Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography/Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Michel F. Amestoy Collection
Dates: 1934-1967
Collection Number: WGF-MS-061
Creator/Collector:
Amestoy, Michel F., 1910-2002
United States. Army Air Forces. First Motion Picture Unit
Extent: 2 linear feet
Repository:
Writers Guild Foundation Archive
Los Angeles, California 90048
Abstract: The Michel Amestoy Collection, 1934-1967, primarily contains scripts for military training films and industrial films and
documentaries written by Amestoy during his career in non-fiction film. The collection also includes a small number of scripts
and treatments for entertainment films and television, as well as research materials on companies and topics, and publications
related to the Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit.
Language of Material: English
Access
Available by appointment only.
Publication Rights
The responsibility to secure copyright and publication permission rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
Michel F. Amestoy Collection. Writers Guild Foundation Archive
Acquisition Information
Donated by Helen Amestoy, December 3, 2002; additional donation by Kami Amestoy Lee and Margot Amestoy on July 8, 2021
Biography/Administrative History
Michel Francois Amestoy, Jr. was born in Los Angeles on September 10, 1910. He was the grandson of Domingo Amestoy, a prominent
banker and real estate developer in early Los Angeles. A graduate of Loyola University, Amestoy began working in 1940 on
training films being produced by the Research Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Between 1940 and
1942, Amestoy researched and wrote more than 30 training and morale films. He also worked in the Office of Civilian Defense
on air raid precaution films. Amestoy enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1943, and was posted to the First Motion Picture
Unit in Culver City. While serving in the AAF, Amestoy wrote more than a dozen training and orientation films, many of which
dealt with highly technical material. After the war, Amestoy embarked on a career as a writer for industrial films and documentaries,
working with producers including John Sutherland, Gordon S. Mitchell and Rocket Films. He also worked on films for the U.S.
State Department, including a year in India with the US Information Service. Amestoy was married to Helen Monnette, who also
hailed from a prominent California family, and they had three daughters. Amestoy died in Los Angeles on April 3, 2002, at
the age of 91.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Michel Amestoy Collection, 1934-1967, is organized into two series. Series I: Production, 1934-1967, is divided into
three sub-series. Sub-series A: Scripts, treatments, stories 1934-1952, includes a script for the 1938 film Suez (written
by Philip Dunne and Julien Josephson), as well as two scripts for the television series The Unexpected, and an outline and
prototype script for the proposed television program John Nesbitt’s Stories of the World. The sub-series also includes several
other stories or scripts by Philip Dunne and his brother Finley Peter Dunne, Jr including a draft of Peggy Shippen. Also
included are a few autobiographical essays written by Amestoy about his experience as a victim of robbery in India and a comical
story about buying jewelry for his wife. Sub-series B: Industrial films, 1946-1967, includes scripts and other materials
related to industrial productions that Amestoy worked on in the years following World War II. These include A is for Atom,
Skifully Yours, and several films made on behalf of corporations including the Lane-Wells Company, the Byron Jackson Company,
Kaiser Aluminum and Oldsmobile. Many of these are from his time working for John Sutherland. Many scripts and notes for the
USIS documentary film This Is India is included. Sub-series C: Military training films, 1941-1959, includes scripts for films
Amestoy worked on for the Research Council and the Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit, including Safeguarding Military
Information, which was shown to the public in 1942. It also includes the script of a film commissioned by the Marine Corps
in 1959. Series 2: Research and Biographical, 1941-1957, includes Amestoy’s research materials on companies and topics, as
well as film catalogs. Of special interest is an unpublished article entitled “The General’s Commendation,” about life at
the First Motion Picture Unit, and an original 1944 telephone directory from the First Motion Picture Unit. Amestoy’s compiled
credits and jobs are also included.
Indexing Terms
Instructional films
Industrial films
Screenplays
Screenwriters