned to New York to learn that the Group Theatre had reorganized and that she had been dismissed.

Faced with the need to find employment, she performed in summer stock and directed the Summer Apprentice Program at the Southampton Playhouse in 1938. With dancer Felicia Sorel and actor and teacher Frank Westbrook, Ms. Barker started the Studio Workshop Theatre in New York City in 1938. It lasted until 1941. Among her students was Jerome Robbins. Around 1940, Margaret Barker toured playing in the role of Alice Fordyce in The Man Who Came to Dinner, starring Taylor Holmes.

She returned to Baltimore in the summer of 1941 to perform with and direct the apprentice program for the Hilltop Theatre in Ellicott City, Maryland. Plays at the Hilltop Theatre included Love from a Stranger by Frank Vosper, Divorçonsby Victorien Sardou and Emile de Najac, Biography by S.N. Behrman, The Night of January 16th by Ayn Rand, and Private Lives by Noel Coward.

Letters from Ms. Barker’s mother indicate that Margaret Barker planned to marry actor and director, Alexander (“Billy”) Kirkland in 1942, but the marriage did not take place. As part of the war effort, she applied to the WAVES and was accepted in 1943. However, she was dismissed shortly after joining because of a drinking problem. She was sent to a sanitorium for eighteen months. Ms. Barker then worked at the Bendix Radio Factory in Baltimore for the duration of World War II.

She returned to New York in 1946 and worked at the ANTA Experimental Theatre with Robert Schnitzer from approximately 1947 to1949. She performed in The WanhopeBuildingby John Finch in 1947. In 1949, Ms. Barker directed the ANTA production of Iris Tree’s play Cock-a-Doodle-Dooat the Lenox Hill Playhouse. Among the cast members were Charlton Heston, Darren McGavin, and Margaret Feury.

Also in 1947, Ms. Barker performed the role of Arabella in the last cross-country tour of The Barretts of Wimpole Street. The cast included Tony Randall, Anne Jackson and Maureen Stapleton. With Helen Thompson, Ms. Barker produced a summer season, including All the Way Home by Lynn Riggs at the Hunterdon Hills Playhouse in Jutland, New Jersey in the summer of 1948.

Ms. Barker’s other Broadway appearances included The Leading Lady written by and starring Ruth Gordon (1948), The Member of the Weddingby Carson McCullers (1950), Lillian Hellman’s The AutumnGarden(1951) See the Jaguarby N. Richard Nash, with James Dean (1952), and The Ladies of the Corridorby Dorothy Parker and Arnold D’Usseau, directed by Harold Clurman (1953).

She performed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival for approximately ten summers from the late 1950s to the 1960s in such plays as After the Fall by Arthur Miller (1965), Becketby Jean Anouilh (1961) The Dark at the Top of the Stairs by William Inge (1960), A Delicate Balance by Edward Albee (1967), Peer Gyntby Henrik Ibsen (1967), TheThree Sistersby Anton Chekhov (1965), and Our Town (1959), with playwright Thornton Wilder as the Stage Manager.

Early live television appearances include programs such as Danger, Camera Three, Crime Syndicated, and PhilcoTelevision Playhouse in the 1950s. Ms. Barker also appeared in soap operas such as Another World for over a year, The Doctors, Edge of Night and Love of Life. She also appeared in several films including Lost Boundaries (1949), Power(1986), and Fathers and Sons (1992).

In 1954, she studied with Cicely Berry at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama. She also studied with Bobby Lewis in the early 1950’s and was coached in Shakespeare by Helen Hayes. Ms. Barker made numerous trips to Europe during her lifetime. She maintained a home in Fairfield Connecticut and in the late 1970s and early 1980s, had a house in Vers, France for an unknown number of years. Ms. Barker attended Columbia University’s School of General Studies in 1957 and in the late 1960s, she studied painting at the New School for Social Research with Minoru Kawabata.

