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Mack Gordon Papers

Composer:
Myrow, Josef  Search this
Revel, Harry -- 20th century  Search this
Warren, Harry, 1893-1981 -- 20th century  Search this
Creator:
Gordon, Mack, 1904-1959  Search this
Actor:
Berle, Milton  Search this
Dailey, Dan  Search this
Dunne, Irene -- 20th century  Search this
Faye, Alice -- 20th century  Search this
Gable, Clark, 1901-1960 -- 20th century  Search this
Henie, Sonja, 1912-1969 -- 20th century  Search this
Lombard, Carole -- 20th century  Search this
O'Hara, Maureen, 1920- -- 20th century  Search this
Oakie, Jack, 1903-1978 -- 20th century  Search this
Payne, John -- 20th century  Search this
Power, Tyrone, 1914-1958 -- 20th century  Search this
Taylor, Robert -- 20th century  Search this
Singer:
Cantor, Eddie, 1892-1964  Search this
Crosby, Bing, 1904-1977  Search this
Fisher, Eddie -- 20th century  Search this
Jolson, Al, d. 1950 -- 20th century  Search this
Langford, Frances -- 20th century  Search this
Merman, Ethel -- 20th century  Search this
Dancer:
Castle, Nick -- 20th century  Search this
Producer:
Grainger, Edmund -- 20th century  Search this
Director:
Taurog, Norman -- 20th century  Search this
Extent:
1 Motion picture film
3 Cubic feet (9 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Motion picture films
Motion pictures (visual works)
Motion picture stills
Passports
Contracts
Correspondence
Clippings
Business records
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Photograph albums
Songs
Writings
Scripts (documents)
Sheet music
Date:
1926-1977, undated
Summary:
Mack Gordon (1904-1959) was a prolific and successful songwriter, lyricist, and composer. He composed songs for stage and screen. He and Harry Warren won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1943.
Scope and Contents:
The papers document the life and career of songwriter Mack Gordon. They include business records, both personal and business correspondence, contracts, royalty statements, commercially published sheet music, a script for the motion picture Three Little Girls in Blue, photograph albums, a scrapbook of clippings, original music manuscripts, notes and writings that may have served as mnemonic devices for song ideas, an excerpt from the Paramount short film, The Collegians, funeral materials, name change documents, and a passport. The production and creative files give insight into Gordon's creative process, and ideas for lyrics, song titles, and word play are found throughout these files.

The collection is organized in seven series.

Series 1: Production and Creative Files, 1931-1950, undated. This series contains files relating to motion picture and theatrical productions, both produced and unproduced. This series also contains unidentified lyric notes, instrumental sketches, and themes.

Series 2: Business Records, 1931-1975, undated. This series contains business records, royalty contracts, telegrams, correspondence and other business records pertaining to Gordon and his work for theatrical and motion picture companies.

Series 3: Original Music Manuscripts, 1940-1952, undated. This series contains original music manuscripts written by Gordon.

Series 4: Commercial Sheet Music, 1928-1959, undated. This series contains commercially published sheet music. The sheet music was bound by Gordon into volumes he titled, Majors & Minors, there is also a folder of unbound sheet music.

Series 5: Personal and Family, 1935-1977, undated. This series contains personal documents such as passports, life insurance documents, name change documents, the auction catalogue from the sale of furnishings at Gordon's Pacific Palisades home. This series also contains personal correspondence from singer Sandra Werner to Gordon.

Series 6: Photographs, 1933-1956, undated

Series 7: Audio-Visual, 1926
Arrangement:
The collection is organized in seven series.

Series 1: Production and Creative Files, 1931-1950, undated

Series 2: Business Records, 1931-1975, undated

Series 3: Original Music Manuscripts, 1940-1952, undated

Series 4: Commercial Sheet Music, 1928-1959, undated

Series 5: Personal and Family, 1935-1977, undated

Series 6: Photographs, 1933-1956, undated

Series 7: Audio-Visual, 1926
Biographical / Historical:
Mack Gordon was a prolific and successful songwriter, lyricist, and composer who composed songs for stage and screen. Born Morris Gitler (he legally changed his name to Mack Gordon in later life) in Poland on June 21, 1904, his family immigrated to the United States in 1908 and settled in New York. His early career was as a performer in vaudeville and minstrel shows, but by the early 1930s he had formed a songwriting partnership with pianist Harry Revel. Gordon wrote for the Broadway stage and eventually made his way to Hollywood where he worked at a number of different motion picture studios.

