Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Charles Francis Woodford [sound recording].

Author

Woodford, Charles Francis.

Publication

1970.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Trisler, Joyce, 1934-1979.
• Cohen, Selma Jeanne, 1920-2005.
• National Endowment for the Arts, 2010-2011.
• New York State Council on the Arts, 2010-2011.
• Oral history archive.

Description

4 sound discs (ca. 217 min.) : digital; (4 3/4 in.)

Summary

• Disc 1 (ca. 61 min.). Charles Francis Woodford speaks with Selma Jeanne Cohen about his first wife, Doris Humphrey including Humphrey's support of younger choreographers; her personality; the absence of financial reward for her work; the U.S. Navy's questioning of him about his and Humphrey's political views; the education of their son, Charles Humphrey Woodford; how he and Humphrey met and their subsequent relationship; their wedding; a rescue he and his crew made at sea; meeting Humphrey's mother [ends abruptly].
• Disc 2 (ca. 63 min.). Jonathan, son of Charles Francis Woodford and his second wife Joyce Trisler speaks, in the presence of his parents, with Selma Jeanne Cohen about his father (tracks 1- ca. 3 min. into track 2; in addition he occasionally interrupts his parents' subsequent conversation with Cohen); Charles Francis Woodford speaks with Cohen about his travels as a sailor; reads aloud from an article about Doris Humphrey's Ritmo jondo; traveling in Spain [at ca. 3:30 min. into track 6, Trisler joins the conversation]; Trisler speaks with Woodford and Cohen about joining the Juilliard Dance Theatre; the disparities in technique among the company members; Humphrey's facility for jumping; Humphrey's criticism of Trisler's dancing as too "clean"; Humphrey's and José Limón's views on the place of elevation and use of gravity in modern dance [gap]; Trisler continues to speak with Woodford and Cohen about Humphrey including the teaching of Humphrey-Weidman technique; working with Humphrey including the freedom she allowed her dancers; the artist's obligation to be aware of change and respond to it [ends abruptly].
• Disc 3 (ca. 61 min.). Charles Francis Woodford and Joyce Trisler speak with Selma Jeanne Cohen about Doris Humphrey including an anecdote relating to her work Inquest [gap; the following section of the recording may be a new session]; Woodford speaks with Cohen about the script for a ballet play based on a work by James Thurber and E. B. White, entitled Is sex necessary?; Humphrey's arthritis; Perkins Harnly; Charles Weidman's farm in Blairstown, N. J. [several short gaps]; Humphrey's dedication to her art; her composition class; her becoming sick with cancer; her autobiography [completed by Cohen under the title Doris Humphrey: an artist first]; musical comedies Humphrey worked on, including Run little chillun and an anecdote about an unnamed show illustrating Humphrey's intolerance of racial and ethnic bias; her work Inquest.
• Disc 4 (ca. 32 min.). Charles Francis Woodford continues to speak with Selma Jeanne Cohen about Doris Humphrey's work Inquest; his nickname Leo; anecdotes about vacation trips in Bermuda; more on her autobiography; Mary Wood Hinan; briefly, Pauline Lawrence Limón and Humphrey's relationship with her.

Subjects

• Audiotapes > Woodford, J
• Humphrey, Doris, 1895-1958
• Hinman, Mary Wood
• Audiotapes > Trisler, J
• Trisler, Joyce, 1934-1979
• Woodford, Charles Francis
• Audiotapes > Woodford, C
• Inquest (Choreographic work : Humphrey)

Note

• Interview with Charles Francis Woodford conducted by Selma Jeanne Cohen on Nov. 14 and 15, 1970 in New York City. Jonathan, in the presence of his parents, Woodford and his second wife, Joyce Trisler, also speaks with Cohen about his father (disc 2, track 1- ca. 3 min. into track 2). In addition, Trisler subsequently joins in the discussion (disc 2, from ca. 3:30 min. into track 6). This recording was made as part of the research for Cohen's completion of Humphrey's autobiography: Doris Humphrey: an artist first (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1972).
• Sound quality overall ranges from good to fair. For the most part Woodford's and Cohen's voices are almost always intelligible; Trisler's is sometimes unintelligible. In addition there are occasional short gaps and extraneous noises.

Funding (note)

• Preservation was funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, 2010-2011 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2010-2011.

System Details (note)

• Transferred from 4 sound cassettes (ca. 217 min.; 1 7/8 in. per sec.; 2 channels; originally recorded in 1970) to wav file and compact disc formats in 2010.

Source (note)

• Selma Jeanne Cohen.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-949 no. 1-4

OCLC

83359178

Author

Woodford, Charles Francis. Interviewee

Title

Interview with Charles Francis Woodford [sound recording].

Imprint

1970.

Funding

Preservation was funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, 2010-2011 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2010-2011.

System Details

Transferred from 4 sound cassettes (ca. 217 min.; 1 7/8 in. per sec.; 2 channels; originally recorded in 1970) to wav file and compact disc formats in 2010.

Local Note

Former call number: *MGZTC 3-949 no. 1-4

Former archival originals: *MGZTCO 3-949 no. 1-4

Source

Gift; Selma Jeanne Cohen.

Added Author

Trisler, Joyce, 1934-1979. Speaker

Cohen, Selma Jeanne, 1920-2005. Interviewer

Selma Jeanne Cohen. Donor

National Endowment for the Arts, 2010-2011.

New York State Council on the Arts, 2010-2011.

Oral history archive.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-949 no. 1-4