Newsletter of the Theatre Library Association

In Memoriam: Brooks McNamara, TLA President, 1977-1980, and Founding Director of the Shubert Archive

Inside this issue

Executive Broadside Book Awards Book/Media Board Meeting News Network Reviews at Baruch

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

4 President‘s Report BROADSIDE (ISSN: 0068-2748) is published three times a year and distributed to all members in good standing. Contents ©Theatre Library Association 6 In Memoriam Access via login—Members contact David Nochimson ([email protected]) 8 BROADSIDE News Network Editor: Angela Weaver ([email protected]), University of Washington

10 Announcements Book Review Editor: Catherine Ritchie ([email protected]), Dallas Public Library 14 Book/Media Reviews Regional News Editor: Robert W. Melton ([email protected]), 20 Books Received University of , San Diego

20 TLA at ALA in Chicago BROADSIDE PUBLICATION GUIDELINES

BROADSIDE is the principal medium through which the Theatre Library Association 20 Upcoming Events communicates news, activities, policies, and procedures. Collectively, past issues also provide historical information about the organization and the profession of performing arts librarianship. BROADSIDE has no ambition to serve as a scholarly journal. 3 TLA Board Scholarly and other articles or monographs may be considered for TLA‘s other principal publication, Performing Arts Resources.

3 TLA Mission Statement In addition, BROADSIDE serves as a means for the exchange among members of information that advances the mission of the organization. Examples of this include short news items about recent activities of both individual and institutional members; 1 Front Cover short reviews of relevant books and other resources; news of relevant exhibits, conferences, and other developments in performing arts librarianship, collections, and scholarship.

In keeping with the aims of a newsletter, and to help the Editor and the TLA Publications Committee to maintain fair and consistent editorial policies, the Publications Committee has developed the following guidelines.

1. Priority in the publication of articles will be given to the Association‘s officers, members of the Board, and chairs of committees. These articles provide the most PHOTO CREDITS: important means by which the leadership of the Association communicates recent

Board decisions, upcoming TLA-sponsored events, appeals for member Front cover, Brooks McNamara, Shubert involvement, etc. Archive. 2. TLA members in good standing are encouraged to submit news items that are in

keeping with the statement above. All submissions are subject to editing for length, Page 3, Mephisto, University of clarity, and factual confirmation. Washington School of Drama production, 3. Letters to the Editor are encouraged, but must be limited to 200 words, due to Frank Rosenthein, photographer. space considerations.

4. Reviews of books or other resources are an excellent way for members to Page 8, Brooks McNamara, Shubert contribute to TLA and the profession. Reviews should be limited to 500 words and Archive. should include a concise summary of the resource, a comparison of it to similar

resources, and a brief evaluation. Suggestions and unsolicited reviews should be Page 10, The Barrymore Family, The sent to the Book Review Editor. Barrymore Archive 5. The copyright of all articles published in BROADSIDE will be owned by TLA.

Permission to republish an article may be requested from the Editor. Page 10, Katherine Hepburn, The New 6. Ideas for articles – other than brief news items, book reviews, or submissions from York Public Library for the Performing officers and committee chairs – should be submitted to the Editor in advance in Arts order to allow sufficient time to plan layout, provide constructive suggestions, and

occasionally seek guidance from the Publications Committee. Articles should relate Page 11, Lois Weber, The Grand Prairie to performing arts libraries, library resources, or related topics in performing arts Public Library scholarship, rather than to general performing arts topics.

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ABOUT TLA

EXECUTIVE BOARD MISSION STATEMENT

Officers Founded in 1937, the Theatre Kenneth Schlesinger (President, 2009) [email protected] Library Association supports librarians and archivists affiliated Susan Brady (Vice President, 2009) [email protected] with theatre, dance, performance David Nochimson (Executive Secretary, 2009) [email protected] studies, popular entertainment, Angela Weaver (Treasurer, Interim) [email protected] motion picture and broadcasting collections. TLA promotes professional best practices in Board Members acquisition, organization, access William Boatman (2008-2010) [email protected] and preservation of performing arts Phyllis Dircks (2007-2009) [email protected] resources in libraries, archives, John Frick (2009-2011) [email protected] museums, private collections, and Nancy Friedland (2009-2011) [email protected] the digital environment. By producing publications, Stephen Johnson (2009-2011) [email protected] conferences, panels, and public Beth Kerr (2007-2009) [email protected] events, TLA fosters creative and Stephen Kuehler (2007-2009) [email protected] ethical use of performing arts Francesca Marini (2009-2011) [email protected] materials to enhance research, live performance, and scholarly Tobin Nellhaus (2007-2009) [email protected] communication. Karen Nickeson (2008-2010) [email protected] Ellen Truax (2007-2009) [email protected] Angela Weaver (2008-2010) [email protected]

Ex-Officio Georgia Harper (Legal Counsel) [email protected] Martha S. LoMonaco (Past-President) [email protected] Brook Stowe (TLA/Freedley Book Awards Chair) [email protected] Ellen Truax (Webmaster) [email protected] John Wagstaff (TLA listserv) [email protected]

Theatre Library Association c/o The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts 40 Lincoln Center Plaza JOIN US! New York, New York 10023 Membership TLA website: http://tla.library.unt.edu (Annual dues: $30 personal, $40 institutional; $20 student/non-salaried TLA listerv: To Subscribe: members) includes Performing Arts 1) Send email (nothing in the subject) to: [email protected] Resources, published occasionally. For 2) in the body of the email message type the following line: availability and prices of past issues of SUBSCRIBE TLA-L your name PAR and BROADSIDE, contact the Executive Secretary ([email protected])

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PRESIDENT’S REPORT

TLA‘s Executive Board met on May 22 at Baruch College in . Although we did have a quorum, turnout was low because many members face reduced travel funds from their respective universities. As a consequence we are exploring creative ways to enhance Board online communication, perhaps by initiating a wiki or blog. One of the high points of this meeting was that we managed to complete our discussions in a record five hours!

