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Tamiment Playhouse Records

Call Number

TAM.107

Date

1927-1987, inclusive

Creator

Tamiment Playhouse
Tamiment Institute (Role: Donor)
Kolatch, Myron (Role: Donor)

Extent

16.25 Linear Feet
(34 boxes)

Language of Materials

This collection is in English.

Abstract

The Tamiment Playhouse was a summer theater at Camp Tamiment which from 1921-1965 was an educational and recreational summer resort (originally) for socialists near Bushkill, Pa. The TPH became a workshop for theater, dance, film, and television and included entertainment figures such as actors Danny Kaye, Bea Arthur, Imogene Coca, and Carol Burnett; directors Max Liebman, Herb Ross, and Joe Layton; choreographer Jerome Robbins; and writers Woody Allen and Neil Simon. The collection includes scores, scripts, clippings, correspondence, ephemera, and casefiles for interviews with TPH alumni.

Historical/Biographical Note

The Tamiment Playhouse was a resident summer theater that operated between 1921 and 1960 at Camp Tamiment, an adult summer camp in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. Camp Tamiment was an educational and recreational summer resort (originally) for socialists and their families near Bushkill, Pa., from 1921 until its sale in 1965 to commercial interests. The TPH became a creative outlet for theater, dance, film, and television of the mid-twentieth century. Actors such as Danny Kaye, Bea Arthur, Imogene Coca, and Carol Burnett, directors Max Liebman, Herb Ross, and Joe Layton, choreographer Jerome Robbins, and writers Woody Allen and Neil Simon are some of the entertainment figures nurtured at Camp Tamiment. Much of the original material performed at Tamiment found its way to the professional stage, Broadway, and television, and much of it reflects the predominantly Jewish cultural and politically liberal orientation of the camp and its residents. See also LoMonaco, Martha Schmoyer, Every week, a Broadway revue : the Tamiment Playhouse, 1921-1960(NYU Press, 1992).

Arrangement

Organized into five series: I. History and Memorabilia ; II. Alumni and Associates; III. Sketches and Lyrics; IV. Music Scores; V. Scrapbooks.

Folders are generally arranged alphabetically by subject/author heading within each series.

Scope and Content Note

Series I. History & Memorabilia, consists of two subseries: A. Playbills; B. Camp Tamiment: Documents, Publications, and Ephemera. Series II. Alumni & Associates, consists of Martha LoMonaco's correspondence, notes, clippings and some transcripts relating to her sixty-two interviews (1950s focus) with Playhouse alumni and associates, whose audiocassettes and partial transcripts comprise series one of the Tamiment Playhouse Alumni: Oral Histories and Shows (Collection number: Tamiment NS 31). Note: Alumni = theatre workers; Associates = supporters, camp staff, etc. Notable individuals include Marshall Barer, Ben Blaker, Jerry Bock, Carol Channing, Irwin Corey, Lew "Snappy" Goren (camp photographer), Moe Hack, Israel Kugler, Mike Levitas, Willy Pogany, David Rodgers, Mary Rodgers, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., and Dick Shawn. Series III. Sketches & Lyrics, is arranged alphabetically by author. Half are by Max Liebman, and there are also sketches by Neil and Danny Simon, and Woody Allen. Series IV. Music Scores, comprises almost three quarters of the collection, and consists of handwritten and annotated but often unsigned music scores, 1952-1960, arranged alphabetically by title, most for individual songs, some for shows. A notable score is The Princess & the Pea, which later became the Broadway musical Once upon a Mattress. Series V. Scrapbooks, contains of nine volumes of clippings and ephemera, seven for Camp Tamiment and the Tamiment Institute, and two for the Tamiment Playhouse.

NOTE: this collection is stored offsite and advance notice is required for its use.

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by the Tamiment Playhouse were transferred to New York University in 1983 by the Tamiment Institute. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu, (212) 998-2630.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date; Tamiment Playhouse Records; TAM 107; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.

Location of Materials

Materials in this collection are stored offsite and advance notice is required for their use. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu at least two business days prior to visiting the library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by the Tamiment Institute, 1983. The accession numbers associated with this gift are 1983.002 and 1983.006. Additional material in this collection were found in the repository in 2014. The accession number associated with these materials is 2014.085.

After the Tamiment Playhouse records were donated to NYU in 1983, the archive collected additional photographs, playbills, music scores and other memorbilia to augment the collection. A number of small donations were made at this time.

Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

OH 031: Tamiment Playhouse Alumni Oral Histories Collection, including 62 interviews (1980-1988) and 28 audiotapes of shows (1955-1960).

Collection processed by

Martha LoMonaco

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-02-06 13:59:58 -0500.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid is written in English.

Revisions to this Guide

May 2021: Updated by Rachel Mahre revising laudatory language in the Historical/Biographical Note and Abstract.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from TAM Playhouse Guide.wpd

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012