The Founders

Stephanie Barber and her husband Philip were both public relations professionals when they left Manhattan and moved to Lenox, MA in 1950 with plans to open an inn. Philip was drawn to Berkshire County, where his ancestors had been noted farmers before they moved to Iowa. Philip had taught drama at Yale and had succeeded Elmer Rice as head of the Federal Theatre in New York City before he co-founded his PR firm. Stephanie Frey Barber was a successful fashion journalist before joining Philip's public relations firm; she was noted for her distinctive clothing, especially her hats--a new one delivered to her daily by an enterprising designer. An Associated Press headline from 1950 noted her departure from the fashion scene: “Sophisticate Abandons New York to be a Cowgirl.”

Luckily there was no livestock in the collection of stables and barns, which the Barbers bought on the grounds of the Countess de Heredia's Wheatleigh Estate (est. 1897). They could have opened a traditional inn, catering to guests who came to hear classical music at Tanglewood , but the Barbers were knowledgeable lovers of music. Their friends included Alan Lomax, the poet Langston Hughes, Philip's cousin Meredith Willson (of Music Man fame), and Professor Marshall Stearns, who was starting his Institute for Jazz Studies. So, instead they created something new, a Music Inn which united musicians and music lovers in debate and camaraderie.

Stephanie was the grand mistress of ceremonies at Music Inn while Philip commuted to his PR firm during the week. Against a backdrop of the politically turbulent and racially divided 1950s, Stephanie created a kind of Utopia separate from the outside world. At her Music Inn, blacks and whites shared rooms side-by-side, and political persuasion didn't matter. When a New York Times photographer wished to remove Pete Seeger from a group photo because some people thought he was a communist, Stephanie forthrightly responded, "He stays in the shot or there is no picture.”

With purity of spirit and integrity, Stephanie hosted a venue that catalyzed groundbreaking ideas and interactions. Music bonded these participants for life. As Stephanie put it, "They deeply understood each other whether they were from Brooklyn or Nigeria. It was astonishing."

Philip Barber died in 1980 in Becket, MA, where he had retired and founded the Becket Arts Center, which honors his name. Stephanie became mistress of Wheatleigh and reared two sons there until its sale in 1976. Stephanie died of heart failure on August 26th 2003 at age 84, leaving behind her beloved husband, professor Arthur Collins, two sons, three stepsons, three stepdaughters, fifteen grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Through interviews taken before her death, Stephanie will form the backbone of the film, which will serve as a loving testimonial to her influence on many of the great performers and scholars of our time.