Kenneth Schlesinger

Membership and Finance Book Awards challenges related to the academic librarian specializing in As of May 1, TLA‘s membership Awards Chair Brook Stowe has theatre, and Marti LoMonaco and stands at 283—down from last assembled a database of nearly David Nochimson‘s desire to year‘s high of 339. During the 200 publishers of theatre- and film- produce a volume for TLA‘s 75th spring, the Board informally related books. Jurors are Anniversary in 2012. reached out to lapsed completing their work, and we members—[you know who you should be able to announce Simultaneously, I‘ve been are!]—which resulted in a number winners of the George Freedley involved in renewing TLA‘s of significant renewals. We are and Theatre Library Association licensing agreement with EBSCO also concerned with taking a hit Awards in mid-June. to make it more favorable to on our institutional memberships supporting possible future open in the current economic climate. Publications access issues. I just signed an ancillary agreement facilitating The Membership Committee As usual, we have a lot of activity. access of PAR citations in (Beth Kerr, Chair, Francesca Due to its popularity, we recently commercial search engines to Marini and David Nochimson) reprinted 250 copies of Susan increase our exposure. met to brainstorm on how to Brady and Nena Couch‘s PAR 25: increase outreach efforts to Documenting – Lighting Design, Conference Planning prospective student members, as which are available for sale on our well as those in affiliate website: Former TLA President Kevin professions. As you‘re aware, http://tla.library.unt.edu/ Winkler has organized a session membership is the lifeblood of our orderform.htm at the American Library economic health, so we Association Conference in encourage you to renew: Board member Nancy Friedland is Chicago on July 13. From Page http://tla.library.unt.edu/ making progress on PAR 27: to Stage to Archive in Chicago membership.html Documenting – Costume Design. Theatres will explore the role of We‘re looking forward to a possible libraries and archives in However, we are holding our own Spring 2010 release of this documenting the Windy City‘s financially, with a cash balance of profusely illustrated volume. rich traditions of producing new $44,581.14, including a savings plays, with participants including certificate of $5,082.61 [that Also potentially in the pipeline are Steppenwolf and the Goodman would be our Endowment]. Publications Chair Rob Melton‘s Theatres. consideration of the issues and

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PRESIDENT’S REPORT

ASTR-TLA goes to sunny Puerto Auditorium, we will be bestowing Rico this year. Plenary Chair our Distinguished Achievement Colleen Reilly will offer a panel on Award on Robert Taylor, outgoing Scholars, Collections, and Curator of the Billy Rose Theatre Archival DestiNations, with Collection at New York Public presenters from USC, University Library for the Performing Arts. of British Columbia, and Yale School of Drama. TLA will also An incumbent in this position since be organizing a tour to a 1992, Bob distinguished himself prominent performing arts archive through his outstanding exhibitions, in San Juan. aggressive solicitation of new collections, and commitment to TLA has begun discussions about archival processing. On a personal partnering with SIBMAS for its note, he has been a mentor and 2012 Conference at the Ransom friend. Center at University of Texas in Austin. Details about financing In an embarrassment of riches, the and program development have TLA Board voted unanimously, by to be worked out, but we‘re acclamation, to extend Honorary excited about embarking on this Membership to our historian, Louis international venture. Rachow. In this limited space, it would be hard to assess his Board member Steve Kuehler particular contributions to this submitted a revised Proposal for Association. TLA President during Symposium III, tentatively titled the 1960s, he effectively serves as Authenticity and Accessibility in our conscience and historical Contemporary Shakespeare, continuum. He religiously attends addressing the tension between Board meetings and all programs, textual faithfulness and artistic and is always open and receptive interpretation. As with previous to new ideas. Symposia, it will combine TLA‘s unique blend of case studies, Please join us October 9 to documentation issues, and live celebrate these two great leaders performance. The Board is of our profession! enthusiastically receptive and looks forward to stewarding its development, possibly for Spring Best wishes, 2011. Kenneth Schlesinger Distinguished Achievement TLA President

As Theatre Library Association embraces the theatrical event from legacy to frontier—the historical artifact to cutting-edge technologies—we are committed to celebrating the best and brightest in the profession. At our Book Awards, Friday, October 9 at Lincoln Center‘s Bruno Walter

