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Donald Wolfit:

An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center



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Descriptive Summary
Repository: Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
Creator Wolfit, Donald, 1902-1968
Title Donald Wolfit Papers
Dates: 1803-1984 (bulk 1937-68)
Extent 29 document boxes, 16 oversize boxes, 1 flat file drawer (13.78 linear feet)
Abstract: The papers of this British Shakespearean actor and theatre manager consist largely of performance-related materials, supplemented by correspondence, literary works, and personal papers.
RLIN Record # TXRC00-A19
Language English.

Administrative Information

Acquisition

Purchase, 1991 (R12539)

Processed by

Helen Baer and Toni Alfau, 2000

Restrictions

Access

Open for research

Biographical Sketch

Donald Wolfit was born in 1902 in the village of Balderton in Nottinghamshire. When he was sixteen he had an audition with the actor-manager Fred Terry who did not hire him. Unruffled, he began studying elocution and the broadsword and in 1920 won an unpaid position as an assistant stage manager with Charles Doran's Shakespeare Company. Walk-on parts quickly led to speaking roles and a small salary. After the company disbanded two years later, Wolfit was engaged for a tour of Shakespeare with Alexander Marsh's company. A second interview with Fred Terry led to a one-year stint touring the provinces and Ireland, followed by engagements with Frank Cariello and Matheson Lang. The latter's generosity toward Wolfit propelled him from anonymity to moderate recognition as an actor.

Wolfit made his first appearance at the Old Vic Theater in 1929, where he scored an important success as Claudius. A cranky sort, his difficulty in getting along with fellow actors resulted in his staying for only one season. In the early 1930s he began to save his earnings from working in films so he could start his own theater company. His first attempt at management was a week-long drama festival in his hometown in 1934. In 1937, a year after his Hamlet at Stratford-upon-Avon had lifted him to the ranks of the leading players of the day, Wolfit formed the Donald Wolfit Shakespeare Company. Although he was generally believed to be a better actor than manager, his productions were initially a financial success.

From 1938 to 1943 Wolfit played most of the major Shakespeare roles in his own company's productions. The start of World War II disrupted theatrical activity in Britain but he was able to turn the upheaval into triumph by performing during the London blackout to good reviews, a courageous effort for which he was belatedly recognized when the Queen made him a Commander of the British Empire in 1950. Wolfit's 1944 Lear marked the first time he was broadly recognized as a great actor. By this time, though, critics were condemning his company's poor supporting players and tasteless costumes. After the war he attempted to lease the Lyceum Theatre but was thwarted in this venture and also in his efforts to obtain state support for a tour to Canada. He eventually made the trip abroad on his own funds, an act which solidified his reputation as an outsider in the London theatrical circle. In 1948 Wolfit married his leading lady Rosalind Iden, the daughter of the British director, actor, and educator B. Iden Payne. Payne was internationally known as a Shakespearean director and for his modified Elizabethan staging.

In 1951 Wolfit was again engaged at the Old Vic which had just been placed under Tyrone Guthrie's administration. Troubles soon arose and Wolfit resigned, never to appear on the boards of the Old Vic again. Short on funds, he resorted to film and television work. In the spring of 1953 he mounted a season of classical plays in London; that fall he staged a season at the King's Theatre, Hammersmith, but he was overworked and did not perform at his best. However, the proceeds from his film and television work allowed him to continue presenting financially risky works.

Wolfit's lifetime of service to the theater and to Shakespeare was rewarded with a knighthood in 1957; although he announced his retirement the following year, he persisted with his stage work. Between 1959 and 1963 he and Rosalind presented recitals in Africa, the United States, Australia, and Asia. Wolfit attracted national attention during the Actors' Equity strike of 1962 when he sided with the management. In the 1960s he made fewer appearances; his dream of a National Theatre for Britain was finally realized but it was too late for him to be involved to a significant degree. Wolfit died in February of 1968 after a brief illness.

The Donald Wolfit Papers were purchased from the Wolfit family via Bertram Rota Ltd. in 1991. Other Wolfit papers are held at the Theatre Museum in London.

Bibliography:

Harwood, Ronald. Sir Donald Wolfit C.B.E.: His Life and Work in the Unfashionable Theatre. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1971.

