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Creator
Harbach, Otto, 1873-1963
Call number
*T-Mss 1993-038
Physical description
15.1 linear feet (37 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Otto Harbach Papers, *T-Mss 1993-038, 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

The Otto Harbach Papers include correspondence, business papers, scripts, scores, lyrics, personal papers, photographs, and printed matter documenting his personal life and career, and also a particular period in the American musical theater, from ca. 1908-1938, when Harbach created most of his works. Correspondence is mainly between Harbach and his family in Salt Lake City, and later with his son William. Family members include his brothers, Arthur, James, Julius, and William Hauerbach, and his sister and brother-in-law, Sadie and Avern Poulton. Included in the small amount of correspondence from friends and colleagues are several interesting letters from Arthur Hammerstein, Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, and Carl Sandburg. The collection is particularly strong in covering the business aspects of Harbach's work, documented with contracts, copyright, and royalty information. Scripts form the largest series and include copies of most of Harbach's works. The scores are mostly for HAYFOOT-STRAWFOOT (music by Jerome Kern) and COUNTER MELODY (music by Peter De Rose) and are notable for the holographs that make up part of the scores for HAYFOOT-STRAWFOOT. There is also a good collection of photographs, including family, colleagues, ASCAP events, friends, and a selection of production photos. Personal papers include genealogical information, writings other than scripts, ephemera and a long oral history interview conducted by William Harbach shortly before his father's death.

Biographical/historical information

Otto Harbach, author, librettist and lyricist, was born in Salt Lake City on August 18, 1873. His parents, Adolph Julius Hauerbach and Hansena Olsen, were Danes who had converted to Mormonism and migrated to the United States in 1863 (Harbach changed the spelling of his name in 1917). Encouraged by his family, Harbach headed east to Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. There he distinguished himself, becoming first the oratorical champion of the college, and then winning the state championship in 1895 in a contest for which William Jennings Bryan was one of the judges. After graduation Harbach accepted a professorship in English at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. In 1901 he arrived in New York to work on a Ph.D. at Columbia, but a lack of funds soon led him to work as a journalist and later as an advertising copywriter.

During his years in New York, Harbach began to think of Broadway as a career and while office work occupied his days, his free time was spent working with Karl Hoschna, his first collaborator, trying to create and sell a musical. It wasn't until 1908, after the success of Three Twins for which Hoschna was the composer, that Harbach quit his job and devoted himself to writing. Over the course of his career Harbach had more than 50 works produced on Broadway. He was also well-known as a "script doctor", rewriting and revising plays for various producers. Harbach's own works were for the most part musicals for which he provided both the book and the lyrics. His contributions were not only memorable lyrics and credible plots, but also a new style of musical, where the songs were an integral part of the story. Among his collaborators were the composers Karl Hoschna, Rudolf Friml, Jerome Kern, Louis Hirsch, Herbert Stothart, Vincent Youmans and Sigmund Romberg, and the lyricists Oscar Hammerstein, Irving Caesar, Frank Mandel, and John Murray Anderson. Harbach's most well-known works include the songs Love Nest, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, Indian Love Call, One Alone, Rose Marie, The Night Was Made for Love, and the plays The Firefly, Roberta, Rose Marie, No, No, Nanette, Desert Song, Kid Boots, The Song of the Flame and The Cat and the Fiddle. Harbach also wrote several plays that were not musicals including Up in Mabel's Room and The Silent Witness.

Harbach worked with major Broadway figures of his day on a creative basis, and he also worked with them to enhance the profession as a whole through the American Society of Composer's Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Joining as a charter member in 1914, he worked with ASCAP for more than 40 years as a director, and served as president from 1950-1953. By all accounts his colleagues not only admired his work, but respected the man. Socially Harbach belonged to the Lambs, the Friars and the Dutch Treat Club, but much of his time was spent with his family at their home in Mamaroneck, where Harbach also did much of his work.

Harbach was married to Ella Smith Dougall in Salt Lake City in 1918. Together they had two sons, Robert and William. The family also included Ella's children from her previous marriage, Bernard and Virginia Dougall. Otto Harbach died in New York in 1963.

Scope and arrangement

The Otto Harbach papers include correspondence, business papers, scripts, scores, lyrics, personal papers, photographs and printed matter documenting the life and work of this American librettist and lyricist. The collection also reflects the history of the American musical theater during the years that Harbach was most active, from 1908 through the 1930's.

