Sidney Coe Howard papers, 1903-1980, bulk 1903-1939
Online content
Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Howard, Sidney Coe
- Abstract:
- The Sidney Coe Howard papers including correspondence, plays, short stories, articles, scripts, notes, notebooks, transcripts of diary entries, biographical material, contracts, financial records, clippings and family papers.
- Extent:
- 29 cartons, 1 oversize box, 1 cardfile box, 3 oversize folders (38 linear feet) 2 digital objects (2 images)
- Language:
- Collection materials are in English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Sidney Coe Howard papers, BANC MSS 70/185 z, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Sidney Coe Howard papers contain correspondence, plays, short stories, articles, scripts, notes, notebooks, biographical material, contracts and clippings, among other materials, that document the illustrious life and career of this Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winning playwright and screenwriter. Highlights of the collection include correspondence with individuals such as Samuel Goldwyn, Helen Hayes, Willa Cather and Kurt Weill, and drafts of many of Howard's well-known plays and scripts.
The collection also includes the papers of Howard's wife, Leopoldine (Polly) Damrosch Howard, some of which relate to her father, Walter Damrosch, and those of his parents and other members of the Howard family.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Sidney Coe Howard, playwright, was born in Oakland, California, June 26, 1891, the son of John Lawrence and Helen (Coe) Howard. He attended public schools in Oakland and graduated from the University of California in 1915. As an undergraduate he already displayed an interest in the theater, collaborating with Frederick Faust (who later achieved fame under the pseudonym "Max Brand") in writing the junior farce and the senior extravaganza. For Leonard Bacon's poetry seminar he wrote "Sons of Spain," a blank verse tragedy which was produced in the Forest Theatre in Carmel, California, in 1914. From Berkeley Howard went to Harvard to attend Professor George Pierce Baker's famous "47 Workshop" in playwriting.
During World War I he volunteered his services as an ambulance driver, serving in France and the Balkans. After U.S. entry into the war he enlisted in the air service and was on active duty as a flyer at the French front. On his return to the United States he settled in New York City and joined the staff of Life, eventually becoming a literary editor. As a free-lance reporter, he also wrote a number of articles on current issues which appeared in The Survey, Collier's and The New Republic, and short stories as well.
While holding down these jobs he also found time to work on plays, the first of which to appear on Broadway was Swords (1921), a melodrama in verse. For the next two seasons Howard devoted himself to translations and adaptations of foreign plays, and to a collaboration with Edward Sheldon on Bewitched, which won him increased recognition in the theater world. His first big success came in 1924 when the Theatre Guild produced They Knew What They Wanted which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. 1926 became his most successful year with two plays, Ned McCobb's Daughter and The Silver Cord winning popular acclaim. Hardly a year followed in which his name did not appear on a play as author or adaptor.
From 1929 onward he did much work also as a screen writer, and, until his death, divided his time between the stage and the screen. His list of scenario credits includes such successes as Bulldog Drummond, Arrowsmith, which won an Academy Award in 1931, Dodsworth, and Gone With the Wind, for which he was posthumously given an Academy Award in 1940.
A strong spokesman for the profession, he was elected president of the Dramatists' Guild of the Authors' League of America in 1935, serving in the crucial years when a new basic agreement was hammered out between playwrights and producers. In 1938 he, in partnership with Maxwell Anderson, S. N. Behrman, Elmer Rice and Robert E. Sherwood, formed the Playwrights' Company, pooling their dramatic and financial resources to produce their own plays independently.
He was married twice: in 1922 to Clare Eames, actress, niece of Emma Eames, the opera singer, and in 1931 to Leopoldine (Polly) Damrosch, the daughter of Walter Damrosch.
His life was cut short on August 23, 1939, by a tragic accident when a tractor crushed him against the side of a barn on his farm in Tyringham, Massachusetts. The very morning of his death he had been working on a play based on Carl Van Doren's Benjamin Franklin.
- Acquisition information:
- Donated by Jennifer Goldwyn and Walter D. Howard, 1970-1972.
- Processing information:
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Processed by Mario H. Ramirez and The Bancroft Library staff.
- Accruals:
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No additions are expected.
- Physical location:
- Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
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Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
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All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Sidney Coe Howard papers, BANC MSS 70/185 z, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
- Location of this collection:
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University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481