Scope and Contents

The Donald Wolfit Papers consist largely of performance-related materials, supplemented by correspondence, literary works, and personal papers. Although the primary focus of the papers is on Wolfit's career as an actor-manager, there is a significant amount of material concerning some of the theatrical issues of the day upon which Wolfit, as a leader in his profession, felt compelled to comment. The papers are arranged in five series: I. Theater Papers, 1921-84 (36 boxes), II. Correspondence, 1928-84 (4 boxes), III. Works, 1922-64 (1 box), IV. Miscellaneous, 1803-1983 (2 boxes), and V. Works by Other Authors, 1937-72 (2 boxes). Within each series, materials are arranged alphabetically by title or subject.

The papers arrived at the Ransom Center via an antiquarian bookseller after Ronald Harwood made extensive use of the papers while writing his biography of Wolfit. With the possible exception of the materials in Series I, little trace of any original order employed by Wolfit was evident. Annotations by Harwood and his assistants can be found throughout the collection.

The Theater Papers series contains performance-related, administrative, financial, and publicity materials for plays, recitals, and radio broadcasts; works by Shakespeare, or excerpts thereof, are prevalent. Because the bulk of the series dates from between 1946 and the early 1960s, only a small amount of material from Wolfit's wartime work is present. Generally, the materials in this series document Wolfit's role as actor-manager and not the contributions of individual members of his company; it appears that only the music advisor and scenic designers enjoyed relative autonomy within the company. Except for a few photographs in Series I, Wolfit's work in film is not represented.

The Correspondence series illuminates Wolfit's artistic choices and opinions, and the myriad details involved in managing a theater company, through letters from actors, playwrights, theater managers, designers, and musicians. Subjects include the Actors's Equity strike, the National Theatre, and Wolfit's dispute with the Old Vic. Although the bulk of the correspondence is collected in this series, letters are scattered throughout the collection; they can be found via the index of correspondents regardless of their location.

Wolfit's literary output is the subject of the Works series, which contains speeches, lectures, poems, and notes about Shakespeare, the acting profession, and other topics, along with juvenilia and fictional works. Notes and other materials gathered by Ronald Harwood for his biography of Wolfit can be found in the Works by Other Authors series.

Nearly all of the materials in the Miscellaneous series, while not directly related to Wolfit's work as an actor-manager, are of a theatrical nature. In their entirety, the Wolfit papers give little indication of a personal life outside the theater save his membership in the Garrick Club, which stationery he often used. Rosalind Iden's presence in the collection is limited to a few scripts, two gowns that were presumably worn by her, and a toast to Wolfit.

Index Terms

Correspondents

Aylmer, Felix, 1889-1979
Clewes, Winston, 1906-
Coast, John
Craig, Edward Gordon, 1872-1966
Dean, Basil, 1888-1978
Gielgud, John, Sir, 1904-
Glasgow, M.C.
Guthrie, Tyrone, Sir, 1900-1971
Harwood, Ronald, 1934-
Hunt, Hugh, 1911-
Keynes, John Maynard, 1883-1946
Linstead, Hugh N. (Hugh Nicholas)
Maule, Donovan
Olivier, Laurence, 1907-
Porter, George W.Y.
Selby, Percival M.
Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950
Stern, Ernest, 1876-1954
Trewin, J.C. (John Courtenay), 1908-
Watson, Rosabel

Organizations

British Actors' Equity Association
National Theatre (Great Britain)
Old Vic Theatre (London, England)

Subjects

Actors--Great Britain--20th century
Iden, Rosalind
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Dramatic production
Theater--Great Britain--History--20th century

Document Types

Costume
Costume design drawings
Photographs
Prints
Programs
Prompt books
Scores
Scrapbooks
Set design drawings

Container List

Series I. Theater Papers, 1921-84 
(36 boxes)

This series is divided into four subseries: A. Performance Materials, B. Administrative and Financial Records, C. Publicity Materials, and D. World Tour Files.

