Sam DeVincent loved music and art and began collecting sheet music with lithographs at an early age.
Series 11: Entertainment contains more than 12,500 pieces of sheet music and other materials documenting the development of and popular attitudes towards entertainers and entertainment in the United States.
An overview to the entire DeVincent collection is available here: Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music.
Scope and Contents note:
Series 11, Entertainment, 1841-1986, undated, contains more than 12,500 pieces of sheet music and other materials documenting the development of and popular attitudes towards entertainers and entertainment in the United States. Note that movies and some musical entertainment are also covered in Series 6, Moving Pictures and Movie Stars, and in Series 16, Country, Western, and Folk Music. Blind musicians and performers are in Series 17. The materials are arranged by subject, with ephemera arranged in the same subseries as the sheet music and described following the container list. The ephemera has been placed in eighteen document boxes. News articles about Elvis Presley form a large part of this section.
Material related to this series within the DeVincent Collection may be found in Series 4, Songwriters; Series 6, Moving Pictures and Movie Stars; Series 16, Country, Western, and Folk Music; and in the as yet unprocessed Musical Instruments section.
Arrangement note:
Arranged in 18 subseries.
11.1: Early Troupes & Bandmasters
11.2: Dance Bands and Orchestras
11.3: Novelty Bands
11.4: Male Singers (Individual)
11.5: Female Singers (Individual)
11.6: Duos and Groups (Male and Mixed)
11.7: Female Duos and Groups
11.8: Child Entertainers
11.9: Male and Female Impersonators
11.10: Actors and Comedians
11.11: Theater
11.12: Jukebox, Nickelodeon
11.13: Phonographs and Sound Recordings
11.14: Radio, Transistor, Wireless
11.15: Television
11.16: Circus, Fair, Zoo
11.17: Rock and Roll
11.18: Ephemera
Materials in Other Organizations:
Sam DeVincent Collection of American Sheet Music, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
This collection contains duplicates of materials in the Smithsonian collection, as well as materials acquired by Mr. DeVincent after the donation to the Smithsonian. The phonograph records described above were transferred to the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History:
Donald J. Stubblebine Collection of Musical Theater and Motion Picture Sheet Music and Reference Material, 1843-2010 (AC1211)
Forms Part Of:
Series 11: Entertainment forms part of the
Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music
.
An ongoing, updated list of DeVincent topical series is available via the Smithsonian finding aid portal.
Provenance:
This collection was purchased by the Smithsonian Institution in 1988 from Sam and Nancy Lee DeVincent.
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.
Citation:
The Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
George Sidney (1916-2002) was a film director during the Golden Age of Hollywood filmmaking (1927-1954). He spent the longest period of his career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) until the 1950s. He later produced and directed films for Columbia Pictures and Paramount Pictures. He was a president of the Directors Guild of America and an avid photographer. He was the recipient of three awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscar). The collection consists of photographs, photographic negatives, personal and business materials, and film. The collection also contains material created by George Sidney's uncle, George Sidney, vaudevillian and motion picture actor.
Scope and Contents:
The George Sidney Collection consists of approximately eighty-eight cubic feet of photographs and materials from the Hollywood director George Sidney, most dealing with his career in motion pictures. Sidney was an avid photographer and collector of photographs documenting extremely well the Hollywood film community during the Studio Era (1927-1954) of filmmaking. The bulk of the collection is from Sidney's most productive years, circa 1937-1968.
MGM's motto was "More Stars than there are in Heaven" and the researcher would be advised that the extent of this collection is such that it is impossible to list and identify all of the celebrities and personalities photographed, both behind and in front of the camera. There are stills from Sidney's many productions as well as his on-set personal photographs. There are photographs from dinner parties, and many studio and film community functions. Productions are dated to their generally accepted first theatrical release date (Los Angeles and New York) and in the case of a Broadway show to their opening date.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into six series.
Series 1: Photographs, Photographic Negatives, and Slides, 1914-1996, undated.
Subseries 1.1: The Camera Eye of George Sidney, undated.
Subseries 1.2: Productions (Motion Picture, Stage, and Radio), 1921-1968.
Subseries 1.3: Personalities and People, 1932-1996, undated.
Subseries 1.4: Personal and Family, 1914-1992, undated.
Subseries 1.5: Family Photograph Albums and Scrapbooks, 1918-1950, undated.
Subseries 1.6: Travel and Locations, 1940-1981, undated.
Subseries 1.7: Studio, Entertainment, and Public Events, 1949-1995, undated.
Series 2: Production Ephemera, Posters, Scripts, 1930-1991, undated.
