Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1215

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

3 linear feet (6 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Gerald Clifford Weales writings, circa 1956-1985, MS. Coll. 1215, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

circa 1956-1985 (inclusive)

Creator:

Weales, Gerald Clifford

Form:

Typescripts, Galley proofs, Plays (performed works), and Writings (documents)

Abstract:

Gerald Clifford Weales was a professor of English and Drama who taught for about 30 years the University of Pennsylvania, until 1987. This collection of writings includes the drafts and galley proofs of several books, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as the typescript of four unpublished plays.

Gerald Clifford Weales, born in Connersville, Indiana on June 12, 1925, was a professor of English and Drama. In 1958, he completed his Ph.D. at Columbia University, the same institution where he also earned his A.B. and M.A. Shortly after his graduation he became a faculty member at the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania, a position that he held until his retirement in 1987.

Weales was widely recognized as an expert on English and American drama, and wrote extensively on these subjects. He published historical monographs on British and American drama, along with biographies of American playwrights, a book on American film comedy of the 1930s, and commented editions of plays by authors such as Arthur Miller and William Wycherley. Weales also wrote many works of fiction, including a novel, several plays, and two children's books.

As a theater reviewer, Weales worked for the Reporter magazine from 1964 to 1968, and the Commonweal magazine from 1968 to 1993, and also collaborated with the Georgia Review, for which he wrote the annual section "American Theater Watch" from 1978 to 2010. His reviews appeared on The Atlantic, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Harper's Magazine, Life, The Village Voice, and The Nation. Weales received a George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism in 1966, and a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Grant in 1981, which supported his research for the book Canned Goods as Caviar: American Film Comedy of the 1930s (1985).

Weales was married for 40 years to Nora Magid (1925-1991), an English and writing instructor who also taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1970 to 1991. Weales died in a nursing facility in Easton, Maryland, in 2013.

The collection consists of two separate series: drafts of published material, and unpublished material.

Series I includes the typescript drafts of historical and critical monographs, such as American Drama Since World War II, Canned Goods as Caviar, and Religion in Modern English Drama. The draft of Weales's novelTale for a Bluebird may also be found in the series, as well as the drafts and galley proofs of the commented editions of Arthur Miller's playDeath of a Salesman and of the plays of William Wyckerley. This material offers insight into the genesis and writing process of those books, as well as possible evidence of intervention of external reviewers – most notably, English instructor (and Weales' wife) Nora Magid.

Series II contains four unpublished plays by Weales, three of which are part of a series titled "Explorations." These typescripts allow for a better assessment of Weales' production as a writer of dramatic and fiction works.