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Guide to the Maxine Finsterwald Papers

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Collection Overview
Date Span: 1928-1983
Creator: Finsterwald, Maxine (1906-)
Extent: 2.50 linear feet.
Collection Number: MSC0427
Repository: University of Iowa Special Collections
Summary: Radio scriptwriter (Kaffee Klatch and Playhouse of the Air among others) and playwright (as Maxine Wood). Correspondence, photographs, clippings, scrapbooks, typescripts, etc.

Alternate Extent Statement: Photographs in Box 1.

Access: This collection is open for research.

Use: Copyright restrictions may apply; please consult Special Collections staff for further information.

Acquisition: These papers were donated to the University of Iowa Libraries by Maxine Finsterwald in 1983.

Preferred Citation: Maxine Finsterwald Papers, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa.

Repository: University of Iowa Special Collections
Address: Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, IA 52242
Phone: 319-335-5921
Curator: Greg Prickman
Email: lib-spec@uiowa.edu
Website: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/

Maxine Finsterwald was born in Marion, Wisconsin, in 1906 and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. She was a graduate of Wellesley College and the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Finsterwald got her start writing for radio while still in Detroit. She wrote, directed, and acted in the Kaffee Klatch and wrote half-hour comedies for Playhouse of the Air. Moving to New York, she wrote for Words at War at NBC. She also wrote plays for the theater, newspaper and magazine features, and medical articles. She was published in everything from the Atlantic Monthly and Seventeen to the Medical Tribune and Radiology News. She wrote her plays using the pen name, Maxine Wood. One of her early plays, Giants in Chains, won the Otto H. Kahn prize in 1928. Another of her works, On Whitman Avenue, addressed race relations. Her works have been performed on and off Broadway as well as in regional theaters.

The papers of Maxine Finsterwald date from 1928 to 1983 and document her literary career. The papers measure 2.5 linear feet and are arranged in four sections: 1) general files; 2) published material; 3) typescripts; and 4) playbills and programs. The general files include such items as correspondence, photographs, and two scrapbooks (one devoted to her play, On Whitman Avenue and one to biographical articles, notices, programs, and reviews). The published materials series is divided into fiction and nonfiction and includes articles on medical subjects as well as short stories and plays. Her typescripts are separated into plays, radio plays, radio shows, speeches, and teleplays. There is also one entire box of playbills and programs from theater performances she attended, unrelated to her own works.

Browse by Series:
Series 1: GENERAL
Series 2: PUBLISHED MATERIAL
Series 3: TYPESCRIPTS
Series 4: PLAYBILLS AND PROGRAMS

