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Creator
Theatre Guild
Call number
*T-Mss 1975-006
Physical description
1.88 linear feet (5 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Theatre Guild United States Steel Hour Records, *T-Mss 1975-006. 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 Theatre Guild United States Steel Hour Records are comprised of correspondence, financial records, casting, rehearsal, and recording notes, as well as some scripts for productions that were telecast as part of The United States Steel Hour television series. The United States Steel Hour, which was a continuation of the Guild's earlier radio anthology series, Theatre Guild of the Air (1945-1953), ran for two seasons (1953-1955) on the ABC Television Network. In 1955, it moved to the CBS television network, where it remained through 1963.

Biographical/historical information

By the 1940s, the Theatre Guild, a prestigious theatrical production company, had evolved from its more radical beginnings in 1919 to become established as an almost de facto national theater for the United States. In 1945, as part of an effort to reach a broader audience, the Guild developed a radio program, The Theatre Guild on the Air. This anthology series initially presented live broadcasts of adaptations of plays which had been produced originally by the Guild, such as Ferenc Molnár's The Guardsman (1945) with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. It also occasionally offered dramatic works which had been staged by other producers. First broadcast on the ABC Radio Network (1945-1949), the program's sponsor was the United States Steel Corporation. Arminia Marshall (wife of one of the Guild's original founders, Lawrence Langner) was responsible for coordinating the administrative aspects of the radio program for the Guild.

Theatre Guild on the Air was heard on the NBC Radio Network from the fall of 1949 to the spring of 1953, when it was revamped as a television series, The United States Steel Hour. The show, which presented a mixture of original plays for television and adaptations of other works, ran for two seasons on the ABC Television Network. In September 1955, The United States Steel Hour moved to the CBS Television Network, where it remained through 1963. Notable productions over the years included Ira Levin's adaptation of No Time for Sergeants (1955), Rod Serling's Noon on Doomsday (1956), Bang the Drum Slowly (1956) by Arnold Shuman, Survival (1957) by Alfred Brenner, and James Yaffe's version of The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon (1959). The final episode of the series, another adaptation of J. M. Barrie's The Old Lady Shows Her Medals, starring Lunt and Fontanne, aired on June 12, 1963.

Scope and arrangement

The Theatre Guild United States Steel Hour Records are comprised of correspondence, financial records, casting, rehearsal, and recording notes, as well as some scripts for productions that were telecast as part of The United States Steel Hour television series. Most of the material concerns productions which aired during 1961-1963, the final years in which the program was broadcast on CBS Television. During this period, William B. (Bill) Nichols served as the Theatre Guild's producer for the series. Much of the correspondence is addressed either to Nichols or to casting director Caro Jones. Also included with the collection are some production files and scripts for what appear to have been Off-Broadway projects optioned or produced independently by Nichols. Among these projects was the play, Cockeyed Kite (1961), by Joseph Caldwell, which ran for only seven performances at the Actor's Playhouse. Included in the collection is a Cockeyed Kite script, as well as related publicity materials such as press releases, headshots, and original publicity questionnaires completed by many members of the company, including one from Gene Hackman, who had been cast in a lead role, but who dropped out of the production before opening night.

The Theatre Guild United States Steel Hour records are arranged in two series:

  • Series I: Correspondence and Production Files, and
    1957 - 1963
    3 boxes

    The Correspondence and Production Files consist chiefly of correspondence and financial records, for televised plays mounted by The United States Steel Hour during Bill Nichols’s tenure as a producer for the series. While some of the correspondence was found in separate files marked “personal,” these files contain only a few items concerning Nichols’s routine personal affairs; the majority of the correspondence relates to his work on The United States Steel Hour. Also included are some files documenting Off-Broadway projects developed by Nichols. While the contents vary, production files on individual titles frequently include casting and rehearsal notes, invoices, and correspondence. The most extensively documented show in the collection is The Duchess and the Smugs (1962), which starred Patty Duke and Fritz Weaver.

  • Series II: Scripts, and
    1962 - 1963

    The Scripts series contains only a few of the complete scripts for episodes in the television series, The United States Steel Hour, including The Duchess and the Smugs (1962) and The Soldier Ran Away (1962). Other scripts included with this series are for works for the stage that were either produced or optioned by Bill Nichols, such as Joseph Caldwell's The Cockeyed Kite (1961).

Administrative information

Processing information

Processed by Helice Koffler; Machine-readable finding aid created by Helice Koffler.

Related Material

The Theatre Guild Archive is held by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

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.