Jack Sydow Photographs and Papers Collection
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Abstract
This collection contains photographs and documents of Jack Sydow - actor, director, playwright, and professor. The items in the collection span the majority of Sydow's life, with a concentration on his time serving in the military during World War II and acting in the soldier show Hump Happy, and on his later theater career.
Biographical Note
Jack Sydow – actor, director, playwright, and professor – was born John David Sydow in Rockford, Illinois, 1921. Sydow served in the military in World War II with the Air Transport Command. While stationed in Assam, India, Sydow and fellow ATC enlisted men created a variety show Hump Happy, named for the range of mountains separating India and China referred to as "The Hump." The show featured Sydow dressed as a woman in a delayed-peel act and as one of the singing Andrew's Sisters. Hump Happy traveled to military bases in India, the Middle East, and Africa, becoming the first soldier show to travel across combat areas.
Sydow graduated from the University of Illinois and received his master's from Yale School of Drama. He continued to work in theater as an actor, director, and playwright throughout his life, receiving an Obie award for a theatrical adaptation in 1958 and a Tony award nomination for directing in 1966. From 1970 to 1986, Sydow was on the University of Washington School of Drama faculty, where he served as executive director and head of the directing program.
After retiring from the University of Washington, Sydow moved to Los Angeles where he continued to act both on the stage and in television. Sydow passed away in Los Angeles in 2010 at the age of 88.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in two series.
Series I: World War II, includes photographs and documents from Sydow's life while enlisted.
Series II: Life and career, includes photographs and documents from Sydow's life and career outside the military.
Scope and Content Note
This collection of photographs, correspondence, and documents spans the majority of Jack Sydow's life. The bulk of the collection is from 1942-1945 when Sydow was serving in the military in World War II and acting in the traveling soldier show Hump Happy. The WWII portion of the collection contains letters Sydow wrote to his family, photographs, articles, and other documents relating to Sydow's travels and shows. The rest of the collection spans Sydow's adult life with a heavy focus on his theater career, and includes personal and stage photographs, play ephemera, and song books.
Access Restrictions
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as: Jack Sydow papers, PR 289, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Provenance
Donated to the New-York Historical Society by J. Riley Caldwell-O'Keefe, PhD in 2012.
References
About this Guide
Repository
Series I: World War II, 1942-1945, undated
Language of Materials
Subseries I.1: Photographs
Arrangement
Photographs have been arranged by subject into photographs of shows Sydow was involved in and photographs of travel and military life during his enlistment. Within the subject areas, photographs are arranged primarily by size. The numbers on the backs of each photograph correspond to an inventory created by Dr. J. Riley Caldwell-O'Keefe and are not indicative of original order.
Military and travel photographs, ca. 1942-1945
Military and travel photographs, ca. 1942-1945
Show photographs, ca. 1943-1945
Scope and Contents
Shows include Hump Happy and Who Was That Lady, possibly others.
Subseries I.2: Correspondence
Sydow to his family, 1942
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Sydow to his family, 1943 January-June 3
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Sydow to his family, 1943 June 24-July
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Sydow to his family, 1943 August-December
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Sydow to his family, 1944 January-May
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Sydow to his family, 1944 June-December
Sydow to his family, 1945 January-June
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Sydow to his family, 1945 July-December
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Subseries I.3: Documents
Newspaper clippings, 1944-1945, undated
Language of Materials
Scope and Content Note
Contains clippings about Hump Happy, obituaries for soldiers, and a French paper.
Show documents and ephemera, 1943-1945, undated
Scope and Content Note
Includes posters, fliers, handwritten lyrics, a newsletter, and a letter from Anita Loos.
City guides and army badges, undated
Language of Materials
Scope and Content Note
Contains city guides to Madras and Calcutta published for U.S. soldiers and Sydow's army badges, including the China Burma India insignia.
Magazines, 1944
Scope and Content Note
Contains multiple copies of Collier's from Nov. 18, 1944 andYank from Feb. 11, 1944. Magazines contain articles about Hump Happy.
Series II: Life and career, 1933-2001, undated
Language of Materials
Subseries II.1: Photographs
Language of Materials
Scope and Contents
Although the majority of the photographs are undated, they appear to span Sydow's adult life. Photographs of Sydow include professional portraits and personal photographs of Sydow both alone and with friends. Photographs of shows include shows that Sydow acted in as well as shows that Sydow directed.
Arrangement
As the majority of the photographs are undated, they have been arranged by topic (either photographs of Sydow, photographs of shows, or miscellaneous). The photographs of Sydow and of shows have been further divided into black & white and color photographs. Within these divisions photographs are arranged primarily according to size, although an attempt was made to group like photographs together and to arrange them in rough chronological order, based primarily on guesswork.
Sydow - black and white photographs, 1947-52, 1960, undated
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Sydow - black and white photographs, undated
Sydow - black and white photographs, undated
Sydow - black and white photographs, undated
Sydow - color photographs, ca. 1970-1992, undated
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Sydow - color photographs, ca. 1994-2001, undated
Shows - black and white photographs - identified, ca. 1948-1975
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Scope and Content Note
Shows included: Oh, Coward!, Glass Menagerie, The Late Christopher Bean, The Crucible, John Brown's Body, A Touch of the Poet, Once Upon a Mattress, and The Imaginary Invalid.
Shows - black and white photographs - identified, ca. 1970-1971
Scope and Content Note
Photographs and documents from Adding Machine. Originally housed in a photo album.
Shows - black and white photographs - unidentified, undated
Shows - black and white photographs - unidentified, undated
Shows - black and white photographs - unidentified, 1957, undated
Shows - color photographs - identified, ca. 1993
Language of Materials
Scope and Content Note
Photographs from Shadowlands.
Shows - color photographs - unidentified, undated
Other unidentified photographs, 1933, 1943, undated
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Subseries II.2: Documents
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Play ephemera, 1939-1967, undated
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Scope and Content Note
Includes newspaper clippings and playbills.
Miscellaneous documents and drawings, 1942, undated
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Stage plans, 1977
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Scope and Contents
Stage plans for The Matchmaker.