Description
The collection includes a handful of scripts for films directed by Dmytryk; a few scripts for unproduced films; extensive
clippings; 60 letters from Dmytryk written to his wife Jean during the period of his incarceration in the federal penitentiary
at Danville, Connecticut in 1950; writings by Dmytryk, including his manuscripts for “Dmytryk on Film-Making,” “It's a Hell
of a Life But Not a Bad Living,” “Odd Man Out,” “On Film Directing,” and “On Film Editing”; material on the “Hollywood Ten”;
and photographs.
Background
Edward Dmytryk was born in Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada in 1908. He was the second of four children born to Ukrainian
immigrant parents. With the advent of World War I, his parents were in danger of being interned by the Canadian government,
so the family emigrated to the United States and settled in Northport, Washington. When his mother died in 1917, his father
moved the family down to San Francisco, and finally to Los Angeles when he remarried in 1919. Because his father was abusive,
Dmytryk ran away from home to live on his own at the age of fourteen, working as a messenger for Famous Players-Lasky while
attending Hollywood High School. He excelled at mathematics and enrolled at the California Institute of Technology but left
after his first year to return to the film industry. He eventually made his way back to Famous Players-Lasky, by then known
as Paramount Pictures Corp., and found work as a projectionist, taking advantage of his time projecting the day’s rushes to
observe the aesthetic and technical choices made by such filmmakers as Erich von Stroheim and Josef von Sternberg. He became
an assistant cutter in 1929, working on THE DANCE OF LIFE (1929) and a few Spanish-language productions before being promoted
to editor with ONLY SAPS WORK (1930). As an editor he had the opportunity to work under and observe such directors as George
Cukor on THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BROADWAY (1930) and ZAZA (1939) and Leo McCarey on RUGGLES OF RED GAP (1935) and LOVE AFFAIR
(1939). However, many of his editing assignments at Paramount were B pictures.
Extent
4.5 linear ft. of papers
Restrictions
Property rights to the physical object belong to the Margaret Herrick Library. Researchers are responsible for obtaining all
necessary rights, licenses, or permissions from the appropriate companies or individuals before quoting from or publishing
materials obtained from the library.
Availability
Available by appointment only.