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IN MEMORIAM

In Remembrance of Brooks McNamara

Brooks McNamara (1937-2009) After surveying the collection and was the founding Director of The realizing its value and importance, Shubert Archive which he guided Brooks proposed to Lynn Seidler, from its beginnings in 1976 until Gerald Schoenfeld, Bernard B. his retirement in 1999. His Jacobs, and the Shubert Board that intuitive grasp of the historical they consider establishing their importance of materials own archive. To facilitate that end, discovered in Shubert he recommended that they retain crawlspaces, storage rooms, and him part-time as Director to backstage areas was crucial to oversee the project and that they the Archive becoming a major hire a part-time archivist to resource to theatre historians and inventory and process the material. scholars worldwide. He suggested offering the archivist‘s position to Brigitte Brooks‘ recounting of the Kueppers, a part-time project Archive‘s formation archivist at the Theatre Collection acknowledged the part that of the New York Public Library at serendipity and timing played in Lincoln Center. Then Brooks had its founding. Lynn Seidler, then another inspiration. At NYU he had Executive Director of The Shubert been instrumental in establishing Brooks McNamara, 1998 Foundation, contacted him in his the field of popular entertainment capacity as a professor of theatre as an academic research area. Brooks was many things: a history at New York University Why not figure out a way to give pioneer in the study of popular and asked him to look at papers graduate students an opportunity to entertainment as a serious and records that had been found immerse themselves in all of this academic subject and cultural in Shubert theatres. Lynn unplumbed primary source material signpost, a teacher, a mentor to recognized the value of these and, at the same time, provide the next generation of theatre materials but sought advice on Shubert with a readily available and historians, a kind and thoughtful what best to do with them. knowledgeable work force? boss to the archive staff, and a Initially, Brooks had no idea as to Ultimately, he decided that setting true gentleman. He left us much the immensity of the project, but up an intern program with NYU too soon but his legacy both in he soon realized that all 17 of the would kill two birds with one stone. The Shubert Archive and the Shubert theatres had storage For ten years, NYU interns trooped students he inspired will keep his spaces and each room or cubby through the archive creating order memory alive. hole was crammed with scripts, out of chaos, finding inspiration in costume designs, music, this wonderful treasure trove, and correspondence, business taking their experience with them Maryann Chach records, ledgers, and so on. It as they pursued their careers in the Director, The Shubert Archive was a deluge of lost or forgotten worlds of academia and archives. items. Brooks recalled, for Many of Brooks‘ students and example, finding hundreds of interns are now teaching in architectural plans in a room with universities, creating live theatre, or a skylight. Because of the preserving archival materials for fragility of the paper and the heat future generations of researchers. and humidity of the space, many of the plans crumbled in his hands when they were touched.

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IN MEMORIAM

Another Appreciation of Brooks McNamara, TLA President, 1977-1980

Brooks McNamara was, I believe, his own personal theatre archive in memos, contracts and brown the first academic to be elected an empty storeroom. It turned out paper parcels was a picture President of TLA and I was the to be the records of the Tamiment of American theatre and the second. Since Brooks was my Playhouse in Pennsylvania‘s people who made it happen mentor, under whom I happily Pocono Mountains, about sixty that was more vivid and studied for my doctorate in miles from where I grew up. The compelling than any I‘d ever Performance Studies at NYU and Tamiment Playhouse did, indeed, imagined. Brooks taught me who was responsible for become my doctoral dissertation as the value of looking closely launching my career as an well as my subsequent book, Every at what others ignored, of archivist/scholar, I‘ve always felt Week, A Broadway Revue not being one more foot that my service as TLA President (Greenwood, 1992). However, soldier in the ‗greatest was in honor of Brooks and his before all of that, Brooks achievements‘ school of pioneering work in the area of engineered the transfer of the theatre scholarship, and that, theatre archives. manufacturer‘s records to NYU, finally, there aren‘t nearly as and I graduated from being a many trivial performances as Maryann Chach has written a Shubie to project director of a there are experts with the lovely history of Brooks‘ work as newly created archive. This is need to trivialize. He made it founding Director and guiding simply one of many McNamara-to- OK to spend time on what I spirit of the Shubert Archive the-rescue tales of important was really interested in, and which was, despite his fourteen theatre documents that Brooks showed me that (in his published books, certainly his managed to valiantly salvage and words) it, ‗might well be that magnum opus. It was not his only place in secure, accessible archival all forms of performance are archive, however. By training so homes. serious and complex many NYU grad students as expressions of a culture‘s archival interns—we called I, of course, was not the only most fundamental concerns, ourselves ―Shubies‖—he, by Shubie that Brooks turned into an and that all are worthy of extension, instigated the founding archivist/scholar and, in many study . . . and no apologies of many other theatre archives ways, this was his unique gift as an needed.‘ (The Passing throughout the country. My educator. He not only introduced us Show, vol. 22, no. 2, B 4-5). personal example is the to the nuts and bolts of creating a Tamiment Playhouse Archive, research archive (it was actually Brooks' spirit, passion, and expert which is part of the Tamiment Brigitte Kueppers who taught us guidance continue to be an Library at NYU, and the story of how to get our hands dirty and the inspiration; he will be sorely its beginnings is a typical documents clean), but he guided missed. Brooksian tale. I was a new us in how to use and interpret Shubie happily descending the these documents in our Marti LoMonaco stairs in the Lyceum Theatre scholarship. A fellow Shubie, Steve TLA Immediate Past President lobby while he was walking up. Nelson, who went on to create Fairfield University He answered my cheery greeting numerous theatre archives, of ―Hello, Brooks!‖ by asking, described our collective experience ―Aren‘t you originally from most eloquently in the centennial Pennsylvania?‖ I said yes, and he edition of The Passing Show, the smiled with glee, proclaiming, newsletter of the Shubert Archive ―Well, have I got a dissertation for which Brooks both founded and you!‖ He had just gotten off the named in 1977: phone with a New York City garment manufacturer who had In amongst all those boxes of

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NEWS

THE BROADSIDE NEWS NETWORK Morgan Library & Museum through August 16. Drawn from the original photographic negatives the Morgan's own collection, the were found by John Drew Please send your brief news item exhibition examines the origins of Barrymore in a suitcase in his modern scenic design and to one of the following mother Dolores Costello‘s avocado chronicles the evolution of stage BROADSIDE News Network ranch in northern San Diego sets during the highly innovative stringers: County. The family materials are period of ca. 1900 to 1970. supplemented by items from the Stephen Kuehler (Northeast, USC Performing Arts Archive, the On view are over fifty drawings, [email protected]) Samuel Colt Archive, and the MGM principally from the collection and Warner Brothers collections. formed by the celebrated Phyllis Dircks (Mid-Atlantic, American set designer Donald [email protected]) California: Santa Barbara Oenslager. Enriching these color drawings is related material, Catherine Ritchie (South & Chimene Tucker, Film and Media including musical scores, rare Southwest, Studies librarian at UC Santa books, and autograph [email protected]) Barbara, published a review of manuscripts, as well as more American Women Stage Directors than thirty performance Sarah Zimmerman (Midwest & of the Twentieth Century (ed. Anne photographs documenting the L. Fliotsos and Wendy Vierow, finished set. Plains, [email protected]) Urbana: U Illinois Press, 2008) in Rob Melton (West Coast & the Winter 2009 issue of Feminist The exhibition is divided into four Collections. thematic sections emphasizing Rockies, [email protected]) the international scope of Massachusetts: Cambridge advances in set design. The California: Morgan Library & Museum is On June 1, in response to Harvard located at 225 Madison Ave. (@ University‘s budgetary crisis, the 36th) in Manhattan. Harvard College Library closed the reading room of the Harvard Theatre Collection (HTC). Researchers who wish to consult The Barrymore Family materials from the Theatre Collection may do so in the reading The lives and times of the room of the Houghton Library, Barrymore dynasty is the subject Harvard‘s rare book library. The of an exhibition, ―The HTC‘s exhibit on the centenary of