b --- box
ff --- flat file
ob --- oversize box
Subseries A. Performance Materials, 1921-81 
(32.5 boxes)
Subseries A is further subdivided into three subseries: 1. Fully Staged Productions, 2. Other Productions, and 3. Costumes.
Subseries 1. Fully Staged Productions, 1921-72, holds the bulk of the Wolfit papers and comprises promptbooks, scripts, costume and scenic designs, music (orchestra parts and piano scores), plots, property letters, photographs, a few programs, and other materials for thirty-nine plays. Also included are production files containing letters and a small number of legal and financial documents as well as more plots, property letters, and photographs. As You Like It, King Lear, Macbeth, A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The Strong Are Lonely, and Twelfth Night are particularly well-documented. Figuring prominently in Subseries 1 is the work of Ernest Stern, whose costume and scenic designs for As You Like It, King Lear, Live Corpse, and Macbeth are included here, and of Rosabel Watson, Wolfit's music advisor, in whose hand nearly all of the orchestra parts are written. Several of the plays represented were apparently not staged. Dates given in the folder list reflect when the materials were actually used, not when the script or score was published. Composite materials, including a time book, and materials for unidentified productions follow the named plays.
Highlights of Subseries 2. Other Productions, 1963-81, include Wolfit's and Iden's prompt scripts for their joint Shakespeare recitals, among others, probably used in South Africa in 1963. Of the ten garments in Subseries 3. Costumes, nd (9 boxes), only one can be attributed to a particular play (a gown for As You Like It) and all but two were intended for male characters.
Subseries 1. Fully Staged Productions, 1921-72
box-folder
b 1.1 Adam Bede, script, nd
Alice in Wonderland, [1938 or 1939]
box-folder
b 1.2-3 Music (orchestra parts)
 
b 1.4 Photographs
 
b 1.5 Promptbook
 
b 1.6 Script
 
b 1.7 All in Good Time, script, 1964
As You Like It (see also Subseries 3. Costumes)
box-folder
ob 32.1-6 Costume designs, nd
 
ob 32.7-33.4 Maquettes, nd
 
b 29.1-4 Music (orchestra parts), 1946, nd
 
b 1.8; ff 1 Production file, 1946-53, nd
 
b 1.9 Promptbook, nd
 
b 2.1 Empty envelope
 
b 2.2 Cain, script, nd
The Clandestine Marriage
box-folder
b 2.3; ff 23 Production file and letter, 1953-56, nd
 
b 2.4-5 Promptbooks, [1951 or 1953]
 
b 2.6 The Court Singer, promptbook, [1958]
 
b 2.7-8 Cromwell at Drogheda, scripts, [1961]
Cymbeline, [1937 or 1944]
box-folder
b 2.9 Music (orchestra parts)
 
b 3.1-2 Promptbook
 
b 3.3 Empty envelope
 
b 3.4 For They Know Not, treatment, nd
 
b 3.5 Fratricide Punished, or Prince Hamlet of Denmark, promptbook and letter, 1955, nd
Hamlet
box-folder
b 3.6 Music (orchestra parts), 1945-46, nd
 
b 3.7-8 Promptbook, nd
 
b 3.9 Empty envelope
 
ob 33.5 Henry IV, working plot (property and set plots combined), [1953]
 
b 3.10 Henry V, makeup design for Nym, 1921
 
b 3.11; 4.1 Julius Caesar, music (orchestra parts), 1949, nd
King Lear
box-folder
ff 2-4, 24 Costume designs, nd
 
b 4.2 Music (orchestra parts), 1945-48, nd
 
b 4.3 Photographs, nd
 
b 4.4-6; ff 5 Plots (costume, lighting, property, and set), 1950, nd
 
b 4.7-8; 5.1 Promptbooks, 1946, nd
 
b 29.5-7 Property letters, nd
 
ob 33.6-8 Scenic designs, nd
 
b 5.2-4 Scripts, nd
Live Corpse
box-folder
ob 33.9-34.10 Costume and scenic designs, nd
 
ff 25 Plot (set), nd
Macbeth
box-folder
b 6.1 Music (orchestra parts), 1947-49, nd
 
b 6.2; ff 6 Plots (costume, lighting, property, and set) and photographs, 1946-53, nd
 
b 6.3-4 Promptbooks, 1950, 1953
 
ob 30 Property letters and property map, nd
 
ob 34.11-35.2 Scenic designs, nd
 
b 7.1 Script, nd
Malatesta, [1957]
box-folder
b 7.2 Art reproduction
 
b 7.3 Script
The Master Builder
box-folder
b 7.4 Plots (lighting and property), letter, and photographs, 1958-62, nd
 
b 7.5 Promptbook, nd
The Master of Santiago
box-folder
ff 7 Drawing (caricature of Wolfit), 1957
 
b 7.6 Script, [1957]
The Merchant of Venice
box-folder
b 7.7 Music (orchestra parts), 1946, nd
 
b 7.8 Production file, 1950-53, nd
 
b 7.9 Promptbook, 1946
 
b 7.10 Property letters, nd
Merry Wives of Windsor
box-folder
b 8.1 Music (orchestra parts), nd
 
b 8.2 Promptbook and program, 1941
A Midsummer Night's Dream
box-folder
b 8.3-5 Music (orchestra parts and piano score), 1947, nd
 
b 8.6 Promptbook, 1941
 
b 9.1 Much Ado about Nothing, music (orchestra parts), 1947, nd
A New Way to Pay Old Debts
box-folder
b 9.2 Music (conductor's part), nd
 
b 9.3; ob 35.3 Plots (costume, lighting, property, and set), 1950, nd
 
b 9.4-6 Promptbooks, program, and letter, 1950-63, nd
 
b 9.7 Property letters, nd
 
b 9.8 Empty envelope
Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, [1953]
box-folder
ff 8 Plots (lighting and set)
 
b 10.1 Production file and letter
 
b 10.2 Promptbook
 
b 10.3 Script and letter
 
b 10.4 Othello, music (orchestra parts), 1946, nd
Richard III
box-folder
b 10.5-6 Music (orchestra parts), 1947, nd
 
b 10.7 Promptbook, nd
The Romance of David Garrick
box-folder
b 11.1 Promptbook, [1942]
 
ff 9 Scenic designs, 1942
 
b 11.2 Script and letter, 1942-43
The School for Scandal, [1953]
box-folder
b 11.3; ff 10 Production file
 
b 11.4 Promptbook
 
b 11.5 Script
 
b 11.6 The Stag, scripts, nd
A Stranger in the Tea, [1960]
box-folder
b 12.1; ff 26 Plots (lighting)
 
b 12.2 Promptbook
 
b 12.3-7 Scripts
 
b 12.8 Empty envelope
The Strong Are Lonely
box-folder
b 12.9 Art reproduction, [1955 or 1956]
 
b 12.10 Financial statement (advance box office sales), 1956
 
b 12.11 Photographs, [1955 or 1956]
 
b 12.12-13 Plots (costume and property) and letters, 1955-56
 
b 13.1-3; ff 27 Production file, correspondence, and publicity materials, 1952-56
 
b 13.4-5 Promptbooks, [1955 or 1956]
 
ob 35.4-5 Property letters, [1955 or 1956]
 
ob 35.6 Scenic design, [1955 or 1956]
 
b 13.6-7 Scripts, [1955 or 1956]
 
b 13.8 Empty envelope
 
b 13.9 Tamburlaine the Great, script, [1951]
The Taming of the Shrew
box-folder
b 14.1 Music (orchestra parts), nd
 
b 14.2 Production file, 1950-53, nd
 
b 14.3 Promptbook, nd
Twelfth Night
box-folder
ob 35.7 Maquettes, nd
 
b 14.4 Music (orchestra parts), 1945-49, nd
 
b 14.5 Production file, 1953
 
b 14.6 Promptbook, nd
 
b 14.7 Property letter, nd
 
b 14.8 Sketch of Sir Andrew Aguecheek, 1921
 
b 14.9 Empty envelope
 
b 14.10-11 Violent Friends, scripts, 1955
Volpone
box-folder
b 15.1 Music (orchestra parts), 1946, nd
 
b 15.2-4 Promptbooks and letters, 1942-72, nd
 
b 15.5 Script, nd
 
b 15.6 Sketches of Wolfit as Volpone, 1945
 
b 15.7 Empty envelope
Composite material
box-folder
ob 36.1 Certificate of appreciation from company, [1953 or 1954]
 
