Finding aid for the Fay Wray papers 2194

Diann Benti

USC Libraries Cinematic Arts Library

2022 September

Doheny Memorial Library G4

3550 Trousdale Parkway

Los Angeles, California 90089-0185

ctlibarc@usc.edu

URL: http://libraries.usc.edu/locations/cinematic-arts-library

Contributing Institution: USC Libraries Cinematic Arts Library

Title: Fay Wray papers

Creator: Wray, Fay, 1907-2004

Creator: Saunders, John Monk, 1897-1940

Creator: Riskin, Robert

Identifier/Call Number: 2194

Physical Description: 17.17 Linear Feet 20 boxes

Date (inclusive): circa 1924-1950s

Abstract: This collection contains the papers of actress Fay Wray (1907-2004), as well as papers of her two husbands, writer John Monk Saunders (1895-1940) and screenwriter Robert Riskin (1897-1955). Materials include scrapbooks dealing with the careers of Wray and her two husbands; stills, including publicity photographs from films in which Wray appeared; screenplays written by Riskin, 13 short 16mm films produced by Riskin during World War II; and miscellaneous items such as contracts, magazines, and personal photographs.

Language of Material: English.

Biographical / Historical

Fay Wray (1907-2004) was a Canadian-American actress, most famously known for her role as Ann Darrow in "King Kong" (1933). She was married to American novelist John Monk Saunders from 1928 to 1939 and to American screenwriter Robert Riskin from 1942 to 1955.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains the papers of actress Fay Wray (1907-2004), as well as papers of her two husbands, writer John Monk Saunders (1895-1940) and screenwriter Robert Riskin (1897-1955). Materials include scrapbooks dealing with the careers of Wray and her two husbands; stills, including publicity photographs from films in which Wray appeared; 19 screenplays written by Riskin including "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936) and "You Can't Take It With You" (1938); 13 short 16mm films produced by Riskin during World War II; and miscellaneous items such as contracts, magazines, and personal photographs.

Conditions Governing Access

Advance notice required for access.

Rights Statement for Archival Description

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Cinematic Arts Library at ctlibarc@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Cinematic Arts Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Fay Wray, December 30, 1969.

Preferred Citation

[Box/folder no. or item name], Fay Wray papers, Collection no. 2194, Cinematic Arts Library, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Motion picture actors and actresses -- United States -- Archival resources

Screenwriters -- United States -- Archival resources

Film stills

Scrapbooks

Scripts

Photographs

Wray, Fay, 1907-2004 -- Archives

Saunders, John Monk, 1897-1940 -- Archives

Riskin, Robert -- Archives

Fay Wray papers

High school

Box 1, Folder 1

Hollywood High School yearbook 1924

Box 1, Folder 1

Hollywood High School scholarship award 1924

Box 1, Folder 2

Hollywood High School play "Seventeen" photograph

Box 1, Folder 3-4

Correspondence 1925-1940 and undated

Scope and Contents

Six pieces of correspondence to Fay Wray consisting of an oversize letter with drawing from American scenic designer Boris Aronson (Folder 3); three letters regarding the Wampas Frolic and Ball (dated 1925); a letter of appreciation from the Captain of the 364th Infantry (1926); a letter of appreciation from the American Green Cross (1928); two letters about the Lakewood, Maine theater season (1939); and a letter from Robert Cobb of the Brown Derby Corporation with a sample menu (1940).

Box 1, Folder 5

Contracts 1928-1931

Scope and Contents

Four contracts

Citation

Box 16, Folder 10

United States Treasury Department Citation to Fay Wray for distinguished and patriotic services 1941-10-28

Publicity

Box 1, Folder 6

Fan magazine cover art

Scope and Contents

Four full issues and two clipped covers depicting Fay Wray on the cover.

Publicity files by year

Scope and Contents

These files chiefly contain various newspaper and magazine clippings about Fay Wray for the given year.

