Overview
Scripts, investors' correspondence, publicity materials, and financial records for a short-lived Broadway play based on Henry James's Europeans and starring Tallulah Bankhead.
Dates
- Creation: 1956-1958
Language of Materials
English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
Extent
.1 linear feet (1 box)Collection includes correspondence (some concerning contracts and agreements), financial records, correspondence with potential and recruited investors, clippings chiefly of reviews of the play, programs, and two copies of the script by Randolph Carter.
Biographical / Historical
Eugenia
was a Broadway play written by Randolph Carter based on Henry James's The Europeans. The play was directed by Herbert Machiz; produced by John C. Wilson in association with Donald H. Coleman and the Theatre Corporation of American (of which Coleman was president); with costumes by Miles White; lighting by Peggy Clark; production design by Oliver Smith; and C. Edwin Knill was general manager. With Tallulah Bankhead starring, the play opened in Philadelphia at the Forrest Theatre (Organization : Philadelphia, Pa.), then in New York on January 30, 1957, at the Ambassador Theatre (Organization : New York, N.Y.), where 12 performances were staged before it closed February 9.
The short run of the play, according to John C. Wilson's account sent to investors, was due in part to Tallulah Bankhead's suffering a number of injuries and illnesses before and during the play's run and in part to its mixed reviews.
In 1958, Donald H. Coleman was indicted for forgery and grand larceny in connection with co-producing another Theatre Corporation of America Broadway show, Oh, Captain
.
Arrangement
Organized in four series which are arranged alphabetically:
- I. Agreements and financial records
- II. Investors' correspondence
- III. Press and publicity
- IV. Scripts (documents)
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2011M-8. Purchased with funds from the Jacob Blanck Book Fund; received: 2011 July 20.
Processing Information
Processed by: Melanie Wisner.
- Title
- Papers concerning the Broadway play Eugenia, 1956-1958: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02305
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
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