b 15.8 Notes about performance materials, nd
 
ob 36.2 Scenic design for Elizabethan tapestry, 1945
 
b 15.9 Time book, 1953
 
b 16.1 Wardrobe book, ca. 1950-53
Unidentified productions
box-folder
ff 11-12 Costume designs, 1960
 
ob 36.3 Costume design, nd
 
ob 36.4 Scenic design, nd
Subseries 2. Other Productions, 1963-81
Iden, Rosalind
box-folder
b 16.2 Haighton, Phyllis, "The Hallowed Acre: Eight Hundred Years of Village History," script of church pageant and program, 1981
 
b 16.3-4 Poetry, assorted scripts, nd
 
b 16.5-6 Shakespeare, recital scripts of works by, and clippings, 1964, nd
Wolfit, Donald
box-folder
b 16.7 Dickens, Charles, radio scripts of works by, nd
 
b 17.1-2 Shakespeare, recital scripts of works by, and program, 1963, nd
 
b 17.3 "Theatre of the Air," assorted radio scripts, nd
Subseries 3. Costumes, nd
box-folder
ob 37 Buckle and sash
 
ob 38 Cape
Gowns
box-folder
ob 39 As You Like It
 
ob 40 Unidentified production
 
ob 41-42 Hats (2)
 
ob 43 Mantle
 
ob 44 Robe
 
ob 45 Vest
Subseries B. Administrative and Financial Records, 1937-67 
(1 box)
These records tabulate the proceeds of Wolfit's theater company on a weekly basis and summarize the financial status of Wolfit's nonprofit company, the Advance Players Association, annually or semiannually. The weekly financial journals also include notes on the suitability of each venue, reception by the press, etc.
Advance Players Association
box-folder
b 17.4 Articles of association and letter, 1938-1951?
 
b 17.5-6 Annual and semiannual audits and letters, 1938-52
 
b 18.1 Canada-U.S. tour, financial journal, and notes, 1945?-1948
 
b 18.2 Payroll signature book, 1958
 
b 18.3-4 Weekly financial journals, 1937-51
 
b 18.5-6 Weekly financial summaries, 1952-67
Subseries C. Publicity Materials, 1925-84 
(1 box)
The bulk of this subseries comprises clippings, most of which were published in January and February of 1968. Other publicity materials relating to Wolfit can be found in Series I, II, and IV.
Clippings
box-folder
b 19.1 1925-65
 
b 19.2 1966-67
1968
box-folder
b 19.3-4 Jan.-Feb.
 
b 19.5 Mar.-Oct.
 
b 19.6 1969-84, nd
Photographs
box-folder
b 19.7 Iden, Rosalind, nd
 
b 19.8; ff 28 Wolfit, Donald, [1940-59], nd
 
b 19.9; ff 13 Programs, leaflets, fliers, and brochures, [1923]-65, nd
Subseries D. World Tour Files, 1958-62 
(1.5 boxes)
These files contain correspondence, publicity materials, and ephemera relating to Donald and Rosalind's trips abroad in 1959 and 1960, to which he collectively referred as his world tour. Most of this material is of an administrative, not artistic, nature. In accordance with the original order, the bulk of the subseries is arranged by country of destination but overlap is frequent. The subseries includes significant quantities of letters from Wolfit's agent John Coast and the Kenyan promoter Donovan Maule.
Correspondence and publicity materials
box-folder
b 20.1 Australia, [1959]-60, nd
 
b 20.2; ff 30 Ethiopia, 1958-59, nd
 
b 20.3 India and the Persian Gulf, 1959-60, nd
 
b 20.4; ff 31 Italy, 1958-59
 
b 20.5 Kenya, 1958-59
 
b 20.6 Lebanon, 1959-60
 
b 20.7 Malaysia and Singapore, 1959-60
 
b 20.8 Malta, 1960-61
 
b 20.9; ff 14 New Zealand, 1958-62
 
b 20.10 Bruce Mason affair, 1960
 
b 20.11 Uganda, 1959-61
 
b 21.1 Kampala, including speech, 1959
 
b 21.2 United States, 1959-60
Miscellaneous
box-folder
b 21.3 Coast, John, correspondence, 1959-60
 
b 21.4 Notes and assorted documents, nd


Series II. Correspondence, 1928-84 
(4 boxes)

