A Guide to the Art and Barbara Squires Papers, 1901-1996, 2007

Biographical Note

Collection includes the papers of Art and Barbara Squires and Marc Klaw and Abraham Lincoln Erlanger.

Art and Barbara Squires: Art and Barbara Squires owned a number of successful theatrical businesses, including Southwest Concerts Inc., Stage Door Associates, Barbara Productions, Art Advertising Agency, and Sixth Street Live that promoted a wide variety of major performers, primarily in Texas. Art’s father, Harry Squires (1897-1963), was also involved in the entertainment industry as; a concert and tour manager for orchestras and individual performers, songwriter, music publisher, and one-time agent with MCA and the William Morris Agency. Harry’s wife Eleanor was also a songwriter, and the two collaborated on works before they were married. Harry’s unpublished autobiography, The Man Behind the Man, describes the rewards and frustrations of the entertainment industry.

Art and Barbara married in 1953, and in their first business endeavor together, Art brought Carlos Montoya to Houston’s Lamar High School. The Squires began producing innovative theatrical events in 1959, with the Jones Hall opening of “Maurice Chevalier” and the national touring company of “My Fair Lady” at the Music Hall. The couple established Southwest Concerts (SWC) in 1960 and incorporated in Texas in 1964. Until 1984, SWC aimed to produce concerts, Broadway shows, and other major theatrical events. The company also contracted and organized private corporate functions and produced most of the performances showcased at Austin’s Sixth Street Live.

In 1979, SWC filed a lawsuit against Arena Operating Company claiming an exclusive arrangement with Pace Management regarding the Summit, Houston’s new arena and concert venue. With only one company handling all bookings at the Summit, SWC experienced sizeable forfeitures of production company profits. SWC prevailed in federal court and the Summit became equally open to SWC and other production companies.

Art Squires also managed Stage Door Associates, which booked jazz and other concerts throughout Texas and neighboring states. Art’s older brother Irving represented Stage Door Associates in New York and also served as general manager of Victor Borge’s performances at New York’s Golden Theater. The Squires also published The Playbill and designed custom-built limousines for his Southwest Carriage Limousine Service, earning The National Limousine Association and Progressive Insurance “Operator of the Year” award in 1990-1991. Art Squires also managed Westchase Ticketron which opened in 1982 as the first of its kind in the Houston area, allowing audiences to purchase tickets for all of the shows on Ticketron’s nationwide network, including concerts in Houston, Broadway shows in New York, and even campsite reservations throughout the United States. In a Variety article dated July 6, 1960, Art said “There are two major industries in Texas – oil and show business.”

Art and Barbara brought the best of Broadway to the Southwest including A Matter of Gravity, Chorus Line, Annie, The Wiz, and Hello Dolly as well as some of the biggest names in show business such as Burt Bacharach, Johnny Carson, and Billy Joel. Together, Art and Barbara Squires have produced thousands of performances as of 2004, playing to over three million people in the Southwest.

Marc Klaw and Abraham Lincoln Erlanger: As theatrical producers and theater owners, Abraham Lincoln Erlanger (1859-1930) and Marc Klaw (1858-1936) had a profound influence on the American Theater in the early part of the twentieth century. Beginning with a jointly operated theatrical booking agency in New York City purchased in 1886, Klaw & Erlanger expanded their influence on the theatrical community through the purchase and construction of theaters such as Broadway's New Amsterdam and St. James and the consolidation of networks of contacts in the theater world.

In an effort to standardize booking and scheduling ostensibly in order to provide more security for both managers and artists, powerful theater owners Charles Frohman, Samuel Nixon and Fred Zimmerman of Nixon and Zimmerman, Al Hayman, and Klaw & Erlanger consolidated their individual theater networks into one national chain in 1986. This chain was dubbed the “Theatrical Syndicate” or “Theatrical Exchange” but was more commonly referred to by the names of its managers, Klaw & Erlanger. The Syndicate rose to a position of near-monopoly over theatrical bookings in the United States. A small motion-picture company, Kalem, in 1907 produced an unlicensed film version of Ben Hur which prompted a lawsuit involving the Theatrical Syndicate resulting in a landmark Supreme Court Decision (Kalem & Co. v. Harper Bros., 222 U.S. 55 (1911)) protecting the intellectual property of writers from copyright infringement by film and theatrical productions.

