New at NYPL

Today’s New York Times reported on the acquisition of “memorabilia” relating to Off Off Broadway venue, Caffe Cino, including the 1966 program for “Dames at Sea” pictured below:

 

“Buon Natale” and All That

"Buon Natale" Christmas postcard, 1931

In an effort to make a suitably festive holiday post, I went looking around the NYPL Digital Gallery for an image from a “vintage” (oops, I mean “archival”) greeting card.  My goal was to find something that either featured performers or had even some tangential connection to the performing arts.  But when I  came across this striking postcard, I was stopped in my tracks.  OK, the couple may not be performers, but both of them are attractive in a matinee-idolish sort of way.  And, with time running out, it certainly was quirky enough for the purposes of this blog.

But imagine my surprise when I clicked on the other image from this particular “image set” — the text of the greeting itself:

Christmas greeting from Pat Cordyre to Paul Draper

This postcard had been sent in 1931 to a Paul Draper of Manhattan.  Could the intended recipient have been Paul Draper, the famous tap dancer?  The possibility was exciting, but after quickly checking a few other sources, it seemed likely that Draper would have been in Europe at the time the postcard was sent.  But maybe.  A glance over at Wikipedia’s disambiguation page (hate that “term”!) reveals a handful of other potential Paul Drapers, although the Library of Congress Authorities File, by providing dates, makes it easier to eliminate some false leads in this particular instance.  Similarly, there are a few likely Pat Cordyres from that period (but a former Museum of Modern Art employee may be the most promising potential postcard writer, or, the most intriguing, at any rate).  Or maybe this Paul is a long lost relative of Don Draper?  That might go a long way towards explaining the mysterious content of the message itself.

While I probably could write a lengthy jeremiad on the deficiencies of the descriptive metadata associated with this particular digital image set, it wouldn’t be in keeping with the holiday spirit (and I don’t want to be dissing friends).  Instead I invite all of you professionals out there to play the social metadata game and send in your tags.  Show those civilians on Flickr Commons what a real archivist can do!

At the very least, stumbling across this image has enabled me to not let the Paul Draper centenary go by completely unremarked before the year has passed.  So, happy belated 100th birthday to Paul Draper!

Undated Gjon Mili photograph of dancer Paul Draper for LIFE magazine

And “buon natale,” or, happy whatever holiday it is you are celebrating, to you all!

 

Exhibits in New York

While we await the Paper of Record to pronounce on the recently opened exhibit at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Diaghilev’s Theater of Marvels, you can enjoy Robert Johnson’s account in the Star Ledger.  In other news, the New York Times finally did get around to reviewing Creating the Modern Stage: Designs for Theater and Opera at the Morgan Library & Museum, but more from an art historical perspective.  What’s the archivist’s point of view?

 

Yet More NYPL News

It seems that the New York Public Library has been in the news quite a lot of late. Directly concerning the Library for the Performing Arts is the recent announcement that Jan Schmidt has been appointed officially as the new curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Congratulations from Ephemeral Archives and all the best of luck!

Also sure to be of interest is the upcoming exhibition of the fabulous photographs of Kenn Duncan, which is scheduled to open in the LPA’s Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery on 30 July. A small, but intriguing selection of images from the vast Kenn Duncan photograph archive already have been digitized for the NYPL Digital Gallery.

I opted for the portrait of Jerry Herman for two reasons. It seemed an apt moment to salute Mr. Herman, without whose music, current release, Wall-E, would be, well, two-dimensional. It also had been pointed out to me that somehow this blog has been singularly lacking in cat pictures to date–an omission we hope to continue to address in the coming months.

Image credit: Jerry Herman holding a cat. NYPL Digital Gallery ID #1752271

 

Additional American Pastimes

Although the memories of Anaheim are rapidly receding from my memory, I did want to mention that the American Library Association Annual Conference offered a number of meetings and programs that probably would have been of great interest to archivists who deal with performing arts collections. Naturally I couldn’t manage to attend all of them, but one that I did take in which is worth noting was a session sponsored by the ALA Public Information Office entitled, Baseball’s Greatest Hit: The Story of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” The program featured a fast-paced, yet deeply personal, multimedia presentation by Andy Strasberg, one of the co-authors of the recent book of the same name.

Also opening this Friday is a related exhibition, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”: 100 Years of Music, Musicians, and the National Pastime at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The show promises to draw heavily on materials from the NYPL’s Music Division and other departments, but it also will feature items from Stamberg’s own extensive personal collection. Hopefully one of our New York friends will be able to provide us with a firsthand account.

In the meantime, the rest of us can lobby TCM to broadcast Shine on Harvest Moon (1944), the Warner Brothers biopic about the relationship of Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth (the lyricist of the song). I must have seen this film on television during my misspent and invalid-ish childhood, but I really only remember Dennis Morgan being Chauncey Olcott.

Image credit: White Studio key sheet of images of Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth. NYPL Digital Gallery Image ID # wwm9911_w95f0_27237

 

Jerome Robbins Exhibit at Performing Arts Library

As part of the all-encompassing Jerome Robbins celebration in New York City, the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts is hosting an excellent exhibition devoted to Robbins’ life and work. Letters, posters, photos, paintings and drawings (many by Robbins himself), ticket stubs, programs and playbills, costumes, news articles, and a variety of video monitors featuring clips of works by Robbins. It is a tremendous array of materials and, although the maintenance of the exhibit seems to be somewhat troubling (dust may be found in display cases, some description cards are dangling from the wall, and captions are often placed far away from the exhibition pieces), the breadth and scope of the show is quite breathtaking.

