An Inventory of His Papers at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections

Collection Summary

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Biography of Oscar Brand

Oscar Brand was born 7 February 1920 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He travelled with his family to Minnesota,Chicago, and finally to New York.

Having graduated from Brooklyn College in 1942, he joined the U.S. Army and was cited for his work as Section Chief of a Psychology Unit and, later, the editor of a newspaper for psychiatric patients. After the war he became Co-ordinator of Folk Music for New York's Municipal Station, WNYC, where every week since 1945 he has presented the award-winning program,"Folksong Festival".

His name is to be found among the credits of seventy-five industrial and documentary films such as "Invisible Journey", "Highway By the Sea", "The Farmer Comes To Town", and "Ballad To The Fair", for which he hasgarnered several awards.

He has scripted and scored ballets for Agnes De Mille and John Bulter, television commercials for radio plays for the National Lutheran Council, musicals for the Methodist Church, a folio of Feast Day Songs for the New York Presbytery, and many documentaries for NBC-TV, CBS-TV, andNET.

He was for four years host and co-producer of Procter and Gamble's Canadian series, "Let's Sing Out", host and co-producer of NET's "American Odyssey", and was a member of the panel which created "Sesame Street". He was Music Director of NBC-TV's "Exploring", "American Treasure Chest", "Sunday", and "The First Look", and collected the Peabody, Ohio State, Edison, and EmmyAwards.

Brand has written, composed, and acted in hundreds of commercials--Cheerios, Rival, Log Cabin, Maxwell House, Oldsmobile, Ipana, etc. His government-sponsored series, "The World of Music", reached 1880 stations, and his CBS radio series of the same name featured such guests as Mischa Elman, Harold Arlen, YvesMontand, and Frank Sinatra.

Brand was Music Director of the critically-acclaimed "In White America", composer of "How To Steal An Election", and, with Paul Nassau, writer and composer of two Broadway musicals, "A Joyful Noise", directed by Dore Shary, and "Hyman Kaplan" directed by George Abbott. He wrote and scored the Kennedy Center's Bicentennial opening musical, "Sing, America,Sing".

He is the Curator of the Songwriters Hall of Fame Museum, author of ten best-selling books and manuals of music, has recorded 80 LPs, written songs for such films as "The Fox", and for Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, the Smothers Brothers, Joan Baez, and many others. He has been on the faculty of The New School, New YorkUniversity, and Hofstra University.

In his long association with the National Public Radio Network, he has been host of "Voices In The Wind", arts interviewer for "Morning Edition", and co-host of the five-hour Sunday Show, called "The Sunday Show". And his concerts for adults and children have earned him such accolades as this from The New York Times : "One of America'sbest."

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Scope and Contents of the Papers

The largest portion of the collection concerns Brand's 1966 Broadway Musical "A Joyful Noise". The collection also includes scripts and other published materials produced by Brand. Currently no photographic collection has been developed and only a small tape collection (TC 60) has been necessary although Brand has hundreds, if not thousands, of tape recordings of interviews and musical presentations still in his possession. Many duplications of the orchestral arrangements were included in the collection. Masters have been retained, but the duplicates have been sent to the Music Library, University of Manitoba libraries, (see separation notice). The collection presently comprises 1.2 meters of shelfspace.

The collection contains playscripts with music arrangements, tapes, news clippings, musical scores or recordings of Oscar Brand's work. The tapes include the following: recordings of Gold Rush commissioned from Agnes De Mille by John Houseman; interviews with some of America's leading popular song personalities; a television production of the Kennedy Center Bicentennial Show; and one of the episodes of Brand's NBC-TV series, The Spirit of '76. The playscripts include The Education of Hyman Kaplan (a complete rewrite of the Broadway show) and Thunder Bay, a musical production by Lucille Lortel at The White Barn in Connecticut. Included also are the full musical scores of the Broadway musical A Joyful Noise. Recordings include My Christmas is Best, America Dreamer, Sing Along, and One Hundred Proof Drinking Songs. The collection also contains publicity clippings, announcements of programs, brochures and playbills. Additional material including hundreds of tape recordings of modern singers and artists--their songs andreminiscences--may follow.

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Organization of the Papers

This collection is organizedinto 5 series.

• "A Joyful Noise" (Broadway Musical), 1966
• Ballad-Mongers, [ca. 1966]
• Songs of 76, 1970-1972, [197-?]
• Singing Holidays, 1942-1989
• Tape Collection (TC 60), 1959-1988, [19-?]

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Restrictions on Access

There are no restrictions onaccess to this collection.

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Restrictions on Use

Users must abide by relevantcopyright legislation.

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Custodial History

MSS 80 is comprised of many small accessions from Winnipeg born folk singer/songwriter Oscar Brand, received between late 1983 and early1991.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

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