Subseries 2.1: Production Posters, 1943-1964, undated
Subseries 2.2: Production Ephemera and Scripts, 1930-1991, undated
Series 3: Office Files and Personal Material, 1903-2002, undated
Subseries 3.1: Personal Material, 1944-2002, undated
Subseries 3.2: Correspondence, Random Files, Indices, and Inventories, 1903-2002, undated
Series 4: Music Manuscripts, Sheet Music, and Music Related Material, 1885-1992, undated
Subseries 4.1: Music Manuscripts, 1937-1960, undated
Subseries 4.2: Sheet Music, 1885-1990
Subseries 4.3: Music Related Material, 1971-1992, undated
Series 5: Audiovisual, 1933-2001, undated
Subseries 5.1: Film, 1940-1960, undated
Subseries 5.2: Audio, 1933-2001, undated
Subseries 5.3: Video, 1989-2001, undated
Series 6: George Sidney (1877-1945), 1909-1945, undated
Biographical / Historical:
George E. Sidney was born in New York, New York on October 4th, 1916 into a show business family. His father Louis K. Sidney (birth surname Kronowith) (1891-1958) was a Broadway producer, actor-manager, and one of the vice-presidents of Loew's Incorporated. Sidney's mother, Hazael Mooney (?-1969), was a vaudeville performer, part of a sister act known as The Mooney Sisters. She was a native New Yorker, daughter of prominent New York City attorney Henry Mooney. She and Louis were married at her home, 12 West 109th Street, New York. Another residence was 179 West 63rd Street.
Louis K. Sidney began working for Loew's Incorporated in 1923. He managed theatres in Denver, Pittsburgh, Toledo, Dayton, and New York. Later he was in charge of stage productions for the theatre circuit. He was in charge of MGM's East Coast film production facility in New York. He and Hazael followed son George to Los Angeles in 1937. Louis produced two motion pictures at MGM, The Big Store with the Marx Brothers and Hullabaloo. After February 1951, he was a member of the four man executive committee in charge of MGM. At his retirement in 1955, Louis K. had risen to the position of vice-president of Loew's, Incorporated. He served as vice-president and director of the Motion Picture Producers Association, as a director of the Motion Picture Relief Fund, and the Hollywood Coordinating Committee.
George Sidney had two uncles in show business, Jack Sidney, known as "Jack of Spades" a black-face comedian, and Sidney's half-uncle, George Sidney (1877-1945) (real name Samuel Greenfield), a vaudeville comic. George had a successful Broadway and screen career, most notably as the bum, Busy Izzy, a character that lasted on the vaudeville circuit from 1901-1915. His initial Broadway success was in a show entitled Welcome Stranger that ran for 309 performances. Welcome Stranger had an extensive touring schedule across the United States. In conjunction with Charlie Murray, he developed a comedy act known as Cohen and Kelly that was not only a vaudeville success but easily made the transition to motion pictures. The Cohens and Kellys films became a motion picture franchise for Universal Studios in 1924. He was married to Carrie Weber (?-1940). George was a member of the Friars Club and an avid sports fan. He owned a racehorse named Kibbitzer.
George Sidney made his on-screen debut in The Littlest Cowboy (1921) starring Tom Mix. He moved to Los Angeles in 1930. Sidney went to work as a messenger at MGM. Louis B. Mayer's nickname for Sidney was "boy". Sidney flourished at the studio and by the time he was twenty he was directing screen tests and one-reel shorts. He directed installments in the Our Gang and Little Rascals series, as well as the Pete Smith and the Crime Does Not Pay series. He won back-to-back Oscars for two of his shorts, Quicker'n a Wink (1940) and Of Pups and Puzzles (1941). His feature film directing debut was Free and Easy (1941) starring Robert Cummings. His first major film musical was the all-star, war time musical, Thousands Cheer (1943), starring Kathryn Grayson and Gene Kelly. Sidney always indicated he viewed films as entertainment and seems to have rejected the auteur theory of directing embraced by some of his well known colleagues such as John Ford and Vincent Minnelli. His film, The Three Musketeers (1948), starring Gene Kelly and Lana Turner, was one of MGM's highest grossing films in the post World War Two period. He won his third Oscar for the short, Overture to 'The Merry Wives of Windsor, in 1954. Jupiter's Darling (1955) with Esther Williams was Sidney's last film for MGM. He was loaned to Columbia Pictures to direct The Eddy Duchin Story (1956), after which his contract at MGM ended.
Sidney went on to become an independent producer and director at Columbia Pictures where he directed such films as Pal Joey (1957), starring Frank Sinatra, and Bye Bye Birdie (1963) starring Ann-Margret. He returned to MGM in the 1960s to make A Ticklish Affair (1963), starring Shirley Jones and Viva Las Vegas (1964), starring Ann-Margret and Elvis Presley. His last film was the musical Half a Sixpence (1967) starring Tommy Steele for Paramount Pictures. Sidney also directed and produced for television most notably Who Has Seen the Wind (1964). He financed and founded Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1944. He was a two-term president, 1951-1959 and 1961-1967, of the Directors Guild of America (DGA), earlier known as the Screen Directors Guild (SDG).