Barrymores: ‘s First the Ballets Russes (see the Family,‖ at the David L. Wolper previous edition of BROADSIDE) Center on the main floor of will continue to be on view in its Doheny Memorial Library at the galleries in the Pusey Library, University of Southern California Monday through Friday 9:00-5:00, (USC) in Los Angeles through through August 28. July 31. It features rare photographs, posters, letters, New York: New York drawings and other memorabilia from the Barrymores as well as The exhibition ―Creating the the Costello, Colt, and Blyth Modern Stage: Designs for Theater Uptown, the New York Public branches of the family Many of and ‖ will be on view at the Library for the Performing Arts

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NEWS has mounted the exhibit over two years for processing and The Library is located at 901 ―Katharine Hepburn: In Her Own cataloging. A finding aid including Conover Drive in Grand Prairie, Files,‖ which focuses on the an inventory and database of Texas, between Dallas and actress‘s career on the stage and costumes and props can be found Fort Worth. is taken from the Hepburn Papers at http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/deniro in the Billy Rose Theatre Collection. Curated by TLA Texas: Dallas member Barbara Cohen Stratyner, the exhibit is on view in The Bywaters Special Collections the Vincent Astor Gallery through Department of the Hamon Arts October 10. More information, Library at Southern Methodist including the exhibit brochure and University has recently produced a library hours, is available at finding aid for the Little Theatre of http://www.nypl.org/research/ Dallas collection. The collection calendar/exhib/lpa/ includes artwork, clippings, lpaexhibdesc.cfm?id=510 correspondence, documents, ephemera, programs, published Texas: Austin works, scripts and photographs relating to the Little Theatre of The at the Dallas and its participants. The University of Texas at Austin has finding aid was written by Emily acquired the archive of actress Grubbs George and can be found Ann Savage (1921-2008). The at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/ material includes Savage‘s smu/00067/smu-00067.html annotated film scripts, scrapbooks, business contracts, Texas: Grand Prairie feature film prints, home movies, Lois Weber and photograph collections. The Grand Prairie Public Library Savage made more than 30 films officially unveiled its ―Lois Weber Further information on the during the 1940s and 50s, and is Film Collection‖ in March, featuring Collection is available via the most often remembered for her a special appearance by actress Library‘s website: performance in the 1945 and Texas native, Janine Turner. http://www.gptx.org/Library/ classic Detour. The collection includes both DVD loisweberfilm.aspx and videocassette films directed by . Also at the Ransom Center, the women, ―far-ranging in terms of Collection of time period, subject matter, style, materials donated by the Oscar- and country of origin,‖ Broadside News Network is winning actor in 2006 is now supplemented by relevant books compiled by Rob Melton (West open to researchers and the and other research material. Coast) with contributions from general public. The collection, Examples include Mabel’s Busy Phyllis Dircks (Mid-Atlantic), documenting De Niro‘s Day, directed by Mabel Normand; Stephen Kuehler (Northeast), professional career from the Ocean Waif, directed by Alice Guy Catherine Ritchie (South), Amy 1960s through 2005, includes Blache; and Not Wanted, directed Turner, and Sarah Zimmerman over 1,300 boxes of papers, films, by Ida Lupino. The Collection is (Midwest). movie props, annotated scripts, named in honor of the pioneering posters, correspondence, early 20th-century film director (The wardrobe continuity books, and Merchant of Venice, 1914; Too extensive publicity material. Wise Wives, 1921). Appraised at more than 5 million dollars, the materials required

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

2009 Freedley and TLA Book Award Winners Announced

Each year, the Theatre Library Association honors two exceptional publications, one with the George Freedley Memorial Award and one with the Theatre Library Association (TLA) Award.

The George Freedley Memorial Award is named for George Freedley, the first Curator of the New York Public Library's Theatre Collection and first President of the Theatre Library Association. It is presented annually to one English language book on live theatre or performance published or distributed in the United States in the previous calendar year.

The Theatre Library Association Award is presented annually to one English language book published or distributed in the United States in the previous calendar year in the area of recorded performance, i.e., film, television, radio, etc. A cash prize accompanies each award. For the 2009 Freedley and TLA Awards, nearly two hundred academic and commercial publishers were invited to participate.

WINNER, 2009 George Freedley Memorial Award:

Jayna Brown, Babylon Girls: Black Women Performers and the Shaping of the Modern, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Babylon Girls, a groundbreaking study of African-American women per- forming in acts, chorus lines and burlesque revues between 1890 and 1945 was hailed by Freedley juror Jason Rubin as a "necessary" scholarly addition to the areas of entertainment history, race and gender and performance studies. "Jayna Brown's investigation ... of singing and dancing performances by black women entertainers," Rubin wrote, "... opens our eyes, ears, hearts and minds to the fabulous women ... who helped shape the codes of reception in the white and black audiences who in turn negotiated the evolution of the modern woman."

