Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography/History
Scope and Content
Organization and Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Related Material
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Descriptive Summary
Title: Bruce Geller papers
Date (inclusive): 1957-1976
Collection number: PASC 5
Creator:
Geller, Bruce.
Extent:
80 boxes (33.4 linear ft.)
Abstract: Bruce Geller created, produced, or wrote for a variety of television and motion picture projects. The collection consists
scripts and production files related to Geller's career.
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
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.
Administrative Information
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.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mrs. Bruce Geller, 1985.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Bruce Geller papers (Collection Number PASC 5). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, UCLA.
Biography/History
Bruce Geller was born in NY, Oct. 13, 1930. He graduated from Yale Univ. (1952) where he studied psychology and sociology
and was involved in many activities including theatre. After graduating from college, he moved to Hollywood where he worked
for a year as a reader at Warner Brothers. After marrying Jeannetter Marx, he moved to New York City where he sold his first
script to the live NY television show,
Jimmy Hughes, Rookie Cop. This lead to other writing assignments for shows such as
Rocky King, Detective and
Flash Gordon. During this same time period he was collaborating on the musical comedy Livin' The Life, based on Mark Twain's stories of
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.
In 1956, he sold a script to
Kaiser Aluminum Hour, which led to his move back to Hollywood where he wrote regularly for such series as
The Dick Powell Show,
Zane Grey Theatre,
The Rifleman,
The Rebel,
Dr. Kildare,
Rawhide, and
The Westerner. In 1962 he produced the Dick Powell Show and co-wrote his first major motion picture,
Sail A Crooked Ship (Columbia, 1962). While producing Rawhide in the mid-1960s, he developed the idea for a new "cloak-and-dagger" series, Mission
Impossible. The series saw great success during its seven seasons and garnerd Geller an Emmy as both writer and producer.
During the second season of Mission Impossible, Geller created a second succssful television series,
Mannix which won him a Golden Globe Award in 1971.
He formed Cinema Video Communications, Inc. along with Alden Schwimmer, Harold Robbins, and Blake Edwards. He died May 21,
1978 in an airplane crash outside Santa Barbara, CA.
Scope and Content
Collection consists primarily of scripts and production files related to the career of television and motion picture producer
Bruce Geller. Includes materials for projects such as the television series
Bronk (1975-76), the
Dick Powell show (1961-63),
Mannix (1967-75),
Mission impossible (1966-73),
Rawhide (1964-65), the
Robert Taylor show, and the motion pictures
The Betsy and Harry in your pocket. Production files include items such as correspondence, budget information, reports, and cast and crew lists.
Also includes correspondence, reports, and financial records for the Cinema Video Communications, Inc. (1971-73).
Organization and Arrangement
Arranged in the following series:
- Biographical information
- Cinema Video Communications, Inc.
- Motion pictures
- Television
- Other writings
- Miscellany.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Geller, Bruce--Archives.
Harry in your pocket (Motion picture)
Bronk (Television program)
Mannix (Television program)
Mission impossible (Television program)
Rawhide (Television program)
Television producers and directors--United States--Archival resources.
Television writers--United States--Archival resources.
Motion picture producers and directors--United States--Archival resources.
Genres and Forms of Material
Television scripts.
Screenplays.
Related Material
Paramount Pictures Corporation Television Production Records (Collection PASC 171). Available at the UCLA Library Special
Collections, UCLA.
Collection of Television Series Scripts (Collection 81). Available at the UCLA Library Special Collections, UCLA.
UCLA Catalog Record ID