Sometime in the 1950s, Ms. Barker became involved with Alcoholics Anonymous and the Analytical Psychology Club of New York. She was also in analysis and kept a diary of her dreams in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Ms. Barker directed annual holiday programs for the APC and in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, she wrote a number of articles for the Analytical Psychology Club Bulletin, including a review of the film My Dinner with Andre. She also directed Maybelline, or, Everybody’s Shadow by Vernon E. Brooks, a marionette play (with additional dialogue by Ms. Barker), in 1960. For the Cosmopolitan Club of New York, of which she was a member, she also chaired the Drama Committee and presented numerous shows in the 1950s and 1960s. She directed a production of Jean Giraudoux’s The Enchanted in 1960 for the club.

Off-Broadway, she produced Color of Darkness: An Evening in the World of James Purdy, at the Writer’s Stage Theatre, where it opened on Sept. 27, 1963. The cast featured Doris Roberts and Eleanor Phelps. It closed after a brief run. Ms. Barker was associate producer for Stanley Mann’s one-act plays, Rooms, at the Cherry Lane Theatre in 1966. In 1973, with Shepperd Strudwick III, she translated the play L’Ete (Summer) by Romain Weingarten. It opened April 9, 1973 and it also closed quickly after poor notices.

Her writings include plays, short stories, poetry, and non-fiction pieces written mostly from the 1920’s through the 1950’s. The Unpossessed, a play she wrote with Mary Hamman and presented to the Group Theatre for consideration around 1936 was rejected. Ms. Barker also wrote a satirical skit for the Group that was performed at one of its summer sessions at Dover Furnace in 1932. Another of her plays, A Moonlit Dome, was performed at the Shirley Broughton Studio in New York City in 1962. William Francisco directed a cast that included Charles Kimbrough.

In later years, Ms. Barker appeared in plays such as The Wayside Motor Inn by A.R. Gurney at Manhattan Theatre Club Stage II (1977), Close Ties by Elizabeth Diggs both at the Lexington Conservatory Theatre in Lexington, New York (1980) and at the Long Wharf Theatre’s Stage II in New Haven for eighteen weeks in 1981, and Simon Gray’s adaptation of Moliere’s Tartuffe at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. with Brian Bedford, Barnard Hughes, and Carole Shelley (1982).

She performed at Off-Off Broadway theatres such as Circle Repertory Company, The Mirror Theatre, New Dramatists, and Playwrights Horizons. She also performed at Eugene O’Neill Center in New London, Connecticut in the summers of 1980 and 1981. Ms. Barker also served on the board of Manhattan Punch Line from about 1979 to1982. Margaret Barker died of lung cancer at the age of 83 in 1992.

Scope and arrangement

The papers of Margaret Barker consist of personal papers, family papers, diaries, datebooks, correspondence, including letters from family, friends and business associates, legal and financial documents, writings, programs, scripts, photographs, scrapbooks, and ephemera relating to productions in which she appeared, directed or produced.

The personal and family papers provide an in-depth insight into Ms. Barker’s life and work. The personal papers contain Ms. Barker’s datebooks and diaries, including a journal of her dreams. Financial papers include bank statements for trusts, personal bills, receipts, income ledger sheets, and papers for several theatrical investments. Her personal files span much of her life—from the Bryn Mawr School she attended as a girl in Baltimore, to her pension statements from Actors’ Equity Association, and relate to many aspects of her life—homes, notebooks, recipes, sketches, theater memorabilia, and travel, to name a few. Family papers are rich in correspondence, especially from Ms. Barker’s parents, but also from other family members. The papers of the Barker and Halsey families date back to the early 1800s and include a letter from the Baron de Stael to T.T.Wilder.

Correspondence consists largely of letters from friends, admirers and business associates in the 1930s. Some of Ms. Barker’s more notable correspondents include Alan Baxter, Harold Clurman, Katharine Cornell, Clifford Odets, and Jerome Robbins. The Group Theatre papers offer an insider’s perspective on its productions and activities, including several of its summer sessions, from 1931 until 1937, when the Group reorganized and Ms. Barker was no longer a member. The organization series’ papers consist of newsletters, correspondence, fliers, booklets, and advisory board materials for groups with which Ms. Barker was personally or professionally involved. Scripts and production materials are also contained in the files for the Analytical Psychology Club of New York, Inc. and the Cosmopolitan Club for which Ms. Barker directed productions.

