Philip W. Barber d. 1981

BARBER, GUNDY

Posted By: Sharyl Ferrall
Date: 5/4/2006 at 05:46:27

Memorial services will be held Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Becket Federated Church for Philip W. Barber, 78, of Fred Snow road, a dramatist, writer and public relations consultant. He died of cancer May 8 in the Berkshire Medical Center.

He was born in Mason City, Iowa, attended high school there and was graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1925.

After graduation, he taught playwrighting at Yale University and wrote, "The Scene Technician's Handbook."

In 1927 he worked as technical director and play consultant with the Theater Guild in New York City that included such performers as Lee Strasberg, Franchot Tone, George Tobias and Ruth Nelson.

During the 1930s he worked as a radio scriptwriter for such programs as "Gangbusters," "Counterspy," "Skyblazers," and "Young Widow Brown."

Mr. Barber operated his own public relations firm, Barber & Barr Inc., on Madison avenue in New York City for a number of years. Among the company's clients were the American Cyanamid Co. and the American Heart Assn.

In 1950, he and his family moved to the Berkshires, purchased an estate there and converted the property's barn, carriage house and other buildings into the Music Inn and Barn, where a number of noted jazz and folk artists appeared over the years. They later added a restaurant, cocktail lounge and housing facilities to accommodate 100 guests. In 1960, he sold the complex.

Mr. Barber's drama, "I, Elizabeth Otis," was produced in 1968 in many American cities and in Belfast, Ireland.

In recent years he continued his interest in playwrighting and was active in the Manhattan Theater Club in New York City.

In 1976, Mr. Barber donated 38 wilderness acres he owned in Becket to the YMCA's Camp Becket. That same year he became the president of the Becket Arts Center of the Hilltowns and he helped to expand the center's cultural programs.

During the time he lived in Stockbridge he was president of the Stockbridge Bowl Assn. and was an incorporator of the Berkshire Theater Festival.

He leaves his wife, Felicia (Gundy); four sons, Willson of Becket, Dr. Benjamin R. of Rutgers University, Charles V. of Berkeley, Calif., and Hilary W. Barber of Amherst; and four grandchildren.

-Boston Globe, May 21, 1981