Clarence "Beeb" Salzer Collection MS-0564

Hayley Torres

Special Collections & University Archives

01/23/2019

5500 Campanile Dr. MC 8050

San Diego, CA 92182-8050

askscua@sdsu.edu

URL: http://library.sdsu.edu/scua

Contributing Institution: Special Collections & University Archives

Title: Clarence "Beeb" Salzer Collection

Creator: Salzer, Clarence "Beeb"

Identifier/Call Number: MS-0564

Physical Description: 7.00 Linear Feet

Date (inclusive): 1950-2013

Language of Material: English .

Scope and Contents

The Clarence "Beeb" Salzer Collection documents the professional and artistic career of Beeb Salzer and includes ephemera, photographs, and artworks from the course of his career, beginning with his time at Yale. The bulk of the collection dates from 1955-2013. Materials include newspaper clippings, playbills, correspondence, photographs, set designs, speech manuscripts, legal papers, and paintings. The collection is divided into four series: Career Papers, Art Work, Personal, and Audiovisual.

Career Papers, arranged roughly in chronological order, consist largely of playbills, newspaper clippings, and photographs. Highlights include Salzer's correspondence with the playwright Edward Albee, op-eds, and photographs and other ephemera from Salzer's time teaching in South America.

The Art Work series is arranged into two subseries: Personal Art and Theatrical Art. Personal artwork includes water color landscapes, caricatures of writers, modern paintings, and a wood carving. Also included are photographs of paintings. Theatrical artwork consists of scene designs for plays that Salzer designed sets for, most notably scene designs for The Saint of Bleeker Street.

The Personal series includes photographs from Salzer's early life, and a poem he was given to commemorate his retirement.

The Audiovisual series is primarily made up of VHS tape recordings of The Saint of Bleeker Street and Speaking of the Arts. Also included are 35 mm slides of set designs for The Saint of Bleeker Street and other productions, a DVD recording of Salzer's retirement party and the documentary Trial by Fire.

Arrangement Note

I. Career Papers

II. Art Work

1) Personal

2) Theatrical Art

III. Personal

IV. Audiovisual

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The copyright interests in some of these materials have been transferred to or belong to San Diego State University. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections means that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. Copyright resides with the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. Requests for permission to publish must be submitted to the Head of Special Collections, San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. Permissions is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.

Source of Acquisition

Clarence "Beeb" Salzer

Accruals and Additions

2017-042, 2017-050

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, folder title, box number, Clarence "Beeb" Salzer Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, San Diego State University Library.

Biographical Note

Beeb Salzer (Clarence M. Salzer) is an artist, designer of theatre, film and commercial productions, writer, producer, theatre consultant, owner of Salzer Design, and professor emeritus of Theatre, Television and Film at San Diego State University. Salzer graduated from Yale University with a BA in 1955, and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama in 1960. In 1958, Salzer served as a visiting professor at the Catholic University of Santiago and the University of Chile in Chile, and the following year at the University of Panama under a State Department grant. From 1966 through 1980, Salzer served as an associate professor at different universities in New York. In 1982 he became a professor of Theatre, Television and Film at San Diego State University where he is now a professor emeritus following his 2008 retirement.

Salzer designed sets and costumes for countless productions including Madame Butterfly, Teible and her Demon, and Don Pasquale. One of his most celebrated contributions to stage production are his scenic designs for the Blatimore New York City productions of The Saint of Bleeker Street.

Salzer has written numerous articles on theatre and design. His writing has been regularly published since the 1970s, including a regular column in Lighting Dimensions Magazine, leading him to publish The Skeptical Scenographer: Essays on Theatrical Design and Human Nature in 1995. Though his career was in theatre, Salzer is first and foremost, an artist. His scene designs are beautiful works of art, and he additionally painted many other subjects. He has had art shows throughout the United States and South America over the course of his career, and has been featured on the covers of various publications. Salzer has received awards for both his set designs and for his writing. He is a five-time awardee of The Herbert Greggs Award for the Best Article of the Year in Theatre Design and Technology.