Box 1, Folder 7

Publicity 1925

Box 1, Folder 8

Publicity 1926

Box 1, Folder 9

Publicity 1927

Box 1, Folder 10

Publicity 1928

Box 1, Folder 11

Publicity 1929

Box 1, Folder 12

Publicity 1930

Box 1, Folder 13

Publicity 1931

Box 1, Folder 14

Publicity 1932

Box 1, Folder 15

Publicity 1933

Box 1, Folder 16

Publicity 1934

Box 1, Folder 17

Publicity 1935

Box 1, Folder 18

Publicity 1936

Box 1, Folder 19

Publicity 1937

Box 1, Folder 20

Publicity 1938

Box 1, Folder 21

Publicity 1939

Box 1, Folder 22

Publicity 1940

Box 1, Folder 23

Publicity 1941

Box 1, Folder 24

Publicity 1942

Box 1, Folder 25

Publicity 1956

Box 1, Folder 26

Publicity 1966

Box 1, Folder 27

Publicity undated

Box 1, Folder 28

Publicity- foreign (non-English)

Film clippings and photographs

Scope and Contents

Files chiefly containing clippings and photographs (where noted) of films with Fay Wray.

Box 2, Folder 1

Adam Had Four Sons (with photographs)

Box 2, Folder 2

Ann Carver's Profession (with photographs)

Box 2, Folder 3

Behind the Makeup (with photographs)

Box 2, Folder 4

Below the Sea

Box 2, Folder 5

Black Moon

Box 2, Folder 6

The Border Legion

Box 2, Folder 7

Captain Thunder

Box 2, Folder 8

The Clairvoyant

Box 2, Folder 9

Dirigible (with photographs)

Box 2, Folder 10

Doctor X (photographs only)

Box 2, Folder 11

The First Kiss (with photographs)

Box 2, Folder 12

The Four Feathers

Box 2, Folder 13

Hell on Frisco Bay

Box 2, Folder 14-15

King Kong

Box 2, Folder 16

Lazy Lightning

Box 2, Folder 17-18

Legion of the Condemned

Box 2, Folder 19

Madame Spy (photograph only)

Box 2, Folder 20

Melody for Three

Box 2, Folder 21

The Most Dangerous Game

Box 2, Folder 22

One Sunday Afternoon

Box 2, Folder 23

Paramount on Parade (photograph only)

Box 2, Folder 24

Pointed Heels (photographs only)

Box 2, Folder 25

The Sea God (with photographs)

Box 2, Folder 26

Shanghai Madness (photographs only)

Box 2, Folder 27-28

Street of Sin (with photographs)

Box 2, Folder 29-34, Box 3, Folder 1-2

The Texan (with photographs)

Box 3, Folder 3

Thunderbolt

Box 3, Folder 4

The Unholy Garden

Box 3, Folder 5

Viva Villa (with photographs)

Box 3, Folder 6-9

The Wedding March (with photographs)

Box 3, Folder 10

Woman in the Dark (photographs only)

Stage: publicity and photographs

Box 3, Folder 11

Angela is Twenty-Two 1938

Box 3, Folder 12

The Brown Danube 1939

Box 3, Folder 13-14

George and Margaret (with photographs) 1938

Box 3, Folder 15

Golden Wings (with photographs) 1941

Box 3, Folder 16

The Happy Time (photographs only) 1952

Box 3, Folder 17

Margin For Error 1940

Box 3, Folder 18

Mr. Big 1941

Box 3, Folder 19

The Night of January 16 1941

Box 3, Folder 20

Nikki 1931

Box 3, Folder 21

One Sunday Afternoon 1941

Box 3, Folder 22

The Petrified Forest 1938

Box 3, Folder 23

There's Always Juliet (program only) 1938

Box 3, Folder 24-25

The Yellow Jacket 1941

Philanthropy and politics

Box 3, Folder 26-27

Canada Victory Loan 1941-06

Box 3, Folder 28

War Bond Tour (clippings) 1942

Box 3, Folder 29

War Bond Tour (speeches, correspondence, photographs, radio spot, citation) 1942

Box 3, Folder 30

Campaign for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (clippings, speech, letter) 1944