2009 George Freedley Memorial Award Jurors:

Robert Melton, University of California, San Diego Susan Peters, University of Texas Jason Rubin, Washington College

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

WINNER, 2009 Theatre Library Association Award:

Mark Harris, Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, New York, NY: Penguin Books.

TLA juror John Calhoun cited Pictures at a Revolution as "valuable as both film and social history." Fellow TLA juror Catherine Ritchie noted that Harris' examination of five 1967 Hollywood films "offers nostalgia for those moviegoers of a certain generation whose world views were shaped by those ... films ultimately entering the national consciousness and, for the younger generation, an engrossing and entertaining introduction to a ridiculously abundant era in American and cinema history." Juror Calhoun added that author Harris' work "represents a rare combination of scholarly research and richly entertaining prose."

2009 Theatre Library Association Award Jurors:

John Calhoun, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Madeline Matz, Library of Congress Catherine Ritchie, Dallas Public Library

AWARD FINALISTS

Finalists for the 2009 Theatre Library Association Award are:

Richard Koszarski, Hollywood on the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Michael Aronson, Nickelodeon City: Pittsburgh at the Movies, 1905-1929, Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Finalists for the 2009 George Freedley Memorial Award are:

Yael Zarhy-Levo, The Making of Theatrical Reputations: Studies from the Modern London Theatre, Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press. Anne Varty, Children and Theatre in Victorian Britain: New York, NY: Palgrave-Macmillan.

AWARD CEREMONY

The 41st Annual Theatre Library Association Book Awards will be held at Lincoln Center Friday October 9, 2009 at 6:00PM in the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (enter at Amsterdam Avenue and 65th Street). Doors open at 5:30. A champagne reception will follow. Please visit the TLA website for more information closer to the Awards date.

Brook Stowe Theatre Library Association Book Awards Chair

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Now in its second printing!

Documenting: Lighting Design Performing Arts Resources Volume 25

Edited by Nena Couch and Susan Brady

The first of a series of PAR volumes investigating performance design, Documenting: Lighting Design provides a wealth of information for curators, archivists, librarians, and collectors, as well as designers and students and faculty of design. The volume reviews the history of the art as well as the history of the teaching of stage lighting; using archived lighting designs as part of the design curriculum; and the technological changes that have impacted the development of the field. Also included are essays on major archival collections of lighting designers and manufacturers, with examples of materials found within those collections, and a bibliography of related publications.

With a preface by Tony Award-winning lighting designer Jennifer Tipton, the volume‘s essays include:

A PRIMER FOR THE HISTORY OF STAGE LIGHTING Linda Essig, Chair and Artistic Director, Department of Theatre, Arizona State University

THEATRE LIGHTING BC AND AC Karl Ruling, Technical Standards Manager, Entertainment Services and Technology Association

THOUGHTS ON THE HISTORY OF STAGE LIGHTING EDUCATION William Warfel, Architectural and Entertainment Lighting Designer, Warfel Lighting and Theater Design

USING ARCHIVES TO TEACH LIGHTING DESIGN Mary Tarantino, Professor of Lighting Design, Ohio State University

Available from Theatre Library Association http://tla.library.unt.edu/

Want to Join the TLA Executive Board?

We are looking for a few good people to run for election to the TLA Executive Board.

If you are interested, please contact Marti LoMonaco, Chair of the Nominations Committee, at [email protected]. Marti will be off e-mail through the beginning of July, but she‘ll get back to you the week of July 6. Please send a short biography and a brief statement as to why you think you‘d be a terrific new board member. Board members must attend at least 1 of the 3 annual meetings, which are held in NYC and occasionally in cities across the country. Want to host a meeting? Let us know!

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ANNOUNCEMENTS 42. Help Wanted

JOIN THE BROADSIDE TEAM!

BROADSIDE‘s door is always open to new book

reviewers, so please join us! You may select your own

materials to critique, or choose a title from the ―Books

Received‖ list published in every issue.

We welcome reviewers from all types and sizes of

libraries and institutions. For more information and

guidelines, please contact Book Review Editor

Cathy Ritchie at [email protected]

or at 214-670-1640.

Share your unique critical perspectives with the

ever-expanding TLA membership. We look forward to

working with you!

36/3 Summer 2009 13 Table of Contents

BOOK/MEDIA REVIEWS

John C. Hawley, ed. LGBTQ Aimed at students and general shots‖ as well as news photos America Today: An readers, the encyclopedia and art as appropriate. Editor Encyclopedia. Three volumes. documents the contributions of John C. Hawley includes a brief Westport, CT: Greenwood LGBTQ Americans to an introduction but future editions Press, 2008. increasingly diverse and might be enhanced with a ISBN: 9780313339905. multicultural society, with particular lengthier introduction aimed at emphasis on the past ten years. providing an overview of LGBTQ Essays by over 250 experts focus life at the millennium. A minor on the arts and literature, popular quibble, to be sure, but such culture, law, politics and public context would aid the general policy, health and sexuality, readership for whom this relationships, and individuals, encyclopedia is intended. among many other areas of Otherwise, there is much to significance in more than 600 appreciate here; the level of

...chronicles not only the long struggle for gay equality, but the broad impact of queer culture on American life.