In addition to Revel, Gordon worked with such well-known composers as Harry Warren, with whom he won his only Academy Award for Best Song for "You'll Never Know" from Hello Frisco Hello, and Josef Myrow, to name just three. Some of his more famous songs are "Chattanooga Choo Choo," "At Last," and "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?". He was nominated for the Academy Award nine times and became a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He died on February 28, 1959 in New York City (some biographies have his date of death as March 1), and is entombed at the Corridor of Immortality at the Home of Peace Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California.
Provenance:
Collection donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution by Jack Gordon, son of Mack Gordon, in 2015.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Occupation:
Motion picture actors and actresses  Search this
Composers  Search this
Topic:
Motion pictures -- 1930-1940  Search this
Motion pictures, American  Search this
Motion pictures and music -- 1930-1970  Search this
Theater  Search this
Musicals  Search this
Music -- 20th century  Search this
Motion pictures  Search this
Musical theater  Search this
Music -- United States  Search this
Genre/Form:
Motion pictures (visual works) -- 1930-1950
Motion picture stills
Passports
Contracts -- 20th century
Correspondence -- 20th century
Clippings -- 20th century
Business records -- 20th century
Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 20th century
Scrapbooks -- 1930-1940
Photograph albums -- 20th century
Songs
Writings
Scripts (documents)
Sheet music -- 20th century
Citation:
Mack Gordon Papers, 1926-1977, undated, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1363
See more items in:
Mack Gordon Papers
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8bd1c6908-3edc-4ab4-8ec6-757e2eb3ffe5
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1363
Online Media:

Dick Price Collection of Ice Show and Skating Memorabilia

Donor:
Price, Dick  Search this
Names:
Henie, Sonja, 1912-1969  Search this
Extent:
3 Cubic feet (8 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Photograph albums
Report cards
Photographs
Programs
Letters (correspondence)
Financial records
Date:
1936-2002
bulk 1950-1958
Summary:
The collection documents the life and career of ice skater Dick Price, with emphasis on the 1940s and 1950s, when he was in the prime of his career performing ice shows throughout Europe. Included are photograph albums, letters, most sent from Europe by Price to his parents describing performances and his travel adventures; programs from various ice shows; personal financial records; school report cards, and work-related permits, contracts, and insurance.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the life and career of ice skater Dick Price, with emphasis on the 1940s and 1950s, when he was in the prime of his career and performing ice shows throughout Europe. Included are several photograph albums featuring portraits and action shots of Price and other skaters, some autographed, highlights of his travels, his friends and family. Also included is a scrapbook containing clippings and other printed materials; letters most sent from Europe by Price to his parents describing performances and his travel adventures; printed materials, especially programs from the various ice shows; personal financial records; school report cards, and work-related permits, contracts and insurance.

Series 1, Personal Materials, 1936-1999, consists of school report cards, personal financial materials (blank checks and passbook), work-related permits, contracts, membership cards and insurance, ephemera, newspaper clippings, publications, and correspondence. The correspondence constitutes the bulk of the material and consists of handwritten and typescript letters, with some postcards, telegrams, and radio grams, written by Richard "Dick" Price to his parents, Alfred and Mary Price of New York City. Some materials are written by Mary Price and Virginia and Bob Price, sister-in-law and brother to Dick Price. Other materials in this series are addressed to Peter Haener, a friend, particularly Christmas cards from the 1990s. Price describes his ice skating performances, friendships (especially with a woman named Kim), and travels throughout Europe. Additional materials include hotel and air cargo invoices. A series of Trans World Airlines certificates issued to Mary Price, Dick Price's mother, document her travels across the Atlantic Ocean from 1953-1956. The Hawaii materials (maps, postcards, and menus) relate to a trip Price took in July 1948. Price is listed as a passenger on the S.S. Lurline.

Series 2, Programs, 1945-2002, consists of color programs and brochures for ice skating shows Price appeared in or attended. Some of the programs are autographed. Price appears on the cover of Garmisch This Week, 1955, a publication of the United States Army Leave and Rest Center. There are several programs for Holiday in Garmisch/Ice Revue for the Casa Carioca, a night club built by General George S. Patton. The club was located at the U.S. Army base in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, and operated from 1945-1970. The club was an important venue for professional ice skaters. The programs are arranged alphabetically by the name of the ice skating show and then chronologically. Other programs include musical and theatrical productions that Price organized and/or produced in Austria. All of these programs are in German.