Career Papers I

box 1, folder 1

Bibliography and Curriculum Vitae Folder 1

box 1, folder 2

Op-eds and letters from readers Folder 2

box 1, folder 3

"Das Paradoxen Mehrdimensionaler Szenografischer Darstellungen" Podium, German translation Folder 3 1980

box 1, folder 4

Correspondence Folder 4

box 1, folder 5

Edward Albee - Newsclippings Folder 5 1993, 1994, 1998, 2002

box 1, folder 6

Edward Albee - Creative Symposium Folder 6 1993 - 1994

box 1, folder 7

Edward Albee - Correspondence Folder 7 1993 - 2009

box 1, folder 8

Yale - Programs, News Clippings, Sketch for "The Birds," Correspondence Folder 8

box 1, folder 9

Yale - Publications Folder 9

box 1, folder 10

Yale - Photographs from The Seed and The Thorn, The Tempest, The Birds, Stover at Yale, and others Folder 10

box 1, folder 11

Yale - Photographs - from The Tempest, The Seed and the Thorn, and others Folder 11

box 1, folder 12

Playbills from productions in New York City Folder 12

box 2, folder 1

Minor Latham Playhouse - The Boys from Syracuse, The Waltz of the Dogs, The Suitcase, and The Noble Spaniard Folder 1 1962

box 2, folder 2

Minor Latham Playhouse - The Boys from Syracuse photographs Folder 2 1962

box 2, folder 3

New York Philharmonic - playbills, newspaper clipping Folder 3 1964 - 1966

box 2, folder 4

Manhattan School of Music - programs, news clippings Folder 4 1961 - 1969

box 2, folder 5

Manhattan School of Music - programs, news clippings Folder 5 1961 - 1971

box 2, folder 6

Manhattan School of Music - programs, news clippings Folder 6 1963 - 1970

box 2, folder 7

Queens College, Herbert H. Lehman College, C. W. post College - programs. news clippings Folder 7

box 2, folder 8

Don Pasquale, Baltimore Civic Opera - Programs, Reviews Folder 8 1970

box 2, folder 9

Pucini's Madama Butterfly, Baltimore Opera - Programs, Photo, News Clippings Folder 9 1971

box 2, folder 10

Sally, George and Martha, Westchester Rockland Regional Theatre. Inc. Folder 10 1975

box 2, folder 11

Saint of Bleeker Street - Programs, news clippings, press book, rehearsal schedule, Onstage Magazine Folder 11 1973, 1976

box 2, folder 12

Robert Lewis Acting Company - Newspaper Clippinga, playbills, Letters of Agreement, Film Negatives Folder 12 1977 - 1978

box 3, folder 1

The Saint of Bleeker Street, New York City Opera - Playbills, photographs, news clippings, Statement of Purpose and Procedures Folder 1 1978

box 3, folder 2

A Moon for the Misbegotten and The Real Inspector Hound, Bergenstage - playbills and newsclippings Folder 2 1980

box 3, folder 3

SDSU - programs, Reviews, concept art for Follies Folder 3 1984 - 1988

box 3, folder 4

SDSU - Photographs from Iphigenia and Follies Folder 4 1984, 1985

box 3, folder 5

Abundance, Blackfriars Theatre - Playbills and Reviews Folder 5 1991

box 3, folder 6

The Importance of Being Earnest, Blackfriars Theatre - Reviews Folder 6 1992

box 3, folder 7

Puppet Master of Lodz, Black Friars Theatre - Reviews Folder 7 1992

box 3, folder 8

Puppet Master of Lodz - photographs and film negatives Folder 8 1992

box 3, folder 9

Tieble and Her Demon, Bowery Theatre and Blackfriars Theatre - Playbills and Reviews Folder 9 1990 - 1993

box 3, folder 10

Tieble and Her Demon - Photographs Folder 10

box 3, folder 11

What the Butler Saw, Pirate Playhouse - reviews, playbill, photograph Folder 11 2000

box 3, folder 12

Panama - U.S. Embassy Identification Cards, U.S. Department of State documents, and correspondence Folder 12 1959

box 3, folder 13

Panama - playbills, newspaper clippings Folder 13 1959

box 3, folder 14

Panama - Photographs Folder 14 1959

box 3, folder 15

Chile - Correspondence, Newspaper Clippings, Playbills Folder 15 1958 - 1959

box 4, folder 1

Chile - Photographs and Film Negatives Folder 1 1958

box 4, folder 2

Chile - "El Teatro de Ensayo de Chile" Folder 2 1961

box 4, folder 3

ATA Convention Program an Speech Folder 3 n.d.

