Research Catalog

Save the Theaters protest (raw footage)

Title: Save the Theaters protest (raw footage) [videorecording] / [Produced for] the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater.
Publication: New York, 1982.

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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.	Videocassette 1	Moving image	Restricted use	NCOX 444 Videocassette 1	Performing Arts Research Collections - TOFT
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Videocassette 2	Moving image	Restricted use	NCOX 444 Videocassette 2	Performing Arts Research Collections - TOFT

Details

Additional Authors

Description

2 videocassettes (VHS) (684 min.) : sound, color; 1/2 in.

Summary

Amateur video coverage of Joseph Papp's campaign to preserve two venerable Broadway theaters, the Morosco and the Helen Hayes, from destruction. Footage includes speeches from the temporary stage on 45th Street, songs, readings from plays, and informal statements. There is footage of mass arrests, a ride to the police station, and the arrival there. Also incorporates news segments from various local television networks which covered the event.

Subject

Genre/Form

Documentaries and factual works.
Videos.

Note

No credits on tape. Information about this event gathered from the files of the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive.
Audio and video quality are erratic throughout.
Audio quality is poor for the first 16 minutes of the second cassette. The footage affected by this glitch repeats later in the cassette, with improved audio quality.
Much of the material in the first cassette repeats in the second cassette.

Access (note)

Restricted to qualified researchers.

Performer (note)

Speakers and participants include Joseph Papp, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Gloria Foster, John Cullum, Anne Meara, Tammy Grimes, John Guare, Gary Sandy, David Henry Hwang, Jules Feiffer, Arlene Dahl, Lee Richardson, Alexander H. Cohen, Arthur Miller, Christopher Reeve, Martha Scott, Jason Robards, Lauren Bacall, Anne Meara, Hildy Parks, Madeleine Sherwood, Lenore Loveman, Sandy Lundwall, Ruth Messinger, Liza Minnelli, Jack Gilford, Beatrice Straight, Joan Davidson, Celeste Holm, and Phyllis Frelich.
Performers: Walter Bobbie, Liz Callaway, Terry Burrell, Randy Graff, Davis Gaines, Stephen Bogardus, Jacquelyn Reingold, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, and Maureen McGovern.
Pianist: Alfred Heller.

Event (note)

Videotaped in front of the Morosco Theatre, and at other locations in midtown Manhattan, New York, N.Y., March 1982.

Biography (note)

Theatrical producer Joseph Papp was the organizer of an effort begun in 1982 called Save the Theaters, intended to stop the destruction of the Morosco and Helen Hayes theaters for the construction of the Portman Hotel. Papp recruited Merle Debusky to organize publicity and enlisted dozens of celebrated actors in his campaign, which he conducted from a suite in the nearby Piccadilly Hotel. On March 4, 1982 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary injunction preventing demolition of the theaters, and a nineteen-day "Save the Morosco and the Helen Hayes Theater Vigil" began. New York Shakespeare Festival staffers erected a stage on 45th Street in front of the Morosco, where excerpts from Pulitzer Prize-winning plays that had originated in the theaters were read by actors. On March 19 the state Supreme Court rejected a petition to halt demolition. Papp threatened physically block the demolition of the Morosco. On March 22, Papp led a group of 200 people to block access to the demolition machinery. The "Morosco 200" were arrested on 45th Street and taken to a local police precinct. Demolition began on March 23. On April 20 charges against the group were dropped. Ultimately, Papp's intervention failed to save the theaters. During the next three years the producer spoke with officials and met with city planners about having the Broadway theater zone declared an historic district.

Call Number

NCOX 444

OCLC

1391642202

Title

Save the Theaters protest (raw footage) [videorecording] / [Produced for] the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater.

Imprint

New York, 1982.

Type of Content

two-dimensional moving image

Type of Medium

video

Type of Carrier

videocassette

Access

Restricted to qualified researchers.