Box 4, Folder 1-2

Trip to Cardston, Alberta, Canada (programs, photographs, correspondence, and clippings) 1962

Television

Box 4, Folder 3

Pride of the Family (3 photographs) 1953-1954

Television script

Box 4, Folder 4

The Hall of Ivy 1951-04-18

Miscellaneous publication

Box 4, Folder 5

Hollywood Magazine 1928-01-20

Photographs

Box 4, Folder 6-7

Early photographs of Fay Wray

Box 4, Folder 8

Miscellaneous publicity photographs

Box 5, Folder 1

Columbia Pictures publicity photographs

Box 5, Folder 2-12

Paramount Pictures publicity photographs

Box 5, Folder 13-14

Universal publicity photographs

Oversize photographs

Box 15, Folder 1

The Countess of Monte Cristo (1 item)

Box 15, Folder 2

The First Kiss (1 item)

Box 15, Folder 3

The Four Feathers (7 items)

Box 15, Folder 4

King Kong (8 items)

Box 15, Folder 5

The Legion of the Condemned (2 items)

Box 15, Folder 6

Pointed Heels (3 items)

Box 15, Folder 7

The Sea Beast (2 items)

Box 15, Folder 8

Street of Sin (4 items)

Box 15, Folder 9

Tammy and the Bachelor (1 item, inscribed by Debbie Reynolds)

Box 15, Folder 10

The Texan (9 items)

Box 15, Folder 11

The Unholy Garden (1 item)

Box 15, Folder 12

Oversize publicity photographs

Publicity photographs of others

Box 16, Folder 3

Studio portrait of Ralph Bellamy (autographed)

Box 16, Folder 4

Studio portraits of Emil Jannings

Box 16, Folder 5

Studio portraits of Victor Jory

Box 16, Folder 6

Studio portraits of Richard Arlen, Clara Bow (2), Nancy Carroll, Paul Lukas, William Powell (2), Buddy Rogers, and unidentified (3)

Scrapbooks

Box 17, volume 1

1924-1925-1926

Box 17, volume 2

Wampas scrapbook [1925-1927]

Box 17, volume 3

1928-1929

Box 17, volume 4

1929

Box 17, volume 5

1928-1930

Box 18, volume 6

1929-1933

Box 18, volume 7

1933-1934

Box 18, volume 8

1934-1937

Box 18, volume 9

Theatre, 1938-1939

Artwork

Box 16, Folder 7

Profile drawing of Fay Wray by Erick Stone (2 copies) circa 1931

Box 16, Folder 8

Sketch of Fay Wray by Muriel Robinson (3 copies) 1939

Box 16, Folder 9

Drawing of Fay Wray by Salvador Baguez (framed and autographed by artist) 1933

Box 16, Folder 11

Still life drawing of teapot and books by Fay Wray

John Monk Saunders papers

Publicity

Box 6, Folder 1

Clippings 1928, 1934

Box 6, Folder 2

"Liberty" magazine (with article by Saunders) 1925-09-15

Box 6, Folder 3

"Wings" (clippings)

Box 6, Folder 4

A Yank at Oxford (clippings)

Photographs

Box 6, Folder 5

The Last Flight

Box 6, Folder 6

Wings

Box 6, Folder 7

Photographs of Saunders (alone)