Productions comprise the largest part of the papers and contain scripts, correspondence, contracts, programs, production materials, and ephemera largely for shows in which Ms. Barker appeared. Color of Darkness and L’Ete, produced by Ms. Barker, and A Moonlit Dome, written by Ms. Barker, are the best-documented productions. Color of Darkness and L’Ete include financial and casting materials as well.

Her writings consist of plays, short stories, poetry, non-fiction, and speeches. None of these writings appear to have been produced or published, with the exception of the concert reading of A Moonlit Dome at the Shirley Broughton Studio in 1962. Scripts received by Ms. Barker range from works by unknown playwrights to authors such as S.N. Behrman, Max Frisch, Arthur Kopit, and Megan Terry.

As with the papers, the production photographs make up the largest part of the Photographs series. Photographs in the collection include informal, personal and professional portraits of Ms Barker and of her family. There are informal photographs of the Group Theatre summer sessions. Organization photographs consist mostly of the productions Ms. Barker did for the Analytical Psychology Club of New York, Inc. and for the Cosmopolitan Club.

Two scrapbooks document Ms. Barker’s work in the summer of 1941 at the Hilltop Theatre in Maryland and her production of The Color of Darkness in 1963. (The latter, oversized scrapbook contains only eight pages of material.) Oversized materials are an unidentified piece of music and the British publication, Band of Hope Review (1865).

The Margaret Barker papers are arranged in eleven series:

  • Series I: Personal Papers, ca.
    1800-1986
    6 boxes 7 folders

    The datebooks reflect Ms. Barker’s personal and professional engagements and are in her own handwriting. Diaries and dream journals offer insight into Ms. Barker’s reflections on her life and activities. Included in the financial papers are bank and pension fund statements, receipts, checks, and materials relating to theatrical and publishing projects in which Ms. Barker invested. The largest sub-series is Personal Files, A-Z. It contains material on various topics, such as Ms. Barker’s homes, recipes, travel, personal projects, clippings on her and others, and theatrical memorabilia. Also included are some papers relating to Halley Erskine and Ann Macfarlane, Ms. Barker’s companions.

    • Sub-series 1: Datebooks, Diaries and Dream Journals, 1925-1982
    • Sub-series 2: Financial, 1930-1984
    • Sub-series 3: Personal Files, A-Z, ca. 1800s-1986
  • Series II: Family Papers, ca.
    1800 - 1982
    5.5 boxes

    This series contains correspondence to and from Ms. Barker’s family, as well as the papers of the Barker and Halsey (Ms. Barker’s mother’s maiden name) families. The family papers span several generations. Included in the Barker Family Papers are letters from prominent early 20th century physicians to Dr. Lewellys F. Barker, Ms. Barker’s father. The Halsey Family Papers contain materials from the Wilder and Haines families, Ms. Barker’s maternal ancestors. The bulk of this series consists of correspondence from Ms. Barker’s parents to her, with her mother’s letters being the more numerous. These letters provide much information on Ms. Barker’s career, especially in the 1930s.

    • Sub-series 1: Family Correspondence, 1916-1982
    • Sub-series 2: Correspondence from Margaret Barker to Family, ca. 1920s-1980
    • Sub-series 3: Barker Family Papers, 1893-1977
    • Sub-series 4: Halsey Family Papers, ca. 1800s-1960
  • Series III: Correspondence
    1930-1939
    4.6 boxes

    This series contains letters from Ms. Barker’s friends and professional associates, about both personal and business matters. Much of the correspondence dates from the 1930s.

    • Sub-series 1 - General, 1926-1988
    • Sub-series 2 - Individuals A-Z, 1928-1969
    • Sub-series 3 - Correspondence from Margaret Barker, 1926-1985
  • Series IV: Group Theatre
    1930 - 1989
    2.5 boxes

    This series consists of correspondence, programs, scripts, publicity materials, notebooks, financial papers, production materials, contracts, and clippings relating to the origins and productions of the Group Theatre. The bulk of the material is from 1930-1936, the years of Ms. Barker’s participation. The 1983 program and reunion, “NYU Salutes the Group Theatre 1931-1940,” and the materials relating to the American Masters television documentary, Broadway’s Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre, comprise the later papers in this series.

