Jerry Briskin Collection

Title: Jerry Briskin Collection

Dates: 1946-1968

Collection Number: WGF-MS-127

Creator/Collector:

Extent: 4 linear feet, 5 boxes

Repository: Writers Guild Foundation Archive

Abstract: The collection consists of scripts for television and film projects that Jerry Briskin produced. The bulk of the collection relates to his work with Irwin Allen for Land of the Giants and other TV shows.

Language of Material: English

Available by apppointment.

The responsibility to secure copyright and publication permission rests with the researcher.

[Identification of item]. Jerry Briskin Collection. Collection Number: WGF-MS-127. Writers Guild Foundation Archive

Donated by a friend of the family in 2022.

Gerald W. (Jerry) Briskin was born on September 9, 1919 in New York City to Samuel J. Briskin and Sara Myers. His father was a production executive at multiple film studios during the Golden Age of film, notably Columbia, Paramount and RKO. Jerry Briskin entered the entertainment industry in the late 1930s and served in the armed forces during WWII. After the war, he began producing films and later moved into television. He worked for multiple studios as a producer on a variety of television series: Manhunt, Shannon, and Bewitched for Columbia Screen Gems, and Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants for Irwin Allen at 20th Century Fox. In 1968, he was hired to head up the CBS movies for television department. He died on June 28, 1996 in Palm Desert, CA. He was survived by his family including his second wife Christiane and three children.

This collection consists of scripts and supporting documentation for television shows and films on which Briskin worked as a producer. It is divided into two sections. Series I Television Material contains papers related to the shows Manhunt, Land of the Giants, Swiss Family Robinson, Safari, and the Man From the 25th Century. There are 62 scripts (out of 78 total) for Manhunt which aired in syndication from 1959-1961. There are production binders for six episodes from season 1 of Land of the Giants. These contain original teleplay outlines, multiple script drafts, Briskin’s notes, and production documents such as budgets, call sheets, shooting schedules, production reports, and storyboards for composite matte shots. Writers include Jack Turley, Anthony Wilson, Bob Mitchell and Esther Mitchell, Dan Ullman, Peter Packer and Mann Rubin. The pilot script is also in the collection along with a pre-production binder from 1967-1968 containing notes by Irwin Allen, Briskin, and other executives and crew with thoughts on possible directors and writers, casting notes, set ideas, special effects and mattes, network script notes, focus testing results, and general story development notes. There are also script drafts for an unproduced episode of the series. Other Irwin Allen projects in the collection are The Man From the 25h Century (multiple drafts of the pilot script by Anthony WIlson), Swiss Family Robinson (script by John Meredyth Lucas and pitch and development material), Safari (pilot scripts by Carey Wilbur and development notes), and Almost Midnight (pilot script by John Michael Hayes, based on book by Martin Caidan). Lastly, there are administrative documents from various Irwin Allen productions such as cast and crew lists, director, writer and casting lists, episode plot summaries, Nielsen ratings and performer headshots. Series II Feature Material contains both produced and unproduced scripts. Screenplays for films produced by Briskin in 1947 are Stepchild and The Devil on Wheels. Unproduced screenplays are Richest Man in Hollywood (John Crowther, Bruce Paltrow); Hollywood Hi (Karen De Wolf); Huck and Jim (Michael Fisher); Prairie Child / Impulse (Martin Lager); Come Slowly Eden (Ken Trevey). An early draft of The Poseidon Adventure by Wendell Mayes, 1967, is included. Finally, there are ten typed booklets from 1946-1947 titled “Bulletin of Story Activities,” distributed to RKO studio personnel to keep informed about scenario department activity. These detail and summarize plays, best-selling books, upcoming books, and story activities at other studios (purchases made, productions started, writers hired). Each contains a "letter from NY" with information about NY projects, coverage completed and story submissions, by Leda V. Bauer, a career story editor, reader and critic.