Box 6, Folder 8

Photographs of Saunders with Fay Wray

Box 6, Folder 9

Photographs of Saunders with others

Book

Box 6, Folder 10

Wings (New York: Grosset & Dunlap) 1927

Scrapbooks

Box 19, volume 1

1925-1928

Box 19, volume 2

1931

Robert Riskin Papers

Publicity by year

Box 7, Folder 1

Publicity 1932

Box 7, Folder 2

Publicity 1934

Box 7, Folder 3

Publicity 1935

Box 7, Folder 4

Publicity 1936

Box 7, Folder 5

Publicity 1937

Box 7, Folder 6

Publicity 1938

Box 7, Folder 7

Publicity 1939

Box 7, Folder 8

Publicity (foreign) 1939

Box 7, Folder 9

Publicity 1940

Box 7, Folder 10

Publicity 1941

Box 7, Folder 11-12

Clippings scrapbook, Office of War Information (OWI) years (with photocopy) 1942-1944

Box 7, Folder 13

Publicity 1942

Box 7, Folder 14

Publicity 1943

Box 7, Folder 15-16

Publicity 1944

Box 7, Folder 17

Publicity, Paris, France (clippings, invitations, program) 1944-12

Box 7, Folder 18-19

Publicity 1945

Box 7, Folder 20

Publicity 1946

Box 7, Folder 21

Publicity (undated)

Film clippings and photographs

Box 8, Folder 1

American Madness

Box 8, Folder 2

Ann Carver's Profession

Box 8, Folder 3

Broadway Bill

Box 8, Folder 4

Carnival

Box 8, Folder 5

It Happened One Night (letter from Samuel Hopkins Adams) 1935-03-01

Box 8, Folder 6

It Happened One Night (Screen Writer's Guild of the Author's League of America award of merit) 1934-11

Box 8, Folder 7

It Happened One Night (clippings)

Box 8, Folder 8

Lady for a Day (telegram from Damon Runyon) 1933-09-08

Box 8, Folder 9

Lady for a Day (with photograph)

Box 8, Folder 10

Lost Horizon

Box 8, Folder 11-12

Magic Town

Box 8, Folder 13

Meet John Doe (+ photograph)

Box 8, Folder 14

Men in her Life

Box 8, Folder 15

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Box Office Blue Ribbon Award) 1936-04

Box 8, Folder 16

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (clippings)

Box 8, Folder 17

Mister 880 (research, revised opening and retakes, and Box Office Blue Ribbon Award removed from bound script)

Box 8, Folder 18

The Night Club Lady

Box 8, Folder 19

Platinum Blonde

Box 8, Folder 20

The Real Glory

Box 8, Folder 21

They Shall Have Music

Box 8, Folder 22

Virtue

Box 8, Folder 23

When You're In Love (with 4 photographs)

Box 8, Folder 24

The Whole Town's Talking (with photograph)

Box 8, Folder 25

You Can't Take It With You

Papers

Box 8, Folder 26

Miscellaneous (pre-World War II): invitations (2), program, letter

Box 8, Folder 27

1942: Office of War Information (OWI) paperwork, telegram, and award

Box 8, Folder 28

1943: OWI paperwork, letter

Box 8, Folder 29

1944: OWI paperwork, letter

Box 8, Folder 30

1944: Preview of 4 OWI documentaries (May 1944), clippings, programs, invitation

Box 8, Folder 31

1944: OWI Short "Toscanini" (1944) clippings, photographs

Box 8, Folder 32

1943-1944: London hotel receipts

Box 8, Folder 33

1945: OWI paperwork, correspondence

Box 8, Folder 34

circa World War II: OWI miscellaneous, photographs, service newspapers

Box 8, Folder 35

circa World War II: U.S. military publications

Box 9, Folder 1

circa World War II: miscellaneous: magazine (Prevent World War III), trade papers, New York Times section (12/27/1942)

Box 9, Folder 2

1955: clippings, photo re: Laurel Award

Box 9, Folder 3

"Notes for 'Mr. Belvedere,' a film for Clifton Webb (20th Century)" [notebook with clipping]

Photographs and drawings

Box 9, Folder 4-5

Publicity photographs of Robert Riskin

Box 16, Folder 1

Photographs with Frank Capra

Box 16, Folder 2

Photograph of Ronald Colman (autographed)

