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| Fonds/Collection Number: | F0596 | ||||||||||||||||
| Title: | Rita Greer Allen fonds | ||||||||||||||||
| Dates: | [1930?]-2005 | ||||||||||||||||
| Extent: | 7.93 m of textual records 966 photographs : b&w and col. ; 24.5 x 33.5 cm or smaller 113 photographs : b&w negatives ; 35 mm and 8 x 6.5 cm 174 drawings and paintings ; 60.5 x 45.5 cm or smaller 53 art prints and reproductions ; 40 x 50.5 cm or smaller 118 audio reels 33 audio cassettes 6 posters ; 101 x 68.5 cm 1 film reel |
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| Biographical Sketch/ Administrative History: | Rita Greer Allen, writer, broadcaster and artist, was born Marguerita Foulger Wayman in Erith, Kent, England, on 25 September 1918 to parents Joshua Edwin Wayman and Margaret Tilley Potts. After moving to Canada at the age of five, Marguerita, who became known as Rita Weyman, attended East York Collegiate Institute in Toronto before enrolling in a first-year pass arts program at Trinity College, University of Toronto, in 1940. Her studies were interrupted by marriage to Robert Greer Allen, a Trinity College graduate and Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps private, on 13 June 1941. For the duration of the World War II, Rita followed Robert to Halifax, Moncton, Kingston, Montreal and Vancouver and attended the Nova Scotia College of Art, Mount Allison University, and Queens University. In collaboration with Robert, who worked for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio during the war, Rita wrote and submitted dramatic radio scripts for broadcast with some success, with a number of scripts broadcast on Trans-Canada Network radio program "Stage 45". In the early 1950s, the Greer Allens returned to Toronto, and Rita began her prolific freelance scriptwriting career, writing and researching her own radio scripts for the CBC, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Though many of her scripts were adapted literary dramas, Rita was equally successful as a writer for documentary-style radio programs and educational programming for high school students. Her writing for radio included scripts for documentary series "As children see us", and dramatic adaptations of "Barometer rising" and "The Duchess of Malfi". By the mid- to late-1950s, Rita turned her attention to television, appearing as a panellist on the CBC quiz show "One of a kind" in 1958 and 1959. She also wrote dramatic scripts for television, including "The Gioconda smile", "Lord Arthur Saville's crime", and "The grass harp", but the majority of her work in the 1960s and early 1970s was for CBC television current events program "Take 30", for which she conducted interviews, researched and wrote scripts, and presented her work on-screen. In the 1970s, Rita continued to write dramatic scripts, finding success in 1976 with her original CBC television drama "The raku fire", which was directed by Rita's brother, Ronald Weyman, a successful screenwriter and director in his own right. In the late 1970s, Rita focused her attention on developing her artistic skills, particularly the practice of raku pottery, and exhibited her sculptural nudes in the early-to-mid 1980s. Her study of Jungian psychology during this period led to a collaboration with Jungian Marion Woodman, with whom she wrote "Leaving my father's house: a journey to conscious femininity" (1993). Rita Greer Allen died in Toronto on 30 May 2010. | ||||||||||||||||
| Scope and Content: |
Fonds consists of records created and maintained by Rita Greer Allen pertaining to her career as a freelance writer, researcher and broadcaster for radio and television, her work as an artist and sculptor, and her interest in and research about Jungian psychology. These records document Greer Allen's writing of dramatic and documentary scripts for radio and television in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, particularly her adaptations of short stories, novels and plays. Radio scripts written in the 1940s in collaboration with her husband, Robert Greer Allen, are also part of this fonds, as are scripts, audio recordings, interview transcripts and research materials pertaining to Greer Allen's writing, production and on-screen presenting work in the 1960s and 1970s for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) television program "Take 30". Correspondence and contracts pertaining to her work are included in the fonds and illustrate the long-term freelance nature of Greer Allen's radio and television writing for the CBC, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and others. The fonds documents Greer Allen's lifelong interest in art, particularly her work in the 1970s and 1980s as an artist and sculptor of raku pottery. Personal records, correspondence, research files and records pertaining to Greer Allen's travels are also included. Records in this fonds are correspondence, scripts, transcripts, notes and notebooks, photographs, audio recordings, day planners, artwork, research materials, newspaper clippings, posters, and personal memorabilia.
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| Restrictions on Access and Use: | There are no restrictions on access. | ||||||||||||||||
| Finding Aid: | Series descriptions and file lists are available online. | ||||||||||||||||
| URL of Finding Aid: | http://archivesfa.library.yorku.ca/fonds/ON00370-f0000596.pdf | ||||||||||||||||
| Accruals: | The fonds comprises the following accessions: 2010-067. Further accruals may be expected. | ||||||||||||||||
| 2010-067 |
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| Related Records: | Records pertaining to Rita Greer Allen can be found in the fonds of Robert Greer Allen (F0611). | ||||||||||||||||
| Other Notes: | Theatre and music programmes originally part of this fonds have been removed to Special Collections. | ||||||||||||||||
| Provenance Access Points: | Greer Allen, Rita, 1918-2010 |
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Date of creation: 2011/12/07 Date of last revision: 2012/06/26 |
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