  • Series 1: GENERAL
  • Box 1:
  • Correspondence, includes letters from Maurice Browne, Carl Carmer, Albert Kahn, Canada Lee, and Ellery Sedgwick - 1928-1979
  • Resume and notes on published material
  • Photographs
  • Miscellaneous
  • Newspaper clippings
  • Scrapbook, On Whitman Avenue
  • Programs and notices
  • Scrapbook of biographical articles, notices, programs, and reviews
  • Series 2: PUBLISHED MATERIAL
  • Sub-Series: Fiction
  • Box 2:
  • Comfort's Not Everything. Seventeen, May - 1946
  • My Father's Ears. The Sign, August - 1953
  • My Mother Told Me. McCall's Magazine - 1951
  • On Whitman Avenue. Dramatists Play Service. Acting Edition - 1948
    3 copies
  • 1-2-3 and a Glide. Seventeen Magazine
  • A Permit For Wanda Morsky. Seventeen Magazine, March - 1946
  • Raspberry-Down-the-Cellar. Reprinted from The Atlantic Monthly, October - 1935
  • Renascence. The Sign, November - 1951
  • The Rich Mrs. Hoyt. The Sign, March - 1948
  • Sponsor's Daughter. New Liberty, July - 1952
  • Straight From The Heart. McCall's Magazine - 1949
  • The Terror of My Life. Victorian, February - 1953
  • Yankee Bargain. The Sign, October - 1952
  • Sub-Series: Non-fiction
  • Box 2:
  • Blindness - Ability, Not Disability. Public Affairs Pamphlet No. 295, March - 1960
  • Blindness - Ability, Not Disability. Public Affairs Pamphlet No. 295A, February - 1968
  • Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia Tied To Oxygen Toxicity, Respiratory Distress Syndrome. Radiology News, Vol. 6: No. 6, May-June - 1968
  • A Career With a Challenge: Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling of Blind Persons. American Foundation for the Blind - 1959
  • A Career With a Challenge: Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling of Blind Persons. American Foundation for the Blind, n.d.
  • Consumer Protection: Toward Better Labor Standards. Consumers' Guide, March 20 - 1937
  • The Diary of Marian: A Teen-ager - 1956
    edited by Maxine Wood
  • Dissecting Consumers' Dollars. Consumers' Guide, May 17 - 1937
  • Don't Let a Spot Spoil Your Fun... PM, August 2 - 1940
  • Doors of Jackson Memorial Always Open. Medical Tribune, October 10 - 1960
  • Focus on Dr. Henry L. Bockus. Roche Medical Image, Vol. 4, No. 5, December - 1962
  • For PM, Girl Buys Beauty By Mail. PM's Weekly, June 23-August 4 - 1940
  • Grand Opera Indigestion. Park Avenue Social Review
  • The Medical Aspects of Suicide. Medical Tribune, August 27, September 3, September 10, September 17 - 1962
  • Melons Come to Market. Consumers' Guide, Vol. 4, No. 4, April 19 - 1937
  • Misconceptions About Alcoholism Mar Therapeutic Effectiveness - Morris E. Chafetz, M.D. Roche Report: Frontiers of Psychiatry, Vol. 2: No. 6, March 15 - 1972
  • News of Hospital Practice. Medical Tribune, September 25; October 9; October 23; January 8 - 1961; 1962
  • Package Label Deadline Today. Poetry Used in Various Ways in Psychotherapeutic Encounters. Roche Report: Frontiers of Clinical Psychiatry, Vol. 7: No. 7, April 1 - 1970
  • Rayon Comes of Age. Consumers' Guide
  • Rome's Ancient Hospital. Roche Medical Image, Vol. 4: No. 5, December - 1962
  • Total Treatment Programs For Alcoholics Held Effective. Roche Report: Frontiers of Hospital Psychiatry, Vol. 5: No. 5, March 1 - 1968
  • Under the Round Purple Stamp. Consumers' Guide, February 8 - 1937
  • What Kind of Safeguards? Consumers' Guide, April 19 - 1937
  • Women's Lib: What Is It's Impact on Female and Male Psychology? Roche Report: Frontiers of Psychiatry, Vol. 1: No. 11, June 1 - 1971
  • Working Heights For Home Workers. Consumers' Guide, April 11 - 1938
  • Your Glasses Can Be Concealed or Conspicuous. PM's Weekly, August 11 - 1940
  • Series 3: TYPESCRIPTS
  • Sub-Series: Plays
  • Box 3:
  • But It's Harder To Lie In Bed
    includes corrections
  • Checkmates
    carbon
  • A Dowry For My Daughter
    carbon with corrections
  • F.O.B.
    carbon
  • The Fall of Timothy Withers
    carbon
  • From These Shores
    copy
  • Giants in Chains
    carbon with corrections
  • Maid of Honor
    carbon
  • March to Freedom
    copy
  • May Moon
    carbon
  • On Whitman Avenue
    carbon of first draft
  • On Whitman Avenue
    carbon of final draft
  • Road to Victory: A Drama of The War Fronts
    copy
  • Sleeping Lady
    scenario with corrections
  • Sleeping Lady
    final draft with corrections
  • Sleeping Lady
    with corrections
  • The Sparrows
    with corrections
  • Sub-Series: Radio Plays
  • Box 4:
