Conversations with Actors event series recordings
Abstract
Theater critic and biographer Martin Gottfriend organized and moderated the event series, Conversations with Actors, at The New School every semester from Summer 1991 through Spring 1994. Each session featured group interviews with well-known actors, especially New York City-based stage actors. The collection consists of audio recordings of the interviews through the Fall 1993 semester.
Dates
- 1991-1993
Creator
- Gottfried, Martin (19331009-20140306) (Moderator, Person)
- New School for Social Research (New York, N.Y. : 1919-1997) (Host institution, Organization)
Extent
43 1/4 inch Audio Cassette
Language of Materials
English
Scope and Contents
The collection consists entirely of analog sound recordings documenting the event series, Conversations with Actors, from its first semester to its penultimate semester. It is possible that, though advertised in university course catalogs for Spring 1994, the series was discontinued after Fall 1993 and Spring 1994 recordings never existed. There is no known video of the interviews.
Spring and fall semester interviews consisted of six sessions, while summer semester interviews consisted of only four sessions. Based on cassette inscriptions, the collection appears to be complete, minus the Spring 1994 semester.
With one exception, none of the cassette containers identify Martin Gottfried's guests, who were not advertised for specific sessions in course catalogs.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research use. Access to audio cassettes may be available in The New School Archives reading room, depending upon the condition of the cassettes once they are evaluated by Archives staff. Researchers desiring remote access and willing to pay a digitization fee may do so upon consultation with The New School Archives. Please contact archivist@newschool.edu for appointment to listen to audio cassettes in the Archives reading room or for more information about ordering digital files.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright is held by each event's respective speakers. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the user.
Historical note
Conversations with Actors was a special lecture series held at The New School every semester from Summer 1991 through Spring 1994. The events, hosted by theater critic Martin Gottfried, featured group interviews with well-known actors, and especially New York City stage actors. Six sessions were held per semester in the Spring and Fall semesters, and four sessions in the Summer. Who was appearing at which session was not publicized in advance.
Featured actors advertised in course catalogs included Jane Alexander, Luci Arnaz, Christine Baranski, Philip Bosco, Rosco Lee Brown, Zoe Caldwell, Len Cariou, Stockard Channing, Charles Cioffi, Kevin Conway, Arlene Dahl, Jim Dale, Blythe Danner, Richard Dreyfus, Hector Elizondo, Tovah Feldshuh, Jose Ferrer, David Margulies and Alison Fraser, Vincent Gardenia, Ben Gazzara, Farley Granger, Tammy Grimes, George Grizzard, Anthony Heald, Gregory Hines, Earle Hyman, Anne Jackson, Raul Julia, Richard Kiley, Alan King, Frank Langella, Viveca Lindfors, Dorothy Loudon, Anne Meara, Michael Moriarty, Phyllis Newman, Carol O’Connor, Jerry Orbach, Estelle Parsons, Maryann Plunkett, Ron Rifkin, Jason Robards, Tony Roberts, John Rubenstein, Marilyn Sokol, Jean Stapleton, Jerry Stiller, Renee Taylor, Jon Voight, Christopher Walken, and Eli Wallach.
Sources
The New School (1991). New School Bulletin 1991 Summer Vol. 48 No. 10 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1991su>
The New School (1991). New School Bulletin 1991 Fall Vol. 49 No. 2 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1991fa>
The New School (1991). New School Bulletin 1992 Spring Vol. 49 No. 5 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1992sp>
The New School (1992). New School Bulletin 1992 Summer Vol. 49 No. 10 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1992su>
The New School (1992). New School Bulletin 1992 Fall Vol. 50 No. 2 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1992fa>
The New School (1992). New School Bulletin 1993 Spring Vol. 50 No. 4 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1993sp>
The New School (1993). New School Bulletin 1993 Summer Vol. 50 No. 6 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1993su>
The New School (1994). New School Bulletin 1994 Spring Vol. 51 No. 4 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1994sp>
Biographical note
Martin Gottfried was a theater critic, author and biographer. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1933, he graduated from Columbia College in 1955 before briefly attending law school. After an equally brief stint in the U.S. military, Gottfried became the classical music critic for The Village Voice and a drama critic for Women’s Wear Daily.
Gottfried’s theater criticism was notable for its focus on Off-Broadway productions (plays staged in New York City in smaller venues, oftentimes more artistically experimental and less commercially successful than plays staged on the larger venues of Broadway) early in the emergence of an Off-Broadway “scene” in the 1960s. He went on to write theater criticism for The New York Times, Vogue, and many other publications. Gottfried published A Theater Divided, a study of post-World War Two American theater, in 1968, and Broadway Musicals in 1979. From 1984, he also published several biographies of prominent actors, playwrights and theater producers, among other books.
Gottfried was the coordinator and host of Conversations with Actors, a special lecture series featuring interviews with actors held at The New School from 1991 until 1994. Prior to this, he had guest lectured at The New School on several occasions, as part of the Human Relations Center course, Media Barons and Other Guardians of the Gate, in Fall 1977 and Spring 1978, and in a Spring 1989 special lecture series, American Musical Theater.
Martin Gottfried was twice married and divorced, and had one child with his second wife, Jane Lahr. He died of pneumonia in 2014, aged 80.
Sources
Daniel E. Slotnik (2014). "Martin Gottfried, 80, Theater Critic and Scholar." The New York Times, March 7, 2014. Accessed July 30, 2024. /www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/theater/martin-gottfried-theater-critic-and-author-dies-at-80.html>
The New School (1977). New School Bulletin 1977 Fall Vol. 35 No. 1 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1977fa>
The New School (1978). New School Bulletin 1978 Spring Vol. 35 No. 5 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1978sp>
The New School (1988). New School Bulletin 1989 Spring Vol. 46 No. 5 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1989sp>
The New School (1994). New School Bulletin 1994 Spring Vol. 51 No. 4 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1994sp>
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by semester in 8 series.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The staff of The New School Archives and Special Collections assembled this collection from a larger set of legacy recordings transferred from The New School's Raymond Fogelman Library following the establishment of The New School Archives, circa 2012.
Processing Information
New School Archives staff based all description in this finding aid on container inscriptions. Staff did not listen to the tapes to verify content.
- Acting (Subject) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Actors (performing artists) (Occupation) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Interviews (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Sound recordings (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Theater -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 20th century (Subject) (Places) (Temporal) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Guide to the Conversations with Actors event series recordings
- Status
- In Process
- Author
- Jason Adamo, Jack Wells, and Jenny Swadosh
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin