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Merlin (Milton and Barbara) papers (ARA)
PA Mss 168
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Title: Milton and Barbara Merlin papers (ARA)
Identifier/Call Number: PA Mss 168
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
Physical Description:
24.5 Linear Feet;
(25 boxes)
Creator:
Merlin, Milton (Milton S.) (1905-1996)
Creator:
Merlin, Barbara (1917-1997)
Date (inclusive): 1923-1996
Date (bulk): 1941-1967
Abstract: The Milton and Barbara Merlin Papers of the American Radio Archives (ARA) documents the careers of radio and television writers
Milton and Barbara Merlin. The collection contains scripts of radio and television programs, story outlines, presentation
material, and correspondence, that range from 1923-1996, the bulk of the material dating from the years 1941-1967.
Physical Location: Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library.
The collection is open for research.
Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through
the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to
the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and are retained by the creator
and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.
All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department
of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of
California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is
not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright
owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or their assigns for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
[Identification of Item], Milton and Barbara Merlin Papers, PA Mss 168. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa
Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
This collection forms part of the American Radio Archives (ARA), which documents the early history of broadcasting, with an
emphasis on California. The ARA was formerly housed at the Thousand Oaks Public Library and was owned and administered by
the Thousand Oaks Library Foundation. It was transferred to the UCSB Library in 2021.
Milton S. Merlin was born as Milton Stanley Harris in Whittier, California in 1905. His mother Bessie Waktor,
married Joseph Zuckerman in 1909, and Milton carried the Zuckerman name through high school (Manual Arts,
Los Angeles) and college. After attending the University of California, Southern Campus, Merlin attended the
University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a degree in philosophy. Having an avid interest in writing
and literature, Merlin gravitated towards poets and other literati while at Berkeley, counting Kenneth Rexroth
among his friends there. In the years following graduation, Merlin worked in a variety of jobs related to writing,
working in Los Angeles on trade journals and local newspapers, and began a long association with the Los
Angeles Times as a book reviewer. By April, 1927, Milton began using the surname Merlin. During this time,
Merlin also produced, wrote and directed plays for community theater groups, such as the Santa Monica Bay
Music Association. In the 1930's, Merlin began working in the film industry, first joining Paramount in 1933 as an editorial
assistant and writer. In 1936, he moved on to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, where he worked as an assistant
producer, writing treatments and editing screenplays for films such as
Henry Goes to Arizona,
The Kid from
Texas
, and
Burn 'em up O'Connor.
By 1940, Merlin began shifting his attention to radio, and soon was collaborating with Marion Spitzer on scripts
for the series
Big Town, and later wrote scripts for that series by himself. In the following years, Merlin returned occasionally to film projects,
working on screenplays with Spitzer, and helping edit screenplays for Universal.
After the entry of the United States into World War II, Merlin produced films as part of the United States Signal
Corps, and was also an active participant of the Hollywood Writers Mobilization. As a member of this latter
group of radio and film writers and directors, Merlin served on the editorial board of the series
Free World
Theatre
, which was directed by Arch Oboler, and wrote the script for one episode, a musical titled
Something
about Joe
. Other projects with the Mobilization that Merlin participated in were a transcontinental broadcast
featuring Bette Davis and Paul Muni, a Writers Congress that was held at the University of California, Los
Angeles in 1943, the production of the Dear Joe Rally held at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1944, and the
publication of a journal in cooperation with the University of California, Los Angeles, titled
Hollywood
Quarterly
.
In early 1944, Merlin began writing and editing scripts for the
Ginny Simms Show and
Everything for the Boys. The latter program featured screen actor Ronald Colman as the host, and proved to be the first of many projects
on which Colman and Merlin worked together. This program also featured another staff member with whom
Merlin would collaborate on various writing projects for the next fifty years, namely, the woman that he would
also marry the following year, Barbara Smitten.
Barbara Smitten Merlin was born on December 25, 1917 in San Francisco. After graduating from Dominican
College, she found her first job in radio as a writer for station KFRC in San Francisco. She later moved to Los
Angeles, and worked for station KHJ, as well as the advertising agency of Ruthrauff and Ryan, which produced
the programs
Amos n' Andy and
Mayor of the Town. As a script supervisor and associate producer on that company's program,
Everything for the Boys, she met Milton Merlin. After marrying in 1945, Barbara and
Milton worked as a writing team on most of the programs in radio and television with which they were
affiliated over the next couple of decades, only occasionally writing solo scripts or working with other writers.
One of their first programs was the radio adventure series,
The Man Called X (1945-1947), followed by
Mr.