  • The Great Lovers of Broadway
    eight segments with corrections
  • Kaffee Klatch. Pins & Needles
    49 segments with corrections, 3 folders
  • Kaffee Klatch. Pins & Needles
    49 segments with corrections, 3 folders
  • Kaffee Klatch. Pins & Needles
    49 segments with corrections, 3 folders
  • The Ladder Under the Maple Tree. Carbon with corrections
  • The New Hat
  • Wartime Racketeers
    copy
  • Sub-Series: Radio Show
  • Box 4:
  • Consumer Time on the Air
    5 segments
  • Sub-Series: Speech
  • Box 4:
  • Comments on Charles J. McGraw's Paper...
  • Sub-Series: Teleplays
  • Box 4:
  • Design for Glory. Adapted by Harold Gast from the story by Maxine Wood
    copy
  • Winter Wheat. Adapted from novel Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker
    copy with corrections
  • Series 4: PLAYBILLS AND PROGRAMS
  • Sub-Series: Playbill/Showbill
  • Box 5:
  • Aaah Oui Genty! Bijou Theatre, April - 1981
  • Agnes of God. The Music Box, July - 1982
  • Alvin Ailey. City Center, December - 1980
  • Amadeus. Broadhurst Theatre, October - 1981
  • Betrayal. Trafalgar Theatre, May - 1980
  • A Doll's House. Vivian Beaumont Theatre, February - 1975
  • The Gin Game. John Golden Theatre, October - 1977
  • Hadrian VII. Helen Hayes Theatre, February - 1969
  • Home. Cort Theatre, December - 1980
  • Indians. Brooks Atkinson Theatre, December - 1969
  • A Lesson from Aloes. Playhouse Theatre, December - 1980
  • The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby. Plymouth Theatre, December - 1981
  • Morning's At Seven. Lyceum Theatre, November - 1980
  • Oklahoma. Palace Theatre, March - 1980
  • On Golden Pond. Century Theatre, November - 1979
  • The Pirates of Penzance. Minskoff Theatre, December - 1981
  • Plenty. Plymouth Theatre, March - 1983
  • Rose. Cort Theatre, May - 1981
  • Scrambled Feet. Village Gate, Upstairs, November - 1980
  • The Shadow Box. Morosco Theatre, April - 1977
  • Shakespeare's Cabaret. Bijou Theatre, March - 1981
  • Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You. Westside Arts Theatre, November - 1982
  • Strider. Helen Hayes Theatre, November - 1979
  • The Suicide. Anta Theatre, October - 1980
  • Talking With. Manhattan Theatre Club, October - 1982
  • Talley's Folly. Brooks Atkinson Theatre, September - 1980
  • Top Girls. Newman Theater, March - 1983
  • Sub-Series: Lincoln Center for The Performing Arts
  • Box 5:
  • The Chamber Music Society, November; March - 1979; 1980
  • Clamma Dale, May - 1977
  • New York Philharmonic, October - 1977
  • Sub-Series: Metropolitan Opera
  • Box 5:
  • Madame Butterfly, December - 1981
  • Tosca, March - 1975
  • Il Trovatore, January
  • Sub-Series:
  • Box 5:
  • Lincoln Center Theater Company: The Floating Light Bulb. Program and brochure, May - 1981
  • Macbeth, January - 1981
  • The Philadelphia Story, November - 1980
  • Sub-Series:
  • Box 5:
  • The Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center: Camino Real - 1969-1970
  • In The Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer - 1968-1969
  • The Playboy of The Western World - 1970-1971
  • Sub-Series: Carnegie Hall
  • Box 5:
  • Istomin-Stern-Rose Trio, February - 1980
  • The Philadelphia Orchestra, January - 1980
  • Sub-Series: Miscellaneous
  • Box 5:
  • The Blood Knot. Roundabout
  • The Consul. Lillie Blake School Theatre
  • Crazy as Zaloom. Theater for the New City
  • Gethsemane Springs. Spectrum Theatre
  • Irish Coffee. 78th Street Theatre Lab
  • Ivanov. Royal Shakespeare Company. N.Y.
  • The Last Sweet Days of Isaac. East Side Playhouse, March - 1970
  • Master Harold ... and the Boys. Warner Theatre
  • Mother Courage and Her Children. Newman Theater, May - 1980
  • Much Ado About Nothing. Royal Shakespeare Company. Stratford-Upon-Avon
  • Pantagleize. APA Phoenix
  • Reasons to Be Cheerful. Symphony Space, March - 1983
  • Sorrows of Stephen. Public Theater Cabaret in Martinson Hall, January - 1980
  • Spell #7. Anspacher Theater, November - 1979
  • Summerfolk. Brooklyn Academy of Music
  • Yegor Bulichov. Long Wharf Theatre, December-January - 1970-1971

This collection is indexed under the following subject terms.


Personal Names:
Wood, Maxine, 1906-

Dates:
20th century
20th century

Topics:
Women authors, American
Women dramatists, American

Genre/Form of Materials:
Drafts (Documents)
Playbills
Scrapbooks

Title:
On Whitman avenue

Browse:
English & American Literature
Writers Archive at Iowa
Dramatists, Playwrights, & Scriptwriters for Television & Screen