Joshua Logan, director on stage and screen

Primarily a man of the theater, Joshua Logan built a brilliant career as a writer, producer, and director and was also that uncommon phenomenon, a stage director whose success extended into films. He worked with some of the era’s biggest stars including Marlon Brando and Marylin Monroe and gave others, such as Kim Novak, Robert Redford, and Jane Fonda, their first major roles.

Beginning as a sixth assistant stage manager on Broadway’s She Loves Me Not (1933), Logan rose rapidly to first assistant stage manager on various productions before making his Broadway directorial debut with To See Ourselves (1935). His first real recognition came in 1938 for his direction of On Borrowed Time and I Married an Angel, the latter beginning his association with Richard Rodgers.

After serving as a public relations and intelligence officer in World War II, Logan directed Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun (1946) starring Ethel Merman, kicking off a golden era of sorts for the next decade and a half. The WWII drama/comedy Mister Roberts (1948) brought him two Tony awards for Best Play and Best Author, which he shared with co-writer Thomas Heggen, and he garnered perhaps his greatest acclaim for the South Pacific (1950).

In connection with South Pacific, Logan also won the Tony for Best Director (1950) and shared both a New York Drama Critics Award for Best Musical (1948/49) and a Tony for Best Producers/Musical (1950). He received another Tony as Best Director of Picnic (1953) and a Golden Globe Award as Best Director (1955) for bringing William Inge’s Pulitzer award–winning play to life on screen. He coaxed the very best out of Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop (1956), scored big with Marlon Brando in Sayonara (1957), and discovered Jane Fonda in Tall Story (1960). He also directed adaptations of his Broadway musicals—South Pacific (1958), Camelot (1967) and Paint Your Wagon (1969).

This archive contains seven typescripts, some bound, totaling 793 leaves with 73 black and white stills from Mister Roberts, Picnic, Bus Stop, and Tall Story, as well as a photo album with 56 stills from productions Logan worked on. There are many annotations throughout the typescripts, often in Logan’s own hand. There is also a framed photograph of Thomas Heggen with brown velour backing.