SOURCE: Fedo, David A. “The William Carlos Williams-Julian Beck Correspondence and the Production of Many Loves.” William Carlos Williams Newsletter 3, no. 2 (fall 1977): 12–15.

In the following essay, Fedo discusses a correspondence between Beck and William Carlos Williams regarding The Living Theatre's production of Williams's play Many Loves.

Some years ago Karl Bissinger, a member of the Living Theatre, wrote in a letter: “It seems to me there is a very interesting story concerning Dr. Williams and the L. T. But Julian would have to give it to you—I don't trust my memory.”¹ The story concerned the first major production of a Williams play, Many Loves, published in 1942 but not staged until 1959, when Julian Beck and his wife Judith Malina, founders of the Living Theatre, produced it in New York City.²

That production was a long time in preparation, and many of the details are found in correspondence between...