Research Catalog

Title

Conversations recorded at Jacob's Pillow in the summer of 1971 [sound recording].

Author

Shawn, Ted, 1891-1972.

Publication

1971.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• McDonagh, Don.
• Oswald, Genevieve.
• Jeter, Sarah, 1901-1985.

Found In

Ted Shawn collection.

Description

5 sound discs (ca. 277 min.): digital; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

• Disc 1 (ca. 60 min.). Sarah Jeter introduces herself and the audio recordings she made in 1971 of Ted Shawn at Jacob's Pillow, in Lee, Mass. [As indicated by her remarks, Jeter recorded her introduction after Ted Shawn's death in 1972; recording of Shawn begins ca. 1:30 min. into track 1]. June 27, 1971: Ted Shawn speaks to incoming students about Jacob's Pillow regarding various topics including the history of the barn studio (no. 1) floor; dress rehearsals; Miss Ruth [Ruth St. Denis] and her dance Peacock; artistic discipline; an anecdote about Martha Graham and a class she taught at Jacob's Pillow; careers for dancers; Anatole Chujoy's and P.W. Manchester's book The dance encyclopedia; his impatience with the perceived dichotomy between [Enrico] Cecchetti's method and the Russian tradition; teachers at Jacob's Pillow including Margaret Craske, Michael Maule, Madeline Cantarella Culpo, Ann Hutchinson Guest, Norman Walker, Alonzo Rivera, and Jack Cole; the curriculum; the motion picture Kinetic Molpai; Jess Meeker including his contributions to Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers and his war time service; Barton Mumaw; other long-time teachers and employees at Jacob's Pillow including Sarah Jeter.
• Disc 2 (ca. 54 min.). Sept. 8, 1971. Ted Shawn speaks about his company Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers including their touring in the U.S.; their performance at Kent State Teachers' College in Ohio on April 18, 1934, in particular the audience's rudeness and Shawn's response; anecdotes about his tour with Ruth St. Denis in 1914 including a performance she gave of her dance Radha; her mother, Ruth Emma Hull St. Denis, including her relationship with her daughter Ruth [gap]; more about Ruth Emma Hull St. Denis and her relationship with her daughter Ruth; her relationship with Shawn including her response to his marriage proposal to her daughter; his first meeting with Ruth Emma St. Denis and other anecdotes; her physical appearance.
• Disc 3, tracks 1-6 (ca. 24 min.). Sept. 7, 1971. [Sound quality is poor. There is distortion and tape hiss.] In response to Don McDonagh's written questions Ted Shawn speaks about Martha Graham and their long relationship including the Denishawn tour to London and Paris in 1922, his opinions of various Graham works, their estrangement and their eventual reconciliation.
• Disc 3, tracks 7 - ca. 4:00 into track 8 (ca. 9 min.). Sarah Jeter introduces the recording, a conversation with Ted Shawn recorded on July 3, 1971. Ted Shawn speaks about François Delsarte and the Delsarte system in connection with a program to be given on Delsarte at Jacob's Pillow on July 18, 1971. Ca. 4:00 into track 8 - track 9: following an introduction by Sarah Jeter, Ted Shawn tells an anecdote about Elinor Glyn.
• Disc 4, tracks 1 - ca. 1:00 into track 9 (ca. 40 min.). Sept. 11, 1971. Ted Shawn speaks with Sarah Jeter about choreography and the creative process; the five major starting points; examples from his own works including The hound of Heaven and St. Francis [O brother sun and sister moon]; criticism including whether it can have a constructive effect; collaborating with Margarete Wallmann on Orpheus Dionysos in Berlin; working with Ruth St. Denis on the work Egypta including an anecdote about Serge Diaghilev; Shawn and St. Denis's dance pageant including the opening dance Tillers of the soil [complete work entitled Review of dance pageant of India, Greece, and Egypt]; working with St. Denis on choreography including her approach compared with his.
• Disc 4, from ca. 1:00 into track 9 - track 14 (ca. 22 min.). Sept. 15, 1971. Ted Shawn speaks with Sarah Jeter further about choreography, responding to Genevieve Oswald's written question as to how to set up a course in composition, and including his discussion of the contents of La Meri's book on dance composition [Dance composition: the basic elements, c1965]; the increase in opportunities for choreographing including the Boston Ballet's choreography competition; an anecdote about Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge.
• Disc 5 (ca. 60 min.). Sept. 16, 1971. Ted Shawn speaks with Sarah Jeter about items in his Pout House in Florida including items relating to his friendship with Al Huang, a Taiwanese dancer performing with Lotte Goslar; his performing, with Ichikawa Ennosuke and Matsumoto Koshiro in Japan in the kabuki dance drama Momijigari; various illustrious people he met on tour in Asia, including the Gaekwad of Baroda; the Nizam of Hyderabad and his retinue including an anecdote about a gem stone called Jacob's Pillow; Leonard Wood, the Governor-General of the Philippines; [following section was recorded on Sept. 18, 1971] Jean Léon Destiné and Shawn's visit to Haiti; his visit to Denmark, including his audience with the King of Denmark, Frederik IX [at ca. 2:40 into track 9, ends abruptly due to tape running out; Jeter completes the story about the audience with the King of Denmark by reading excerpts of an account by Shawn in his 15th Annual Newsletter dated Feb. 21, 1959]; Jeter introduces and then plays a copy of the August 1971 Voice of America broadcast of Jeanne Marshall's interview with Shawn at Jacob's Pillow.