    • Sub-series 1: Correspondence, 1930-1988
    • Sub-series 2: Papers, 1930-1983
    • Sub-series 3: Productions, 1931-1989
    • Sub-series 4: Ephemera, 1931-1939; 1983-1989
  • Series V: Organizations
    1927 - 1987
    3 boxes 4 folders

    The series contains correspondence, minutes, invitations, programs, membership booklets, newsletters, production materials, scripts, seminar materials, financial papers, card files, contracts, and clippings. The files represent organizations with which Ms. Barker had a long relationship, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, the Analytical Psychology Club of New York, Inc., and the Cosmopolitan Club. Of particular note is an autobiographical speech Ms. Barker gave for Alcoholics Anonymous. Her productions for the Analytical Psychology Club of New York include a marionette play, Maybelline, or, Everybody’s Shadow (1970) and their annual holiday programs. Papers relating to these productions, as well as articles for the club’s Bulletin are contained in the files. Her productions for the Cosmopolitan Club, such as The Enchanted by Jean Giraudoux (1970) are also documented.

    Also included are organizations of a professional nature, such as Actors’ Equity Association, ANTA, the American Shakespeare Festival, Circle Repertory Company, the Eugene O’Neill Center, Hilltop Theatre, Hunterdon Hills Playhouse, Manhattan Punch Line, the Mirror Theatre, Southampton Playhouse, Studio Workshop Theatre, and the Williamstown Theatre. The files for Studio Workshop Theatre, founded in 1938 by Ms. Barker with Felicia Sorel and Frank Westbrook, include a prospectus, teaching notes, accounting ledgers, card files, and correspondence. Jerome Robbins was a student at Studio Workshop Theatre. At the Hunterdon Hills Playhouse in Jutland, New Jersey, Ms. Barker produced a summer season that included All the Way Home by Lynn Riggs (1948) with Helen Thompson. However, there are only a few administrative items in the papers about the theater. A photograph of Ms. Barker at the playhouse is filed in the Photographs series.

    Ms. Barker served on the Board of Advisors of the Off-Off Broadway theater company, Manhattan Punch Line, from 1979-1982 and the files include minutes, budgets, sample contracts, notes by Ms. Barker, publicity materials, and programs for the organization. The Williamstown Theatre files include papers documenting Ms. Barker’s attempts to develop a resident season for the company in Baltimore in the mid-1960s.

  • Series VI: Productions
    1928 - 1986
    12.75 boxes

    This series contains correspondence, scripts, prompt scripts, programs, production and publicity materials, financial papers, notes, contracts, sketches, and clippings for which Ms. Barker acted either as producer, actor, or director. Papers for the production, Rooms, by Stanley Mann, for which Ms. Barker was associate producer, are filed with the General sub-series.

    • Sub-series 1: Color of Darkness, 1962-1964
    • Sub-series 2: L’Ete, 1966-1973
    • Sub-series 3: A Moonlit Dome, 1961-ca. 1962
    • Sub-series 4: General, 1928-1986
  • Series VII: Writings, ca. 191 - ? - 1986
    3 boxes

    Some of Ms. Barker’s manuscripts are handwritten. There is no indication that any of the works in this series were produced or published. Two versions of “Home by Dark,” a short story by James Purdy, are filed at the end of the writings.

