Research Catalog

Title

Judith Malina diaries, 1947-1959.

Author

Malina, Judith, 1926-2015.

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

• 3 reels.
• 2.6 linear feet (in 7 boxes).

Subjects

• Goodman, Paul, 1911-1972
• Beck, Julian, 1925-1985
• Actors
• Pacifists > United States > 20th century
• Schwartz, Lester
• Campbell, Joseph, 1904-
• Peace movements > United States > History > 20th century
• Diaries
• Smith, Philip
• Living Theatre (New York, N.Y.)
• Cunningham, Merce
• Agee, James, 1909-1955
• Cage, John
• Malina, Judith, 1926-2015
• Experimental theater > New York (State) > New York
• Hovhaness, Alan, 1911-2000
• Day, Dorothy, 1897-1980
• Harrison, Lou, 1917-2003
• Edelman, Richard
• Theatrical producers and directors

Genre/Form

Diaries.

Access (note)

• Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.
• Researchers must use the microfilm copy. Original diaries are restricted.

Additional Formats (note)

• Collection available on microfilm;

Source (note)

• Judith Malina

Biography (note)

• Judith Malina, director, producer, poet, and actress, was born in Kiel, Germany, and emigrated to New York before World War II.

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

• Finding aid available in repository and on Internet.

Processing Action (note)

• Processed

Call Number

*ZC-312

OCLC

NYPW94-A472

Author

Malina, Judith, 1926-2015.

Title

Judith Malina diaries, 1947-1959.

Restricted Access

Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.

Access

Researchers must use the microfilm copy. Original diaries are restricted.

Summary

The diaries of Judith Malina include personal reflections, a history of many aspects of The Living Theatre, and a view of the avant-garde cultural life of New York in the 1940s and 1950s. Malina documents her own struggles as a young woman and artist and also the struggle, together with Julian Beck, to create The Living Theatre. Among their contemporaries and collaborators were James Agee, John Cage, Joseph Campbell, Merce Cunningham, Dorothy Day, Richard Edelman, Paul Goodman, Lou Harrison, Alan Hovhaness, Lester Schwartz and Philip Smith. Malina discusses her work on various productions including: THE AGE OF ANXIETY, DR. FAUSTUS LIGHTS THE LIGHTS, THE IDIOT KING, PHEDRE, AND TONIGHT WE IMPROVISE. Personally, Malina discusses her relationships, her family, her views of the world of the 1950s, and her commitment to pacifism. Her involvement as a pacifist, and her imprisonment with Dorothy Day and others, is described in some detail. The final years of the diary (Feb. 1956-June 1959) are incomplete. They relate to the search for and renovation of the 14th Street theater, which opened in 1959. These entries are written by several people who are not identified.

Additional Formats

Collection available on microfilm; New York Public Library; call number *ZC-312.

Biography

Judith Malina, director, producer, poet, and actress, was born in Kiel, Germany, and emigrated to New York before World War II. In 1948 she was married to the painter Julian Beck, and together they founded The Living Theatre. The Living Theatre had its inaugural season in 1951 at the Cherry Lane Theatre and later moved to a loft on 100th Street. The company, which was dedicated to a non-commercial theater that would be a part of the community and perform the works of contemporary artists, was known in this early period for its productions of works by Pirandello, Brecht, Stein, William Carlos Williams, Paul Goodman, Kenneth Rexroth and others. In 1959, after several years of preparation, The Living Theatre moved to a theater on 14th Street, where they performed until 1963 when failure to pay taxes forced the closure of the theater and the company's subsequent move to Europe.

Indexes

Finding aid available in repository and on Internet.

Publications

Diaries 1947-1957 published in: The Diaries of Judith Malina 1947-1957. New York: Grove Press, 1984.

Connect to:

Finding Aid

Research Call Number

*ZC-312

*T-Mss 1990-001