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Odets (Clifford) Theatrical Materials
MS.P.006
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine
Libraries
Title: Clifford Odets theatrical materials
Creator:
Odets, Clifford
Identifier/Call Number: MS.P.006
Physical Description:
0.6 Linear Feet
(1 box and 2 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): 1928-1955 and undated
Abstract: This collection consists of draft
scripts of
The Country Girl,
The Flowering
Peach
, and
The Russian People; reviews of theatrical
performances; correspondence; programs; 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 of Material:
English .
The 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 permission to reproduce or to publish,
please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Clifford Odets theatrical materials. MS-P006. Special Collections and Archives, The UC
Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information
about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder
descriptions, and box/folder locations.
Source unknown, ca. 1969-1970 and Peter Kates, 2012.
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 1963.
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; programs; 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.
This collection is arranged alphabetically by subject or format.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Theater -- Archives
American drama -- 20th century.
Playwrights.
Scrapbooks
Plays.
Photographic prints
Odets, Clifford -- Archives