Summary Information
Ulu Grosbard Papers
1962-1967
U.S. Mss 158AN
0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society Archives / Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research Contact Information
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of Ulu Grosbard, a director for theater, motion pictures, and television. Through files on two works the collection documents his activities in theater and television. Pertaining to the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Subject Was Roses (1964) are correspondence (mainly fan mail); director's notes; financial, technical, and promotional information; clippings; scripts; and a copy of playwright Frank Gilroy's production diary. Material on The Investigation (1966) is more extensive and documents Grosbard's work both as translator and director of the Broadway and NBC television productions. Present here are correspondence, scripts, clippings, and notes.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0158an ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Director and producer Ulu Grosbard was born on January 9, 1929 in Antwerp, Belgium, and came to the U.S. via Cuba in 1948. After receiving a BA in 1950 and an MA in 1952 from the University of Chicago, he attended the School of Drama at Yale University for a year and studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. He has been a member of the Directors Unit of the Actors Studio since 1961. From 1953 to 1955, Grosbard served as a Private First Class with the U.S. Army Intelligence, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1954.
During the summers of 1957-1958, he directed at the Gateway Theatre in Bellport, Long Island, N.Y., and co-produced and directed The Days and Nights of Beebee Fenstermaker (Sheridan Square Playhouse, NYC, 1962, Sept. 17). His first Broadway assignment was directing Frank Gilroy's play The Subject Was Roses (Royale, 1964, May 25), which won the Pulitzer Prize and the Drama Critics Circle Award. He also directed the 1968 film version produced by MGM. In 1965 he directed an off-Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge, for which he won a Vernon Rice Award and an Obie. The Investigation, the Peter Weiss documentary-play about a trial of personnel at World War II's Auschwitz concentration camp, was directed on Broadway by Grosbard in 1966 at the Ambassador, and he also directed the NBC-TV production shown on April 14 and 16, 1967. In 1967 he directed the play That Summer That Fall.
Since 1959, Grosbard has also worked in television, first as the production manager for the Deadline series, 1959-1960. In 1966 he produced Far Rockaway, and in 1968 directed The Price.
His work in films includes credit as assistant director for N.Y. locations for Splendor in the Grass (WB, 1961), West Side Story (UA, 1961), The Hustler (Fox, 1961), and The Miracle Worker (UA, 1962). He was unit manager for The Pawnbroker (Landau, 1964).
Grosbard married Rose Gregorio on February 24, 1965. She had been leading lady in the revival of Miller's A View from the Bridge.
Scope and Content Note
The Ulu Grosbard Papers, 1962-1967, pertain to his roles as director of the Broadway play The Subject Was Roses and as translator and director of The Investigation on Broadway and for television. For The Subject Was Roses, there is correspondence (mainly fan mail), a script, Grosbard's directing notes on the play as a whole and on the development of the major characters, technical production materials, financial statements, promotional material, and clippings. Included with this material is a 111-page carbon copy of playwright Frank Gilroy's diary of production, 1962, Oct.-1964, May, which recounts the difficult maneuvering to fund a Broadway play; and the interaction of the playwright, actors, and entire production crew and its result on the production.
The material on The Investigation is more extensive, and documents Grosbard's work as the co-translator of the play from German into English and as the director of the play on Broadway and for television. There is a script in German and reviews in German newspapers from the 1965 East and West Berlin productions of the play. From the New York theater production are Grosbard's notes, correspondence, general production materials, clippings, preliminary and final English versions of the script, and a list of material from the German version that had to be cut out. From the NBC-TV production are three scripts - a preliminary version, a corrected copy with notes, and a master script - which show how Grosbard adapted the script for television, as well as general production material, photocopies of congratulatory telegrams; and clippings regarding this production and clippings in Swedish regarding an earlier production directed by Ingmar Bergman on the stage in Stockholm, Sweden.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Placed on deposit by Ulu Grosbard via Nick Ben-Meir of David W. Katz and Company, New York, New York, December 31, 1969. Accession Number: MCHC69-159
Processed by Eleanor McKay and Alice Seimering, May 28, 1975.
Contents List
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The Subject Was Roses (Royale, 1964, May 25)
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Correspondence, 1964, May-1965, April
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Box
1
Folder
2
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Script
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Grosbard's notebook
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Gilroy's diary of production, 1962, Oct-1964, May
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Box
1
Folder
5
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Technical production
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Financial statements, 1964, May-Aug
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Box
1
Folder
7
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Programs and advertisements
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Box
1
Folder
8
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Clippings, 1964
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The Investigation
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German theater productions (East and West Berlin, 1965)
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Box
1
Folder
9
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Script, in German
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Box
1
Folder
10
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Clippings, 1965
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New York theater production (Ambassador, 1966, Oct 4)
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Box
1
Folder
11
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Grosbard's notebook
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Script
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Box
1
Folder
12
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Preliminary English translation by John Swan and Ulu Grosbard
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Box
1
Folder
13
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Cutting of script
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Box
2
Folder
1
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Final English version
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Box
2
Folder
2
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Correspondence and general production material, indexed
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Clippings
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Box
2
Folder
3
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Regarding trial and history of Auschwitz, 1965-1966
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Box
2
Folder
4
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Regarding N.Y. production and miscellaneous, 1965-1966
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NBC-TV production (1967, April 14 and 16)
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Scripts
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Box
2
Folder
5
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Preliminary version
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Box
2
Folder
6
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Corrected copy with notes
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Box
2
Folder
7
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Master script
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Box
2
Folder
8
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General production material and congratulatory telegrams, indexed, 1966, Oct-1967, April
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Clippings
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Box
2
Folder
9
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Regarding N.Y. television production, 1967
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Box
2
Folder
10
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Regarding Stockholm (Sweden) production, 1966
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