Collection Summary
Boland,
John
John Boland Collection of Spalding
Gray
1968-2008
Manuscript Collection
MS-05277
1 document box, 2 serial boxes, 1 oversize box, 1 oversize folder (2.18 linear
feet), and 21 electronic files (382 MB)
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
The John Boland Collection of Spalding Gray
contains materials covering much of Gray’s career, consisting primarily of published works,
interviews, reviews, videos, and sound recordings.
English
Scope and Contents
The John Boland Collection of Spalding Gray contains materials covering much of the
actor/writer/performer's career, from a 1968 photograph of Gray in an off-Broadway
production of Tom Paine to a GQ
interview in late 2003 titled "Man Overboard." Additional items in the collection include
short published works, playbills, advertisements and publicity photographs, interviews,
reviews, videos, sound recordings, and books. The collection was created by and donated to
the Harry Ransom Center by John Boland/spaldinggray.com.
Acquisition:
Gift, 2010
(10-12-009-G)
Access:
Open for research.
Researchers
must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before using
archival materials. To request access to electronic files,
please email Reference.
Use Policies:
Ransom Center collections may contain material with sensitive or confidential information
that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers
are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living
individuals represented in the collections without the consent of those individuals may have
legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may
arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed
highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the Ransom Center and The University of
Texas at Austin assume no responsibility.
Restrictions on Use:
Certain restrictions apply to the use of electronic files. Researchers must agree to the
Materials Use Policy for Electronic Files before accessing them. Original computer disks and
forensic disk images are restricted. Copying electronic files, including screenshots and
printouts, is not permitted.
Authorization for publication is given on behalf of the University of Texas as the owner of
the collection and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder
which must be obtained by the researcher. For more information please see the Ransom
Centers' Open Access and Use Policies.
Preferred Citation
John Boland Collection of Spalding Gray (Manuscript Collection MS-05277). Harry Ransom
Center, The University of Texas at
Austin.
Processed by:
Stephen Cooper, 2018
Born digital materials processed, arranged, and described by Brenna Edwards, 2021-2022.
Related Material
Additional Spalding Gray materials at the Ransom Center are located in the Spalding Gray
Papers and the Spalding Gray
Collection.
Separated Material
35 bound volumes, 13 VHS tapes, 10 commercial DVDs, 9 compact dics, 8 cassette tapes, 1
laser disc, and 1 LP record were transferred to the Ransom Center Library and will be
cataloged online in The University of Texas Library Catalog. 3 noncommercial compact dics
and 1 cassette tape were transferred to the Ransom Center Sound Recordings Collection and
will be cataloged online in The University of Texas Library Catalog. Moving image material
including 9 DVDs and 3 VHS tapes were transferred to the Ransom Center Moving Image
Collection. Two gray Spalding headbands were transferred to the Ransom Center’s Personal
Effects Collection. See the index below for a complete list of transferred materials.
Container List
Series I. Works,
1979-2002
2
About Three Places in Rhode Island (The Drama Review, March
1979)
2
Billy’s State of Mind (Show People, Fall
2002)
4
The Dorm: From Fear of Fear, a novel in Progress (Benzene, Spring/Summer
1982, Nos.
5/6)
2
Gray’s Anantomy (The New York Times Magazine, May 17,
1992)
2
Inside Out: The Dalai Lama Interviewed by Spalding Gray (Tricycle, The
Buddhist Review, Fall
1991)
1.1
Monster in a Box, advance proof (Vintage Books, January 1992)
2
Radio Daze (GQ, April
1988)
1.1
Seven Scenes from a Family Album, pamphlet (Benzene Editions,
1981)
2
Striking it Poor in Hollywood (TV Guide,
1987)
2
Swimming to Cambodia (High Times, May
1986)
2
Swimming to Philadelphia, from Swimming to Cambodia (Harper’s, July
1986)
Series II. Career Related,
1968-2000
osf 1
Farmer's Daughters movie poster, undated
osf 1
Gary's Anatomy movie posters (3), 1997
osf 1
Heavy Petting movie poster, undated
osf 1
Kate and Leopold movie poster, 2001
osf 1
King of the Hill movie poster, 1993
osf 1
Love-in ’72 movie poster,
undated
osf 1
Monster in a Box movie posters (2), 1992
1012009G_001
Morning, Noon, and Night recording. 4 electronic files: MP3, 2005
Playbills
1.3
Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, Virginia Theatre, Sept. 2000. Signed by
cast.