Because many of Wolfit's correspondents had a professional connection to the theater, very few of the letters in this series or elsewhere in the collection are strictly personal in nature. The outgoing correspondence is scant; more is located in Series V than here. (Recipients of Wolfit's letters can be identified in the index of correspondents following the folder list.) The incoming correspondence includes letters from Bronson Albery, Felix Aylmer, Cecil Beaton, Caryl Brahms, Noel Coward, Edward Gordon Craig, Basil Dean, Marlene Dietrich, T. S. Eliot, St. John G. Ervine, Edith Evans, Greer Garson, John Gielgud, M. C. Glasgow, Tyrone Guthrie, Hugh Hunt, John Maynard Keynes, Hugh Linstead, Princess Margaret, Sir John Martin-Harvey, Laurence Olivier, Harold Pinter, Wolfit's early mentor Charles Power, Michael Redgrave, Malcolm Sargent, Paul Scofield, George Bernard Shaw, Edith Sitwell, Osbert Sitwell, Marguerite Steen, Sybil Thorndike, J. C. Trewin, and Rosabel Watson. Of particular note are the letters relating to the Actors' Equity strike of 1962, and five folders of letters and telegrams congratulating Wolfit on his knighthood in 1957.

One folder of third-party correspondence follows the incoming correspondence, but more is scattered throughout the subject files mixed in with outgoing, incoming, and third-party correspondence. The voluminous Percival M. Selby subject files chronicle Selby's efforts on behalf of Wolfit to book dates for and otherwise facilitate the company's tours of the provinces between 1937 and 1942. Other subject files relate to Wolfit's dispute with the Old Vic and his support of a National Theatre in Britain. Correspondence can also be found in Series I and V; some of it is in French.

box-folder
b 21.5 Outgoing, 1940-57, nd
Incoming
box-folder
b 21.6 A, 1946-59, nd
 
b 21.7 B, 1940-68, nd
 
b 21.8 The Barber of Boisjoli, performance rights to, 1963
 
b 21.9 C, 1943-84, nd
 
b 21.10 Craig, Edward Gordon, 1948-64, nd
 
b 21.11 D-E, 1928-60, nd
 
b 21.12 Equity strike, including speech and notes, 1962
 
b 21.13 F-G, 1940-66, nd
 
b 21.14 George VI, death of, 1952
 
b 21.15 H-I, 1940-67, nd
 
b 22.1 J, including clippings, 1945-59, nd
 
b 22.2 K, 1939-68, nd
Knighthood, congratulations on, 1957
box-folder
b 22.3 A-C
 
b 22.4 D-J
 
b 22.5 K-Q
 
b 22.6 R-Y
 
b 22.7 Unidentified
 
b 22.8 L, including clipping, 1945-66, nd
 
b 22.9 M, 1941-64, nd
 
b 22.10 N-O, 1944-57, nd
 
b 23.1 P, 1930-58, nd
 
b 23.2 Power, Charles, 1955-63, nd
 
b 23.3 R, 1944-57, nd
 
b 23.4 S, 1943-1960, nd
 
b 23.5 Shaw, George Bernard, including flier, 1932-50, nd
 
b 23.6 T-V, 1944-66, nd
 
b 23.7; ff 32 Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds, restoration of, including reproductions of 1819 architectural plans, 1962, nd
 
b 23.8 W, 1940-64, nd
 
b 23.9 Watson, Rosabel, [1938-57], nd
 
b 23.10 Y, 1940
 
b 23.11 Unidentified, 1940-66, nd
 
b 23.12 Third-party, 1937-54
Subject files
box-folder
b 23.14 National Theatre, support for, including speech, notes, and clippings, 1957-59, nd
 
b 23.15-24.1 The Old Vic Theatre, dispute with, including speech, program, and clippings, 1951-53
Selby, Percival M.
box-folder
b 24.2 Outgoing correspondence (Wolfit to Selby), nd
Incoming correspondence (Selby to Wolfit)
box-folder
b 24.3 1937
 
b 24.4 1938
 
b 24.5-6 1939
 
b 24.7-8 1940
 
b 25.1-2 1941-42
 
b 25.3 1946, nd
 
b 25.4 Third-party, 1937-41, nd
 
b 25.5 Empty envelope
 
b 25.6 The Solitary Lover, performance and critical reception of, 1947-49
 
b 25.7 Trewin, J. C., 1944-68
 
b 25.8 Twelfth Night, performance of, attended by Queen Elizabeth, including flier, 1951


