Title: Richard Myers Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1928-1962

Creator:

• Myers, Richard, 1901-

Call Number: U.S. Mss 56AN

Quantity: 11.2 c.f. (30 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society Archives / Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
Contact Information

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Richard Myers, a composer and producer of Broadway plays most prominently known for his collaboration with Richard Aldrich and Julius Fleischmann. Although best on the financial aspects of theatrical production, the papers also contain information on casting, costuming, lighting, and direction for the plays which Myers produced. In addition to financial records, the collection is comprised of contracts, correspondence, clippings, and some photographs and scripts. Documentation concerns The Moon Is Blue (1951), Goodbye, My Fancy (1949), The Innocents (1950), My Dear Children (1940), Plan M (1942, with Max Reinhardt and Norman Bel Geddes), and The Shrike (1952). Papers on the Cape Playhouse, which was operated by one of Myers' associates, are also present.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0056an

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Richard Myers, a leading producer of Broadway plays for almost twenty years, was born on March 25, 1901, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his early education at the William Penn Charter School.

Mr. Myers entered the theater through the field of music. Associated with such publishing firms as Chappel and Company and Harms, Inc., he contributed music to various productions, including Here Goes the Bride (1931), Earl Carroll Vanities (1932), and the Ziegfield Follies (1934). One of his many works is the well-known hit song, “My Darling.”

In 1936, Mr. Myers launched his career as a producer, presenting with Francis Curtis I Want a Policeman. Shortly thereafter he collaborated for the first of many times with Richard Aldrich in presenting Tide Rising (1937). This was followed by such hits as The Importance of Being Ernest (1939), Margin for Error (1939), and My Dear Children (1940) which marked John Barrymore's last theater appearance. Aldrich and Myers became partners in 1948 with the production of Goodbye, My Fancy. In the next three years, they produced such hits as Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1949) and The Devil's Disciple (1950), Four Twelves Are 48 (1951), and the repertory of the Dublin Gate Theater.

Mr. Myers collaborated with Julius Fleischmann to present the most successful of his ventures, The Moon Is Blue, which enjoyed a long run on Broadway, sent out several road companies, and was eventually made into a movie. Myer and Fleischmann also produced A Girl Can Tell (1953) and Dear Charles (1954) with Tallulah Bankhead. This partnership collaborated with other producers to present Little Glass Clock (1956), directed by Alan Schneider, Hotel Paradiso (1957), Interlock (1958), and Requiem for a Nun (1959), also directed by Alan Schneider.

The Richard Myers Papers are primarily concerned with the production aspects of twenty-eight of the plays with which Mr. Myers was associated. They offer the researcher a complete picture of financing and other problems relating to the production of a play for Broadway and for road tours. The collection lends itself to classification by play, and thus all the papers associated with each play are filed together. The plays are filed alphabetically. Included in the sequence are materials on the Dublin Gate Theater repertory season of 1947-48.

Under each play, correspondence appears first and is arranged chronologically by year and month. It includes correspondence with the financial backers of the plays, as well as with the playwright, the director, and the actors and actresses. Following the correspondence is a small assortment of papers concerning the play's cast, costumes, lights, props, and scenery. These are not arranged chronologically, since many do not bear dates. Clippings and contracts arranged chronologically by year and month, and ephemera follow.

Following ephemera are the financial papers. Since these generally comprise the bulk of the papers for each play, they have been arranged by category, and the categories arranged alphabetically. In cases where a category includes only a few papers, several categories have been filed in one folder, and the categories noted on the folder. The papers in these categories, which include bank statements, cancelled checks, bills, box office reports, financial reports, lists of investors, royalty statements, salary lists, and tax forms, have not been arranged chronologically. In a few cases, photographs and play scripts follow the financial papers.

Not all the papers for the twenty-eight plays are complete. Papers for the following plays are the most complete, and hence present the most thorough study of producing a play: Four Twelves Are 48, The Gainsborough Girls, A Girl Can Tell, The Guardsman, The Gypsies Wore High Hats, Hotel Paradiso, Interlock, Little Glass Clock, The Moon Is Blue, Sailor's Delight, and Wooden Dish.

The Moon Is Blue file includes papers for the Broadway production company as well as for the Chicago company and several road companies. The papers for all the productions are filed together, since some of the papers concern more than one production.

Following the plays are papers concerning the Cape Cod Playhouse, operated by one of Mr. Myer's associates. A small assortment of office records, photographs, and unidentified papers follows.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Richard Myers, New York, New York, April, 1964.

Processing Information

Processed by MFF, February, 1965.

