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Title: Louis Frizzell Jr. collection
Dates (inclusive): 1943-1990
Dates (bulk): 1942-1945
Collection number: 2008.81
Collection Size:
1 linear foot (1 box)
Repository:
Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Los Angeles, California 90012
Creator: Frizzell, Louis, Jr.
Abstract: Louis (Lou) Frizzell Jr. was a drama teacher at Manzanar during WWII, and later a character actor in Hollywood. The collection
documents Frizzell's time as a teacher at Manzanar. This collection contains photo albums, a 1943-1944 yearbook, photographs,
correspondence, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, and a play script.
Physical location: Japanese American National Museum. 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
By appointment only. Please contact the Collections Management and Access Unit (collections@janm.org). Advanced notice is
required.
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections
Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).
[Identification of item], Louis Frizzell Jr. collection. 2008.81, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.
The collection was acquired in 2008 as a gift of Bruce and Frances Kaji.
Items were individually catalogued by staff members when the donation was accepted. A container list and finding aid was created
by Alexandra Cauley in 2019.
Louis Frizzell Jr. was born June 10, 1920 in Missouri. He volunteered to teach at Manzanar War Relocation Center after his
graduation from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1942, and remained there until the Manzanar's closure in 1945.
As musical director, Frizzell helped the students of Manzanar High School stage plays, including a play of his own composition
entitled 'Loud and Clear'. Bruce Kaji and Archie Miyatake were among the students who remembered Frizzell fondly. Frizzell
is the subject of the short film 'The Music Man of Manzanar', released in 2005 by Brian Tadashi Maeda. Frizzell pursued an
acting career after leaving Manzanar, and portrayed himself in the film adaptation of 'Farewell to Manzanar'. He passed away
on June 17, 1979, in Los Angeles.
This collection documents Louis Frizzell Jr.'s time as a drama teacher at Manzanar. It consists of two photo albums, a yearbook,
photographs, correspondence, a Manzanar Pilgrimage pamphlet, newspaper clippings, and a play script. The photos include prints
of Ansel Adams photographs, photos of Frizzell's students and other staff at Manzanar (including Charles and Lois Ferguson),
and others. There is a detailed list of all items in the collection linked below.
Previous arrangement was preserved.
Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
Manzanar War Relocation Center