box 4, folder 4

U.S. institute for Theatre Technology, Prague, Salzburg - program, correspondence, maps Folder 4 1971 - 1981

box 4, folder 5

Scenography Commision of OISTT meeting in Warsaw, Poland - correspondence, speech, Polish Airlines Magazine Folder 5 1979

box 4, folder 6

Theatre and Stage Design Shows - Press Release, Pogram, Fliers Folder 6

box 4, folder 7

Contemporary Stage Design USA, edited by Elizabeth B. Burdick, Peggy C. Hansen and Brenda Zenger, International Theatre Institute of the United States, Inc. Folder 7 1974

box 4, folder 8

Honorary Lifetime Member Card from The International Alliance of Theatre Stage Employees Folder 8

box 4, folder 9

Van Bovenkamp Gallerie - newspaper clippings, broadsides, agreement, announcement Folder 9 1964

box 4, folder 10

University of Maine art exhibits - correspondence, newspaper clippings, programs Folder 10 1964 - 1966

box 4, folder 11

"Mr. and Ms.: Recent Paintings by Beeb Salzer" - fliers, newspaper clippings, correspondence Folder 11 1974

box 4, folder 12

Art Exhibits - Newspaper clippings, fliers, invitations, magazines Folder 12 c. 1950 - 2000

box 4, folder 13

Art Shows - Photographs Folder 13

box 7, folder 1

Folder 1 Folder 1

box 7, folder 1, item 1

Fifty Year Membership Award from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States Item 1 2012

box 7, folder 1, item 2

Art Voices vol. 3 no. 4 Item 2 1964

box 7, folder 3

Broadsides for: Don Juan, Yale Repetory Theatre; "Mr. and Ms." art show; Paintings at the Bovenkamp Gallerie; Drawings at the Bovenkamp Gallerie Folder 3

Art Works II

Personal 1

box 4, folder 14

Watercolors - unidentified paintings, Spain, "Wonderful Town" Folder 14 1982, 2004

box 4, folder 15

Writers, Artists, & Musician Caricatures - George M. Cohan, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, J. M. Barrie, August Strindberg, Anton Chekhov, Antonin Artaud, William Wycherly, Ben Jonson, Rudyard Kipling, Gertrude Stein Folder 15 2011 - 2012

box 4, folder 16

Writers, Artists, & Musician Caricatures - Shakespeare (4), G. B. Shaw, Alexandre Dumas, Richard Wagner, J. C. & J. S. Bach, Moliere, George S. Kaufman Folder 16 2011 - 2012

box 4, folder 17

Writers, Artists, & Musician Caricatures - John Mullington Synge, Maxim Gorky, Bertold Brecht, George Feydeau, Oscar Wilde, Isaac Baschevis Singer, William Congreve, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mark Twain, Henrich Ibsen, Guiseppe Verdi Folder 17 2011 - 2012

box 4, folder 18

Writers, Artists, & Musician Caricatures - Charles Darwin, Pierre Beaumarchals, Charles Dickens, Jean-Paul Sartre, Edith Sitwell, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Folder 18 2012

box 5, folder 1

Leaf from Yale Literary Magazine featuring Beeb Salzer art Folder 1

box 5, folder 2

The Outsider's Newsletter, Monocle Publications, vol. 2 no. 21, cover art by Beeb Salzer Folder 2 1964

box 5, folder 3

Holt, Rinehart, and Winston - Owl Cover Art Folder 3 1964 - 1965, 1967

box 5, folder 4

Wilson Library Bulletin, cover by Beeb Salzer Folder 4 1967 September

box 5, folder 5

Animals for Baby Gifts - photographs and film negatives of paitings Folder 5

box 5, folder 6

Canada Watercolors - photographs and film negatives of paintings Folder 6

box 5, folder 7

Photographs and film negatives of landscape paintings with functions Folder 7

box 5, folder 8

"Chicago Seven Trial" photographs of paintings Folder 8

box 7, folder 1

Folder 1 Folder 1

box 7, folder 1, item 3

"KPBS Speaking of the Arts" woodcut on cardboard Item 3 1987

box 7, folder 2

Writer Caricatures; Canada Watercolors; "On The Town" Folder 2 1983, 2000, 2011

box 7, folder 6

"Rome From the Hills"; "Patience" "Mend" and "Heal"; untitled watercolors Folder 6

box 8, item 6

"Thomas Hardy" portrait painting Item 6 1971

box 8, item 7

"Thomas Hardy" portrait painting Item 7 1977

box 8, item 8

"Trulldle Family Study" Item 8 1972

box 8, item 9

Untitled Item 9 n.d.

box 8, item 10

Untitled Item 10 1967

box 8, item 11

Untitled Item 11 n.d.