Cast

Speakers and participants include Joseph Papp, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Gloria Foster, John Cullum, Anne Meara, Tammy Grimes, John Guare, Gary Sandy, David Henry Hwang, Jules Feiffer, Arlene Dahl, Lee Richardson, Alexander H. Cohen, Arthur Miller, Christopher Reeve, Martha Scott, Jason Robards, Lauren Bacall, Anne Meara, Hildy Parks, Madeleine Sherwood, Lenore Loveman, Sandy Lundwall, Ruth Messinger, Liza Minnelli, Jack Gilford, Beatrice Straight, Joan Davidson, Celeste Holm, and Phyllis Frelich.

Performers: Walter Bobbie, Liz Callaway, Terry Burrell, Randy Graff, Davis Gaines, Stephen Bogardus, Jacquelyn Reingold, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, and Maureen McGovern.

Pianist: Alfred Heller.

Event

Videotaped in front of the Morosco Theatre, and at other locations in midtown Manhattan, New York, N.Y., March 1982.

Biography

Theatrical producer Joseph Papp was the organizer of an effort begun in 1982 called Save the Theaters, intended to stop the destruction of the Morosco and Helen Hayes theaters for the construction of the Portman Hotel. Papp recruited Merle Debusky to organize publicity and enlisted dozens of celebrated actors in his campaign, which he conducted from a suite in the nearby Piccadilly Hotel. On March 4, 1982 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary injunction preventing demolition of the theaters, and a nineteen-day "Save the Morosco and the Helen Hayes Theater Vigil" began. New York Shakespeare Festival staffers erected a stage on 45th Street in front of the Morosco, where excerpts from Pulitzer Prize-winning plays that had originated in the theaters were read by actors. On March 19 the state Supreme Court rejected a petition to halt demolition. Papp threatened physically block the demolition of the Morosco. On March 22, Papp led a group of 200 people to block access to the demolition machinery. The "Morosco 200" were arrested on 45th Street and taken to a local police precinct. Demolition began on March 23. On April 20 charges against the group were dropped. Ultimately, Papp's intervention failed to save the theaters. During the next three years the producer spoke with officials and met with city planners about having the Broadway theater zone declared an historic district.

Added Author

Papp, Joseph, host.

Papp, Joseph, speaker.

Fitzgerald, Geraldine, 1913-2005, speaker.

Foster, Gloria, 1936-2001, speaker.

Cullum, John, 1930- speaker.

Meara, Anne, speaker.

Grimes, Tammy, speaker.

Guare, John, speaker.

Sandy, Gary, speaker.

Hwang, David Henry, 1957- speaker.

Feiffer, Jules, speaker.

Dahl, Arlene, speaker.

Richardson, Lee, 1926-1999, speaker.

Cohen, Alexander H., 1920-2000, speaker.

Miller, Arthur, 1915-2005, speaker.

Reeve, Christopher, 1952-2004, speaker.

Scott, Martha, 1914-2003, speaker.

Robards, Jason, speaker.

Bacall, Lauren, 1924-2014, speaker.

Parks, Hildy, 1926-2004, speaker.

Sherwood, Madeleine, speaker.

Loveman, Lenore, speaker.

Lundwall, Sandy, speaker.

Messinger, Ruth W., speaker.

Minnelli, Liza, speaker.

Gilford, Jack, speaker.

Straight, Beatrice, speaker.

Davidson, Joan, speaker.

Holm, Celeste, 1917-2012.

Frelich, Phyllis.

Bobbie, Walter, 1945- performer.

Callaway, Liz, performer.

Burrell, Terry, performer.

Graff, Randy, performer.

Gaines, Davis, performer.

Bogardus, Stephen, performer.

Reingold, Jacquelyn, performer.

Comden, Betty, performer.

Green, Adolph, performer.

McGovern, Maureen, performer.

Heller, Alfred, 1931- instrumentalist.

Research Call Number

NCOX 444

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