entries. Such diverse names as Ani depth and completeness is DiFranco, Audre Lorde, Tony uncommon and, as such, Kushner, Liberace, Camille Paglia, provides a potent resource for Andrew Sullivan, Tennessee researchers. Williams, and countless others are to be found in single entries, Performing arts libraries will find balanced with varied subject this an especially useful essays on activists, bookstores, encyclopedia since so much of its W hen the ―queering‖ of censorship, domestic partnership emphasis is on the arts, literature, American culture actually began and marriage, film directors and and popular culture. It is as up-to- is difficult to pinpoint, but it is producers, gays in the suburbs, date as could be hoped, with certainly clear that since World HIV/AIDS, Lesbian pulp fiction, inevitable further updates to War II, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and Native American spiritualities, come. Given its hefty $350 price transgender individuals have parenting, photographers, tag, few individuals will own this, made extraordinary progress playwrights, queer theory and but on library shelves all from a deep and firmly closed social science, religion, sex clubs readerships will find LGBTQ closet to something approaching and bathhouses, stereotypes, America Today valuable and one true equality within American life. television, transgender health, etc. of those reference works that is The three-volume encyclopedia, informative just to flip through for LGBTQ America Today, makes it The organization of the three fun and for a glimpse of a rapidly abundantly clear that, as its volumes is particularly changing America. publisher claims, queer culture is user-friendly, with cited works for ―a vibrant and rapidly evolving further reading, an extensive component of the American general bibliography at the back of mosaic.‖ Indeed, the sweeping the third volume, and a thorough scope of this towering work index. Names, terms, and subjects chronicles not only the long mentioned in various essays are struggle for gay equality, but the bolded to signal their inclusion as broad impact of queer culture on solo essays. Many illustrations American life. pepper the uniformly well-written James Fisher text. These include individual ―mug University of North Carolina at Greensboro

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BOOK/MEDIA REVIEWS

Ethan Mordden. Ziegfeld: The know was birthed when he teamed make such decisions. Will Man Who Invented Show up with Eugene Sandow, the Rogers, W.C. Fields, and Bert Business. New York: world‘s strongest man. Ziegfeld Williams are referred to only in St. Martin’s Press, 2008. toured the sticks with Sandow‘s passing. The exception is Eddie 352 pp. ISBN 978-0312375430. act, consisting mostly of feats of Cantor, who apparently was strength. Ziegfeld‘s ace in the hole Sandow‘s San Francisco battle with whenever a hit book show was a superannuated, drugged-out, and needed. apathetic lion was a nadir of their association. Ziegfeld came up, In addition to the Follies, Ziegfeld almost accidentally, with the idea of produced many plays, most of presenting Sandow as a sex them star vehicles short on plot symbol in tableaux that did away and long on spectacle and song. with the fighting and emphasized His most surprising producing

...Mordden manages ultimately to satisfy the reader with as complete a picture of the man and the producer as is possible.

the flexing. It was a hit, and the credit was . Mordden template for the Ziegfeld girl was makes the reader a fly on the wall established. throughout the writing, casting, and directing of this American Ziegfeld navigated through waters classic. infested with such turn-of-the- Z iegfeld exists in the modern century sharks as Shubert, Klaw, A most useful appendix for mind more as a brand name and Erlanger to produce his readers is Mordden‘s essay on all than an individual. The brand, crowning achievement, the Follies. the different iterations of Show consisting of scantily-clad Mordden presents the story of Boat from its inceptions to more showgirls, lavish production warring theatrical factions and the recent revivals. Material numbers, and topical satire establishment of Times Square and discarded from the original show delivered by the comic the theatre district with wit and was slowly worked back into superstars of the day, was clarity. subsequent productions, painstakingly forged to reflect culminating with the version both the impresario‘s taste and Ziegfeld‘s relationship with Anna theatergoers know today. time. Ziegfeld‘s particular Held is examined as not only one Mordden‘s tracing of this journey genius was to meld his instinct of his most important personal is a model of scholarship. for astonishing spectacle with attachments but also as a themes that resonated with his pioneering achievement in the This book is, without a doubt, the audience. creation of a star through public most successful treatment of relations wizardry. Held‘s penchant Ziegfeld to date. While Charles Ethan Mordden‘s biography for milk baths hit the papers when Higham‘s biography delves more spends significantly more time the dairy sued her for non- into Ziegfeld‘s psyche at the on Ziegfeld the impresario than payment, and a star was born. expense of fully revealing his Ziegfeld the man. However, it is artistic achievement, Mordden through the work that the man The comedians are given short manages ultimately to satisfy the is revealed. shrift in this story. Reportedly, reader with as complete a picture Ziegfeld never found any of his Born in Chicago, the son of a comedians funny and depended John Frank piano teacher, the Ziegfeld we upon the reactions of others to Los Angeles Public Library

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BOOK/MEDIA REVIEWS

Michael Holroyd. A Strange at the heart of Michael Holroyd‘s He grew from a spoiled Eventful History: The wonderful biography of Irving, Ellen adolescent (expelled from Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Terry, and their descendants. Heidelberg for moral turpitude) to Henry Irving, and Their a spoiled adult (multiple children Remarkable Families. Ellen Terry dealt with the conflict by by multiple partners and always New York: Farrar, Straus, ignoring it. From childhood, she dependent on the largesse of his Giroux, 2009. 640 pp. was thrust upon the stage as her mother), redeemed only by a ISBN 978-0374270803. family‘s meal ticket (playing second prodigious talent that helped fiddle for a time to her sister, Kate). define the modern stage. Of note As an adolescent, she was married to readers of this publication is off to a renowned portrait painter the account of his later years several decades her senior. She where, through Biallystockian ran off with an architect and had machinations, he supported

Holroyd skillfully weaves the stories of the Irving and Terry dynasties into a seamless epic of theatrical history...