    • Sub-series 1: Plays, 1928-1970 and n.d.
    • Sub-series 2: Short Stories, 1940-ca. 1960 and n.d.
    • Sub-series 3: Poetry, ca. 191-?-1980
    • Sub-series 4: Non-fiction, ca. 1945-1960
    • Sub-series 5: Speeches, 1935-1966
  • Series VIII: Scripts, and
    1938 - 1941
    2 boxes

    This series consists of stage plays probably sent to Ms. Barker, but also contains sides for unidentified plays for which no production information is available. Included is an early version (ca. 1965) of Hothouseby Megan Terry. Later versions of the play are filed in the Productions series. Other scripts of note are Love Storyby S.N. Behrman (1938), Don Juan, or, The Love of Geometryby Max Frisch (ca. 1962), The Investigationby Peter Weiss, Good Help Is Hard to Find, a one-act play by Arthur Kopit (ca. 1981), Tangoby Slawomir Mrozek, translated by Nicholas Bethell and Tom Stoppard (ca. 1960s).

  • Series IX: Photographs, ca.
    1920 - 1982
    3.75 boxes

    The photographs document a number of aspects of the collection: Personal, Portraits, Family, Individuals, Group Theatre, Organizations, and Productions. The arrangement parallels the organization of the papers. Productions form the largest part of the series. Papers containing personal information for L’Ete company members are filed at the end of this series.

    • Sub-series 1: Personal, ca. 1920s-1982
    • Sub-series 2: Portraits, ca. 1920s-1980s
    • Sub-series 3: Family, ca. 1800s-1975
    • Sub-series 4: Individuals, 1884-ca. 1940
    • Sub-series 5: Group Theatre, 1931-1935
    • Sub-series 6: Organizations, 1948-1986
    • Sub-series 7: Productions, 1928-1982
  • Series X: Scrapbooks
    1963
    2 folders

    This series consists of two scrapbooks: one for the Hilltop Theatre, Ellicott City, Maryland and one for Ms. Barker’s production of Color of Darkness. The Hilltop Theatre scrapbook contains clippings, a photo of Ms. Barker, and correspondence for the theater’s nineteenth season in 1941. Productions included are Love from a Stranger by Frank Vosper, Divorçons by Victorien Sardou and Emile de Najac, Biographyby S.N. Behrman, The Night of January 16thby Ayn Rand, and Private Lives by Noel Coward. The Color of Darkness scrapbook contains eight pages of clippings and a production brochure. It is filed with the oversized material.

  • Oversized, and
    n.d.
    1 -11" x 15" box

    The oversized materials consist of three items: an unidentified music manuscript, the May 1, 1865 issue of Band of Hope Review, an illustrated London publication and the Color of Darknessscrapbook.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

This collection was donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division by Laura Fernandez and Lewellys F. Barker in 1992.

Processing information

Processed by Camille Croce Dee; Machine-readable finding aid created by Camille Croce Dee.

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.