Correspondence is mainly between Harbach and his relatives in Salt Lake City, and later with his son William. Letters from friends and colleagues are few in number, but contain some interesting letters from Arthur Hammerstein, Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern and Carl Sandburg. The collection is particularly strong in covering the business aspects of Harbach's work with contracts, copyright, and royalty information for many of his works. Scripts form the largest series and include copies of most of Harbach's works. The scores are mainly for Hayfoot-Strawfoot (music by Jerome Kern) and Counter Melody (music by Peter De Rose) and are notable for the holographs that make up part of the scores for Hayfoot-Strawfoot. There is also a good collection of photographs, including family, colleagues, ASCAP events, and friends and a selection of production photos. Personal papers include genealogical information, writings other than scripts, ephemera and a long oral history interview conducted by William Harbach shortly before his father's death. Unfortunately, there is no real documentation of Harbach's long involvement with ASCAP.

The Otto Harbach Papers are arranged in eight series:

  • Series I: Correspondence

    Correspondence includes family correspondence and general correspondence. Although this series contains the bulk of the correspondence in the collection, individual letters can be found in other series (notably business papers) and are noted in the appropriate series descriptions.

  • Series II: Business Papers.

    Business papers include contracts, copyright records and royalty statements.

  • Series III: Scripts
    1904-1984
    6.1 linear feet (14 boxes)

    The scripts files which are mainly typescripts and photocopies of scripts also include two holograph scripts, The Firefly and Kid Boots. Two works which have a considerable amount of material in the collection are Choose Your Partners and Roberta.

    Choose Your Partners (approximately 2 boxes) is a play based on a story by Edward Boykin with music by Peter De Rose. The same story had served as a basis for Hayfoot-Strawfoot which Harbach had written with Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein. That play never opened in New York, and Kern and Hammerstein both removed themselves from the production, leaving Harbach free to use the story and his lyrics for the new work with Peter De Rose. Choose Your Partners was revised many times, but never produced. It was also known as April Was Singing, Born In April, Bugles In April, Counter Melody, Hands Off and Meet Miss April. For filing purposes all the scripts have been filed under Choose Your Partners, although the title pages do vary. [Scores for Choose Your Partner are filed under Counter Melody.]

    The files for Roberta (1 box) include several versions of the script, a prompt book and a copy of the story Gowns by Roberta, by Alice Duer Miller, upon which the play was based.

    Among other titles represented in the scripts files are The Cat and the Fiddle, Golden Dawn, The Lady in the Window ( also may have been known as The Lavender Lady), Sunny, Susi, Desert Song, June Love, No More Blondes, The O'Brien Girl, Up in Mabel's Room, Wildflower, and You're in Love.

  • Series IV: Scores
    ca. 1912-1948
    1.7 linear feet (3 boxes)

    Scores are primarily for Hayfoot-Strawfoot, music by Jerome Kern (also known as Gentlemen Unafraid) and Counter Melody, music by Peter De Rose (also known as Choose Your Partners; see Scripts for information about this play). The scores for Hayfoot-Strawfoot include several Kern holographs and a set of printed scores. Most of the scores for Counter Melody are printed, but a few are signed by the arranger Arthur Davis. In addition, there are several miscellaneous holograph scores and a folder of photocopied scores for various Harbach works.

  • Series V: Lyrics
    1907-1933
    .5 linear feet (1 box)

    The lyrics series is made up of typescript lyrics by Harbach, arranged by play title. Although most of the folders are dated, these dates refer to the production date; the actual documents were probably typed at a later date. Two folders of unsorted lyrics (not identified by production; some are not titled) include several holographs.

  • Series VI: Personal Papers

    Personal papers include biographical information, ephemera, writings, genealogical papers, a scrapbook, material related to the memorial services for Harbach and a few legal and medical papers.

  • Series VII: Photographs

    The photographs include family pictures, photographs from Knox College and Whitman College, portraits of Harbach and others, pictures of Harbach with friends and colleagues, autographed portraits, and production photos, documenting many aspects of Harbach's personal life and work.

  • Series VIII: Printed Materials
    1910-1990
    .5 linear feet (1 box)

    Printed matter includes clippings and printed material relating to Harbach's life and career. The clippings are mostly articles about Harbach, with a small folder devoted to articles on Rudolf Friml. Several files devoted to revivals of Harbach's works also include clippings in addition to programs. Two folders include printed matter and clippings from Knox College. A file of descriptions of Harbach plays copied from "The Best Plays of...") may prove useful to researchers in identifying and dating his work.

Administrative information

Custodial history

The Otto Harbach papers were donated by his son, William Harbach in 1993. A later installment of scripts were added to the collection in 1997.

Source of acquisition

Gift, William O. Harbach, 09/13/1993

Processing information

Processed by Francesca Pitaro.

Separated material

Oral history tapes and other materials have been transferred to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound.

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.

Related Material

Otto Harbach papers, scores and sound recordings

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.