box 8, item 12

Untitled Item 12 1953 September

box 8, item 13

Untitled Item 13 n.d.

box 8, item 14

Untitled Item 14 n.d.

box 8, item 15

Untitled Item 15 1980

box 8, item 16

Untitled Item 16 1980

box 8, item 17

Untitled Item 17 1981

box 8, item 18

Untitled Item 18 n.d.

box 8, item 19

Untitled Item 19 n.d.

box 8, item 20

Untitled Item 20 n.d.

box 8, item 21

Untitled Item 21 n.d.

box 8, item 22

Untitled Item 22 n.d.

box 8, item 23

Untitled Item 23 n.d.

box 8, item 24

Untitled Item 24 n.d.

box 8, item 25

Untitled Item 25 1990

box 8, item 26

Untitled Item 26 n.d.

box 8, item 27

Untitled Item 27 n.d.

box 8, item 28

Untitled Item 28 n.d.

box 8, item 29

Untitled Item 29 n.d.

box 8, item 30

Untitled Item 30 1992

box 8, item 31

Untitled Item 31 n.d.

box 8, item 32

Untitled Item 32 n.d.

box 8, item 33

Untitled Item 33 1999

box 8, item 34

Untitled Item 34 1978

box 8, item 35

Untitled Item 35 1995

Theatrical Art 2

box 5, folder 9

The Glass Menagerie and T hree Penny Opera scene designs Folder 9 1975, 1999

box 7, folder 4

Scene design paintings for Suicide Prohibited in Spring, The Club Champions Widow, The Noble Spaniard, and The Birds Folder 4

box 7, folder 5

Scene design paintings for The Real Inspector Hound, Look Homeward Angel, and The Hostage Folder 5 1957, 1958, 1975

box 8, item 1

Backdrop design for "The Matchmaker" University of Panama Item 1 1959

box 8, item 2

"Chocolate Arms" backdrop painting for The Chocolate Soldier and Arms and the Man, SDSU Item 2 1991

box 8, item 3

" La Casamentera por El Teatro de La Universidad de Panama" painting mounted on matte board Item 3 1959 June

box 8, item 4

"The Saint of Bleeker Street" Act III, scene I, New York City Opera, painting mounted on matte board Item 4 n.d.

box 8, item 5

Waltz of the Dogs - Andreyeu, Columbia-Bernard Summer Theatre, painting mounted on matte board Item 5 1962

Personal III

box 5, folder 10

Photographs from Playwrights Project's Tribute to Edward Albee and unidentified photograph Folder 10 2008 March

box 5, folder 11

Graduation Photographs, portrait, childhood portrait, film negatives Folder 11

box 5, folder 12

Award from the American Association of Blood Banks; Clippings Folder 12 1990 - 1991

box 5, folder 13

"The Legend of the Legendary Beeb" by Pat Launer; Letters from colleagues and former students Folder 13 2006, 2010

box 5, folder 14

Professor Emeritus letter of Congratulations and List of Privileges Folder 14 2008 May

Audiovisual IV

box 5, folder 15

"Trial by Fire: SDSU Design / Performance Jury" DVD; "Beeb's Retirement Party: Founders Circle Announcement" DVD; "Tribute to Edward Albee" DVD Folder 15 2004, 2008

box 5, folder 16

35 mm slides of costume and scene designs, productions, includes guide Folder 16

box 5, folder 17

35 mm slides of costume and scene designs, productions Folder 17

box 5, folder 18

35 mm slides of paintings and Salzer in his studio Folder 18

box 5, folder 19

120 mm slides of paintings, New York Folder 19 1960

box 6, item 1

Speaking of the Arts (fine cut), KPBS, VHS Item 1

box 6, item 2

Crisis in the Arts, VHS Recording Item 2

box 6, item 3

Patté Awards, KPBS Studios, SDSU, VHS Item 3 2004 January 12

box 6, item 4

Saint of Bleeker St. Live from Lincoln Center, VHS recording Item 4

box 6, item 5

Speaking of the Arts: Patrons, VHS Item 5

box 6, item 6

"Patrons" VHS Item 6

box 6, item 7

Speaking of the Arts: Artists, VHS Item 7

box 6, item 8

Crisis in the Arts, VHS recording Item 8

box 6, item 9

Speaking of the Arts: Critics, VHS recording Item 9

box 6, item 10

Speaking of the Arts: Artists, VHS Recording Item 10

box 6, item 11

Speaking of the Arts: Critics, VHS Recording Item 11