  • Martha Graham and Dance Group, Guild Theatre, 1932
  • Martha Graham and Dance Group, Guild Theatre,1934 (Damaged fragment), also herald
  • Martha Graham and Dance Group, Maxine Elliott’s Theatre, 1948
  • Dance Recital, New Dance League, Adelphi Theatre, 1935
  • Dragondance, 1986 [Santa Fe, New Mexico]
  • First National Dance Congress & Festival, Theresa L. Kaufmann Theatre, 1936
  • Tina Flada, Civic Repertory Theatre, 1932
  • Jooss European Ballet, Alvin Theatre, 1936 (Souvenir program & 2 program inserts)
  • New York City Ballet Company, New York City Center, 1950
  • Emy Saint-Just, Carnegie Chamber Music Hall, [n.d.]
  • Trudi Schoop and Her Comic Ballet, Majestic Theatre, 1935
  • Six Miracle Plays, Guild Theatre, [n.d.] (Ticket form)
  • Felicia Sorel, The Dance Gallery, 1940 (Flier)
  • Mary Wigman souvenir program, [n.d.]
  • Maro Ajemian, Carnegie Hall, 1950
  • Free Chamber Music in Washington Square Park, 1972
  • Happy Talk, An Enchanted Evening of Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Philharmonic Hall, 1972
  • Harald Kreutzberg, Guild Theatre, 1937
  • Music for the Voice by American Composers, Carnegie Recital Hall, 1960
  • Shvanda, The Bagpiper, War Memorial Opera House, [1949]
  • David Stimer, Town Hall, 1949
  • Maggie Teyte, Town Hall, 1949
  • Mildred Titcomb, Town Hall, 1932
  • Tristan und Isolde, Metropolitan Opera House, 1932
  • Ludwig Van Beethoven, Concerto in D Major (Opus 61) (Liner notes?), [ca. 1927]
  • 1 reel to reel audiotape Sound cues for Color of Darkness(1963)
  • *T-Cabinet
    • 1 purple and white decorative fan with mother of pearl handle
    • 1 decorative fan with multicolored picture and black, green and white handle
  • Programs
    • About Face, Hilltop Theatre, Ellicott City, Md., 1941
    • Alice Sit by the Fire, The Playhouse, 1932
    • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Stella Adler Studio [n.d.]
    • All the Living, Fulton Theatre, 1938
    • All the Way Home, Ridgefield Summer Theatre, [n.d.]
    • The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Empire Theatre, 1931 (2 copies)
    • Bird in Hand, Cass Theatre, London, 1930
    • Black Visions, New York Shakespeare Festival, [n.d.]
    • Blithe Spirit, Booth Theatre, 1943
    • Bread & Puppet Theater, Theatre at St. Clement’s, [n.d.]
    • Bread & Puppet Theater, no venue, [n.d.]
    • Bury the Dead, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 1936
    • Caligula, Circle Repertory Co., 1986 (2 copies)
    • Carving a Statue, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 1964
    • The Cherry Orchard, 4th St. Theatre, [n.d.]
    • The Cherry Orchard, NYSF Public Theater, [n.d.]
    • The Cherry Orchard, Civic Repertory Theatre, 1928
    • The Coast of Illyria, Theatre '49, Dallas, Texas, 1949 (2 copies)
    • The Cocktail Party, Barter Theatre, Virginia, 1955
    • Come Back Little Sheba, Booth Theatre, 1950
    • The Corn Is Green, National Theatre, 1941
    • The Country Wife, Henry Miller’s Theatre, 1936
    • The Curtain Rises, Jutland Summer Theatre, 1939
    • Death of a Salesman, Morosco Theatre, 1949
    • The Deer Park, Theatre de Lys, 1967
    • Denny Malone, New Dramatists Committee, 1953
    • The Doctor’s Dilemma, Shubert Theatre, 1941
    • Dodsworth, Sam S. Shubert Theatre, 1934
    • Don Juan in Hell, Plymouth Theatre, 1952
    • The Doughgirls, Lyceum Theatre, 1943
    • Edge of Reason, Stage Sixty, Theatre Royal, Stratford, ca.1964
    • El Grande de Coca Cola, Mercer Arts Center, 1973
    • The Enchanted, Cosmopolitan Club, 1960
    • Equus, Plymouth Theatre, 1974
    • Escape into Glory, Bulgakov Studio of Theatre Art, ca. 1941
    • Escape Me Never, Shubert Theatre, 1935
    • Ethan Frome, National Theatre, 1936
    • The Far-Away Princess, Neighborhood Playhouse, 1965
