Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding Aid for the Joe Alvin papers, 1931-1980 (bulk 1940s)
1929  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Restrictions on Access
  • Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
  • Preferred Citation
  • UCLA Catalog Record ID
  • Biography/History
  • Scope and Content
  • Organization and Arrangement

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Joe Alvin papers
    Collection number: 1929
    Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: 1.6 linear ft. (3 boxes and 1 flat box)
    Date (bulk): Bulk, 1940-1949
    Date (inclusive): 1931-1980
    Abstract: The collection consists of material related to the career of journalist and publicist Joe Alvin. Included in the collection are publicity photographs, writings by Alvin and others, correspondence, and memorabilia.
    Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.
    Creator: Alvin, Joe

    Restrictions on Access

    Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.

    Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

    Property rights to the physical object belong to the UC Regents. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Joe Alvin papers (Collection PASC 1929). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

    UCLA Catalog Record ID

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 7165463 

    Biography/History

    Joseph John Alvin Czyzewski was born in South Bend, Indiana in 1908. He began his career as a journalist for the South Bend Tribune, where he worked for seven years in various different capacities. He worked as an Associated Press correspondent in Chicago for one and a half years before taking a publicity job in NBC's Chicago office. He relocated to the West Coast in 1935 and was eventually hired by the press department of NBC's western division where he was promoted to assistant manager. He was responsible for special events originating in NBC's Pacific territory and is credited with having started camp shows for service men in World War II, recruiting entertainers such as Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen, and Bob Hope.
    In 1946 he left NBC to become the assistant to the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers president Donald Nelson. After 1947 he took a position at the public relations firm of Carl Byoir as vice-president in charge of West Coast operations. Ultimately Alvin established his own public relations firm, Joe Alvin and Company, in 1957.

    Scope and Content

    The collection consists of publicity photographs, writings, correspondence, and memorabilia related to the career of publicist Joe Alvin. The majority of photographs are images of Alvin and/or entertainers such as W.C. Fields, Bob Hope, Irene Rich, Red Skelton, and Rudy Vallee, among others. The writings are newspaper articles written by Alvin compiled in a scrapbook, a very small number of radio broadcast scripts, and a small number of typescript essays/articles written by Alvin and others. The bulk of the correspondence is from various armed service branches and concerns publicity events.

    Organization and Arrangement

    There is no specific order to the collection.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Alvin, Joe--Archives.
    Press agents--Archival resources