1.2
Gray’s Anatomy, Lincoln Center Theater, Nov. 1993; Jan. 1994
1.3
Monster in a Box, Lincoln Center Theater, Dec. 1990; Jan. 1991; May 1991
1.3
Morning, Noon, and Night, Lincoln Center, Dec. 1999
1.2
Our Town, Lyceum Theatre, Nov. 1998
1.3
Stories Left to Tell, March 2007
1.2
Swimming to Cambodia, Lincoln Center Theater, June 1986
1.4
Publicity photos of Gray for various
productions
3
Photograph of Gray in Tom Paine (Playboy, November
1968)
1012009G_001
Photographs. 8 electronic files: JPG, 2005
1.5
Assorted flyers, promo shots, and playbills for various
productions
1.6
Various Gray-related
items
Series III. Interviews and Reviews,
1985-2008
3
Dancing with the Audience: A conversation with Spalding Gray, actor, writer,
monologist, and connoisseur of neuroses (Dramatics, November
1991)
3
Exercising Demons, Spalding Gray mines his past for your amusement (Theater
Week, December 3,
1990)
3
Gray’s Anatomy (Theater Week, December 20,
1993)
1012009G_001
Gray Matters (The Village Voice). 1 electronic file: Microsoft Word, 2005
3
The guy came off the TV and he’s talking to me: Bill Irwin, Spalding Gray,
and Eric Bogosian at The Studies Project (High Performance, Issue 34
1986)
1012009G_001
Inside Out: The Dali Lama Interviewed by Spalding Gray (Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Fall 1991).
1 electronic file: Microsoft Word, 2005
1012009G_001
Life, Interrupted (Salon.com, 2004). 1 electronic file: Microsoft Word, 2005
4
Man interrupted: tracing Spalding Gray’s black spot (Sunday Independent,
August 1, 2010)
3
Man Overboard (GQ, October
2003)
1012009G_001
Man Overboard. 1 electronic file: Microsoft Word, 2005
3
Memory Man: But enough about you, Spalding Gray has himself to spiel about
(The Face, March
1987)
3
Monologues in the Making: A report on the extraordinary Spalding Gray
(February
1986)
3
The Mystery of Doubt (Tricycle, The Buddhist Review, Winter
1996)
3
Nuts in Bali (Frieze, International Art Magazine, March/April
1993)
3
Shades of Gray (The Observer Magazine, December 26,
2004)
1012009G_001
Shades of Gray (The Observer, December 26, 2004). 1 electronic file: Microsoft Word, 2005
1012009G_001
Spalding Gray 1941-2004: Remembering an artist who relied mostly on his own story
(The Village Voice). 1 electronic file: Microsoft Word, 2005
3
Spalding Gray (Alive, The New Performance Magazine, Nov./Dec.
1982)
4
Spalding Gray confirmed dead (The Globe and Mail, March 9, 2004)
4
Spalding Gray is ‘in the bricks and our bones’: Actors and writers flock to
pay tribute to the U. S. monologist (The Globe and Mail, April 15, 2004)
1012009G_001
Spalding Gray Interview, Writers And Company (CBC, June 29, 1993). 1 electronic file: MP3, 2005
3
Spalding Gray’s Last Interview (PAJ, A Journal of Performance and Art, Jan.
2008)
1012009G_001
Spalding Gray tells all! Monologist talks of recent triumphs, pain (Harvard Gazette Archives).
1 electronic file: Microsoft Word, 2005
3
Spalding Gray: Traveling Through New England, Swimming to Cambodia (High
Performance, Issue 29
1985)
4
Spalding Gray’s words—and neuroses—come alive again (The Globe and Mail,
March 12,
2007)
3
Vanishing Act (New York, February 2,
2004)
1012009G_001
Vanishing Act (New York Magazine, February 2, 2004). 1 electronic file: Microsoft Word, 2005
Transferred Materials
- Books
- Bonney, Jo, editor. Extreme Exposure: An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from
the Twentieth Century (2000)
- Demastes, William W., editor. Spalding Gray’s America (2008)
- Dyja, Thomas. Life-Changing Stories of Coming of Age (2001)
- Gray, Spalding. Gray’s Anatomy (1994)
- Gray, Spalding. Impossible Vacation (1992), 3 copies
- Gray, Spalding. Impossible Vacation (1993)
- Gray, Spalding. In Search of Monkey Girl (1982), 3 copies
- Gray, Spalding. It’s a Slippery Slope (1997), 2 copies
- Gray, Spalding. It’s a Slippery Slope (1997), uncorrected proof
- Gray, Spalding. Life Interrupted, The Unfinished Monologue (2005)