    • The First and the Last, Group Theatre at Green Mansions, [1933]
    • Flight to the West, Royale Theatre, 1941
    • Flowering Cherry, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 1957
    • For Adults Only, Strand Theatre, London, 1958
    • Found Material, Wildcat Theatre, 1980
    • Games, New Arts Theatre Club, England, 1964
    • The Gentle People, Belasco Theatre, 1939
    • Ghosts, Empire Theatre, 1935
    • Gigi, Westport Country Playhouse, 1965
    • Gold Eagle Guy, Majestic Theatre, [1934]
    • Golden Boy, Belasco Theatre, 1937, 1938 (2 programs)
    • The Good Companions, Forty-Fourth St. Theatre, 1931
    • The Government Inspector, New Phoenix Repertory Company, 1972-1973
    • Hamlet, St. James Theatre, 1936
    • Heaven Can Wait, San Francisco Municipal Theatre, [ca. 1949]
    • Heavenly Express, Beechwood Theatre, 1932
    • Hello Out There and Other One-Act Plays, Circle Theatre ca. 1949
    • The Hot L Baltimore, Circle in the Square, 1973
    • The House of Connelly, Ford’s Theatre, Baltimore, Maryland, 1932
    • The House of Connelly, Martin Beck Theatre, 1931
    • The House of Connelly, Equity Library Theatre, 1955
    • I Am a Camera, Empire Theatre, 1952
    • Illusion, New Dramatists Committee, 1952
    • Inadmissable Evidence, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1964
    • Jane Cowl, Maxine Elliott’s Theatre, 1930
    • Judith, Phoenix Theatre, [n.d.]
    • KG, New Dramatists Committee, 1952
    • Kathleen Ni Houlihan, Abbey Theatre Co., Dublin, 1913
    • King Lear, City Center, 1956
    • King Lear, Royal Lyceum Theatre, 1893
    • King of the Castle, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, 1964 (2 copies)
    • The King’s Threshold, Abbey Theatre, Dublin, [1913]
    • The Ladies of the Corridor, Longacre Theatre, 1953
    • Ladies Voices, Desire and Sweeney Agonistes, Living Theatre, [n.d.]
    • Love on the Dole, Longacre Theatre, 1936
    • Love’s Old Sweet Song, Plymouth Theatre, 1940
    • Lucrece, Belasco Theatre, 1932
    • The Lunatic, The Lover and The Poet, Dublin Theatre Festival, 1964
    • The Male Animal, Cort Theatre, 1940
    • Man and Superman, Williamstown Summer Theatre, 1962
    • Marat/Sade, Aldwych Theatre, 1964
    • Marcel Marceau, Phoenix Theatre, ca. 1955
    • The Master Builder, Phoenix Theatre, 1955
    • Medicine Show, New Yorker Theatre, 1940
    • Men in White, Broadhurst Theatre, 1934 (3 copies)
    • Men in White, Pine Brook Country Club, 1936
    • Mid-Summer, Vanderbilt Theatre, 1953
    • A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hofstra College, 1963
    • The Miracle, Olympia [Theater], Detroit, 1929
    • Miss Julie and The Stronger, Phoenix Theatre, 1955-1956
    • Mr. & Mrs. Lyman, New Dramatists Committee, 1966
    • Mon Coeur au Ralenti, Theatre Antoine, 1927
    • Monday’s Heroes, Actors’ Lab, ca. 1949
    • Montserrat, Fulton Theatre, 1949
    • Moon Mysteries, Theatre at St. Clement’s, [n.d.]
    • A Moonlit Dome, Shirley Broughton Studio, 1962
    • The Most Happy Fella, Imperial Theatre, 1956
    • Mourning Becomes Electra, Guild Theatre, 1931
    • Murder in the Cathedral, Equity Library Theatre, [n.d.]
    • My Dear Children, Belasco Theatre, 1940
    • Natural Affection, U.R.G.E.N.T., [n.d.]
    • Neighborhood Playhouse Final Demonstration, 1952
    • Night Music, Broadhurst Theatre, 1940
    • No Time for Comedy, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 1939
    • Of Thee I Sing, Forty-Sixth St. Theatre, 1932
    • On Borrowed Time, Longacre Theatre, 1938
    • Once More with Feeling, Berkshire Playhouse, 1959
    • Othello, National Theatre, Chichester, 1964
    • Out of the Frying Pan, Windsor Theatre, 1941
    • Outward Bound, Playhouse Theatre, 1938
    • Paradise Lost, Longacre Theatre, 1935
    • Peer Gynt, Yale School of Drama, 1966
    • Pigeons (and one-act plays), Theater 1965, [1965]