The primary focal point for many exhibit-goers (especially dancers, scholars, and dance fanatics) is the bank of six tv monitors, each of which broadcasts a looping series of differing performance or rehearsal or interview clips, making for a kaleidoscope of Robbins images. I found the broadcast of NY Export: Opus Jazz from the “Ed Sullivan Show” (with dancers from Ballets: USA, including the fabulous John Jones and Patricia Dunn) to be especially exciting. And it is also extremely thought-provoking, since the exhibition also includes McCarthy-era newspaper clippings written by Ed Sullivan (in the years prior to the appearance of Ballets: USA on his tv show) that accuse Jerome Robbins of being a Communist sympathizer. Indeed, the exhibition does not shy away from presenting materials related to Robbins’ testimony before the HUAC and the controversy that followed his naming of names.

Also fascinating is the incredible collection of photos, programs, flyers, drawings, and letters that relate to Robbins’ early career with the Federal Dance Project and Gluck-Sandor, as well as his performances at Camp Tamiment. And, of course, his Broadway, Ballet Theatre, and NYC Ballet years are all generously represented (in particular, West Side Story fans will find plenty to keep them busy and happy, as will fans of such wonderful dancers as Tanaquil Le Clercq, Nora Kaye, and Patricia McBride). It is also possible to view a segment from a brand new staging for film of the aforementioned NY Export: Opus Jazz, a project being undertaken by two current NYC Ballet Soloists, Ellen Bar and Sean Suozzi (who are acting as co-producers). All-in-all, a must-see.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the Jewish Community Center in NYC (on West 76th Street and Amsterdam Avenue) will be presenting a Jerome Robbins Celebration this coming Monday, June 23, at 7:00pm. Highlights will include a conversation with Ellen Sorrin and Jock Soto, film clips, and performances by members of the NYC Ballet.

 

Library of Congress Celebrates Charles Strouse

Yesterday the Library of Congress officially received personal papers from musical theater composer, Charles Strouse, and the man himself also was interviewed and honored at a special performance at the Kennedy Center during the evening. Strouse, who will be turning eighty on June 7, will publish his memoirs, Put on a Happy Face, on the first of June. The LC acquisition complements another collection held by the Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Many happy returns!

Image credit: All American / Fay Gage; Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog #2007683580

 

Panel on Fair Use, Dance, and Documentary Films

As part of the previously mentioned Dance on Camera 2008 festival in New York City, a free panel session, “Yes You Can!” on fair use, documentary filmmaking, and the role of libraries, will be held this Friday, January 4, 2008 at 3:30 in the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Sponsored by the Dance Heritage Coalition, panelists will include copyright attorney Peter Jaszi and filmmakers Annette Macdonald and David Van Taylor. A more complete description of this public forum can be found here.

 

NYPL Receives Major Grant for Documentation and Preservation Projects

Once again the New York Sun reported it first, but today’s New York Times “Arts, Briefly” column also notes that the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has received a grant of $1 million from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The grant, which begins on 1 February 2008 and runs through 31 January 2010, will help to document 25 live jazz, theater, and contemporary dance performances, as well as to preserve oral history tapes relating to Martha Graham.

 

Performance as a part of Exhibition

At the invitation of your usual archivist, I offer the following post which first appeared on an internal blogsite at The New York Public Library.

The summer 2007 exhibit at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (LPA) was entitled “Invention: Merce Cunningham and Collaborators.”As it was coming to a close, I was reminded of one of its planning meetings. The discussion centered on the explanatory texts that accompany any museum exhibition. Members of the Cunningham Foundation wanted to dispense with such texts. When told that the lack of explanatory notes might cause people to exit the exhibit hastily, they responded “That’s ok – people walk out of Merce’s performances all the time.” Rather, they wanted an experience unburdened with so much reading, so that when entering the exhibit, people would be visually and spacially immersed in the world of Merce Cunningham and his work.

It turned out to be one of the most memorable exhibits I’ve seen at LPA. Among the many unique aspects of the exhibit were the associated performances. They weren’t done in the auditorium, but were performed in the exhibit itself. One of them, a dance work Cunningham choreographed expressly for this exhibit, was performed several times the exhibit entrance.

Each of four performers did solos…

Then duos…

Finally all four peformed together.

Curtain calls (without a curtain).

In addition, pianist Nurit Tilles performed John Cage’s Sonatas
and Interludes on a prepared piano.

First, Nurit gave a brief talk.

Then she played the entire 70 minute work (with a short break in the middle).

The audience was held in rapture.

The lack of adequate seating (folding chairs) was hardly
a deterrent for those who wanted to be part of the experience.

People listened, as Jasper Johns’s costumes loomed on the south wall.

Meanwhile students took notes on music that might alienate some listeners.

I remember few exhibits that had performances done right in the exhibit. I thought it was great idea! It offered a particularly intimate way to connect with the subject and his materials, and the public could lounge on the floor (or on their knapsacks) so that they could make themselves comfortable as they take in the experience.

The success of this exhibit challenges us to think of archives in a pro-
active manner. That’s what an exhibit — and an archives — should be!