Scope and arrangement
The J. Peter Happel photographs largely cover Happel's work photographing television and stage productions in New York City. The bulk of this work was done for CBS Television from the early 1950s through the late 1960s.
Productions that are well documented include The Garry Moore Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, The United States Steel Hour, Camera Three, Studio One, You Are There, Omnibus, various Carol Burnett productions and more.
Included in the files on Omnibus, You Are There, Danger, and other early 1950s productions are shots of Yul Brynner and Sidney Lumet directing on set.
Other productions of note include Harry Belafonte's 1959 special, Tonight with Belafonte, which includes shots of both Belafonte and Odetta performing; the 1962 television production of Igor Stravinsky and George Balanchine's Noah and the Flood; and the first televised production of The Nutcracker on a 1957 episode of The Seven Lively Arts.
Also documented is the personal and professional life of Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen, the founders and principle teachers of HB Studio. Happel's close association with the couple lead to shots from their acting and teaching careers, in addition to their home and family life.
Images of Berghof and Hagen include photographs and negatives documenting the Sea Cliff Summer Theatre series with emphasis on the 1951 summer season. Located in Sea Cliff on the north shore of Long Island, the Sea Cliff Summer Theatre was a 1950s summerstock favored by many stars of the day for its close proximity to New York City.
In addition to Happel's work in television, he worked extensively as a portrait photographer collaborating with models, agencies, and businesses to capture personal portraits and headshots. As a freelance commercial photographer, Happel worked in advertising, producing shots for brands such as Lipton, Revlon, Canada Dry and more. Other commercial work includes photography for his alma mater, the New School for Social Research, and shots documenting public art works created by metal fabricators, Milgo Art Systems.
Other examples of Happel's work represented in the collection include travel, New York cityscapes and street shots, landscapes, and still life photography, in addition to his work as a wedding and social gathering photographer.
The physical state of the collection is represented through 8x10" prints, 2x3" proofs, slides, oversized prints (both matted and unmatted), color negatives, negative strips, and negative rolls.
The material is arranged in the following groups: Television and Stage Productions, Portraits, Commercial Work, Weddings and Social Gatherings, and Travel, Landscape, Still Life. Within groups subjects are arranged alphabetically; at the item level material is arranged chronologically.