two children by him, and Lewis himself by selling his archives Carroll dropped her acquaintance. several times. She was enticed back to the stage to support her family. She Holroyd‘s supporting cast is continued to do this through a 50- nothing short of breathtaking. year acting career that saw her Bernard Shaw pursued his become world famous and beloved storied pen pal love affair with as a national treasure. Ellen Terry. Isadora Duncan tried to make Gordon Craig jealous by Holroyd skillfully weaves the stories making out with a reluctant of the Irving and Terry dynasties Konstantin Stanislavsky. Ellen into a seamless epic of theatrical Terry, in her Lady Macbeth H enry Irving, the pre-eminent history with characterizations costume, stopped by John Singer actor of his time, returned home worthy of a fine novelist. He Sargent‘s place to have her with his wife after a testimonial combines a vivid description of portrait painted, much to the dinner where the London stage Irving‘s Lyceum Shakespeare delight of next-door neighbor, community paid tribute to him, productions (beef up the spectacle, Oscar Wilde. presenting him with a silver loving cut out the subplots) with a shrewd cup. In their carriage, his wife analysis of their influence on Read as biography or theatrical asked, ―How much longer are you subsequent artists. history, this book is an absolute going to make a fool out of pleasure. As a bonus, there is an yourself like this?‖ Irving exited Gordon Craig, Terry‘s son and a afterword where Holroyd outlines the coach and his marriage. leading avant-garde theatre theorist his methods and sources, Despite Irving‘s successful and designer, credited Irving as his allowing study of his supremely career, culminating in the first theatrical fountainhead. The effective technique. I cannot knighthood ever bestowed on an parallels between the Lyceum imagine a theatre library actor, his wife never regarded productions and Craig‘s Hamlet at collection to be complete without him as anything but a scandal. the Moscow Art Theatre are clearly it. drawn. This conflict between the theatrical profession and the Craig is perhaps the most John Frank mores of contemporary society is interesting character in this study. Los Angeles Public Library

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BOOK/MEDIA REVIEWS

Jeffrey Vance with Tony teens doing summer stock at the Academy of Arts and Sciences, Maietta. Douglas Fairbanks. Elitch Gardens Theatre. He joined and hosted the first Academy Los Angeles: University of the New York troupe of actor Awards ceremony in 1927. He California Press, 2008. 370 pp. Frederick Warde, who had was instrumental in film ISBN 978-0-520-25667-5. discovered Fairbanks performing in preservation and the formation of Denver, making his Broadway what is now the University of debut in 1902. In 1907 he married Southern California School of Anna Beth Sully and built a stage Cinematic Arts. career. In 1915, with their son Douglas Elton, who followed his Vance shows Fairbanks‘s critical father‘s exploits as Douglas importance to the evolution of Fairbanks Jr., they moved to Hollywood as he exemplified Hollywood. ―tenets of the strenuous life‖ and

...this biography mirrors the man whose swashbuckling prowess continues to captivate.

By 1920 Fairbanks had established the belief that ―good men himself in 29 films as a dashing eventually rose to the top‖. screen persona with athletic Fairbanks authored self-help prowess. The Mark of Zorro thrust books and utilized his celebrity for him into the rank of superstar and good causes, particularly the premier producer of swashbuckling Liberty Loan war bond campaigns films. He closed his silent film during 1917-18. career with The Iron Mask in 1929. D ouglas Fairbanks, Sr. (1883- Following his divorce and Why then, with this amazing 1939) seemed the least likely subsequent marriage to Mary record, does Vance posit that person to achieve international Pickford, Fairbanks and Pickford ―film history has thus far been stardom based on conditions of restructured their dynamic co- unwilling to afford Douglas birth and childhood, and when he stardom in ―talkies,‖ but they were Fairbanks his proper place as did, by sheer grit and bravado, he not well received in this new one of the foremost artists of the held on with an obsessive medium and he retired from acting cinema‖? Vance keeps us ferociousness throughout a in 1934. After his divorce from wondering right to the end in this driven career that explicably and Pickford he married Lady Jane balanced, insightful, adventure- inexplicably defined Hollywood Ashton. Fairbanks died of a heart filled biography based upon a for all time. Fairbanks, the actor attack at age 56. wide array of sources. He writes and the man, was enigmatic. for the general reader as well as Jeffrey Vance‘s detailed, Vance places Fairbanks among for film and theatre historians. analytical life sorts out truth from Hollywood‘s first cinema superstars Richly illustrated with the subject‘s own fiction within with Charles (Charlie) Chaplin and photographs and designed with the context of an emerging Mary Pickford, who ―built an alluring taste, this biography entertainment industry layered industry without ever uttering a mirrors the man whose upon national and world events in word to their audience‖ and who, swashbuckling prowess the late 19th and early 20th with director D.W. Griffith, continues to captivate. centuries. ―advanced the concept of the . independent actor-producer‖ and Fairbanks first appeared on helped organize the Motion Picture Denver‘s amateur stages, Fund. Fairbanks was a founder and Rita Kohn becoming a sensation in his first president of the Motion Picture Author/Playwright/Journalist

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BOOK/MEDIA REVIEWS

Sam Staggs. Born To Be Hurt: as her black Turner‘s extravagant costumes The Untold Story of Imitation housekeeper and devoted friend; and acted-to-the-hilt dramatic of Life. New York: St. Martin’s and film newcomer scenes galore—-challenged Press, 2009. 422pp + illus. as Moore‘s light-skinned daughter audiences and the film industry at ISBN-13: 978-0-312-37336-8. who ultimately passes for white, a volatile time in our history. thus breaking her mother‘s heart. While some critics may take issue (The book‘s title is a direct quote with the movie‘s more superficial from the film, as Moore describes aspects, at age 50, Imitation of her daughter‘s seemingly inevitable Life‘s enduring popularity is fate.) Imitation of Life was an undeniable, and Staggs does a important project in each actor‘s solid job in characterizing the film careers. as an important reflection of its era.

As for the film itself, Staggs characterizes it as “both schizoid and revolutionary: surface safety that conceals hidden explosives”.

