Research Catalog

Title

Conversation with Charles Ludlam and interviews with George Hall [sound recording].

Author

Ludlam, Charles

Publication

1983.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Sears, David, 1948-1992

Description

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

Summary

• Disc 1, track 1, 11/25/83 (ca. 7:15 min.). David Sears telephones Charles Ludlam; Sears and Ludlam speak about an Al Hirschfeld caricature of Ludlam that had just been published in The New York Times; and preparing a number of Ludlam's scripts for publication. [At ca. 7 min., sound quality deteriorates; the conversation ends abruptly.]
• Disc 1, track 1, 11/25?/83 (ca. 16 min.). 7:15 min. to ca. 23:55 min. is an intervening social call.
• Disc 1, track 1 and track 2, 11/26/83 - 11/28?/83 (ca. 38 min.). At ca. 24 min. into track 1, David Sears telephones George Hall. Hall speaks about how little he is able to recall of his performance as the "boy with the birds" in the premiere of Martha Graham's dance Letter to the world; his former wife, Nelle Fisher; reasons Hall left Graham's company; acting as his first and primary profession; more on the role of the "boy with the birds"; his role as Interlocutor in Graham's dance American document. [Following a very brief second telephone conversation with Hall on Nov. 27, the recording continues with Sears' third telephone call to Hall, probably on Nov. 28.] Hall speaks to the extent he can remember about his performance in Letter to the world [gap]; tells an anecdote about Graham's choreographing of Letter to the world; more on the circumstances of his leaving Graham's company to become associate director of the Dock Street Theater in Charleston, S.C. [ends abruptly].
• Disc 2, 11/28?/83 (ca. 25 min.). George Hall speaks about his becoming a United States citizen; his relatively late dance training, at the Neighborhood Playhouse [School of the Theatre]; describes a photograph of himself, Graham, Sophie Maslow, Merce Cunningham, and Jane Dudley in the premiere of Letter to the world; Graham as a teacher; Louis Horst as a teacher; Hall's admiration for Graham's work; learning and performing his role [as Interlocutor] in American document; Graham's basic principle that one goes to the earth only for the purpose of rising from it; Hall's use of this principle in his student work, Earth primitive [ends abruptly].

Donor/Sponsor

• Oral History Archive.
• Preservation was funded in part with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, 2002-2003.

Subjects

• Graham, Martha
• Graham, Martha > American document
• Ludlam, Charles
• Graham, Martha > Letter to the world
• Audiotapes > Ludlam, C
• Sears, David, 1948-1992
• Audiotapes > Hall, G
• Hall, George, 1916-2002
• Horst, Louis
• Martha Graham Dance Company

Note

• Recording of telephone conversation initiated by David Sears with Charles Ludlam, on Nov. 25, 1983 (ca. 8 min.) and recording of telephone conversations initiated by David Sears with the actor George Hall primarily about his dancing in 1940 in certain works by Martha Graham (ca. 63 min.). The recording also contains a personal telephone conversation between Sears and an unidentified man, recorded between the Ludlam and Hall conversations (ca. 16 min.).
• The sound quality overall is good except for the last ca. 15 sec. of the conversation with Ludlam, which is very poor.

Funding (note)

• Preservation was funded in part with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, 2002-2003.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-1547

OCLC

138509630

Author

Ludlam, Charles, interviewee.

Title

Conversation with Charles Ludlam and interviews with George Hall [sound recording].

Imprint

1983.

Funding

Preservation was funded in part with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, 2002-2003.

Local Note

Dubbing master: *MGZTD 4-1547 nos. 1-2

Preservation master: *MGZTP 4-1547 nos. 1-2

Archive original: *MGZTCO 3 -1547 nos. 1-2

Local Subject

Audiotapes -- Hall, G.

Audiotapes -- Ludlam, C.

Added Author

Sears, David, 1948-1992, interviewer.

Sears, David, 1948-1992, donor.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-1547 [sound disc]