U.S. Mss 56AN	Caesar and Cleopatra Note: Author: George Bernard Shaw
Box   1	Financial reports, investors and tax forms
Box   30	Volume 18: Scrapbook, 1949
	Dear Charles
Box   1	Correspondence, 1953-1959, undated
Box   1	Contracts, 1953, undated
Box   1	Assorted business papers
Box   1-2	Bank statements
Box   2	Bills
Box   3	Box office reports
Box   3	Financial reports
Box   3	Insurance papers; Investors
Box   3	Royalty statements
Box   3	Salary lists
Box   3	Tax forms; Unemployment insurance forms
	Devil's Disciple Note: Author: George Bernard Shaw
Box   4	Correspondence, 1950-1951
Box   4	Contracts, undated
Box   4	Bank statements; Bills
Box   4	Box office reports; Financial reports
Box   4	Investors; Salary lists; Tax forms; Unemployment insurance forms
	Dublin Gate Theater repertory
Box   4	Correspondence, 1947-1948
Box   4	Contracts, 1947-1948
Box   4	Financial reports; Tax forms
Box   4	Volume 1: Financial ledger, 1947-1948
	Fathers Day
Box   5	Volume 2, Financial ledger, 1941
	Four Twelves Are 48 Note: Author: Joseph Kesselring
Box   5	Correspondence, 1950-1952, 1956, undated
Box   5	Cast; Costumes; Props
Box   5	Clippings, 1951
Box   6	Contracts, 1950-1951, undated
Box   6	Ephemera
Box   6	Assorted business papers; Bank statements
Box   6	Bills
Box   6	Box office reports
Box   6	Financial reports
Box   6	Hospitalization insurance papers; Insurance papers; Investors
Box   6	Salary lists
	Gainsborough Girls Note: Author: Cecil Beaton
Box   7	Correspondence, 1950-1956, 1958, undated
Box   7	Cast
Box   7	Clippings, 1951
Box   7	Contracts, 1951
Box   7	Assorted business papers; Bank statements; Bills; Financial reports; Investors; Theater statements
	A Girl Can Tell Note: Author: Hugh F. Herbert
	Correspondence
Box   7	1950, 1953, April-August
Box   8	1953, September-1957, undated
Box   8	Cast; Costumes; Lighting; Sets; Props
Box   8	Clippings, 1953
Box   8	Contracts, 1953
Box   8	Ephemera
Box   8	Assorted business papers; Bank statements; Bills; Box office reports; Financial reports; Investors; Salary list; Tax forms
	Goodbye My Fancy Note: Author: Fay Kamin
Box   9	Correspondence, 1948-1962, undated
Box   9	Bank statements
Box   9	Bills; Financial reports; Investors; Tax forms
	Financial ledgers
Box   9	Volume 3, 1949
Box   9	Volume 4, 1949-1950
Box   10	Volume 5, 1948-1952
Box   10	Royalty statements
	Great to be Alive
Box   10	Financial report, 1951
	The Guardsman Note: Author: F. Molnar
Box   10	Correspondence, 1950-1953, undated
Box   11	Cast; Costumes; Lighting; Props
Box   11	Clippings, 1951
Box   11	Contracts, 1950-1951
Box   11	Ephemera; Tour data
Box   11	Assorted business papers; Bank statements; Bills; Box office reports; Financial reports; Investors
Box   11	Stage managers reports
	The Gypsies Wore High Hats Note: Author: Joseph Kramm
Box   12	Correspondence, 1952-1953, undated
Box   12	Cast; Props
Box   12	Clippings and press releases, 1952
Box   12	Conrtacts, 1951
Box   12	Assorted business papers; Bank statements; Bills; Financial reports; Investors
	Hotel Paradiso Note: Author: Peter Glenville
Box   12	Correspondence, 1955-1957, undated
Box   12	Cast; Props; Staff; Wardrobe
Box   12	Clippings, 1957
Box   13	Contracts, 1957
Box   13	Ephemera
Box   13	Assorted business papers; Bank statements; Bills; Box office reports; Financial reports; Investors; Salary lists
Box   13	Unmarked script
	The Innocents
Box   13	Financial reports; Insurance forms; Investors; Tax forms
Box   13	Volume 6, Financial ledger, 1949-1950
	Interlock Note: Author: Ira Levin
Box   13	Correspondence, 1957-1958, undated
Box   14	Cast
Box   14	Clippings, 1958
Box   14	Ephemera
Box   14	Contracts, 1957-1958
Box   14	Bank statements; Bills; Box office reports; Financial reports; Investors; Tax forms
	Little Glass Clock Note: Author: Hugh Mills
