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Creator
Zipprodt, Patricia, 1925-1999
Call number
*T-Vim 1999-001
Physical description
85 linear feet (126 boxes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation

The Patricia Zipprodt Papers and Designs, *T-Vim 1999-001. 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.

Patricia Zipprodt won three Tony Awards throughout her long career as a costume designer (and was nominated for eleven). She is best remembered for her most famous productions: Fiddler on the Roof (1964), Cabaret (1966), Zorba (1968), Chicago (1975), Sweet Charity (1987) and the film The Graduate (1967). The collection includes many original designs and sketches, as well as costume bibles, costume research, photographs, and productions materials.

Biographical/historical information

Patricia Zipprodt won three Tony Awards (she was nominated for eleven) as a Costume Designer for her work on Fiddler on the Roof(1964), Cabaret(1966), and Sweet Charity (1987). She is remembered for her technique of painting fabrics, her extraordinarily thorough research, her exuberant personality and her most famous productions: Fiddler on the Roof(1964), Cabaret (1966), Zorba (1968), Chicago (1975), Sweet Charity(1987), and the film The Graduate(1967).

Zipprodt was born on February 24, 1925 and raised in suburban Illinois. As a child, she used to draw paper dolls and costumes for them. Though she had always been interested in art, attending classes at the Art Institute of Chicago throughout her childhood and adolescence, she studied Sociology at Wellesley. After graduation she soon moved to New York City to live the bohemian lifestyle. She wore black turtlenecks and studied painting at the New School University, but it was a trip to the ballet that pointed her towards her destiny as a designer. The ballet was Ballanchine’s La Valseand Zipprodt was enraptured by the layers of silk, net, and beads that Barbara Karinska had draped on the dancers. In her own career Zipprodt would often design for ballets, operas, and musicals.

Zipprodt won a design scholarship to the Fashion Institute of Technology (1951-1953) and an internship with Charles James. Both contributed to Zipprodt’s talents as a cutter, draper and sewer. While preparing for her entrance exam to the United Scenic Artists Union, Zipprodt taught herself all of costume history by studying materials at the New York Public Library. She passed the exam and became a card-carrying Costume Designer before she had ever professionally designed a costume.

Zipprodt began her career by assisting the legendary Irene Sharaff, and by 1957 had designed her first solo Broadway show, The Potting Shed. She first worked with Harold Prince on The Matchmaker in 1962, and together they created some of the sixties most memorable shows: Fiddler on the Roof(1964), Zorba(1968), and Cabaret (1966). Hal Prince also put Zipprodt in contact with Jerome Robbins, another of her longtime collaborators.

She had a comprehensive work method that included thorough research. For example, she had a series of dinners with a Brooklyn rabbi to research 1964’s Fiddler on the Roof, and during 1989-1990 she spent six months in Japan studying weaving methods to make Shogun absolutely authentic. She would sketch first on tracing paper, so she could turn the figure over and over as she worked to keep it balanced. Then the image would be photocopied numerous times and Zipprodt would begin to experiment with color. In her collection of fabric swatches she claimed to have 500 different shades of red (and that none of them were ever quite right).

As her career progressed, Zipprodt in turn took on her own interns (like Ann Hould-Ward who would go on to Beauty and the Beast fame) and taught as an adjunct professor at Brandeis 1985-1992. She also lectured and/or taught master classes at many other universities including Harvard, Yale, New York University, Wellesley, Smith and Pratt. In 1981 The Village Voice named her one of New York City’s 10 best-dressed women. Zipprodt was a 1992 inductee into the Theater Hall of Fame, and in 1997 received the Theatre Development Fund’s Irene Sharaff Award for Lifetime Achievement.

In 1993 Zipprodt married a man whose proposal she had refused some 43 years earlier. After graduating from college, Zipprodt dated Lieutenant Colonel Robert O'Brien Jr., who wanted to marry her. She declined his proposal and instead moved to New York. In the early 90s, O'Brien came across Zipprodt's name in a Playbill and learned she taught at Brandeis University. According to The New York Times, O'Brien called the university, and asked them to deliver the following message - "Bob O'Brien called, and I want to marry her." The university obliged, as did Zipprodt. Her wedding gown was designed after a gown she created for Eliza in My Fair Lady (1993), and incorporated the sleeves of her mother’s wedding gown. For the next several years Zipprodt would split her time between New York City and O’Brien’s Virginia home. She died in her Greenwich Village apartment in July 1999.

Scope and arrangement

Designs make up the better portion of this collection. From initial pencil sketches to large-scale watercolors, original designs are not only beautiful but show Zipprodt’s evolution as a designer. The costume bibles contain a wealth of information about how the designs were executed and the day-to-day realities of translating a concept into an actor’s garment. Thorough script readings and research provide a launching pad for each production’s designs, and photographs (both prints and slides) show its fruition. Zipprodt’s correspondence and professional papers (awards, biographies, contracts & invoices, teaching materials, and theses/student papers about Zipprodt) give an impression of her career outside the costume shop. Clippings and programs provide production information beyond Zipprodt’s contributions. There is very little of a personal nature in the collection outside of appointment books, school papers, and vital records.

The Patricia Zipprodt papers and designs are arranged in eleven series:

  • Series I: Correspondence
    1943 - 1999
    2 boxes

    Patricia Zipprodt’s correspondence covers a fairly large time span, but consists of very few items in total. Among her correspondents, notables include Joel Grey, Harold Prince and Jerome Robbins. There are also four folders of letters from Zipprodt.