It would be Turner‘s first film since While he occasionally indulges in her own daughter, Cheryl Crane, tangential political commentary, murdered her mother‘s lover, Staggs‘s writing style and gangster , in undeniable enthusiasm are 1958, resulting in a tabloid-esque engaging. His research, trial for the ages. For Moore, a highlighted by personal interviews A t my public library I have versatile though largely unknown with both Moore and Kohner, is annually replaced our DVD performer, her appearance in impressive. This film‘s copies of Imitation of Life due to Imitation of Life would represent ―biography‖ is delivered with heavy usage and alleged both her ―big break‖ and also, thoroughness and flair. thievery. I‘ve often wondered why hopefully, an advance for The book includes numerous that particular film inspires such African-Americans in cinema. For photographs of the Imitation of constant viewing and/or Kohner, the Caucasian daughter of Life principals plus an extensive possessiveness! Sam Staggs has a prominent Hollywood agent, it bibliography. It is recommended now provided some answers. would be her first, inherently risky, for general audiences and as starring role. (Moore and Kohner‘s supplementary material in Akin to his previous books on careers did ultimately benefit, as popular culture and film history Sunset Boulevard and All About both received Supporting Actress courses. Eve, Staggs offers an engrossing Oscar nominations for their ―biography‖ of Imitation of Life, performances.) Before reading this book, I was profiling nearly every person unconvinced that Imitation of Life involved in the film‘s production, As for the film itself, Staggs deserved more than a passing plus describing its origins, characterizes it as ―both schizoid nod from film historians, but I now promotion, controversy and and revolutionary: surface safety gladly acknowledge the work‘s significance in cinema history. that conceals hidden explosives‖. cinematographic and societal Miscegenation and ―passing‖ were significance. And I‘ll keep buying Directed by and inflammatory notions in the late those DVD copies until the produced by , 1959‘s 1950s, as the civil rights movement money well runs dry. Imitation of Life was based on the grew in intensity. Blending those Fannie Hurst novel and starred story lines into what the author Catherine Ritchie as a rising actress calls a glossy ―blonde‖ Fine Arts Division neglecting her teenage daughter; melodrama—complete with Dallas (TX) Public Library

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BOOK/ MEDIA REVIEWS

Rodgers and and returns to his roots. That the Before listening to the recording, Hammerstein’s Everyman turned out to be a it is advisable to read the (First medical doctor may be because synopsis and follow along in the Complete Rodgers himself was descended libretto, at least initially. The Recording). CD, Two Discs (96 from a line of physicians. sound is good, but in many cases minutes). Sony Classical, 2009. there is no hint as to where you And so was born Dr. Joseph are or who is singing/speaking Taylor, Jr., whose entire life from unless you follow along. birth to midlife crisis is depicted in song and dance in what was at the Listening to this recording time one of the most experimental re-emphasizes another criticism of musicals, in a form that has of Allegro: most of the major come to be called the ―concept‖ songs are given to minor musical. The critical and audience characters, which was highly reaction was decidedly mixed and unusual at the time, but is not so although the production ran for surprising in these days of the over 300 performances, it was a concept musical. Stephen

...although the production ran for over 300 performances, it was a financial failure and, to its creators, a great disappointment.

financial failure and, to its creators, Sondheim, who worked as a a great disappointment. gofer on the original Hammerstein felt that his point was tryout, has said that he would not misunderstood, and hoped all his have dared to do what he has life to get it ―right‖. done without Allegro.

This new audio version of the Although Allegro is not first-class ―complete‖ recording (including all Rodgers and Hammerstein, it is T he stories behind the creation of the score, but not the full libretto) surely worth having this complete of the original 1947 production of is a labor of love on the part of the recording of the score to study Allegro and the current studio Rodgers and Hammerstein and enjoy. It is recommended for recreation of the entire musical Organization, the keepers of the all audio-visual collections in all score are at least as interesting flame for these two great types of libraries. as this fourth collaboration of collaborators. The musical tracks Rodgers and Hammerstein on a were recorded by a studio work of . After the orchestra in Bratislava, Slovak tremendous success of Republic, in 2006, after which a Oklahoma!, , and the team of prestigious vocal soloists film State Fair, Hammerstein had and choral performers, augmented become averse to all of the honor by cameo non-singing bits by some and glory that had come to them; very famous people, completed the success, he felt, had come at the work. The discs are accompanied cost of integrity. He took to by an 80-page booklet that includes Rodgers the idea for an several informative essays, Everyman allegory about a synopsis, libretto, and many person who sells out for success images from both the original and Richard M. Buck in the big city, has an epiphany, this production. New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (retired)

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BOOKS RECEIVED

Armstrong, Ann Elizabeth, et al. Performing Worlds Into Being: Native American Women’s Theater. Oxford, OH: Miami University Press, 2009.

Constantinidis, Stratos. Text & Presentation, 2008: The Comparative Drama Conference Series, 5. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2009.

Mortimer, Lorraine. Terror and Joy: The Films of Dusan Makavejev. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009.

UPCOMING EVENTS

July 2009

13 TLA at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago

Chicago Public Library/Video Theater Harold Washington Library Center 400 S. State Street Chicago, IL 60605 10:30 – 12:00 Noon

The Play’s the Thing: October 2009 From Page to Stage to Archive In Chicago Theatres 9 The Chicago theater community, well known for its ensemble approach TLA Board Meeting, Annual toward production, generates new plays every year and has yielded Business Meeting, and Book Tony award winners Grapes of Wrath, Metamorphoses, and Awards August: Osage County. This panel will showcase representatives from The New York Public Library for Steppenwolf Theater, the Goodman Theatre and other local companies the Performing Arts discussing new play development through workshops and rehearsals, how the "definitive" script is identified, and how that script and other November 2009 materials related to the productions are maintained. 11-15 ASTR-TLA Annual Conference Condado Plaza Hotel and Casino San Juan, Puerto Rico

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