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Finding Aid for the Bruce Geller papers, 1957-1976
PASC 5  
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Table of contents What's This?
  • 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:
    1. Biographical information
    2. Cinema Video Communications, Inc.
    3. Motion pictures
    4. Television
    5. Other writings
    6. 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

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 4233068