Papers, 1916-1983

Author / Creator

Goetz, Ruth

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Summary

Papers of Ruth Goodman Goetz (1912-2001), a playwright and screenwriter, together with papers of two members of her theatrical family: her father, Philip Goodman (1885-1940), who was a producer of ...

Papers of Ruth Goodman Goetz (1912-2001), a playwright and screenwriter, together with papers of two members of her theatrical family: her father, Philip Goodman (1885-1940), who was a producer of Broadway plays and musicals, and her husband and collaborator, Augustus Goetz (1889-1957). Also present are papers of agent Leah Salisbury pertaining to her management of Goetz's literary interests.

Philip Goodman's papers include correspondance, contracts, agreements, financial records, and typescript copies of plays produced or written by Goodman. The work of Ruth Goodman and Augustus Goetz includes scripts, correspondence, and financial records for stage and screen plays such as "Carrie" (Para., 1952), "The Immoralist" (1954), "The Hidden River" (1957), and "One Man Show" (1945). "The Heiress," for which the Goetzes adapted both the stage (1947) and screen (Para., 1949) versions is partially documented, although scripts for neither are present.

Prominent correspondents represented in the papers include Brooks Atkinson, Frith Banbury, James M. Cain, Constance Cummings, W. C. Fields, Andre Gide, Alan F. Guttmacher, Oscar Hammerstein II, George S. Kaufman, Jerome Kern, Eli Landau, Irving Paul Lazar, Sinclair Lewis, Don Marquis, Raymond Pearl, J. B. Priestley, Elmer Rice, Billy Rose, Robert E. Sherwood, and William Wyler. A large part of the correspondence is letters exchanged between Mrs. Goetz and her daughter over a thirty year period. Also part of the collection is a typescript journal of a trip made to China in 1978; references to associations with Clifford Odets, S. J. Perelman, and David Selznick; undated costume plates; and production designs and stills from "The Heiress."

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