Research Catalog

Title

Dwight Deere Wiman papers, [microform] 1922-1950.

Author

Wiman, Dwight Deere, 1895-1951.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

37

Summary

Papers consist of draft and mimeo scripts by Marc Connelly, Howard Lindsay, Clifford Odets, Paul Osborn, Robert E. Sherwood, John Van Druten, and others; programs and playbills; press books; and miscellaneous production materials including set designs by Jo Mielziner. Represented are "Babes in Arms" (1937), "Command to Love" (1927), "The Gay Divorce" (1932), "I Married an Angel" (1938), "Letters to Lucerne" (1941), "The Little Show" (1929), "Morning's At Seven" (1939), "On Borrowed Time" (1938), "The Racket" (1927), "The Road to Rome" (1927), and many other titles. Also included are miscellaneous business records and correspondence, as well as several orchestrations by Frederick Loewe and Arthur Schwartz. A single 1922 contract is all that pertains to his film production company. There is no personal material in the collection.

Subject

• Loewe, Frederick, 1901-1988
• Mielziner, Jo, 1901-1976
• Schwartz, Arthur, 1900-1984
• Rodgers, Richard, 1902-1979
• Lothar, Rudolph, 1865-1943
• Porter, Cole, 1891-1964
• Rotter, Fritz
• Osborn, Paul, 1901-1988
• Cormack, Bartlett, -1942
• Sherwood, Robert E. 1896-1955
• Dramatic music
• Theater > Production and direction
• Musical theater
• Theatrical producers and directors > United States

Genre/Form

• Microforms.
• Scripts.
• Scores.

Reproduction (note)

• Collection is on microfilm.

Original Location (note)

• Originals are at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, Madison, WI.

Source (note)

• Katherine D. Wiman-Findlay

Biography (note)

• Theatrical producer, Dwight Deere Wiman produced 56 plays and musicals in 26 years on Broadway making his most distinctive imprint in the musical comedy and revue fields.

Provenance (note)

• Presented by Anne Deere Wiman, New York, N.Y., Mrs. Richard Calhoun, Stanford, Connecticut, Mrs. Coleman Grover, New York, N.Y., and Mrs. William Wakeman, Palm Beach, Florida, 1962.

Processing Action (note)

• Cataloged

Call Number

*ZC-310

OCLC

NYPW94-A220

Author

Wiman, Dwight Deere, 1895-1951.

Title

Dwight Deere Wiman papers, [microform] 1922-1950.

Reproduction

Collection is on microfilm.

Original Location

Originals are at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, Madison, WI.

Biography

Theatrical producer, Dwight Deere Wiman produced 56 plays and musicals in 26 years on Broadway making his most distinctive imprint in the musical comedy and revue fields. He was born on August 8, 1895 in Moline, IL, a direct descendant of John Deere, inventor of the steel plow and founder of what became Deere and Co., the farm equipment company and family business in Moline. After World War I service, graduation from Yale, and two years in the family business, Wiman and friends organized an independent film production company, Film Guild, in Astoria (Queens), 1920-1924. When that dissolved due to marketing difficulties, he formed a partnership in 1925 with William A. Brady, Jr. presenting 23 plays in New York of which 5 or 6, including Road to Rome, were profitable. That partnership ended on friendly terms in 1929 as only Wiman was interested in musical theater. From 1930 until his death on January 20, 1951, Wiman produced and occasionally directed his own shows including works by Paul Osborn, John Van Druten, Clifford Odets and others, and had a long association with Rodgers and Hart. During World War II he was director of entertainment for the Red Cross in Britain.

Finding Aids

Register available in repository.

Provenance

Presented by Anne Deere Wiman, New York, N.Y., Mrs. Richard Calhoun, Stanford, Connecticut, Mrs. Coleman Grover, New York, N.Y., and Mrs. William Wakeman, Palm Beach, Florida, 1962.

Connect to:

Finding Aid

LCCN

ms 64001633

Research Call Number

*ZC-310