University of Texas at Austin

Rebel Without a Cause

An Inventory of the Collection at the Harry Ransom Center

Creator: Harry Ransom Center
Title: Rebel Without a Cause Collection
Dates: 1946-1978
Extent: 1 folder (0.04 linear feet)
Abstract: The Rebel Without a Cause collection consists of a single file containing contracts and legal correspondence related to the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause.
Call Number: Film Collection FI-057
Language: English
Access: Open for research


Administrative Information


Acquisition: Purchase, 2011 (11-09-012-P)
Processed by: Ancelyn Krivak, 2011
Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Scope and Contents


The Rebel Without a Cause Collection, 1946-1978, consists of a single file containing contracts and legal correspondence related to the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause. The first item in the file is a 1946 contract between Warner Brothers and author Robert M. Lindner granting the studio rights to Lindner's 1944 book Rebel Without a Cause. Two contracts from 1954 between Warner Brothers and Nicholas Ray detail Ray's compensation for his story adaptation of Lindner's book and the terms of his employment as director of the film Rebel Without a Cause. A 1955 contract between Warner Brothers and Irving Shulman grants Shulman access to the Rebel Without a Cause screenplay for the purpose of creating a novelization based on the film. Three pieces of legal correspondence from 1960 describe the copyright status of the film and other works related to the film, including Shulman's novelization, Children of the Dark. A 1974 letter to Warner Brothers from October Films requests permission to use footage from Rebel Without a Cause in a documentary about Nicholas Ray (subsequently titled I'm a Stranger Here Myself). The last document in the collection is a stills clearance request submitted to Warner Brothers in 1978 by United Artists Records of America, Inc., for images from Rebel Without a Cause and other Dean films to use as album art on the record Music From the Films of James Dean.

Related Material


The Nicholas Ray Papers at the Harry Ransom Center contain other materials related to the film Rebel Without a Cause, including stills, storyboards, and an early version of Irving Shulman's screenplay for the film titled "Juvenile Story."

Container List

Rebel Without a Cause contract file, 1946-1978 Container 1.1