Search

This unique manuscript was created by A. Persinger, a barber at the Bungalow barber shop in Fredonia KS, in the 1930s. It served as an archive of cut and pasted comic strips (primarily Roy Crane's influential adventure comic, "Wash Tubbs"), a daily diary and sketchbook for Mr. Persinger, and an autograph and sketch book for his clients. Mr. Persinger's hand can be seen throughout the book, both metaphorically in its overall construction and literally in his distinctive writing style and original drawings. The content spans 10 years, during all of which time the book was kept in the Bungalow.

Correspondence, manuscripts, playscripts, screenplays, diaries, documents, contracts, financial records, photographs, phonograph records, motion pictures, playbills, posters, sheet music, cartoons, art work, memorabilia, scrapbooks, and printed materials. . The collection consists chiefly of correspondence and production files relating to the creation, production, and performance of their works for stage, screen, radio, and television, such as Leave It To Me and Kiss Me Kate (with music by Cole Porter), Boy Meets Girl, and My Three Angels. Correspondence (with twentieth century authors, playwrights, musicians, political figures, and actors) includes: George Abbott, Jean Arthur, Bennett Cerf, Katharine Cornell, Jo Davidson, George and Ira Gershwin, Alec Guinness, W. Averell Harriman, Lilli Lehmann, Mary Martin, Laurence Olivier, Mary Pickford, Cole Porter, Regina Resnick, Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert E. Sherwood, Lincoln Steffens, Kurt Weill, Rebecca West, and Thornton Wilder. There is also correspondence concerning Bella Spewack's work with the New York Girls' Scholarship, UNRA, and the Sports Center of Israel. In addition to the production files, there are manuscripts and typescript drafts for novels, short stories, and articles by the Spewacks.