Research Catalog

Rick Besoyan papers

Title: Rick Besoyan papers, 1940-1986, 1959-1964 (bulk)
Author: Besoyan, Rick.
Supplementary Content: Finding aid

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Item details
Status	Container	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Offsite to submit a request in person.	Box 1	Mixed material	Supervised use	JPB 03-18 Box 1	Offsite
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Offsite to submit a request in person.	Box 2	Mixed material	Supervised use	JPB 03-18 Box 2	Offsite
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Offsite to submit a request in person.	Box 3	Mixed material	Supervised use	JPB 03-18 Box 3	Offsite

Details

Additional Authors

Description

2.5 linear ft. (3 boxes)

Summary

The Rick Besoyan papers consist of correspondence, scripts, scores, photographs, newspaper clippings, programs and posters.

Subjects

Genre/Form

Scripts.
Programs.
Clippings.
Scores.

Source (note)

Besoyan, Madie.

Biography (note)

Rick Besoyan was a California-born librettist, composer, director and lyricist.

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

Finding aid available in repository and on the Internet.

Processing Action (note)

Cataloged.

Call Number

JPB 03-18

OCLC

NYPT04-A14

Author

Besoyan, Rick.

Title

Rick Besoyan papers, 1940-1986, 1959-1964 (bulk)

Biography

Rick Besoyan was a California-born librettist, composer, director and lyricist. He was born July 2, 1924 in Reedly, California. In 1928, his family moved to Alameda, California, where he wrote his first song at age twelve. While attending Alameda High School, Besoyan and a few friends wrote and produced a musical, High and dry. He briefly attended the University of California at Berkeley before volunteering for the army in 1942. He served in the Army Special Services Division in Europe and studied piano at the London School of Music while there.

Upon his return, Besoyan spent a year performing Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado before leaving California. Arriving in New York, he studied at the American Theater Wing and then taught musical comedy at Stella Adler's Theater School. His first professionally produced theatrical work was a nightclub revue, In your hat. He developed material from this into a full-scale operetta, Little Mary Sunshine. The show opened off-Broadway in 1959, starring Eileen Brennan and Dom DeLuise, eventually playing 1,148 performances. Besoyan won the 1959-1960 Vernon Rice Memorial Award for outstanding theatrical achievement.

Besoyan wrote book, music and lyrics for two other shows. The 1963 Broadway production of The Student gypsy or "The Prince of Liederkranz", again starring Eileen Brennan and Dom Deluise, had a run of 22 performances. Besoyan also wrote the 1964 off-Broadway production Babes in the wood starring Ruth Buzzi. A "Rick Besoyan Day" was proclaimed in his boyhood home, Alameda, in 1966 and he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1969. Besoyan died of internal hemorrhages in Sayville, Long Island in 1970.

Indexes

Finding aid available in repository and on the Internet.

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Finding aid

Occupation

Dramatists.

Added Author

Besoyan, Madie.

Besoyan, Rick. Little Mary Sunshine.

Besoyan, Rick. Student gypsy.

Besoyan, Rick. Babes in the wood.

Research Call Number

JPB 03-18

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