President
(1947-48),
The Adventures of Bill Lance (1947), and
Presenting Charles Boyer (1950). In 1950, they became involved in a series that would prove to be their most successful,
The Halls of Ivy on NBC. Created by veteran comedy writer Don Quinn, the series starred Ronald Colman and his wife, Benita Hume Colman, as
William Todhunter Hall, the Dean of Ivy College, and his wife Vicky. Although Quinn created the characters
and had a hand in the stories, the Merlins wrote most of the actual scripts for the duration of the series, which
stayed on the air until 1952. By the time that Ivy went off the air, the Merlins began turning their attention
toward television, writing scripts for a series of Ronald Colman films that aired as part of the Four Star Theatre,
as well as a television adaptation of
Halls of Ivy that was broadcast over NBC Television in the 1954-1955
season, and which also featured the Colmans in the leading roles.
At this point, however, the era of the blacklist had made its presence felt in the lives and careers of the Merlins.
From the mid 1940s through the early 1950s, Milton had been active in the Radio Writers Guild, serving as the
national president of that organization in 1952. As a result, Merlin was eventually accused by anti-Communist
publications such as
Counterattack and
Alert of serving in an organization that was a front for the Communist Party. Merlin's earlier involvement with the Hollywood Writers
Mobilization (1942-1946) and the Hollywood
Anti-Nazi League also contributed to his detractors' charges. Merlin voluntarily appeared before the House UnAmerican Activities
Committee in November 1953, where he denied having ever been a Communist, and denied that Communists influenced the Radio
Writers Guild. Nevertheless, Milton's name was prevented from appearing on the scripts for the televised version of
Halls of Ivy, and many of the other collaborative efforts he shared with Barbara.
By the time the blacklist furor died down in the mid 1950's, both Merlins continued working in television, and
in 1957, Milton was hired as a story editor for Don Fedderson Productions, where he was soon supervising the
writing of scripts for the series
The Millionaire. Milton continued to work for Fedderson until 1961, and was
also involved with such programs as
My Three Sons, and
Tramp Ship. Following his association with
Fedderson, Milton worked on a series with Storer Productions titled
The Littlest Hobo, which was produced in
British Columbia. After this period, the Merlins continued to create television scripts as free-lance writers, and
their work found its way into numerous series, such as
Ben Casey,
The Breaking Point,
Mr. Novak, and
The Fugitive. By the late 1960s, the Merlins tired of working in television, discouraged by the quality ofprogramming at that time, and
withdrew from the field. In the early 1970s, they started a film company named
Particular Pictures, for which they traveled to Hong Kong to produce a film in 1972.
While still interested in writing scripts and screenplays, the Merlins turned to other activities over the next two
decades, with Milton serving as a writer for the
Los Angeles Times Book Review, and Barbara working as an
editor for
The National Enquirer. Milton Merlin died in Los Angeles in October 1996, and Barbara Merlin died
in July of the following year.
The Milton and Barbara Merlin Papers contains 24.5 linear feet of scripts of radio and television programs, story outlines,
presentation material, and correspondence ranging from 1923-1996, with the bulk of the material dating from the years 1941-1967.
Radio programs represented in this collection include
Big Town,
Everything for the Boys,
The Ginny Simms Show,
Boston Blackie,
The Man Called X,
The Adventures of Bill Lance,
This Is Hollywood,
Mr. President,
Presenting Charles Boyer, and
Halls of Ivy. The television series that are included among the scripts are
Halls of Ivy,
The Millionaire,
Tramp Ship,
The Littlest Hobo,
The Breaking Point, and
Four Star Theatre.
In addition to radio and television scripts and other material related to program production, the collection contains personal
and professional items including family correspondence, photographs, resumes, and editorial correspondence and correspondence
with researchers, as well as materials related to the Merlin's involvement in such organizations as the Anti-Nazi League,
Hollywood Writers Mobilization, Screen Writers Guild, National Television Committee, and the Radio Writers Guild, among others.
These organizational materials include correspondence, memoranda, bylaws and constitutions, minutes and meeting notes, collective
bargaining contracts, reports, publications, and much more.
The collection also contains materials related to the blacklisting of Milton Merlin, calendars and diaries, and teaching,
speaking, and writing files.
The materials in this collection are arranged into six series by type.
Series 1: Radio Programs: Scripts and related material; Series 2: Television Programs: Scripts and related material; Series
3: Presentation and Story Ideas; Series 4: Personal Papers; Series 5: Calendars and Diaries; Series 6: Sound Recordings.
Best Television Humor of the Year. Selected and edited by Irving Settel. (New York: Ace Books, 1956). [Contains Halls of Ivy script]
Ronald Colman: A Very Private Person. Julia Benita Colman. (New York: William Morrow and Co.,
1975).
Ronald Colman: A Bio-bibliography. Sam Frank. Foreword by Robert E. Morsberger. (Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 1997). Inscribed to Barbara Merlin by author.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Radio writers -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century -- Archives
Television writers -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century -- Archives
Blacklisting of entertainers
Radio scripts
Screenplays
Personal correspondence
Business correspondence
Records (documents)
Diaries
Merlin, Milton (Milton S.) (1905-1996) -- Archives
Merlin, Barbara (1917-1997) -- Archives
Authors' League of America -- Archives
Writers Guild of America, West -- Archives