BEATRICE STRAIGHT PAPERS

Level: Collection
RefNo: BWS
Title: Beatrice Straight Papers
Author: Straight, Beatrice Whitney (1914-2001)
Vol: 5 boxes; approx 100 photographs
Dates: 1924-1968

Description: Collection of letters of the actress Beatrice Straight to her mother Dorothy Elmhirst, with telegrams, press cuttings, and photographs.

Letters mention actors and acting, plays and play productions, and drama education in Seattle, New York, and at Dartington Hall. Other topics include news of friends and family, and travel in Europe, India, and North America.

People mentioned include: Michael Chekhov; Peter Cookson; Blair Cutting; Tamara Daykarhanova and Maria Ouspenskaya; Louis Dolivet; Deirdre Hurst Du Prey; Jed Harris; Edith Isaacs; Andrius Jilinsky; Frederick Ledebur; Richard Odlin; Helen Parkhurst; Basil Rathbone; Nancy Ross; William Saroyan; Uday Shankar; Ralph Steiner; Michael Straight; Whitney and Lady Daphne Straight; Mark Tobey; Orson Welles; and John Hay Whitney.

Letters written during Beatrice Straight's first marriage to Louis Dolivet mention his work as editor of Free World and United Nations magazines, and the campaign in America for a federal United Nations, 1941-1943.

Uday Shankar, Michael Chekhov,
and Beatrice Straight, 1938Theatre organisations include the Chekhov Theatre Studio at Dartington Hall and at Ridgefield, Connecticut. In New York, Beatrice studied with Daykarhanova, and was a director in the 1940s of Theatre Inc, a non-profit co-operative. Letters also mention Beatrice's work producing a children's radio programme for station WMCA in New York City during World War II.

These letters span the early life of Beatrice Straight, from childhood to maturity. In addition there is a collection of playbills, press cuttings, personal memorabilia, and letters of others written to Dorothy Elmhirst about Beatrice.

Found with these letters were over 100 photographs of Beatrice Straight, including family snapshots, formal portraits and film stills. These have been separated to form a Beatrice Straight photograph collection. For more information search the online catalogue reference: BWS.