A.L. Erlanger became well known for the ruthless and predatory business practices evidenced by his widely quoted statement; “I never trust a man I can’t buy.” These practices soon led to opposition to the Syndicate by independent producers, notably John Cort and the Shubert Brothers. Cort, a Seattle theater owner, became dissatisfied with the quality of service provided by the syndicate and with help from the Shuberts formed the Independent National Theatre Owner’s Association in 1910 which organized the defection of hundreds of theaters from the syndicate. An accommodation was finally reached with Klaw & Erlanger to allow both Syndicate and independent artists to perform at the Association’s theaters before Erlanger had completed his new Syndicate Metropolitan Theatre in Seattle.

The Actors’ Equity Association’s 1919 strike finally broke Klaw and Erlanger’s monopoly. The strike forced widespread acceptance of this actors union and the adoption of protections for union members. After this the Klaw & Erlanger partnership fell apart, and although Klaw retreated from the public eye, Erlanger remained a powerful figure in the New York Theater until his death.

Scope and Contents

Collection includes the papers of Art and Barbara Squires and Marc Klaw and Abraham Lincoln Erlanger.

Art and Barbara Squires:Business correspondence, financial documents, legal documents, promotional material, photographic material, collected material, and printed material (4 ft., 1.5 in.) document the operations and productions of Art and Barbara Squires' various companies (1964-1996). The papers also include materials from the estate of Harry D. Squires and his wife Eleanor Young (1947-1960) and the estate of Irving Squires (1960-1965), all of whom were also involved in the entertainment industry. The bulk of the material consists of the records of Art and Barbara Squires' primary production company, Southwest Concerts, Inc. (1964-1984). The remainder of the material consists of records and printed material of their affiliate companies and other endeavors, including Stage Door, Inc., Barbara Productions, Sixth Street Live, Westchase Ticketron, and Southwest Carriage Limousine Service. Also included are business correspondence and accompanying materials of the early twentieth century theatrical promoters Marc Klaw and Abraham Lincoln Erlanger (1896-1919). The papers are arranged in ten series.

Marc Klaw and Abraham Lincoln Erlanger: The Klaw & Erlanger Papers, 1901-1914 (bulk 1906-1907), 1918, 1974 (5 inches), are composed of business letters, contracts, detached letterheads, and printed materials documenting the operations of the Theatrical Syndicate. The bulk of these papers consist of letters received by Klaw & Erlanger at the New Amsterdam Theatre relating to booking performers and relaying performance contracts, many of which contain shorthand notes made in pencil. Principle correspondents include Sam S. and Lee Shubert Incorporated, Sousa and His Band, and the Nixon and Zimmerman firm. Significant exceptions to scheduling correspondence include the following: performers requesting bookings, towns proposing that Klaw & Erlanger build a local Syndicate theater; and an August 27, 1906 letter from a lawyer containing advice about an African-American's $10,000 suit claiming racial discrimination in hiring practices. There are many examples of the elaborate stationary used by performers and businesses as a form of advertising, notably the April 3rd, 1908 letter from the Rosar-Mason Stock Company. These letters were arranged chronologically due to a lack of existing order and to the sequential nature of the performance booking process.

A small amount of material related to the letters exists in the form of contracts for performances organized chronologically, letterheads that have been detached from the body of a letter organized alphabetically by establishment, and various printed materials.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Open for research except for some items restricted for preservation purposes.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Art and Barbara Squires Papers, 1901-1996, 2007, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

Detailed Description of the Papers