Series 3, Photographs and Scrapbook, 1940s-1990s, consists of black-and-white and color prints both in albums and loose. The majority of the photographs are black-and-white. They document Price's professional ice skating career primarily in Europe and depict both images of Price and other skaters performing. Leisure time sight-seeing and touring throughout Europe is well-documented. Many of the photographs are unidentified. The photographs are arranged chronologically. There is one scrapbook, 1948-1953, which consists of postcards, ice skating programs, newspaper and magazine articles, telegrams, Christmas cards, and hotel ephemera documenting Price's ice skating career primarily in the United States.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into three series.

Series 1, Personal Materials, 1936-1999

Series 2, Programs, 1945-2002

Series 3, Photographs and Scrapbooks, circa 1940s-1990s
Biographical / Historical:
Richard "Dick" S. Price was born on March 27, 1928 to Mary Schweitzer Price and Alfred Price. He had one brother, Robert Ira Price. He was raised in the New York City area and attended local schools (Columbia Grammar, Junior High School 165, Pratt Institute, and Parsons School of Design) as well as a brief period at the Admiral Farragut Academy, a boarding school in New Jersey. Price took skating lessons at Lake Placid, New York, circa 1934 and dance lessons in New York City as a young boy. According to Price's "memoirs" he was hired as a replacement skater for the Hollywood Ice Revue (regular skaters went on strike) and he convinced his father to sign the contract since he was underage. Price enlisted in the United States Coast Guard on March 19, 1946. He was a Seaman second class and served on the Cutter Pequot. Price was dishonorably discharged on October 17, 1946.

Price's first skating performances were with Sonja Henie's ice show company in 1947. He later performed with other companies such as Holiday on Ice and Ice Vogues. His ice skating career took off and by 1948, he was known as the "Bombshell of the Ice." Later in life he produced Las Vegas-style nightclub shows, and he translated and presented many significant Broadway musicals in the German theatre. Price died on June 5, 2005, in a senior care facility in Mondsee, Austria.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Andrea Stevens on June 17, 2010.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

The rights to the published programs remain with the publishers.
Topic:
Figure skaters  Search this
Ice skating  Search this
Ice skaters  Search this
Genre/Form:
Scrapbooks -- 20th century
Photograph albums -- 20th century
Report cards
Photographs -- 20th century
Programs -- 20th century
Letters (correspondence) -- 20th century.
Financial records -- 20th century
Citation:
Dick Price Collection of Ice Show and Skating Memorabilia, 1937-1999, (bulk 1950-1958), Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1206
See more items in:
Dick Price Collection of Ice Show and Skating Memorabilia
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8e5f244b7-12c0-48e3-970e-8bceb97c4da6
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1206

Paris-Oslo : fransk og norsk kunst 1945-1965, 25. Mai-1. september 1991

Author:
Henie-Onstad kunstsenter  Search this
Subject:
Onstad, Niels  Search this
Henie, Sonja 1912-1969  Search this
Physical description:
[24] p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm
Type:
Exhibitions
Date:
1991
20th century
Topic:
Painting, French  Search this
Painting, Norwegian  Search this
Call number:
ND548 .P37 1991
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_808620

Sonja Henie-Niels Onstad Collection. Utarb. av Hans Jakob Brun og Ole Henrik Moe

Author:
Brun, Hans Jakob  Search this
Moe, Ole Henrik 1920-  Search this
Subject:
Henie, Sonja 1912-1969 Art collections  Search this
Onstad, Niels Art collections  Search this
Physical description:
7 l., 223 p. illus., ports. 22 cm
Type:
Catalogs
Date:
1968
20th century
Topic:
Painting, Modern  Search this
Call number:
ND195.B7X 1968
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_343172

Sonja Henie, Niels Onstad collection : [exhibition], Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 18 August - 16 September / sponsored by the Edinburgh Festival Society and arranged by the Arts Council of Great Britain in association with the Royal Scottish Academy

Author:
Royal Scottish Academy  Search this
Arts Council of Great Britain  Search this
Edinburgh Festival Society  Search this
Subject:
Henie, Sonja 1912-1969 Art collections  Search this
Onstad, Niels Art collections  Search this
Physical description:
[19] p., 24 p. of plates : ill. ; 20 x 21 cm
Type:
Exhibitions
Date:
1962
1962]
20th century
Topic:
Painting, Modern  Search this
Call number:
N5274.2.O59 S6
N5274.2.O59S6
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_146088

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