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Creator
Klotz, Florence
Call number
*T-Mss 2001-028
Physical description
2.35 linear feet (1 box, 10 volumes)
Preferred Citation

Florence Klotz papers, *T-Mss 2001-024. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Florence Klotz (1920-2006) was an American theatrical costume designer. A winner of seven Tony Awards, Klotz is best known for designing costumes for productions directed by Harold Prince, including Follies, A Little Night Music, and On the Twentieth Century. The Florence Klotz papers contain scrapbooks and costume design materials from shows Klotz designed. This collection includes eight designs by Klotz's mentor, the American theatrical costume designer Lucinda D. Ballard (1906-1993).

Biographical/historical information

Florence Klotz was born Kathrina E. Klotz in Brooklyn, New York on October 28, 1920. Klotz began her career as assistant to Irene Sharaff on the original production of The King and I (1951). She went on to assist Sharaff on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951), Of Thee I Sing (1952), Flower Drum Song (1958), and Do Re Mi (1960). She also assisted Joan Personette on Two on the Aisle (1951); Miles White on Pal Joey (1952), Jamaica (1957), and Time Remembered (1957); Robert Mackintosh on Wish You Were Here (1952); Alvin Colt on Pipe Dream (1955); and Ruth Morley on Toys in the Attic (1960).

Klotz's collaboration with costume designer Lucinda Ballard began with the 1953 comedy My 3 Angels. Lucinda Ballard was a prominent costume designer on Broadway from the late 1930s until her retirement in the early 1960s. In 1947 she won the first Tony Award for Best Costume Design for her work on Street Scene, John Loves Mary, Another Part of the Forrest, Happy Birthday, and A Streetcar Named Desire. Klotz became Ballard's protégé and assisted her on plays such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Orpheus Descending (1957), J.B. (1958), and A Loss of Roses (1959); and such musicals as Carnival in Flanders (1953), Silk Stockings (1955), The Sound of Music (1959) and The Gay Life (1961).

Klotz's first job as sole costume designer was for a City Center revival of Carousel in 1957, but her big break came with A Call on Kuprin (1961). This play was directed and produced by Harold Prince, who would be one of Klotz' major collaborators over the course of her career. Many of her greatest successes would be in Prince productions. Their collaborations included Take Her, She's Mine (1961); It's a Bird…It's a Plane…It's Superman (1966); Follies (1971); A Little Night Music (1973); Pacific Overtures (1976); Side by Side by Sondheim (1977); On the Twentieth Century (1978); A Doll's Life (1982); Grind (1985); Roza (1987); Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993); and Show Boat (1994). Klotz also designed costumes for many non-Prince productions, including Nobody Loves an Albatross (1963), The Owl and the Pussycat (1964), Mating Dance (1965), Legend (1976), The Little Foxes (1981), Jerry's Girls (1985), Rags (1986), and City of Angels (1989).

Klotz won seven Tony Awards for Best Costume Design. Klotz's partner was the stage manager Ruth Mitchell. Florence Klotz died in New York on November 1, 2006.

Scope and arrangement

The Florence Klotz papers document the career of Florence Klotz from the 1970s to the 1990s with scrapbooks and costume design materials. Shows represented most extensively in the scrapbooks are Follies, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Pacific Overtures, and On the Twentieth Century. Scrapbooks contain programs, clippings, correspondence and photographs. Correspondence consists mainly of good luck cards, letters, telegrams and notes from friends and colleagues. Photographs include backstage candids, production shots, and official costume bible photographs. The scrapbook for Pacific Overtures is a particularly rich source for production shots. In addition to shows designed by Klotz, there is also a scrapbook of costume bible photographs from The Phantom of the Opera, which was designed by Maria Björnson.

There are original Klotz designs for A Doll's Life, Goodbye Fidel, Grind, Kiss of the Spider Woman, On the Twentieth Century, Pacific Overtures, Roza, Show Boat, and La Traviata. These watercolor paintings will be of particular interest to researchers. Other design materials include sketches, swatches, fabric samples, and photocopies of photographs and illustrations of period costumes Klotz collected for research purposes. This collection also holds eight original watercolor designs by Lucinda Ballard from Carnival in Flanders, on which Klotz served as Ballard's assistant.

Arrangement

This collection is separated into two categories: Scrapbooks and Design Materials.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

This collection was donated by Florence Klotz in 2001 and 2004 and by the Klotz estate in 2008.

Processing information

Compiled by Diana Bertolini, 2014.

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

The author/creator retains copyright of materials. For information on obtaining permission to publish, contact the Theatre Division at theatrediv@nypl.org.