Box   14	Correspondence, 1955-1957, undated
Box   14	Cast; Lighting; Props
Box   14	Clippings, 1956
Box   14	Ephemera
Box   14	Assorted business papers; Bank statements
Box   15	Bills
Box   15	Box office reports; Financial reports
Box   15	Investors; Salary lists; Tax forms
Box   30	Volume 17: Scrapbook, 1956
	The Love of Four Colonels Note: Author: Peter Ustinov
Box   15	Correspondence, 1952-1953, undated
Box   15	Clippings; Ephemera
Box   16	Contracts, circa 1952
Box   16	Box office reports; Financial reports; Investors
	Margin for Error Note: Author: Clare Booth Luce
Box   16	Correspondence, 1942; Financial papers
	The Moon Is Blue
	Correspondence
Box   16	1951 March-August
Box   17	1951 September-1952 May
Box   18	1952 June-1959, undated
Box   18	Cast; Costumes; Lights; Props
Box   18	Clippings; Press releases, 1951-1952
Box   18	Contracts
Box   18	Ephemera
Box   19	Assorted business papers
Box   19	Bank Statements
Box   19	Bills
Box   19	Box office reports
	Financial reports
Box   20	Weekly, 1951-1961
Box   20	Monthly, 1951-1954
Box   20	Assorted, 1951-1961
Box   20	Insurance forms; Investors
Box   20	Royalty statements
Box   20-21	Salary lists
Box   21	Tax forms
Box   21	Unemployment insurance forms
Box   21	Itineraries
Box   21	Photographs
Box   21	Script, undated
	Scrapbooks
Box   29	Volume 11: Boston production, 1951 February
Box   29	Volume 12: Boston production, 1951 December
Box   29	Volume 13: Boston production, 1951 November-December
Box   29	Volume 14: New York production, 1951 February-August
Box   29	Volume 15: San Francisco production, 1952 June - August
Box   29	Volume l6: California production, 1952 July - August
	My Dear Children Note: Authors: Catherine Turney and Jerry Harwin
Box   22	Correspondence, 1939-1943, undated
Box   22	Cast
Box   22	Assorted business papers
Box   22	Bank statements
Box   23	Bills
Box   23	Box office reports; Financial reports
Box   23	Volume 7: Financial ledger, 1939-1940
Box   23	Salary lists; Tax forms; Unemployment insurance forms
	Plan M
Box   24	Financial reports, 1942
	Portrait of a Lady
Box   24	Financial reports, 1942
	Plans for Tomorrow
Box   24	Correspondence, 1944
Box   24	Contracts, 1944
Box   24	Bank statements; Bills
Box   24	Financial reports
Box   24	Volume 8: Financial ledger, 1939-1940
Box   24	Salary lists; Tax forms
Box   24	Volume 9: Salary ledger, 1944
	Requiem for a Nun
Box   24	Investors, 1959
	Sailor's Delight Note: Author: Peter Blackmore
Box   25	Correspondence, 1952-1956, undated
Box   25	Cast; Lighting; Props
Box   26	Clippings, 1954
Box   26	Contracts, 1953-1956
Box   26	Ephemera
Box   26	Assorted business papers; Bank statements; Bills; Box office reports; Financial reports; Investors; Salary lists; Tax forms
Box   25	Road tour
	The Shrike Note: Author: Joseph Kramm
Box   26	Correspondence, 1950-1951
Box   26	Clippings, 1953
Box   26	Contracts, 1950
Box   26	Ephemera
Box   26	Financial reports
	The Young and Fair
Box   26	Financial report, l949
	Wooden Dish Note: Author: Edmund Morris
	Correspondence
Box   26	1953 January-1954 May
Box   27	1954 June-1956, undated
Box   27	Cast; Lighting; Props
Box   27	Clippings, 1954
Box   27	Contracts, 1953, undated
Box   27	Assorted business papers; Bank statements
Box   27	Bills; Box office reports; Financial reports
Box   27	Investors; Tax forms
Box   27	Photographs
	Cape Cod Playhouse
Box   28	Correspondence, financial papers, photographs, plans for theater, ephemera, 1928-1931
	Office records
Box   28	Correspondence, 1943, 1950-1960, undated
Box   28	Contracts, 1950-1951
Box   28	Financial reports, 1941, 1950-1959, undated
Box   28	Salary lists
Box   28	Tax forms
Box   28	Volume 10: Myald Productions, financial ledger, 1939-1941
Box   28	Photographs
Box   30	Photographs (continued)
Box   28	Unidentified papers