  • Series II: Personal Papers
    1925 - 1995
    2 boxes

    This series includes appointment books from 1985 to 1995, and papers from Zipprodt’s childhood and college career. It also contains vital records such as birth certificates and passports.

  • Series III: Professional Papers
    , 1925-1999; undated
    5 boxes

    Professional Papers contain documents not directly related to Zipprodt’s creative work on specific productions. Both the Biographies and Theses series provide helpful summaries and analyses of Zipprodt’s career. Teaching Materials includes Zipprodt’s notes as well as photographs of her and other’s designs that were used as classroom examples. Contracts and Invoices illuminate the financial side of her work, while Awards and Professional Recognitions includes a variety of honors from throughout her career.

  • Series IV: Scripts
    1951 - 1994
    1 box

    Roughly half the scripts in this series were never produced. Of special not is an early version of a Fiddler on the Roof script with its original name, Tevye.

  • Series V: Clippings
    1949 - 1999
    1 box

    This series includes clippings about specific shows, and about Zipprodt herself including her career and her style.

  • Series VI: Programs
    1957 - 1998
    1 box

    The programs span productions throughout Zipprodt’s extensive career, though very few are inscribed or annotated in any way.

  • Series VII: Photographs
    1954 - 1999
    20 boxes

    Photographs are in both print and slide formats. Most photographs are of either the performances themselves or of costume sketches. Also included are photographs of Zipprodt herself, images used for research and images of costume fittings.

  • Series VIII: Research
    1966 - 1995
    17 boxes

    Zipprodt was known for her thorough research. The research itself was color-coded, specifying whether it was research for a particular show, time period, or subject area. Research includes color and black and white photocopies, photographs, notes and a few rough sketches.

  • Series IX: Costume Bibles, ;
    1965 - 1997
    24 boxes

    In general, the costume bibles are wonderfully complete and well organized. They include photographs, sketches, swatches, schedules, and notes. When Zipprodt sent a bible on to international companies, or worked on a revival of a show she’d previously designed, she would often renumber or annotate her original bible. The Leaves Are Fading (1975) bible is of special interest as it exemplifies and explains her fabric painting techniques. Particularly thorough bibles include: Fiddler on the Roof (1964), My Fair Lady (1994), Pippin (1972), Sunday in the Park With George (1984), and Sweet Charity(1987).

  • Series X: Designs
    1959 - 1997
    50 boxes

    The Designs series is the heart of the collection. It includes initial pencil sketches and painted designs. There is some overlap with the costume bible series in that some designs have swatches attached or other notes. Broadly, if it is an individual piece and large format, it is in the design series. This series includes two versions of The Crucible, designed over 30 years apart (1959 and 1991). Also of interest are the original designs for Cabaret (1966), Fiddler on the Roof(1964), The Leaves are Fading (1975), and Shogun (1990).

  • Series XI: Oversized Materials
    1957 - 1988
    6 boxes

    The oversized materials are arranged to mirror the organization of the rest of the collection, the only difference is the larger format. It includes two complete costume bibles from the productions Alice in Wonderland (1982) and Cabaret (1966; 1987-1988).

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

The Patricia Zipprodt Papers and Designs were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 1999 by the estate of Patricia Zipprodt.

Processing information

Processed by Jennifer L. Winters; Machine-readable finding aid created by Jennifer L. Winters.

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.

  • Productions
    • Ain’t Broadway Grand, 1988 (AKA Mike.)
    • Chrysler Skating, ’92, 1992 (Two cassettes. With Brian Boitano and Katarina Witt.)
    • Tom Sawyer, ca.1990
    • Twist, 1992
    Interviews & Discussions
    • JS, MH and JP at Lincoln Center (Unplayable?)
    • Patricia Zipprodt and Ming Cho Lee in China for Anna Christie, ca.1984 (Informal discussion of production. In English and Chinese.)
  • Productions
    • Cabaret, ca.1987
    • Ballet Hispanico, 1988 (Inez de Castro and Cada Noche.)
    • Ballet Hispanico, undated (Excerpts from Café America, When Dreams Explode, and Idol Obsession.)
    • Barber of Seville, 1989 (2 cassettes.)
    • Broadway: Then & Now: Broadway Dress Parade, 1990
    • Flying High with the Phoenix, 1996 (The Theatrical Adventures of Hambleton and Houghton.)
    • June Moon, 1973
    • The Last of the Mobile Hotshots, 1970
    • Shogun, 1980 (Television miniseries.)
    • Shogun research, ca.1990 (Two cassettes.)
    • Shogun research, ca.1990 (Includes ninjas.)
    • Shogun research, ca.1990 (Ninagawa.)
    • The Sleeping Beauty, 1978 (Two cassettes.)
    • Sondheim Suite, 1989 (Pacific Northwest Ballet.)
    • Sweet Charity, undated
    • Tannhäuser, 1982
    • Watermill, 1972
  • Interviews & Discussions
    • American Theatre Wing Seminars, Fall 1990
    • American Theatre Wing Seminars, Fall 1991
    • Antoinette Perry (Tony) Awards, 1986 (Zipprodt won for Sweet Charity.)
    • Fashion is Theatre, 1987 (A tribute and musical revue of Zipprodt’s work.)
  • Pippin, undated (Two reels.)

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. One day.