Research Catalog

Title

Angna Enters papers, 1920-1989 (bulk ca. 1930-1973)

Author

Enters, Angna, 1897-1989.

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Itō, Michio, 1893-1961.
• Kalonyme, Louis
• Lewin, Albert, 1894-1968.
• O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986.
• O'Neill, Eugene, 1888-1953.
• Porter, Katherine Anne, 1890-1980.
• Renoir, Dido
• Renoir, Jean, 1894-1979.
• Rostand, Edmond, 1868-1918.

Description

96 linear feet (159 boxes)

Summary

The Angna Enters papers consist primarily of artwork, clippings, correspondence, music, photographs, and writings.

Subjects

• Mimes
• Clippings
• Manuscripts for publication
• Sheet music
• Galley proofs
• Scrapbooks
• Renoir, Dido
• Notebooks
• Lewin, Albert, 1894-1968
• Women authors > United States > 20th century
• Mimes > United States > 20th century
• Porter, Katherine Anne, 1890-1980
• Photographs
• Screenwriters
• Costume design drawings
• Sketchbooks
• Choreographers
• Set design drawings
• Women dancers > United States > 20th century
• Renoir, Jean, 1894-1979
• Postcards
• Women screenwriters > United States > 20th century
• Women choreographers > United States > 20th century
• Authors
• Diaries
• Enters, Angna, 1897-1989
• O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986
• Kalonyme, Louis
• Dancers
• Women painters > United States > 20th century
• Scores
• O'Neill, Eugene, 1888-1953
• Itō, Michio, 1893-1961
• Painters

Genre/Form

• Clippings.
• Costume design drawings.
• Diaries.
• Galley proofs.
• Manuscripts for publication.
• Notebooks.
• Photographs.
• Postcards.
• Scores.
• Scrapbooks.
• Set design drawings.
• Sheet music.
• Sketchbooks.

Location of Other Archival Materials (note)

• See also: Angna Enters correspondence (*MGZMD 101), Angna Enters letters to Edward L. Berman (*MGZMC-Res 19) and other items cataloged separately in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Biography (note)

• American-born dancer, mime, painter, and writer, Angna Enters (1897-1989) was a unique performer in the world of modern and theatrical dance.

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

• Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Call Number

(S) *MGZMD 158

OCLC

NYPG06-A0

Author

Enters, Angna, 1897-1989.

Title

Angna Enters papers, 1920-1989 (bulk ca. 1930-1973)

Biography

American-born dancer, mime, painter, and writer, Angna Enters (1897-1989) was a unique performer in the world of modern and theatrical dance. Formally trained in design, Enters moved to New York to continue her art studies and met the dancer Michio Itō, with whom she began studying in 1920. Dropping her real name, Anita Enters, she adopted her stage name and soon began appearing in concerts as his partner. Her work with Itō led to an appearance in a Broadway revue, the Pinwheel Revel (1922), which featured her first choreography, Ecclésiastique. Initially conceived as a group dance, Enters later transformed the earlier piece into Moyen Age (1926), which became one of her signature works. Enters produced her first solo performance in 1924 and began touring extensively throughout the United States and Europe with her program, which became more formally known as The Theater of Angna Enters during the mid-1930s. Difficult to describe, Enters' vast repertory grew to include over 250 different solo character vignettes. For each composition, Enters would design a costume to represent a specific character, choose a piece of music (often arranging or composing the music herself), and create or select her own props. Although she continued to perform into the late 1960s, Enters' stage career declined in the postwar years and she curtailed her touring schedule considerably after 1939. She took up residence in California and began to pursue scriptwriting as a profession, working for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio until the early 1950s. A prolific author who worked in many genres, Enters published several books including, First Person Plural (1937), Love Possessed Juana (1939), Silly Girl (1944), Among the Daughters (1955), An Artist's Life (1958), and On Mime (1960), all of which she also illustrated. An avid painter and sculptor, Enters exhibited her paintings throughout her life, even during her long years of active touring. Recognized as a master teacher, Enters began teaching mime for actors during the 1950s at the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting and lectured at several universities in her later years.

Certain aspects of Enter's personal life remain unclear. In 1921 she met journalist Louis Kantor, who wrote frequently on modern art and drama under the name, Louis Kalonyme. He helped to edit Enters' writing and appears to have collaborated with her on certain projects, including an English translation of Edmond Rostand's play, Chantecler (1960). Enters and Kaloynme began a clandestine relationship in 1924 and were married in Spain in 1936, although the marriage remained a secret through an elaborate subterfuge until Enters acknowledged it many years after Kalonyme's death in 1961. From 1965 to 1968 she lived as a hostess and a travel companion with her life-long friend, retired film executive Albert Lewin, following the death of his wife.

Location of Other Archival Materials

See also: Angna Enters correspondence (*MGZMD 101), Angna Enters letters to Edward L. Berman (*MGZMC-Res 19) and other items cataloged separately in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Indexes

Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Connect to:

Request Access to Special Collections (Dance Division) material

NYPL Digital Collections

Finding Aid

Occupation

Authors.

Choreographers.

Dancers.

Mimes.

Painters.

Screenwriters.

Added Author

Enters, Angna, 1897-1989. Among the daughters.

Enters, Angna, 1897-1989. Artist's life.

Enters, Angna, 1897-1989. First person plural.

Enters, Angna, 1897-1989. Love possessed Juana.

Enters, Angna, 1897-1989. Moyen age.

Enters, Angna, 1897-1989. On mime.

Enters, Angna, 1897-1989. Silly girl.

Itō, Michio, 1893-1961.

Kalonyme, Louis.

Lewin, Albert, 1894-1968.

O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986.

O'Neill, Eugene, 1888-1953.

Porter, Katherine Anne, 1890-1980.

Renoir, Dido.

Renoir, Jean, 1894-1979.

Rostand, Edmond, 1868-1918. Chantecler. English.

Research Call Number

(S) *MGZMD 158