Series III. Works, 1922-64 
(1 box)

Gathered here are holograph manuscripts, typescripts, and notes for nearly forty speeches, lectures, poems, and short fiction and nonfiction pieces. Although the works are presumed to be Wolfit's, a few may actually be transcriptions. Two relatively lengthy works are present (a dramatization of the George Sand novel, Coeur de Lion, and an untitled play) but most of the pieces are a few pages in length and many were written in Wolfit's youth. Other works by Wolfit can be found in Series I, II and V.

box-folder
b 25.9 Acting profession, rigors and rewards of, speech re, [1954]
 
b 25.10 "The Actor-Manager," lecture, 1958
 
b 25.11 "The Actor Managers and After," essay, nd
 
b 25.12-13 Canadian drama, lecture re, 1932
 
b 25.14 " "The City Barge" and Others," nd
 
b 26.1 Coeur de Lion, dramatization of novel, [1928 or 1929]
 
b 26.2 Copenhagen, speech given in, nd
 
b 26.3 "The Cuckoo Clock," nd
 
b 26.4 "David Garrick," speech, nd
 
b 26.5 "Donald Wolfit Discusses the Biography of His Elizabethan Predecessor Edward Alleyn," book review, 1952
 
b 26.6 "Edmund Kean," speech, nd
 
b 26.7 "Episode," poem, 1925
 
b 26.8 "The Exhibition of Dutch Painting," nd
 
b 26.9 "Forty-Five Miles from London," nd
 
b 26.10 "The Garrick Club," speech, nd
 
b 26.11 "Great Actors," speech, nd
 
b 26.12 "I Am Afeard of Death I Know Not Why," poem, nd
 
b 26.13 "I Must Go Down to the Vale of Kent," poem, nd
 
b 26.14 "In Ruined Carthage Slumbering by the Sea," 1934
 
b 26.15 "In the Rhododendron Walk," 1934
 
b 26.16 "Laughing Eyes Go Down the Street," poem, 1925
 
b 26.17 "The Modern Pied Piper," nd
 
b 26.18 "My Uncle Frederick," 1932
 
b 26.19 Notes for a play, nd
 
b 26.20 "Oi Dunno," poem, 1922
 
b 26.21 "The Pilgrim Way," 1929
Shakespeare
box-folder
b 26.22 "All the world's a stage," speech re the veracity of, [1957]
 
b 26.23 Assorted notes about, nd
 
b 26.24 "The First Quarto Hamlet, "essay, nd
 
b 26.25 Greatest experiences in performing the works of, speech? re, [1962]
 
b 26.26 Hamlet, review of Kenneth Tynan production of, 1948
 
b 26.27 Life and works of, speech re, [1964]
 
b 26.28 Othello, lecture and notes re, nd
 
b 26.29 "Song of the Tramp," poem, 1925
 
b 26.30 "Thoughts on November 11," poem, nd
 
b 26.31 "Two Trees," 1929
 
b 26.32 "Zummer Is A-Cummin In," nd
 
b 26.33 Untitled play, nd


Series IV. Miscellaneous, 1803-1983 
(2 boxes)

This series contains memorabilia, items of historical interest collected by Wolfit, and items of a personal nature. Notable items are a journal of lodgings peppered with comments about the quality of the accommodations, and a small amount of publicity materials relating to Wolfit's sponsorship of two British theater companies.

