Register of the Jonathan Latimer, Miscellaneous Scripts and Screenplays

Mandeville Special Collections Library 0175S

UC, San Diego

La Jolla, CA 92093-0175

Phone: (858) 534-2533

Fax: (858) 534-5950

Email: spcoll@ucsd.edu

Repository Website: http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/

Register of the Jonathan Latimer, Miscellaneous Scripts and Screenplays, 1940-1960

MSS 0133

Mandeville Special Collections Library

GEISEL LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO

La Jolla, CA 92093-0175

Contact Information:

Mandeville Special Collections Library 0175S
UC, San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093-0175
Phone: (858) 534-2533
Fax: (858) 534-5950
Email: spcoll@ucsd.edu
Repository Website: http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/

This file last updated: September 1997.

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title: Jonathan Latimer, Miscellaneous Scripts and Screenplays,

Date (inclusive): 1940-1960

Collection number: MSS 0133

Extent: 0.60 linear feet (2 archives boxes)

Repository: Mandeville Special Collections Library, Geisel Library, UC, San Diego

La Jolla, CA 92093-0175

Shelf Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Language: English.

Preferred Citation

Jonathan Latimer, Miscellaneous Scripts and Screenplays, MSS 0133. Mandeville Special Collections Library, UCSD.

ABSTRACT

Papers of Jonathan Latimer, journalist, screen writer and detective story author. Materials include a small collection of story ideas, outlines, scripts and screenplays arranged alphabetically by title.

BIOGRAPHY

Jonathan Latimer, journalist, screen writer and detective story author was born October 23, 1906 in Chicago, Illinois. He attended the Mesa Ranch School in Arizona from 1922-1925 and later studied at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1929. In the same year he began his career as a writer at the Chicago Herald Examiner and later wrote for the Chicago Tribune. Working as a police reporter and "rewrite man," Latimer covered stories in the gangster world through the early 1930s, and met notorious crime figures including Al Capone.

After writing an article about Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, Latimer was hired as a ghost writer for the Department of the Interior. During the time Latimer worked as a ghost writer for Ickes, he began the first of his series of mystery novels. His first novel, Murder in a Madhouse, became a 1935 best-seller and introduced Bill Crane, the hard-drinking detective and hero of five of Latimer's novels.

After serving in the U.S. Navy between 1942 and 1945, Latimer became a successful Hollywood screenwriter, producing scripts for such movies as "Lady in the Morgue," "Topper Returns," and the "Glass Key," as well as ten films directed by John Farrow. Latimer later wrote television scripts for forty-five episodes of the "Perry Mason" show, 1960-1965. Latimer also wrote ten episodes for the "Markham" series and about twenty television specials.

Jonathan Latimer retired to La Jolla, California in 1973, where he died on June 23, 1983.

Latimer was the author of ten mystery novels: Murder in the Madhouse (1934), Headed For a Hearse (1935), The Lady in the Morgue (1936), The Search For My Great Uncle's Head (1937) [written under the pseudonym of Peter Coffin], The Dead Don't Care (1938), Red Gardenias (1939), Dark Memory (1940), Solomon's Vineyard (1941), Sinners and Shrouds (1955), Black is the Fasion For Dying (1959).

Latimer wrote numerous screenplays including The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939), Phantom Riders (1940), Topper Returns (1941), A Night in New Orleans (1941), The Glass Key (1942), Whistling in Dixie (1942), They Won't Believe Me (1946), Nocturne (1946), The Big Clock (1946), Sealed Verdict (1948), Beyond Glory (1948), The Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948), Alias NIck Beal (1949), Copper Canyon (1950), The Redhead and the Cowboy (1951), Submarine Command (1951), Botany Bay (1953), Plunder of the Sun (1953), Back From Eternity (1956), The Unholy Wife (1957), The Whole Truth (1958).

Latimer also wrote various episodes of the television series Markham (1959, 10 episodes); Perry Mason (1960-1965, 45 episodes); and Hong-Kong (5 episodes).

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The JONATHAN LATIMER PAPERS contain a small collection of story ideas, outlines, scripts and screenplays. The materials are arranged alphabetically by title in one series entitled WRITINGS.

CONTAINER LIST

WRITINGS

Box 1, Folder 1

Apache Gold, .

Additional Note

Manuscript and edited typescript

Box 1, Folder 2

Coffin For Cinderella, A, .

Additional Note

Annotated typescript

Box 1, Folder 3

Double Indemnity, .

Additional Note

Mimeographed script edited in pencil

Box 1, Folder 4

Double Indemnity, .

Additional Note

Mimeographed script edited in pencil

Box 1, Folder 5

Experiment in Time, .

Additional Note

Manuscript story idea

Box 1, Folder 6

Fallen Angel, .

Additional Note

Manuscript outline

Box 1, Folder 7

Future, .

Additional Note

Edited typescript story idea

Box 1, Folder 8

General Died at Noon, The, .

Additional Note

Mimeograph typescript edited in pencil

Box 1, Folder 9

Help Wanted, .

Additional Note

Typescript and carbon

Box 1, Folder 10