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Scope and Contents |
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The David O. Selznick Collection contains records documenting every aspect of his
Hollywood studio operations including script development, production, publicity,
finances, and distribution. The major part of the records span the years 1916
to
1966 which correspond to film's pioneer days in New York through the heyday of
the
studio system in Hollywood, to the rise of television. Selznick was employed at
three major studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Paramount, and RKO. As an
independent, his credits include A Star Is Born
(1937), Gone With the Wind (1939), and Rebecca (1940). Selznick played out his activities
against the backdrop of censorship under the Hays Office, the hardship of the
Depression, the impact of World War II, and the paranoia of America's "red scare." The collection covers the years from 1904
to 1980 with most of the material dating from the mid 1930s through the mid 1950s. |
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The records are arranged in thirteen series based on the departmental division of
the
studio: Administrative, Casting, Distribution, Financial, Legal, Lewis J. Selznick
(LJS), London, Music, Production, Publicity, Research, Story, Talent, and a
fourteenth series, Gifts, that includes materials donated by Selznick's family.
The
physical order of the records was disturbed over the years and the present
arrangement is an attempt to restore the materials to the original order as
represented by the inventory list (Bekins list) that came with the collection. |
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The collection comprises all the types of materials one would expect to be generated
by a film studio, including appointment books, audio recordings, awards, balance
sheets, call sheets, clippings, correspondence, journal vouchers, ledgers, memos,
minutes, music, notebooks, photographic prints and negatives, posters, props,
realia, scrapbooks, scripts, set and costume designs, story boards, and telegrams.
Through analysis of the above materials, one can trace the evolution of a film
such
as Gone With the Wind from story purchase through
script development, casting, design, production, exploitation, distribution, and
reissue. Though most of the material represents Selznick's independent career,
there
are also records from his father's companies, from his employment at the RKO,
Paramount, and MGM studios, and materials concerning his personal affairs. There
is
documentation not only of the movies Selznick produced outright, but also of those
he developed and sold, as well as those never realized. |
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The collection touches on virtually every major Hollywood person, studio, and event
of Selznick's day. Persons represented in the collection include, but are not
limited to:
- Writers, including Truman Capote, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gene Fowler, Oliver H. P.
Garrett, Graham Greene, Ben Hecht, Sidney Howard, Aldous Huxley, Ring Lardner,
Jr.,
Dorothy Parker, Robert E. Sherwood, Budd Schulberg, Peter Viertel, and Hugh Walpole;
- Musicians, including Bernard Herrmann, Oscar Levant, Miklos Rozsa, Max Steiner,
Dimitri Tiomkin, and Franz Waxman;
- Producers, including Samuel Goldwyn, Mark Hellinger, Alexander Korda, and Louis B.
Mayer; directors Frank Capra, George Cukor, Vittorio De Sica, Victor Fleming,
John
Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Carol Reed, King Vidor and William A. Wellman;
- Actors, including Ethel, John, and Lionel Barrymore, Ingrid Bergman, Charles
Boyer, Montgomery Clift, Claudette Colbert, Ronald Colman, Joseph Cotten, Olivia
de
Havilland, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Fontaine, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Janet Gaynor,
Lillian Gish, Cary Grant, Leslie Howard, Rock Hudson, Jennifer Jones, Louis Jourdan,
Vivien Leigh, Carole Lombard, Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Hattie McDaniel, Dorothy
McGuire, Laurence Olivier, Gregory Peck, Basil Rathbone, Ginger Rogers, Shirley
Temple, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles.