Actors
box-folder
b 26.34 Photographs of, 1893-1963, nd
 
b 26.35 Reproductions of portraits by Charles Buchel, ca. 1900?
 
ob 31 Scrapbook of clippings about, [1916-19]
 
ob 36.5 Beach scene in Europe?, watercolor sketch of, nd
 
b 26.36 Journal of lodgings/address book, 1920-32
 
ff 33 Lyceum Theatre, reproductions of 1901 architectural plans, nd
 
b 26.37 Photograph of flowers for a funeral?, 1979?
Prints
box-folder
ob 36.6 Cromwell, Oliver, his daughter Frances, and Jeremiah White, 1803
 
ff 15-18 Figures in 16th?-century dress, 1861
 
ob 36.7 "De Reguliers-Poort van binnen en van buiten," nd
 
ff 19 "The School Yard," 1844
 
b 26.38; ff 20, 29 Programs and playbill, 1864-1958, nd
 
b 26.39 The Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson Theatre Collection, brochure, 1983?
 
b 27.1-2 Souvenir menus, 1952-67
Sponsorship of others
box-folder
b 27.3 The Southsea Actors, brochure, flier, and clipping, 1947-52
 
b 27.4 The Theatre Centre, program, 1954
 
b 27.5 Swift Cottage photographs and stationery, 1955, nd
 
b 27.6 Webb-Johnson, Alfred Edward, funeral program, 1958
 
b 27.7 The William Poel Memorial Prize, leaflet, 1952
Wolfit, Donald, portraits of
box-folder
ff 21 By Henry Hoyland, nd
 
ob 36.8 By Sheila Jackson, 1943-46, nd


Series V. Works by Other Authors, 1937-72 
(2 boxes)

This series contains works about Wolfit and works which were sent to him by his correspondents. The small amount of working papers for the Harwood biography includes transcriptions and photocopies of originals which are not found elsewhere in the collection. Also of note are George W. Y. Porter's unpublished biography of Wolfit, five short pieces by Rosabel Watson, and two pamphlets about Edward Gordon Craig.

box-folder
b 27.8 Grossman, Harvey, "Gordon Craig and the Actor," 1953
Harwood, Ronald, Sir Donald Wolfit C.B.E.: His Life and Work in the Unfashionable Theatre, 1971
box-folder
b 27.9 Assorted notes, 1968, nd
 
b 27.10 Book reviews and other press notices, 1971-72
 
b 27.11 Editor's comments, nd
 
b 27.12 Foreword, drafts of, nd
 
b 27.13 Great actors, research file re, nd
 
b 27.14 Letters, 1972, nd
Transcriptions and photocopies
box-folder
b 27.15 Leaflet, 1941
Letters
box-folder
b 27.16 Outgoing, 1943-68, nd
 
b 27.17 Incoming, 1968
 
ff 22 Record of plays performed, 1951
 
b 27.18 Wolfit, Donald, "A Week in the Life of an Actor," memoir, [1965 or 1966]
 
b 27.19 Iden, Rosalind, toast to Wolfit, nd
 
b 27.20 King, John, "Our English Shakspere" [sic], copy of 1876 essay, nd
Porter, George W. Y., unpublished biography of Wolfit, [1949]
box-folder
b 28.1-2 Typescript of chap. 1-25
 
b 28.3 Typescript of chap. 21-25 and end matter
 
b 28.4 Empty binder
 
b 28.5 Shaw, George Bernard, Cymbeline Refinished, and letter, 1937, 1946
 
b 28.6 Valogne, Catherine, Gordon Craig, 1953
Watson, Rosabel
box-folder
b 28.7 Earl of Shaftesbury, essay re, nd
 
b 28.8 "More Memories," [1957]
 
b 28.9 Music and Shakespeare, lecture re, nd
 
b 28.10 "Some Memories of My Life in Music and the Theatre," [1953]
 
b 28.11 "What You Will, or A New Way to Stage Old Plays," nd
 
b 28.12 Williams, Stephen, Malvolio, 1946
 
b 28.13 [Unidentified author], "The Kiwi," nd


Donald Wolfit Papers--Index of Correspondents

Recipients of letters from Wolfit are indicated with the notation "from Wolfit." When letters by and to an author are in the same folder, as in a subject file, the entry is marked "incoming and from Wolfit." Occasionally a letter is filed with another letter, as in a note and its reply. The location of the reply is indicated as "filed with [name]."