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Creator
Odets, Clifford, 1906-1963
Call number
*T-Mss 1981-008
Physical description
17.6 linear feet; 52 boxes
Preferred Citation

Clifford Odets papers, *T-Mss 1981-008, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

Clifford Odets, a leading playwright of the 1930s, was born in Philadelphia on July 18, 1906. He began his performing career as "The Rover Reciter" in local talent shows, on radio, and in local stock theatre companies. In 1929, he acted in small roles with the Theatre Guild, from whose auspices emerged the Group Theatre in 1931. Odets' first successful play was the one-act play Waiting for Lefty, which received its first theatrical production by the Group Theatre in March 1935. In 1936, Odets began working in Hollywood as a screenwriter on The Silent Partnerfor the Group. His 1937 play Golden Boy, also written for the Group, became his biggest commercial success. His last Broadway hit was The Country Girl in 1950. His last finished play, The Flowering Peach, was a finalist for the 1954 Pulitzer Prize. Odets died in Los Angeles on August 14, 1963. The Clifford Odets papers contain diaries, scripts, screenplays, personal and professional notes, research materials, clippings, photographs, and scrapbooks. In addition, the collection contains other writings by Odets such as poetry, short stories, articles, and paintings. Lastly, the collection holds Margaret Brenman-Gibson's biographical notes on Clifford Odets and his father, Louis J. Odets, for her book Clifford Odets - American Playwright: The Years from 1906-1940.

Biographical/historical information

Clifford Odets--playwright, director, actor, and poet--was born in Philadelphia on July 18, 1906, the son of Russian and Romanian Jewish immigrants. When he was four, the family moved to the Bronx, where his father, Louis J. Odets, became a successful printer. In 1923, Odets dropped out of high school after two years and began to write poetry, short stories, and radio plays. He worked briefly in his father's printing and advertising company, but was determined to become an actor, despite his father's vehement disapproval.

In his early career, Odets played romantic leads with a Bronx acting company called The Drawing Room Players. At the same time, he was working for various radio stations in the Bronx and Manhattan as an announcer and radio playwright and was also working with various local stock companies. In 1926, the Odets family returned to Philadelphia for unclear reasons and Clifford joined Mae Desmond's Stock Company, based in West Philadelphia. In 1928 Odets was cast in several bit parts on Broadway and went on tour with the Theatre Guild, gradually garnering a few small speaking roles. In 1931 he became a founding member of the Group Theatre, comprised largely of people from the Guild. Odets was not highly regarded as an actor and the Group Theatre's directors once again assigned him minor roles. Out of frustration and boredon, he began writing plays.

Odets' plays of the 1930s vividly portray the urban working class during the Depression and he is considered the leading proletarian playwright of that period. He entered Waiting for Lefty, a one-act play about a taxi drivers' strike, in a contest sponsored by the New York Theatre League and won first prize. First produced at the Fourteenth Street Theatre in January of 1935 as part of a benefit for the magazine, Lefty became an overnight senstation and Odets an international celebrity. The Group produced it in on Broadway in February, alongside his anti-Nazi play Till the Day I Die. A month later, they produced Awake and Sing!, generally considered his masterpiece. A fourth play, Paradise Lost, was also produced at this end of this momentous year. That work features the Gordons, a middle-class family, battling against economic, social, and health problems.

Despite the critical success of his early plays, the Depression deeply affected the Group Theatre's finances. In February 1936, Odets made his first trip to Hollywood to work as a writer and, eventually, as a director. Odets shuttled between Hollywood and New York for a year and a half, earning $2,500 a week as a screenwriter, a substantial salary for the time.

Odets returned to New York in 1937 with a new play, Golden Boy, considered by some to be his best work. Golden Boy catapulted his career and made him famous. The play tragically illustrates the conflict between the pursuit of material success and artistic fulfillment by way of a young violinist who is torn between the spoils of professional boxing and the concert stage. Golden Boy was followed by Rocket to the Moon (1938) and Night Music (1940), which both moved away from overtly political themes. Other Odets plays are Clash by Night (1941, The Russian People (1942, adaptation), The Big Knife (1949), The Flowering Peach (1954), and two unproduced plays, The Silent Partner (1939) and The Law of Flight (circa 1935). His major Broadway success, The Country Girl, was produced in 1950.

In 1952, Odets was questioned by the House Committee on Un-American Activities because of his leftist orientation, which included a brief membership in the Communist party circa 1935. Clifford Odets was married twice, first to the British actress Louise Rainer and then to actress Betty Grayson. Both marriages ended in divorce. Odets had two children, Nora and Walt, from his marriage to Betty Grayson.

At his death, Odets was living in Hollywood and working on a television series and drafts of several plays. He was also working on the book for the musical version of Golden Boy, which was completed by his friend, playwright William Gibson. Odets died on August 14, 1963 in Los Angeles.

Scope and arrangement

The papers of Clifford Odets consist of scripts, notes, correspondence, journals, photographs, research materials, scrapbooks, and clippings that document his career as a playwright. The papers are divided into different aspects of his work in order for the researcher to appreciate the development of his plays and other writings. The papers provide an overview of Odets' artistic and technical writing process.