Scripts

Box 9, Folder 7

"The American Heritage" (United States government short, prod. #5027) script 1947-08-05

Box 10, Folder 1-2

American Madness (Columbia, No. 1) (with photocopy) 1932-1933

Box 10, Folder 3

Ann Carver's Profession (Columbia, No. 20) 1932-1933

Box 10, Folder 4

The Big Timer (Columbia, No. 14) 1931-1932

Box 10, Folder 5

Broadway Bill (Columbia, No. 2-final script)

Box 10, Folder 6

Carnival

Box 10, Folder 7-8

It Happened One Night (Columbia No. 11) (with photocopy)

Box 11, Folder 1

Lady For A Day (Columbia, No. 1)

Box 11, Folder 2-3

Magic Town (RKO, revised final with autographed title page) (with photocopy) 1946-09-06

Box 11, Folder 4-5

Meet John Doe (final script) (with photocopy)

Box 12, Folder 1-2

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Columbia, No. 27, final signed by Capra, Cooper, and Arthur) (with photocopy) 1935-12-10

Box 12, Folder 3

Mister 880 (Old Eight-Eighty) (Revised final, title page autographed, with 8 x 10" stills) 1950-04-05

Box 12, Folder 4

The Night Club Lady (Columbia, No. 21) 1932-1933

Box 12, Folder 5-6

Platinum Blonde (Columbia, No. 14) (with photocopy)

Box 13, Folder 1

The Thin Man Goes Home (MGM, composite script-complete) 1944-04-05

Box 13, Folder 2

The Thin Man Goes Home (dialogue cutting continuity script) 1944-11-11

Box 13, Folder 3

Three Wise Girls (Columbia, No. 8)

Box 13, Folder 4

Virtue (Columbia, No. 26)

Box 14, Folder 1

When You're In Love (Interlude) (Columbia, No. 35, final, annotated by director Riskin) 1936-09-25

Box 14, Folder 2

The Whole Town's Talking (Columbia, No. 9, final draft)

Box 14, Folder 3

You Can't Take It With You (Columbia, No. 16, final, title page autographed) 1938-03-18

16mm film: OWI shorts (World War II)

Autobiography of A Jeep (9 min.)

A Better Tomorrow (The American Scene) (15 min.)

The Cowboy (The American Scene) (15 min.)

Library of Congress (15 min.)

Northwest, U.S.A. (The American Scene) (15 min.)

Oswego (15 min.)

Pipeline (9 min.)

Steeltown (15 min.)

Swedes in America (The American Scene) (15 min.)

Toscanini (30 min.)

The Town (15 min.)

United News- The Funeral of President Roosevelt (9 min.)

The Valley of the Tennessee (The American Scene) (30 min.)

Box R1

Audio records

Box R1

Around Briton (Robert Riskin) [2 records] 1941-11-03

Box R1

Arrowsmith (Fay Wray & Spencer Tracy) [4 records]

Box R1

Halls of Ivy [1 record] 1951-04-18

Box R1

"Hollywood Whispers" Interview with Fay Wray [1 record]

Box R1

Movie Club (Robert Riskin, Radie Harris, WHN) 1937-03-26

Box R1

1000 Club of America (WJZ) [6 records] 1944-11-06

Box R1

Reception of the ... [?]

Box R1

Reviewing Stand [3 records] 1945-09-16

Box R1

Robert Riskin (recorded by WMCA) 1941-02-19

Box R1

Shore Leave (Lux Programme, WABC) [7 records] 1936-04-13

Box R1

Town Meeting (Robert Riskin, 6 records with copies of program) 1945-09-06

Box R1

What Has Happened to the Little People in the War (Robert Riskin) [1 record] 1941-10-09

Box R1

Uncle Sam (Robert Riskin)

Box R1

The Vagabond King (Robert Riskin spot from Lux Radio Theatre) [1 record]

Box R1

Unlabeled records [4 records]