In his personal life, Sidney was married in 1942 to legendary MGM drama coach, Lillian "Burnsie" Burns Salzer (1903-1998). He was eight years her junior. They lived at the Sidney home (1140 Tower Road) in Beverly Hills. They divorced in the mid 1970s. For a brief time Sidney maintained a penthouse apartment for George Sidney Productions at 144 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills. He maintained a suite (301) in the Palm Wilshire Building, 9201 Wilshire Boulevard in the 1970s. He married his second wife, Jane Adler Robinson (?-1991), second wife and widow of actor Edward G. Robinson (1893-1974), around 1978. The house at 1140 Tower Road was sold and Sidney moved to the Robinson home at 910 Rexford Drive in Beverly Hills. Sidney married his third wife, Corinne Kegley Entratter (1937-?), widow of showman and Las Vegas entrepreneur John Entratter, in 1991. Sidney was a prolific photographer. He collected art and was apparently an avid gardener. He was a member of the Royal Horticultural Society. He died in Las Vegas, Nevada in May 2002.
Related Materials:
The Harry Warren Collection, AC0750
The Groucho Marx Collection, AC0269
Sidney related artifacts from Sidney's films are housed in the Division of Culture and the Arts, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian. There are scrapbooks donated by the Sidney Estate in the collection of the Cinema-Television Library, Doheny Library, University of Southern California, consisting of eleven volumes containing photographs, correspondence, publicity documents, and other materials, circa 1933-1963.
Provenance:
This collection was donated to the Archives Center in 2005 by Corinne Entratter Sidney, widow of George Sidney.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research use.
Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with cotton gloves. Researchers may use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis and as resources allow.
Viewing film portions of the collection requires special appointment, please inquire; listening to LP recordings is only possible by special arrangement.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view materials in cold storage. Using cold room materials requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Rights:
The Archives Center does not own exclusive rights to these materials. All requests for permission to use these materials for non-museum purposes must be addressed directly to the Archives Center, and the Archives Center will forward the request to the copyright holder. Collection items are available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: fees for commercial use.
Topic:
Motion picture production and direction Search this
Motion picture producers and directors Search this
Art Collectors: A Project in Partnership with the Center for the History of Collecting in America at The Frick Collection Search this
Extent:
77 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
2013 February 4-5
Scope and Contents:
An oral history interview with Steve Martin conducted 2013 February 4-5, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art and the Center for the History of Collecting in America at the Frick Art Reference Library of The Frick Collection, at Martin's home, in Beverly Hills, California.
Martin speaks about his first encounters with art while majoring in philosophy at California State University, Long Beach; the significance of dining at Dalton Trumbo's home with luminaries of the artistic community; how the cost of the up-and-comers of the 1960s has changed since he bought his first print; his perception of art in the 1960s, coinciding with Warhol's eminence; having an art show at the Molly Barnes Gallery called Invisible Art, which he has not discussed since; learning to buy valuable art using the catalogue raisonné; studying American art in college libraries and museums while touring the country as a comedian; his transition from aspiring aesthete to collector of art; his philosophy of collecting, from coins to art; his thoughts on taking custody of paintings; envying other collections as the dark side of collecting; the validity of the artist's statement; trying to describe a painting; notoriety of American artists abroad; seeking an emotional response to art; reading a painting; and the difference between his past and current collecting styles. Martin also recalls Melissa Trumbo, Dalton Trumbo, Phil Carey, Armand Duvantes [sp], Terry Delapp, Gerald Peters, Anne Martin, Eric Fischl, April Gornik, Victoria Dailey and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Interviewee Steve Martin (1945- ) is an art collector, comedian, actor, musician, and author in Beverly Hills, Calif. Interviewer James McElhinney (1952- ) is a painter and educator of New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
This interview is access restricted; written permission is required. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- Beverly Hills -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by Barbara Fleischman.
Entrance music for comedians is contained in one of one hundred fourteen folders for "Jump for joy" consisting of 1 three page short score in eb minor concert -- in pencil -- in identified hand (BS).
Short score indicates parts for brass. -- from the Duke Ellington Library.
General:
Handwriting and other details have been reported based on the notes of David Berger, Andrew Homzy, Dr. Theodore Hudson, Walter van de Leur, and Dr. Mark Tucker.
Condition: fair, tape.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Collection 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.
Copyright restrictions. Consult the Archives Center at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Paul Ellington, executor, is represented by:
Richard J.J. Scarola, Scarola Ellis LLP, 888 Seventh Avenue, 45th Floor, New York, New York 10106. Telephone (212) 757-0007 x 235; Fax (212) 757-0469; email: rjjs@selaw.com; www.selaw.com; www.ourlawfirm.com.
Topic:
Music -- United States -- 20th century Search this
Genre/Form:
Holographs
Manuscripts
Music
Short scores
Collection Citation:
Duke Ellington Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Processing and encoding partially funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Recorded in: Washington, D.C, United States, August, 1976.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington, D.C, United States, August, 1976.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington, D.C, United States, August, 1976.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington, D.C, United States, August, 1976.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington, D.C, United States, August, 1976.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Washington, D.C, United States, August, 1976.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