The strength of this collection is in the abundant amount of his writings and notes, which exhibit Odets' creative writing techniques. These notes and written annotations in the scripts illuminate Odets' work habits and show his artistic progression. The papers illustrate Odets' change in writing style during the course of his career. Overall, the collection provides ample material for the researcher to gain an insight into Odets as a playwright and a person.

The Clifford Odets papers are arranged in fourteen series:

  • Series I: Diaries and Journals
    1926-1963

    This series contains diaries and journals written by Clifford Odets in the years 1926, 1932, 1940, 1953, 1955, 1958, 1961, and 1963. The 1940 journal has been published under the title The Journal of Clifford Odets in 1940.

  • Series II: Appointment Books
    1951-1963

    This series contains Clifford Odets appointment years for the years, 1951, 1953, 1955, and 1963.

  • Series III: Correspondence
    1935-1961

    This series contains correspondence written to and by Odets. It includes correspondence from Harold Clurman, Dave Chasen, and Group Theatre. Most of the correspondence written by Odets is to ballerina Melissa Hayden.

  • Series IV: Produced Works

    This includes plays and screenplays that were written by Clifford Odets and were produced during his career. It consists of scripts, research materials, and notes.

  • Series V: Unproduced Works

    This series includes plays and screenplays written by Clifford Odets, but never produced. This series also includes notes and research materials. The unproduced plays are Law of Flight, Mother's Day, 910 Eden Street, Three Sisters, and Victory. The unproduced screenplays are April Showers, Gettysburg, Rhapsody in Blue, Sister Carrie, and The Three Sisters.

  • Series VI: Synopses
    1943-1962

    This includes synopses written by Clifford Odets for potential plays or screenplays. However, the papers reveal no evidence that Odets continued the development of these stories. The titles that are included are: The Actor, The Children's Title, The Piano Store, and Private Treaty.

  • Series VII: Short Stories and Poetry

    This series includes typescripts of short stories and poems written by Clifford Odets. Many are untitled and without publication information. The titles that are included are: By the Sea, A Faint Smile, My Friend the Greek, Olive Wetson, One Hot Night, School Incident, Small Birds, Small Birds Fly Against the Wind, The Story of Pat Lawrence, and The Violinist.

  • Series VIII: Notes

    This series contains extensive notes written by Odets. This series reveals Clifford Odets' artistic development in the writing of his plays and other works. Also included are some of Odets' personal and domestic notes.

  • Series IX: Articles and Speeches
    1936-1961

    This series includes articles written by Clifford Odets that were published in magazines and other serials. Also included are typed speeches made at special events. Of note is a copy of a eulogy he wrote in honor of Jerry Wald.

  • Series X: Biographical Materials

    This includes biographical notes on Clifford Odets and his family collected by Margaret Brenman-Gibson for a book on Clifford Odets entitled Clifford Odets, the American Playwright.

  • Series XI: Photographs

    This series contains personal photographs of Clifford Odets. Also included in the series are research photographs used by Odets to obtain a perspective on the characters and setting that he would use in his plays.

  • Series XII: Art Work

    This series contains Clifford Odets paintings done in watercolor. The titles of the paintings are written on the back of the painting. The titles are in the sequence found in the box.

  • Series XIII: Scrapbooks
    1934-1955

    This series contains Clifford Odets' scrapbooks dating from 1934-1939 and 1941- 1962. The scrapbooks consist of clippings, programs, photographs, letters, cards, and newsletters.

  • Series XIV: Oversized Materials

    This series consists of items removed from other parts of the collection due to their size. Included are notes for Law of Flight, Clash By Night and The Big Knife.

Administrative information

Custodial history

The Clifford Odets papers were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 1981. Nine additional installments arrived between 1981 and 1989. In 1986 the original deposit agreement was amended to an agreement of gift. At this time certain papers were removed from the collection and returned to Walt Odets.

Source of acquisition

Gift, Walt Odets, 10/05/1981

Deposit, Walt Odets, 1984

Processing information

Processed by Ramon Cabrera and Mary Ellen Rogan.

The collection was conserved, rehoused, and reprocessed in 1994. The clippings and the scrapbook were photocopied for conservation purposes.

Copies of April Showers, Awake and Sing, Silent Partner and Rocket to the Moon are also available on microfilm. The call numbers for these are: April Showers, *ZC-495; Awake and Sing, ZC-501; Silent Partner, *ZC-557 no.1; Rocket to the Moon, *ZC-557 no. 2.

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For information about publication, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.

For copyright permission contact:

  • George Lane
  • Creative Artist's Agency
  • 162 5th Avenue, 6th Floor
  • New York, NY 10010
  • 212-277-9000

Access restrictions

Some collections held by the Dance, Music, Recorded Sound, and Theatre Divisions at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL's online catalog for detailed location information. For general guidance about requesting offsite materials, please consult: https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/lpa/requesting-archival-materials Photocopying prohibited.