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Creator
Morley, Ruth
Call number
*T-Mss 1998-024
Physical description
38 linear feet (70 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Ruth Morley Papers, *T-Mss 1998-024. 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 Ruth Morley Papers document the career of Ruth Morley, costume designer for theater, opera, motion pictures and television. The materials date from 1940-1990 (bulk years 1925-2005) and include production materials such as costume plots and notes, sketches, and swatches; production notes, schedules, and contact lists; costume and research photographs and slides; correspondence, contracts and financial records, as well as a substantial number of scripts. The collection also includes professional papers such as correspondence, coursework and lecture notes, research materials, and theatrical vendor brochures. There are no personal papers in this collection.

Biographical/historical information

Ruth Morley was born around 1926 in Vienna, Austria. In January 1939 she was one of the approximately 10,000 children who were transported to Britain through the Kindertransport in 1938-1939. After receiving her early education in Vienna and Croydon, England, Ruth Morley moved to the United States in 1941. She attended the Washington Irving Fine Arts High School, and the Cooper Union Art School.

With limited language skills, her natural talent in drawing initially helped her go through school by exchanging sketches for biology assignments with help in homework, and later helped support her family by creating greeting cards and cell animation. While still in high school she worked designing sets for summer-stock productions at the Cleveland Playhouse. Soon she realized that “she did not like the mechanical aspects of set designing” and turned to work in a costume house.

In 1950-1951 she established and directed the costume department for the City Center Opera, while in the same year she made her debut as a designer in Broadway with the costumes for Billy Budd (1951). She continued to design costumes for opera, working closely with the City Center Opera and the Little Opera companies throughout the 1960s. Among her most notable opera productions are Carmina Burana (1959), The Triumph of St. Joan (1959) and the world premiere of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (1961). Among the many Broadway and off-Broadway shows for which Morley designed are The Diary of Anne Frank (1978), Deathtrap (1978), A Moon for the Misbegotten (1957), and Twice Around the Park (1982). She was also responsible for both the Broadway and television productions of Death of a Salesman (1983-1985).

In the almost 40 years of her career, Ruth Morley also designed costumes for motion pictures, television shows and advertisements. She had a fondness for designing period costumes, for which she did extensive research and developed a reputation for great historical accuracy. Her first motion picture was Never Love a Stranger, in 1958. Among the most notable motion pictures she worked on include The Chosen (1981), Superman (1978), Ghost (1990), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Tootsie (1982) with Dustin Hoffman, for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design; and Grace Quigley with Katharine Hepburn (1985). Her television productions include Playing for Time with Vanessa Redgrave (1980); Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number (1984), and The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck (1984). Her contribution in dressing Diane Keaton in Annie Hall created an international fashion trend through the 1980s, and she received an Academy Award nomination for The Miracle Worker (1979).

Ruth Morley taught at the BBC (Buffalo, Brooklyn, Chicago) School for Modern Art in the Theater and delivered lectures on costume design at New York University, and Brandeis University. She was a member of the Board of Directors at the City Stage Company, and the League of Professional Theatre Women. In 1998 the League created The Ruth Morley Designing Woman Award in her honor.

She was married to Seymour Hacker, art book dealer and theatrical producer. They had two children, Emily Hacker, an actress, director and teacher of English; and Melissa Hacker, a filmmaker and editor, who created the documentary My Knees Were Jumping; Remembering the Kindertransports (1998), inspired by her mother's story. Ruth Morley died in February 12, 1991 in New York City.

Scope and arrangement

The Ruth Morley Papers document the career of Ruth Morley, costume designer for theater, opera, television and motion pictures. The bulk of the materials date from Ruth Morley’s life in the United States, since her arrival as a teenager in 1941, until a year before her death in 1991; a small number of records date after her death.

The material in this collection illustrates Ruth Morley’s creative process through all the steps of a production. After reading a script, she would decide whether to undertake a show or not, and then she would meet with the director to discuss his or her vision. Although in many cases she would design all or some of the costumes for a production, she would also use materials or whole costumes purchased from retail, thrift stores or specialty theatrical vendors, especially in the case of period costumes.

This collection contains production materials, such as costume notes, sketches and swatches, costume plots and breakdowns, to-do and shopping lists, correspondence, production notes and schedules, cast and contact lists, costume photographs (on-stage or during fittings), publicity materials such as programs and clippings, contracts, billing and other financial materials related to the productions in which Ruth Morley participated. There is also a significant number of scripts given to Ruth Morley for consideration, as well as professional papers, such as research materials, photographs, photocopies and clippings containing images of costumes from different eras and regions studied by Morley in preparation for her designs, correspondence, lecture notes and other coursework materials from courses that Ruth Morley took or taught, pension and welfare information, and vendor brochures of theatrical suppliers. There are no personal records in this collection.

The Ruth Morley papers are arranged in four series:

  • Series I: Production Materials,
    1947 - 1990
    29 boxes

    This series contains costume notes, sketches, costume plots and breakdowns, correspondence, production notes and schedules, photographs, swatches, publicity materials such as programs and clippings, contracts, billing and other financial materials related to the productions in which Ruth Morley participated. It also includes research materials, mostly photographs, photocopies and clippings containing images of costumes studied by Morley in preparation for her designs. This series includes Ruth Morley’s work in opera, stage, motion pictures and television productions, such as Carmina Burana (1959), Deathtrap (1978), Death of a Salesman (1983-1985), and The Miracle Worker (1979).

  • Series II: Scripts,
    1947 - 1990
    27 boxes

    This series contains scripts sent to Ruth Morley for consideration. They include scripts and librettos for theater plays, musicals and opera, screenplays for motion pictures and television productions, as well as a small number of screen treatments. This series includes not only scripts of productions on which Morley worked, such as The Crucible (produced in 1961), The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck (1983), or Spoils of War (1989), but also for productions in which Morley did not participate. A few scripts are annotated.

  • Series III: Professional Papers,
    1925 - 2005
    4 boxes

    This series contains correspondence, lecture notes and other coursework materials from courses that Ruth Morley took or taught, pension and welfare information, and vendor brochures of theatrical suppliers. It also includes a significant number of general research images not clearly related to a specific production. They are mainly magazine clippings collected by Ruth Morley during the 1940s and 1950s.

  • Series IV: Oversized Materials
    1938 - 1989,
    10 boxes

    This series contains oversized production materials and professional papers, mainly sketches, and general research clippings. The productions represented here are Café Crown (1964), The Chosen (1987-1988), Dylan (1963-1964), Here’s Where I Belong (1967-1968), In the Counting House (1962), Keep It Clean (undated), The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck (1983), Mayflower: The Pilgrims’ Adventure (1979), The Miracle Worker (1959-1961), Mussolini: The Untold Story (1984-1985), Once Around (1989), The Prince of Homburg (1977), The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1970), Twelfth Night (1957). It also includes sketches for several operas produced for the New York City Opera, such as Carmina Burana (1959), Danton’s Death (1966), The Dybbuk (1915), The Four Ruffians (1951), The Golem (1962), The Passion of Jonathan Wade (1962), Threepenny Opera (1965), and sketches for unidentified productions.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

The Ruth Morley Papers were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 1998 and 2006 by Emily and Melissa Hacker.

Processing information

Processed by Aikaterini Dimitriadou-Shuster; Machine-readable finding aid created by Aikaterini Dimitriadou-Shuster.

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.