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Guide to the Clifford Odets Theatrical Materials
MS-P006
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Title: Clifford Odets theatrical materials,
Date (inclusive): 1933-1955
Collection number: MS-P006
Creator:
Odets, Clifford, 1906-1963
Extent:
0.6 linear feet (1 box and 2 oversize folders)
Repository:
University of California, Irvine. Library. Special Collections and Archives.
Irvine, California 92623-9557
Abstract: This collection consists of draft scripts of
The Country Girl,
The Flowering Peach, and
The Russian People; reviews of theatrical performances; correspondence; and family photographs accumulated by renowned playwright Clifford Odets.
The bulk of this collection comprises reviews of Odets' theatrical performances found in newspaper clippings and magazine
articles. A scrapbook contains clippings documenting a variety of Odets' plays performed in 1935, in addition to an article
written by Odets describing his internment in Havana during his investigation into the treatment of Cuban writers and artists.
Language:
English.
Collection is open for research.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Clifford Odets Theatrical Materials. MS-P06. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Source unknown, ca. 1969-1970.
Preliminary processing by Special Collections and Archives staff, ca. 1996. Fully processed by Adrian Turner, 2001.
Clifford Odets was an American playwright prolific from the 1930s through the 1950s and renowned for his plays with Marxist
leanings. He was born July 18, 1906 in Philadelphia to immigrant Rumanian and Russian parents. His family moved to New York
in 1908. After studying drama in high school and pursuing various minor acting jobs in New York and Philadelphia, he joined
the Group Theatre of New York and began to write plays for Broadway, including
Awake and Sing! In 1935 he joined the Communist Party and traveled to Cuba as the head of a delegation to investigate atrocities against
Cuban artists and writers. He moved to California the following year and married Luise Rainer in 1937. He divorced Rainer
in 1939 and was remarried in 1943 to Bette Grayson.
In the late 1930s, he gained increasing financial stability through his critically acclaimed works. After his highly successful
Golden Boy appeared in 1937, he went on to write numerous plays, including his adaptation of Konstantin Simonov's
The Russian People (1942) and the popular
The Country Girl (1950). His last play,
The Flowering Peach (1954), was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, but the award was given to Tennessee Williams for his
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Odets lived in Hollywood until his death in 1968.
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection consists of draft scripts of
The Country Girl,
The Flowering Peach, and
The Russian People; reviews of theatrical performances; correspondence; and family photographs accumulated by renowned playwright Clifford Odets.
The bulk of this collection comprises reviews of Odets' theatrical performances found in newspaper clippings and magazine
articles. A scrapbook contains clippings documenting a variety of Odets' plays performed in 1935, in addition to an article
written by Odets describing his internment in Havana during his investigation into the treatment of Cuban writers and artists.
The personal correspondence almost exclusively comprises letters between Odets and his father, Louis J. Odets, concerning
particular plays, Clifford's marriages, and financial issues. Also included is a single letter from the artist Georgia O'Keefe,
who, along with her husband Alfred Stieglitz, corresponded with Odets. A number of the newspaper clippings and magazine articles
were mailed with these letters, along with draft scripts of
The Country Girl,
The Flowering Peach, and
The Russian People.
Most of the photographs are portraits of Odets taken throughout various periods of his life, including early childhood images
in New York. There are also several photographs depicting Odets' former wives, Luise Rainer and Bette Grayson.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Odets, Clifford, 1906-1963--Archives.
American drama--20th century--Archival resources.
Theater--Archival resources.
Photographic prints.
Plays.
Scrapbooks.
Playwrights.