Research Catalog

Reminiscences: from childhood to the dissolution of Denishawn

Title: Reminiscences: from childhood to the dissolution of Denishawn [sound recording].
Author: Shawn, Ted, 1891-1972.
Publication: 1969.

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Status	Vol/Date	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	discs 7-12	Audio	Use in library	*MGZTL 4-69 discs 7-12	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	discs 1-6	Audio	Use in library	*MGZTL 4-69 discs 1-6	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance

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Description

12 sound discs (ca. 726 min. ; digital; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

Disc 1 (ca. 66 min.), Jan. 11, 1969 (tracks 1-11) and Jan. 12, 1969 (end of track 11- track 13). Ted Shawn speaks about the various problems of writing an autobiography, including his intent that his book One thousand and one night stands (c. 1960) not be viewed as an autobiography; the impossibility of portraying the complexities of a human life; his hobbies, including cement pouring, wood carving, and gardening; his writings; writing One thousand and one night stands, including the initial help of Bertha [Clark] Damon; the long process from its writing to its editing and publication; fact that his life is already well-documented in print; various possible approaches to speaking about his life including: discussing the books and other objects on his bookshelves, illustrious people he has known and associated with, including many dancers; Ruth St. Denis and his relationship with her; his lifelong belief in nudism; the history of Denishawn [the Denishawn schools and the Denishawn Dancers]; [short gap followed by the beginning of new session, recorded on Jan. 12, 1969]; while referring to photographs Shawn speaks about his time in Denver as a young man, including an anecdote about a dance performance that was considered obscene; his father, in particular his jobs and his illnesses; his maternal ancestry [begins speaking about his paternal ancestry; ends abruptly].
Disc 2 (ca. 64 min.), Jan. 12, 1969 (tracks 1-8) and Jan. 13, 1969 (end of track 8 - track 13). Ted Shawn continues to speak about his paternal ancestry, including anecdotes about his and his father's names; his childhood and adolescence in Kansas City, Missouri. and in Denver including anecdotes about himself and his family and their religious affiliations; his unhappiness as an adolescent [gap followed by the beginning of a new session, recorded on Jan. 13, 1969]; his experiences working at a saw mill, including his friendship with the family of Chester Gillette; his experiences working for Elizabeth M. A. Foote at her store in Estes Park, Colo., including his introduction to Christian Science; the family's straitened economic circumstances due to his father's illnesses and death.
Disc 3 (ca. 66 min.), Jan. 13, 1969 (track 1 - ca. 1:50 min. into track 10) and Jan. 14, 1969 (from ca. 1:50 min. into track 10 - track 13). Ted Shawn speaks about his experiences as a student at the University of Denver, including his friendship with Allene Seaman; a play he wrote and produced at the University of Denver, entitled Female of the species [Shawn reads aloud from a letter from Seaman regarding his play]; religion and dance; changes in attitudes toward male dancers in the U.S. and elsewhere; his recovery from diphtheria and how this led to his start as a dancer; his exposure to many kinds of dance and theater during this period and its lasting influence on his approach to dance; his moving to Los Angeles, Calif. to pursue his interest in dance; his life there, including his partnership with Norma Gould; the filming of his script Dances of the ages, including a detailed description of the film [Shawn reads aloud from the original program for the film]; [short gap followed by the beginning of a new session recorded on Jan. 14, 1969]; Shawn continues to speak about the filming of his script Dances of the ages; performing with Gould and others on the Santa Fe cross-country tour as a way to get to New York City for free; studying with Mary Perry King; his dancing at benefit performances in New York [ends abruptly].
Disc 4 (ca. 65 min.)., Jan. 14, 1969 (track 1- ca. 50 sec. of track 10) and Jan. 15, 1969 (from ca. 50 sec. into track 10 - track 13). Ted Shawn speaks about Mary Perry King's and Bliss Carman's work Earth deities; teaching in New York City; how he first met Ruth St. Denis; more on his maternal ancestry, including many reminiscences of his relatives; more on his paternal ancestry [short gap followed by the beginning of a new session recorded on Jan. 15, 1969]; Shawn speaks about, with references to photographs, his life in Denver, in particular his experiences while working at a lumber camp; his first time seeing Ruth St. Denis dance; an anecdote about St. Denis and Jackie Gleason; his thoughts on combining dance and the spoken word and dance and the sung word.
Disc 5 (ca. 71 min.), Jan. 17, 1969 (track 1 - ca. 40 sec. into track 10) and Jan. 18, 1969 (from ca. 45 sec. into track 10 - track 14). Ted Shawn speaks about his parents and brother and his family life as a child, including his schooling and the deaths of his brother and mother [short gap followed by the beginning of a new session recorded on Jan. 18, 1969] the details of his brother's death; more about his life in Kansas City and in Denver before World War I, including an anecdote about delivering a painting to a brothel; an anecdote about his job delivering newspapers during his college days [ends abruptly but is continued directly on disc 6].
