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Photographs and sheet music make up the bulk of the Florenz Ziegfeld Collection,
1893-1979 (bulk 1910-1930), which documents Ziegfeld's career as a producer and,
to
a lesser extent, the contributions of some of the theater professionals associated
with him. Also present is a very small amount of material concerning posthumous
Ziegfeld revivals, spinoffs, and movies. The collection is organized into three
series: I. Productions, 1907-1946, II. Individuals, 1893-1979, and III. Sheet
Music,
1905-1957. Within each series, material is arranged alphabetically by title of
work
or chronologically where appropriate. |
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The full range of Ziegfeld's producing work is represented in the Productions series,
which is divided into four subseries: A. Variety Shows, 1907 (1 folder), B. Revues,
1907-1931 (3.5 boxes), C. Fully Staged Productions, 1920-1946 (1 box), and D.
Unidentified Productions, nd (2 folders). Ziegfeld's variety work for the Syndicate
is represented by a Jardin de Paris program from June 1907. The Revues subseries
holds photographs, programs, clippings, and other materials for the Ziegfeld Follies, Ziegfeld
Midnight Frolic, Ziegfeld Nine O'Clock
Revue, and an unidentified revue, arranged alphabetically by title of
production and then chronologically. Many of these shows were photographed by
the
Hall and White Studios of New York. Notable items include two actors' sides from
the
1916 Follies and casts lists for the 1920 edition;
clippings documenting the 1957 Follies are located
here. In the Revues subseries, dates are given only if they differ from the year
the
production opened. The Fully Staged Productions subseries contains photographs,
programs, and ephemera for eleven "book" shows. Most
of this material documents each show's original Ziegfeld production, but later
stagings by other producers are also represented. Supplied dates in the folder
list
represent the date of the show's Broadway opening. Photographs of unidentified
productions complete the Productions series. |
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The Individuals series (12 boxes) contains personal and production photographs for
nearly 150 performers associated with Ziegfeld, as well as materials concerning
Ziegfeld himself. The series also includes a small number of clippings and other
materials such as Ziegfeld's letters, telegrams, and legal documents. An index
of
correspondents is included in this finding aid. Most of the performers are
represented by very few different photographic poses but Myrna Darby, the Dolly
Sisters, Gladys Glad, Paulette Goddard, Justine Johnstone, Peggy Hopkins Joyce,
Allyn King, Raquel Meller, Barbara Newberry, Olga Steck, and Lilyan Tashman are
represented by at least seven poses. Over half of the photographs were made by
White
Studio of New York, N.Y.; other well-represented photographers are De Barron,
Hall,
Alfred Cheney Johnston, Edward Thayer Monroe, and Ira D. Schwarz. Supplied dates
in
the folder list represent the date of the Broadway opening of the show in which
the
performer appeared. |
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The Sheet Music series (7.5 boxes) contains music for over 600 songs published
between 1905 and 1957. Music dating from 1915 to 1924 predominates. While most
of
the numbers were intended for Ziegfeld's revues, some were popularized by Follies performers but not used by Ziegfeld, and a very
small number appear to have no direct Ziegfeld connection. Because the series
is
arranged by copyright date, not title of production, music from a particular show
is
often found in two adjacent years; occasionally related songs will be found farther
apart when an older song was revived for a new production. A good number of the
songs were vehicles for Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth, Fanny Brice, Jose Collins,
and
Bert Williams. The series also includes songs from several of the posthumous New
York Follies revivals, a 1955 Las Vegas show, and the
films The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Ziegfeld Girl (1941), and Ziegfeld Follies (1946). Composers and lyricists who are most heavily
represented are Irving Berlin, Lew Brown, Gus Edwards, Rudolf Friml, Seymour Furth,
James F. Hanley, Victor Herbert, J. Leubrie Hill, Louis A. Hirsch, George V. Hobart,
Raymond Hubbell, Jerome Kern, Maurice Levi, Jean Schwartz, Harry Bache Smith,
Dave
Stamper, and Albert Von Tilzer. A complete index of composers, lyricists, arrangers,
performers, and song titles concludes this finding aid. |