Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Keith, Slim, 1917-1990.
2. Robbins Rights Trust. dnr
3. Oral history archive.

Found in

1. Jerome Robbins Collection

Description

1. 2 sound discs (ca. 87 min.) : digital; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

1. Disc 1 (ca. 27 min.) Recorded on Apr. 7, 1975. Jerome Robbins speaks about his early life, particularly his relationship with his father, Harry Robbins [b. Herschel Rabinowitz]. He begins by explaining the source of his middle name, Wilson, and discussing his family's ethnic and national origins, and the age gap between himself and his older sister. Recalling early memories of physical contact with his father, Robbins speaks about the onset of alienation in their relationship. Next, he speaks about a trip to Europe when he was six years old, during which he spent a summer living in the shtetl of Rozhanka, home of his grandparents; he describes his recollections of people in the town, his activities, and his departure. Discussing his early life in Jersey City, N.J., he tells a story about a practical joke his father played on him, when he dressed as Santa Claus and threatened to take away Robbins's train set. He speaks about his father's sense of humor, giving examples of his jokes, and discusses their current relationship and his desire for greater intimacy between them. He recalls an experience as a small child when he witnessed his parents having sex, and how this influenced his ideas about sex. He speaks about how his father was not involved in his Jewish education or in teaching him practical skills. He discusses his attempts to communicate with his father about their relationship.
2. Disc 2 (ca. 60 min.) Recorded on Mar. 7, 1975. Jerome Robbins speaks to Slim [Nancy] Keith, primarily about Robbins's father, Harry Robbins [b. Herschel Rabinowitz]. The recording begins abruptly, and the first 2 min. contain extraneous conversation before the speakers address the main topic of the recording. Robbins asks his friend Slim Keith to speak about her impressions of and relationship with his father. Keith describes how she first met Harry when Jerome Robbins was ill in the hospital [with hepatitis, in the mid-1950s]; her affection for Harry and her impressions of his humor, charm and vulnerability; the difference between Robbins's father and her own; her belief that Harry was deeply insecure, frightened and confused. Keith tells Robbins that his father was proud of him but never fully understood his career, and that the gap in their intellect and education created distance between them. Keith and Robbins discuss the relationship between Robbins's parents, Robbins's feeling that Harry was "never a father to him," and why Harry was more charming to strangers than to his family. They discuss an audio tape that Robbins made for Keith while he was in the hospital. Keith speaks about her own experiences as a parent. Robbins talks about how his father was shaped by growing up in a shtetl in Russia, how he escaped and emigrated, and his arrival in New York, early jobs, and how he began to abandon his Orthodox Jewish upbringing. Robbins speaks about his difficulty overcoming habits of frugality. He and Keith discuss their own relationship [which began when Slim was married to Leland Hayward, Robbins's agent], the influence that Keith had on Robbins and her observations on his growth and development. Keith praises Robbins's exceptional qualities and the joy he brings to people, and speaks about her feelings about his ballets Watermill and Dances at a gathering. They speak about Dr. Shervert Frazier, a psychoanalyst, and the influence he has had on them and members of their circle. Robbins discusses his feelings about his Jewish identity and his feeling that assimilation has resulted in loss of cultural heritage; his reading of the book The ordeal of civility [by John Murray Cuddihy]; his conflicted feelings about being Jewish and his desire to reconnect with and celebrate his Jewish identity, his feelings about changing his surname. Finally, Robbins tells Keith about his desire to make a theatrical work about his father, to be called Rabinowitz by Robbins, Robbins by Rabinowitz [eventually it was titled Poppa piece]. The recording ends abruptly.

Alternative title

1. Jerome Robbins Collection. Audio materials.

Subject

1. Jews > Identity
2. Robbins, Jerome > Family
3. Keith, Slim, 1917-1990 > Family
4. Keith, Slim, 1917-1990 > Friends and associates
5. Robbins, Jerome > Friends and associates
6. Audiotapes > Keith, S
7. Audiotapes > Robbins, J

Call number

1. *MGZTL 4-2723 JRC

Note

1. Jerome Robbins speaks about his father. This is one of a group of recordings made by Robbins in the mid-1970s, in the initial stages of planning his autobiographical theater work Poppa piece. These "audio notebooks" contain reminiscences which he recorded as part of his development of this work.
2. Sound quality is good, except on the last 10 min. of disc 1, which has a buzz. The second disc begins and ends abruptly.
3. Title on original container: Poppa piece: Slim March.

Access (note)

1. Permission required.

Funding (note)

1. Preservation was funded by the Jerome Robbins Foundation.

Source (note)

1. Robbins Rights Trust

Biography (note)

1. Poppa piece was an autobiographical theater work created by Jerome Robbins, incorporating music, dance and dialogue. Planned and developed over many years, Poppa piece was rehearsed in workshops at the Lincoln Center Theater in 1991, but was never produced.

Linking entry (note)

1. Forms part of: Jerome Robbins Collection. Audio materials.

Author

1. Robbins, Jerome.

Title

1. Poppa piece [sound recording] : / [conversation with Slim Keith].

Imprint

1. 1975.

Access

1. Permission required.

Original version

1. Original format: 1 sound cassette (ca. 87 min.; 1 7/8 in. per sec.; 2 channels) originally recorded 1975.

Funding

1. Preservation was funded by the Jerome Robbins Foundation.

Biography

1. Poppa piece was an autobiographical theater work created by Jerome Robbins, incorporating music, dance and dialogue. Planned and developed over many years, Poppa piece was rehearsed in workshops at the Lincoln Center Theater in 1991, but was never produced.

Linking entry

1. Forms part of: Jerome Robbins Collection. Audio materials.

Local note

1. Archive original: *MGZTCO 3-2723 JRC

Source

1. Gift; Robbins Rights Trust, 2009. NN-PD

Added author

1. Keith, Slim, 1917-1990.
2. Robbins Rights Trust. Donor
3. Oral history archive.

Added title

1. Jerome Robbins Collection. Audio materials.

Found in:

1. Jerome Robbins Collection

Research call number

1. *MGZTL 4-2723 JRC