Disc 6 (ca. 72 min.), Jan. 18, 1969 (track 1 - ca. 30 sec. into track 3) and Jan. 19, 1969 (from ca. 35 sec. into track 3 - track 15). Ted Shawn continues to speak about his life as a child and young adult; professional dance performances before World War I; Loie Fuller; the division into what was known as plain and fancy dancing [ends abruptly and is followed by the beginning of a new session recorded on Jan. 20, 1969]. Shawn speaks about the fact that today, Jan. 20, is [the late] Ruth St. Denis's birthday; Shawn's first meeting with St. Denis, including his immediate rapport with her; her mother, Mother St. Denis [Ruth Emma Hull Denis] and the role she played in St. Denis's career; the development of his personal and professional relationship with St. Denis, including their marriage; an anecdote about Paul Swan and the press's confusing him with Shawn [ends abruptly but is continued directly on disc 7].
Disc 7 (ca. 51 min.), Jan. 19, 1969 (track 1 - ca. 1:40 min. into track 4) and Jan. 22, 1969 (from ca. 1:45 min. into track 4 - track 11). Ted Shawn speaks about his and St. Denis's teaching and choreographic experiments following the end of their U.S. tour, including the [founding of the] Denishawn School and his thoughts on the relationship of dance to music; his relationship with St. Denis at that time; Mother Ruth's continuing role in St. Denis's career; reasons for Shawn and St. Denis separating [short gap followed by the beginning of a new session recorded on Jan. 22, 1969]; more on his personal and professional relationship with St. Denis in the period preceding World War I, in particular their points of contention including the prominence of her billing and her refusal to have children; continuing to teach the Denishawn School after his induction into the Army; his brief appearance in a Cecil B. De Mille film [Don't change your husband]; the changes in Shawn's and St. Denis's professional lives after the end of World War I including his opening of the Ted Shawn Studio and St. Denis's focus on dancing; the founding of the Denishawn School in New York and eventual closing of the Denishawn School in Los Angeles; more on their personal relationship including while he was teaching at the Denishawn School in New York; touring as the Denishawn dancers with Martha Graham, Louis Horst, and others in the U.S. and London [ends abruptly; session continues on disc 8].
Disc 8 (ca. 72 min.), Jan. 22, 1969 (track 1 - ca. 3:14 min. into track 6) and Jan. 23, 1969 (from ca. 3:15 into track 6 - track 15). Ted Shawn continues to speak about his the vicissitudes of his relationship with Ruth St. Denis, including during the tours; the building of Denishawn House; the Ziegfeld follies tour; the lack of commercial feasibility of St. Denis's career as a solo dancer [sessions ends and is followed by the beginning of a new session recorded on Jan. 23, 1969]; general discussion of men and women, in particular gender differences and sexual relationships; the formation of his own sexuality [ends abruptly but continues directly on disc 9].
Disc 9 (ca. 71 min.), Jan. 23, 1969 (track 1 - ca. 1:15 min. into track 6) and Jan. 26, 1969 (from ca. 1:20 min. into track 6 - track 14). Ted Shawn continues to speak about his relationship to Ruth St. Denis, in particular the reasons for their difficulties; [short gap followed by the beginning of a new session recorded on Jan. 26, 1969]; Ted Shawn continues to speak about his relationship with St. Denis, including during the Ziegfeld follies tour; their mutual infatuation with Fred Beckman; the growing rift in their relationship and his first solo concert; his German tour (late 1929 - early 1930); Ernestine Day; more on Fred Beckman; the dissolution of Denishawn. [The last ca. 15 sec. of the recording contain the beginning of the next session, recorded on Jan. 28, 1969, which is continued directly on disc 10.]
Disc 10 (ca. 48 min.). Jan. 28, 1969 (track 1 - ca. 35 sec. into track 9) and Jan. 29, 1969 (from ca. 40 sec.. into track 9 - track 10). Ted Shawn speaks about Martha Graham including her time as a student at the Denishawn School; her first paid engagement, in Serenata morisca; Shawn's dance Xochitl; an anecdote about Graham and Serenata morisca; his formation of a touring group including Graham [session ends and is followed by the beginning of a new session recorded on Jan. 29, 1969]; Shawn continues to speak about the tour, in particular his relationship with Graham and hers with Louis Horst.
Disc 11 (ca. 39 min.), Jan. 29, 1969. Ted Shawn speaks about settling in New York and the launching of Denishawn; the sculptor Allan Clark; more on Martha Graham and her career with Denishawn; more on the London tour (of 1922); Havelock Ellis, including his meeting him in England [ends abruptly but continues directly on disc 12].
Disc 12 (ca. 42 min.), Jan. 29, 1969 (track 1) and Jan. 30, 1969 (very end of track 1 - track 9). Ted Shawn speaks about Havelock Ellis and their friendship [session ends and is followed by the beginning of a new session recorded on Jan. 30, 1969]; Shawn speaks about Edward Carpenter; their financial difficulties following their return from the tour in England; more on Graham, including the end of her professional relationship with Shawn.