Alternative Title

Ted Shawn collection. Audio materials.

Subjects

• Shawn, Ted, 1891-1972
• Dennis, Ruth Emma Hull
• Graham, Martha
• Movement analysis > Systems > Delsarte
• Review of dance pageant of India, Greece, and Egypt (Choreographic work : St. Denis and Shawn)
• Denishawn Dancers
• Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers
• Choreography
• Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
• Hound of heaven (Choreographic work : Shawn)
• Glyn, Elinor, 1864-1943
• St. Denis, Ruth, 1880-1968
• O brother sun and sister moon (Choreographic work : Shawn)
• Orpheus Dionysos (Choreographic work : Shawn and Wallmann)
• Audiotapes > Jeter, S
• Audiotapes > Shawn, T

Note

• Recorded by Sarah Jeter, director of publicity, at Jacob's Pillow, Lee, Massachusetts, between June 27, 1971 and Sept. 18, 1971. She introduces the various sections of the conversations and occasionally provides additional commentary and asks questions.
• Sound quality varies but overall is fair. There is some distortion due to distortion in the original recording including tape hiss as well as extraneous noises and occasional short gaps. Sound quality on tracks 1-6 on disc 3 is significantly poorer than the rest of the recording. However the same content is available, with much better sound quality, in the Library's recording: Interview with Ted Shawn, conducted by Don McDonagh, of Sept. 7, 1971.

Source (note)

• Sarah Jeter.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-221

OCLC

82409651

Author

Shawn, Ted, 1891-1972.

Title

Conversations recorded at Jacob's Pillow in the summer of 1971 [sound recording].

Imprint

1971.

Original Version

Original format : 3 sound cassettes (ca. 277 min.; 1 7/8? in. per sec.). Originally recorded in 1971.

Local Note

Former classmark: *MGZTC 3-221

Archive original: *MGZTCO 3-221 no. 1-5

The contents of tracks 1-6 of disc 3 can also be found, with much better sound quality, in the audio recording Interview with Ted Shawn cataloged under the call number: *MGZTL 4-2533.

Source

Gift. Sarah Jeter.

Local Subject

Movement analysis -- Systems -- Delsarte

Added Author

McDonagh, Don.

Oswald, Genevieve.

Jeter, Sarah, 1901-1985. Interviewer

Sarah Jeter. Donor

Added Title

Ted Shawn collection. Audio materials.

Found In:

Ted Shawn collection.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-211