ACC-MSS. American Comedy Archives Manuscript Collections

Scope and Contents The materials donated by Aaron Mintz contain audio cassette tapes and compact discs featuring both rare and popular radio programs, most of which were originally broadcast between the 1930s and 1960s. While some material extends beyond this date range, the mid-20th century was known as the "Golden Age of Radio," when the medium became the dominant medium for news and entertainment in the United States. While some shows began as adaptations of well-known motion pictures or vaudeville routines...

Scope and Contents This collection consists of records released during the period of the late 1950s-early 1970s. All records contained in the collection are housed in their original sleeves. A number of the records were produced, written, and directed by the duo George Foster and Bob Booker, who specialized in albums which featured scripted routines performed in the studio by a handful of voice actors. Other highlights include comedy albums of live performances by comedians Allan Sherman, Rusty Warren and...

Scope and Contents The papers of Bill Dana (1925- ) span the period (1940s- 2006) and focus primarily on his two most popular television series "The Steve Allen Show" and "The Bill Dana Show," as well as material related to his most famous character, Jose Jimenez. The papers consist mostly of annotated scripts for the live programs which aired on NBC. Dana was both a writer and performer. The papers here also contain scripts for the numerous other television and film scripts Dana worked on, comedy routines...

Scope and Contents The Bill Dana Oral History Collection, 2005-2007, 2016-, consists of sixty-eight audio-visual interviews of a cross section of comedy experts, writers, producers, directors, and noted comedians who have had a direct influence on the history of the art form in the United States Interviews with Bea Arthur, Eddie Brill, Barbara Feldon, Jamie Masada, Vin diBona, Norman Lear, Fred Willard, and Diane English are representative of the diverse experiences that are documented. Among the topics...

Scope and Contents The Budd Friedman and Tripp Whetsell collection, ca. 2002-2018, consists of 89 audio interview recordings with prominent comedians, producers, comedic writers, actors, singers, directors, talent managers, and journalists. In addition, there is one video documentary about the Improv comedy club, formerly called the Improvisation. The collection is organized into two series.Series 1: Improv Interviews, ca. 2015-2016 is comprised of 74 audio interviews conducted for the book "The...

Scope and Contents The Carl L. Tarnstrom Joke Collection is made up of a series of jokes, gags, and "odds and ends" collected and typed up by Tarnstrom himself for a period of over thirty years between the mid-1940s to the early-1980s. He gathered these jokes from television, radio, newspapers, professional comedians, and personal friends. The topics covered by his plethora of collected jokes include: politics, family, athletics, money and financing, sex, marriage, children, gambling, drinking, and many more....

Scope and Contents The Dom DeLuise collection contains materials from the years 1964-2008. The collection includes scripts, screenplays, photographs, videocassettes, ¾ inch Umatic recordings, Umatic S recordings, CDs, DVDs, books, press releases, newspaper and magazine articles. The scripts are rough drafts of skits performed on The Entertainers and The Dom DeLuise Show and the screenplays are various drafts that represent films such as Happy and Marco’s Moon. Many of the CDs and DVDs are from the Dom DeLuise...

Scope and Contents The Harvey Orkin Collection predominately contains materials about the latter part of Orkin's life. As a television writer and talent agent, Orkin corresponded with many known writers and actors such as Peter Sellers, John Cleese, Richard Burton, and Robert Redford. Many of these letters, along with personal correspondence with his family, has been included. Photographs of Orkin and his wife, Gisela Orkin, are also maintained in this collection. Materials authored by Orkin himself such as...

Scope and Contents The collection contains the records of Henry Winkler. There are film reels of Run, Don't Walk and I Can Handle It. There are also 345 VHS tapes, 17 U-Matic tapes, and 14 DVDs of his acting, directing, and producing projects. Photographs, newspaper clippings, and magazine depicting Henry's professional and personal life are available in addition to the scripts of various television shows and movies. The collection also contains Hank Zipzer book series manuscripts, illustrations,...

Scope and Contents The Howard Storms Scripts Collection contains the unbound scripts of television episodes that Howard Storm directed. A large number of the scripts in this collection are from the television series "Mork and Mindy" that aired from 1978-1982. The scripts in this collection date from 1978-1981.The rest of the collection consists of scripts from twenty-seven other series of episodes he directed. These range from one to five episodes per series. Also included are a few screenplays...

Scope and Contents The collection consists of the original footage of several episodes of game shows hosted by Jan Murray on 16mm film reels. The footage was transferred from the original reels to Betacam tape, from which DVD reference copies were made. Most of the transfers are Kinescope transfer, with the exception of the "Jan Murray Travelogue" footage, which was a 16mm reversal transfer. The footage, dating from the mid-to-late 1950s, consists of episodes from Dollar-A-Second, Jan Murray Time, and Treasure...

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Materials include published books on a variety of comedy related subjects as well as original scripts written by Jim Mulholland.

Scope and Contents The collection contains the files of Larry Mintz as well as books, videos, and tapes related to the field of comedy. The files contain humor and analysis related to the subject of the folder in addition to newspaper clippings and essays related to the subject of each file. The books contain information regarding the analysis, exploration, and history of humor. Topics covered include comedian biographies, regional humor, history, and discussion of comedy formats. This audio/visual component...

Scope and Contents The collection contains thirty-seven Betacam tapes of interviews and raw footage relating to the film "Let Me In, I Hear Laughter- A Salute to the Friars". The film gives an exclusive look inside the Friars Club and includes never-before-seen interviews and comic roasts. Included in the collection are film reviews, promotional material relating to the film, and materials relating to the Friars Club. The materials were used by Dean Ward for the research and post-production of the film. The...

Scope and Contents The bulk of this collection contains bound and unbound scripts of the radio show Fibber McGee and Molly. The bound scripts are from 1937 to 1953 and the unbound scripts date from 1941-1954. Included with many of the unbound scripts are the story pitches, outlines, draft scripts, notes from readings and the final drafts. There are also several scripts from a television spinoff that was attempted. Over the many years Fibber McGee and Molly was on they did special appearances outside of their...

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The collection consists of comedian clippings, magazines, and movie ephemera, such as sheet music, posters, and lobby cards. The extensive collection of magazines includes Harpoon, Just for Laughs, and Rave. The broad arrangement of sheet music ranges from the early vaudeville years to the more recent 20th century movies.

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The collection consists of television, radio, film and stand-up comedy ephemera, such as t-shirts, video- and record-store displays, board games, toys, trading cards, novelties and posters, all relating to comedy and comedians. Collection Highlights: - Steve Martin arrow-through-the-head kit. - Don Adams-endorsed Skittle Poker and Skittle Pool games. - Happy Days lunch box. - Pee-wee Herman ventriloquist doll.

Scope and Contents The Reverend Warren Debenham Comedy Sound Collection documents American comedy from the early 1930s through 2006 and consists of long playing albums and compact discs of live performances, spoken word recordings, humorous music, musical theater, and film soundtracks. In addition to recordings of individual comics, the collection contains compilations of various comedians. Also included are compilations of radio series, among them "Our Miss Brooks," "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show,"...