Alternative Title

Dance Oral History Project.

Subject

Note

Ted Shawn reminisces about his life from childhood to the dissolution of Denishawn in sessions recorded on January 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 26, 28, 29, and 30, 1969 at Shawn's home in Eustis, Florida. John Dougherty is present and occasionally asks questions and comments, but is unintelligible. This recording was conducted as part of the Oral History Project of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Sound quality is fair to good for the most part. Sound quality of disc 4 ranges from poor to fair.

Funding (note)

Preservation was funded in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, 2008-2009 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2008-2009.

System Details (note)

Transferred from 2 sound tape reels (1 7/8 in. per sec. ; 5 in.; polyester, quarter track.; originally recorded on Jan. 11 - Jan. 30, 1969) to wav file and compact disc formats in March and April 2009.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-69

OCLC

78073007

Author

Shawn, Ted, 1891-1972.

Title

Reminiscences: from childhood to the dissolution of Denishawn [sound recording].

Imprint

1969.

Funding

Preservation was funded in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, 2008-2009 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2008-2009.

System Details

Transferred from 2 sound tape reels (1 7/8 in. per sec. ; 5 in.; polyester, quarter track.; originally recorded on Jan. 11 - Jan. 30, 1969) to wav file and compact disc formats in March and April 2009.

Local Note

For transcript of the sound recording see *MGZMT 5-69.

Dubbing master: *MGZTD 4-69 nos. 1-12

Archive original: *MGZTO 5-69 reels 1-2

Former call number: *MGZT 5-69.

Added Author

Dougherty, John, 1910-1988. Interviewer

National Endowment for the Arts, 2008-2009.

New York State Council on the Arts, 2008-2009.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-69

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