1 streaming audio file (approximately 30 minutes): digital
Summary
Streaming audio file (approximately 30 minutes). Martin Schecter introduces the program and his guests, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn reminisce about their first meeting; St. Denis speaks about her hopes to sell the recording she made of her autobiography Ruth St. Denis, an unfinished life (c. 1939); Shawn and St. Denis speak about how much they always talked to each other; Shawn speaks about the revival of his work Kinetic molpai; St. Denis and Shawn speak about how Ted Shawn and his men dancers raised the status of male dancing; St. Denis's dance Incense, in particular the costume; Shawn tells anecdotes about St. Denis's navel; St. Denis's speaks about seeing Isadora Duncan dance and how this experience inspired the synchronic orchestra; she comments on an anecdote told about her and a post-performance party [ends abruptly].
Interview with Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn at an informal press conference at Jacob's Pillow (Lee, Massachusetts) on the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary, moderated by Martin Schecter, as host. Recorded on August 11, 1964 and broadcast by radio station WBRK, Pittsfield, Mass., on its series Personalities in the Berkshires. At times, at least one other person can be heard.
The sound quality is fair. The recording is marred by extraneous noise and at times one speaker talks over another. However, the speakers' voices are almost always clear and intelligible.
The processing and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Access (note)
Access only on site at the research libraries of The New York Public Library.
Author
St. Denis, Ruth, 1880-1968, interviewee.
Title
Golden wedding anniversary interview : Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn.
Imprint
1964.
Type of content
spoken word
Type of medium
audio
Type of carrier
online resource
Digital file characteristics
audio file
Event
Recorded for radio station WBRK, Pittsfield (Mass.) for its series Personalities in the Berkshires August 11, 1964 Lee (Mass.)
Restricted access
Access only on site at the research libraries of The New York Public Library.
Original version
Original format: one sound reel (approximately 30 minutes); acetate, half-track, 3.75 ips; 7 in.; transferred to wav file and streaming file format in 2015: myd_mgzto7300_v01f01_sc.
Local note
Former call number: *MGZTC 3-300
Former call number: *MGZT 7-300
Local note
Archival original: *MGZTO 7-300; 3 3/4 in. per sec.; 7 in. reel; acetate, half track. Restored nd rehoused in 2015 following water damage.
Dubbing master: *MGZTD 10-300; 7 1/2 in. per sec.; 10 in. reel; polyester.
Preservation funded by the National Initiative to Preserve American Dance.