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Series & Subseries Outline |
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The number of boxes given for each series and subseries is approximate. |
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Series 1. Administrative, 1915-1973, 1093.5 boxes
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Subseries
- 1A. David O. Selznick, 1915-1973, 843 boxes
- 1A1. Chronological Files, 1961-1963, 9.5 boxes
- 1A2. Clippings, 1938-1973, 5 boxes
- 1A3. Confidential Files, 1933-1965, 17.5 boxes
- 1A4. Consolidated Files, 1930-1967, 49 boxes
- 1A5. Coproductions, Loanouts, 1939-1963, 8.5 boxes
- 1A6. Correspondence, 1962-1965, 20 boxes
- 1A7. Daily Calendars, 1935-1965, 6 boxes
- 1A8. Directors & Producers, 1936-1962, 9.5 boxes
- 1A9. Early Career, 1915-1924, 2.5 boxes
- 1A10. Financial, 1928-1958, 15 boxes
- 1A11. InterOffice Files, 1944-1963, 72.5 boxes
- 1A12. Legal Files, 1936-1943, 3 boxes
- 1A13. MGM Files, 1926-1936, 11.5 boxes
- 1A14. Myron Selznick Estate, 1944-1963, 13.5 boxes
- 1A15. Organization, 1936-1966, 91 boxes
- 1A16. Paramount Files, 1928-1931, 6.5 boxes
- 1A17. Personal Files, 1915-1966, 54 boxes
- 1A18. Productions, 1923-1958, 123 boxes
- 1A19. RKO Files, 1931-1933, 1 box
- 1A20. Safe Deposit Files, 1931-1967, 1.5 boxes
- 1A21. Selznick International Pictures, 1935-1940, 41.5 boxes
- 1A22. Stills (Photographs), [19--]-1965, 10.5 boxes
- 1A23. Story Files, 1935-1967, 74.5 boxes
- 1A24. Studio Files, 1931-1964, 102.5 boxes
- 1A25. Talent Files, 1936-1963, 31.5 boxes
- 1A26. Telegrams, 1938-1963, 58 boxes
- 1A27. Tower Grove, 1953-1955, 2 boxes
- 1A28. Writers, 1936-1965, 5 boxes
- 1B. Daniel T. O'Shea, 1936-1951, 146.5 boxes
- 1C. Harriett Flagg, 1935-1945, 9 boxes
- 1D. Henry Ginsberg, 1936-1939, 1 box
- 1E. Shirley Harden, 1936-1963, 43 boxes
- 1F. John Houseman, 1941, 3 boxes
- 1G. Selznick International Pictures, 1936-1941, 5 boxes
- 1H. John Speaks, 1933-1936, 10 boxes
- 1I. Louis T. Stone, 1950-1951, 9.5 boxes
- 1J. Vanguard Films, 1946-1948, 2 boxes
- 1K. Bob Whitehead, 1957-1972, 5 boxes
- 1L. John Hay Whitney, 1935-1936, 2.5 boxes
- 1M. John Zinn, 1943-1944, 5 boxes
- 1N. Miscellaneous, 1942-1956, 9 boxes
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Series 2. Casting, 1943-1949, 35.5 boxes
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Series 3. Distribution, 1936-1967, 247.5 boxes
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Subseries
- 3A. Neil Agnew, 1944-1948, 21 boxes
- 3B. David I. Bursten, 1948-1951, 23.5 boxes
- 3C. Lowell V. Calvert, 1936-1940, 1.5 boxes
- 3D. Leonard R. Case, 1946-1951, 42 boxes
- 3E. Frank I. Davis, 1948-1958, 49 boxes
- 3F. Sidney G. Deneau, 1947-1950, 7 boxes
- 3G. Howard Fessenden, 1948-1950, 1.5 boxes
- 3H. Betty Goldsmith, 1936-1958, 47 boxes
- 3I. Milton S. Kusell, 1945-1947, 5 boxes
- 3J. Ben Seigel, 1956-1957, 4 boxes
- 3K. Selznick Releasing Organization, 1948-1950, 2.5 boxes
- 3L. Samuel S. Sigman, 1947-1961, 3 boxes
- 3M. Miscellaneous, 1937-1967, 40.5 boxes
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Series 4. Financial, 1926-1969, 846.5 boxes
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Subseries
- 4A. E. L. Scanlon, 1926-1953, 126 boxes
- 4B. E. R. Beaman, 1936-1967, 269 boxes
- 4C. Joyce Allen, 1936-1943, 13.5 boxes
- 4D. John K. Brent, 1942-1951, 3.5 boxes
- 4E. Dorothy Chambers, 1942-1958, 10 boxes
- 4F. David O. Selznick Productions (DOSP), 1940-1942, 6 boxes
- 4G. George R. Doan, 1938-1951, 7 boxes
- 4H. Robert C. Hagstrom, 1947-1966, 45.5 boxes
- 4I. Maurice Janov, 1938-1950, 12 boxes
- 4J. Alwin Johnson, 1928-1939, 2 boxes
- 4K. Cherie Leslie, 1938, 1 box
- 4L. Marjorie MacDougall, 1964-1962, 13 boxes
- 4M. A. Morgan Maree, 1944-1959, 7.5 boxes
- 4N. Anne Paulos, 1953-1967, 82.5 boxes
- 4O. Pioneer Pictures, 1933-1934, 1 box
- 4P. M. E. Poole, 1942-1950, 17 boxes
- 4Q. Selznick Company, 1954-1966, 3 boxes
- 4R. Selznick International Pictures, 1935-1942, 41 boxes