- Gray, Spalding. Life Interrupted, The Unfinished Monologue (2005), uncorrected
proof
- Gray, Spalding. Morning, Noon, and Night (1999, 2000), 2 copies
- Gray, Spalding. Sex and Death to the Age 14 (1986), 2 copies, 1 signed by
author
- Gray, Spalding. Swimming to Cambodia (2005)
- Gray, Spalding. Swimming to Cambodia (1987), first British edition
- Gray, Spalding. Swimming to Cambodia (1985), 2 copies signed by author
- Greene, Jessica. The Grit Cookbook (2003)
- Harmon, James, editor. Take My Advice: Letters to the Next Generation from People
Who Know a Thing or Two (2002)
- Lecesne, James. My First Car (1993)
- Marowski, Daniel G. and Sean R. Pollock, editors. Contemporary Literary Criticism,
CLC 49 (1988)
- Morgan, Tom, editor. A Simple Monk: Writings on His Holiness the Dalai Lama
(2001)
- Orchards, Seven Stories by Anton Chekov and Seven Plays They Have Inspired
(1986)
- Savran, David. Breaking the Rules: The Wooster Group (1986), 2 copies
- Shengold, Nina and Eric Lane, editors. Moving Parts: Monologues from Contemporary
Plays (1992)
- Shewey, Don. Caught in the Act (1986)
- Smith, Jimmy Neil, editor. Homespun: Tales from America’s Favorite Storytellers
(1988)
- Moving Image
- Bad Company, DVD (Touchstone Home Entertainment undated) 2 copies
- Beyond Rangoon, VHS (Castle Rock Entertainment 1995)
- Bliss, DVD (Columbia Tristar 2003)
- Bliss, VHS (Triumph Films 1997)
- Brother’s Keeper, DVD (Docurama 2003)
- Coming Soon, DVD (Image Entertainment 2000)
- The Farmer’s Daughters XXX, copied VHS, undated
- Glory Daze, DVD (Columbia Tristar 2003)
- Gray’s Anatomy, VHS (Fox Lorber 1997)
- Gray’s Anatomy, DVD (Wellspring 2002)
- Hard Choices, VHS (Karl Lorimar 1984)
- Heavy Petting, VHS (Academy Entertainment undated)
- How High, DVD (Universal 2002)
- Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks, DVD (Mount Everest Enterprises 2000)
- Julie Johnson, DVD (Genius Entertainment 2006)
- The Killing Fields, VHS (Warner Home Video 1986)
- King of the Hill, VHS (Universal City Studios 1993) 2 copies
- Love-In ‘72, copied DVD
- Monster in a Box, VHS (New Line Home Video 1992)
- The Nanny, seasons 4 and 5, 6 copied DVD-Rs
- Revolution #9, DVD (Wellspring Media 2003)
- Spalding Gray/ Kelvin Christopher, VHS (Visual Education Centre undated)
- Spenser: For Hire, I Confess episode, 1987, copied DVD-R
- Stars and Bars, VHS (Columbia Pictures 1988)
- Swimming to Cambodia, laser disc, 1995
- Swimming to Cambodia, VHS (Lorimar Home Video 1987)
- Terrors of Pleasure and other titles, copied DVD-R, 1987-1999
- Thorton Wilder’s Our Town 1989, VHS (MasterVision 1989)
- Twenty Bucks, VHS (Columbia Tristar Home Video 1993)
- Unlabeled VHS tape, undated
- Variety, VHS (Media Home Entertainment 1987)
- Sound Recordings
- Blue Man Group, CD-R (Lava Records 2003)
- Bob Egan, The Glorious Decline, CD-R (Universal Music Canada 2006)
- Emily Arin, Patch of Land, CD-R (2011) 2 copies
- First Words, CD-R (Gang of Seven 1992)
- It’s a Slippery Slope, cassette (Mercury Records, undated) for promotional use
only
- It’s a Slippery Slope, cassette (Mercury Records 1998)
- It’s a Slippery Slope, CD-R (Mercury Records 1998)
- It’s a Slippery Slope, copied CD-R, undated
- Life Interrupted, CD-R (Audio Renaissance 2006) 2 copies
- Monster in a Box, CD-R two disc set (Gang of Seven 1992) 2 copies
- Monster in a Box, 2 cassette set (Gang of Seven 1992)
- Morning, Noon, and Night, 2 cassette set (Dove Audio 1999) 2 sets
- Sex and Death to the Age of 14, CD-R, 2 disc set, undated
- State of the Union, LP (Zoar Records 1982)
- State of the Union, CD-R (MuWorks Records 1983)
- Tellus #18, Experimental Theater, cassette, 1987
- Terrors of Pleasure, cassette (Gang of Seven 1992)
- Terrors of Pleasure, cassette (Audio Literature Live 1996), 2 copies
- Terrors of Pleasure, CD-R (Gang of Seven 1992)
- Personal Effects
- 2 grey Spalding sweatbands