    • Pins and Needles, Windsor Theatre, 1939
    • Play It for Comedy, Lyceum Theatre, 1938
    • Private Lives, Times Square Theatre, 1931
    • Purple Dust, Cherry Lane Theatre, [n.d.]
    • Regina, Forty-Sixth St. Theatre, 1949
    • Richard II, Royal Shakespeare Company at BAM, 1974
    • Romeo and Juliet, Martin Beck Theatre, 1934 (2 copies)
    • Reunion in New York, Little Theatre, 1940
    • Renaud/Barrault Company, Ziegfeld Theatre, 1952
    • The Right Honourable Gentleman, Her Majesty’ Theatre, 1964
    • The Rose Tattoo, Alley Theatre, [ca. 1949]
    • Russian Programs, 1937 (3 programs)
    • Saint Joan, Equity Library Theatre, ca. 1949
    • Saint Joan, Martin Beck Theatre, 1936
    • A Scent of Flowers, Duke of York’s Theatre, 1964
    • The Shoemaker’s Prodigious Wife, Provincetown Playhouse, 1949
    • The Show Is On, Winter Garden Theatre, 1937
    • The Silver Tassie, Interplayers Theatre, 1949
    • Six Characters in Search of an Author, Phoenix Theatre, 1955-1956
    • A Sleep of Prisoners, St. James Church, 1951
    • Small Craft Warnings, New Theatre, 1972
    • The Smile of the World, Shubert Theatre, New Haven, [1948]
    • Sticks and Bones, N.Y. Shakespeare Festival, [n.d.]
    • Sting in the Tail, Theatre ’49, Dallas, Texas, [1949]
    • Success Story, Maxine Elliott’s Theatre, 1932
    • The Taming of the Shrew, National Theatre, 1939
    • That Lady, Martin Beck Theatre, 1949
    • Too True to Be Good, Guild Theatre, 1932
    • Troilus and Cressida, New School for Social Research, ca. 1955
    • The Trojan Women, Cort Theatre, 1941
    • The Truth Game, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 1930
    • Two Recitals of Poetry, Cranston Street Hall, 1962
    • The Typists and The Tiger, Orpheum Theatre, 1962
    • Ulysses (Motion picture) [1967]
    • Under Milk Wood, Poetry Center, 1954
    • Uniform of Flesh, ANTA, [ca. 1949]
    • Unto Such Glory and other plays, Artef 2nd Collective Studio, [n.d.]
    • Venus Observed, New Century Theatre, 1952
    • A View from the Bridge, Williamstown Theatre, 1964
    • Le Voyage, [Paris], [ca. 1934]
    • The Would-Be Gentleman, Civic Repertory Theatre, 1928
    • Yoshe Kalb, Yiddish Art Theatre, [1932?]
  • Magazines
    • Cue, July 3, 1937 (Long Island Edition)
    • The Drama Review, Winter 1984
    • L’Illustration Theatrale, Sept. 7 1907
    • L’Illustration Theatrale, Aug. 15, 1908
    • Plays and Players, Sept. 1964
    • Theatre World, Aug. 1964
    • Time, Dec. 26, 1932
  • Posters
    • 1 Russian theater poster, ca. 1937 (Fragile condition)
  • Miscellaneous Brochures, Etc.
    • Dublin Theatre Festival, 1964 (2 brochures)
    • Exhibition of Stage Models and Designs by Robert Edmond Jones, Bourgeois Galleries, 1932
    • Paradise Lost, Longacre Theatre [n.d.]
    • Pitlochry Festival, Scotland, 1964
    • Roy Harte Theatre [n.d.]
    • “A Tribute to the British Theatre Museum,” Winter 1963/1964
  • Photographs
    • Margaret Barker (12)
    • Andrew Dunbar (1)
    • Marjory Hyder (1)
    • Vincent Milana (1)
    • Eleanor Phelps (1)
    • Color of Darkness, 1963 (3)
    • The Enchanted, Cosmopolitan Club, 1970
    • Group Theatre, ca. 1930s
    • The Member of the Wedding, 1950
    • Peer Gynt, Williamstown Theatre, 1967
    • Unidentified (5)
    • Vandamm Photos: The Barretts of Wimpole Street, 1931 (3)

Related Material

The Lewellys Franklin Barker Collection is held at the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions

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.

Access restrictions

Photocopying prohibited.

Alternative form available

Johnny Johnson : a play in three acts / by Paul Green ; music by Kurt Weill. Typescript. Without music. Box 19, folder 21. Also available on microfilm as part of the Margaret Barker papers; service copy classmark: *ZC-714