The Broadway and personal memorabilia of John Raitt, the dynamic baritone and Broadway leading man who played Billy Bigelow in the original 1945 production of "Carousel" and Sid Sorkin in "The Pajama Game" a decade later, has gone to the music division of the Library of Congress. The extensive collection is a peek into six decades of Mr. Raitt's life and includes scrapbooks, publicity photos, recordings, annotated scripts, musical scores, tapes he made of himself, and correspondence, said Denise Gallo, the head of acquisitions and processing at the library's music division.
"We haven't inventoried it yet but it's of such import to us that we'll get to it quickly," Dr. Gallo said on Thursday, when the acquisition was announced. "He's one of the iconic singers of the 1940s. For many years he was the leading man on Broadway." Mr. Raitt, who died at age 88 in 2005, was the father of the singer Bonnie Raitt. He retained his voice into his 80s and collaborated with his daughter on the road and in television specials.
"I'm thrilled the Library of Congress, combined with the launch of JohnRaitt.com, will keep his musical legacy alive," Ms. Raitt said in a statement released by the library. Other American musical collections at the Library of Congress include those of George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Leonard Bernstein, Irving Berlin and Bob Fosse.