- 4S. Selznick Releasing Organization (SRO), 1947-1957, 10.5 boxes
- 4T. Selznick Studio, 1942-1960, 17.5 boxes
- 4U. Bruce Sillery, 1944-1951, 6.5 boxes
- 4V. Vanguard Films, 1940-1951, 89.5 boxes
- 4W. Thomas L. Walker, 1950-1969, 21.5 boxes
- 4X. Miscellaneous, 1929-61, 40.5 boxes
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Series 5. Legal, 1935-1966, 322.5 boxes
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Subseries
- 5A. Consolidated, 1936-1966, 216 boxes
- 5B. Robert H. Dann, 1936-1952, 28.5 boxes
- 5C. Charlotte Gilbert, 1956-1958, 9 boxes
- 5D. Helen Leonard, 1956-1965, 34 boxes
- 5E. John Speaks, 1935-1936, 6.5 boxes
- 5F. Miscellaneous, 1936-1958, 28.5 boxes
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Series 6. Lewis J. Selznick, 1916-1923, 75 boxes
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Series 7. London, 1937-1967, 181.5 boxes
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Subseries
- 7A. Jenia Reissar, 1937-1954, 108 boxes
- 7B. Anthony Downing, 1947-1955, 30.5 boxes
- 7C. William H. Erbb, 1947-1948, 2.5 boxes
- 7D. Victor J. Hoare, 1947-1956, 40.5 boxes
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Series 8. Music, 1934-1957, 116 boxes, 147 music folders
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Subseries
- 8A. Films, 1934-1954, 83 boxes
- 8B. Lou Forbes, 1934-1944, 5.5 boxes
- 8C. Audray Granville, 1945-1947, 2.5 boxes
- 8D. Miscellaneous, 1944-1957, 5 boxes
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Series 9. Production, 1920-1958, 213.5 boxes
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Subseries
- 9A. Cecil Barker, 1946-1954, 16 boxes
- 9B. Arthur Fellows, 1946-1954, 10.5 boxes
- 9C. Hal C. Kern, 1937-1948, 11 boxes
- 9D. Raymond A. Klune, 1936-1942, 16.5 boxes
- 9E. Argyle Nelson, 1944-1948, 22 boxes
- 9F. Phil L. Ryan, 1935-1936, 3.5 boxes
- 9G. Clarence Slifer, 1935-1951, 72 boxes
- 9H. James G. Stewart, 1945-1954, 9.5 boxes
- 9I. Stills (Photographs), 1930-57, 45 boxes
- 9J. Miscellaneous, 1920-1957, 7.5 boxes
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Series 10. Publicity, 1934-1957, 267.5 boxes
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Subseries
- 10A. Stills (Photographs), 1935-1957, 154 boxes
- 10B. Aileen Brenon, 1947-1950, 7.5 boxes
- 10C. Robert M. Gilham, 1944-1950, 17.5 boxes
- 10D. Mervin J. Houser, 1946-1957, 29 boxes
- 10E. Don King, 1943-1945, 5.5 boxes
- 10F. Joan Lane, 1945-1948, 2.5 boxes
- 10G. Paul Macnamara, 1941-1949, 8 boxes
- 10H. Joseph L. Roberts, 1945-1948, 6 boxes
- 10I. Seymour Robins, 1948-1949, 9 boxes
- 10J. Selznick International Pictures (SIP), 1937-1938, 3 boxes
- 10K. Bart Sheridan, 1946-1949, 7 boxes
- 10L. Paul Snell, 1934-1936, 6 boxes
- 10M. Vanguard Films, 1943-1948, 1.5 boxes
- 10N. Miscellaneous, 1937-1954, 11 boxes
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Series 11. Research, 1930-1954, 53 boxes
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Subseries
- 11A. Lillian K. Deighton, 1936-1940, 14 boxes
- 11B. Ann Harris, 1936-1950, 15 boxes
- 11C. Miscellaneous, 1930-1954, 24 boxes
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Series 12. Story, 1930-1965, 1012 boxes
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Subseries
- 12A. Katharine Brown, 1940-1942, 12.5 boxes
- 12B. Gerry Deardorff, 1938-1948, 12.5 boxes
- 12C. Helena L. Hanna, 1945-1948, 8 boxes
- 12D. Barbara Keon, 1936-1948, 150.5 boxes
- 12E. Val Lewton, 1935-1942, 22.5 boxes
- 12F. Margaret McDonell, 1935-1945, 6 boxes
- 12G. Elsa Neuberger, 1935-1949, 11.5 boxes
- 12H. Lydia Schiller, 1936-1957, 54.5 boxes
- 12I. Scripts, 1932-1958, 305 boxes
- 12J. Nancy Stern, 1950-1957, 11.5 boxes
- 12K. Synopses, 1935-1962, 366 boxes
- 12L. Miscellaneous, 1930-1965, 51.5 boxes
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Series 13. Talent, 1945-1949, 18 boxes
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Series 14. Gifts, 1904-1980, 34 boxes
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