Leven (Boris) papers, 1933-1975

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Summary

Title:
Boris Leven papers
Dates:
1933-1975
Creators:
Leven, Boris
Abstract:
This collection contains the papers of art director and production designer Boris Leven (1908-1986). There are approximately 150 art director's sketches from films and other productions worked on by Leven; theater music and dance programs; production design sketches from motion pictures. Additional materials include set and location stills, sketches, scripts, notes from other Leven films, and cassettes of interviews with Leven.
Containers:
Box: 1
Box: 2
Box: 3
Box: 4
Box: 5
Box: 6
Box: 7
Box: 8
Box: 9
Box: 10
Box: 11
Box: 12
Box: 13
Box: 14
Box: 15
Box: 16
Box: 17
Box: 18
Box: 19
Box: 20
Box: 21
Box: 22
Box: 23
Box: 24
Box: 25
Box: 26
Box: 27
Box: 28
Box: 29
Box: 30
Box: 31
Box: 32
Box: 33
Box: 34
Box: 35
Box: 36
Box: 37
Box: 38
Box: 39
Box: 40
Box: 41
Box: 42
Box: 43
Box: 44
Box: 45
Extent:
105.54 Linear Feet 45 boxes
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder no. or item name], Boris Leven papers, Collection no. 2364, Cinematic Arts Library, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains the papers of art director and production designer Boris Leven (1908-1986). There are approximately 150 art director's sketches from films and other productions worked on by Leven; theater music and dance programs; production design sketches from motion pictures including Tillie and Gus (1933), The Shanghai Gesture (1941), Tales of Manhattan (1942), West Side Story (1961), and Star! (1968). Additional set and location stills, sketches, scripts, and notes from other Leven films including Criss-Cross (1949), Sudden Fear (1952), and Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973). There are preliminary notes for Mandingo (1975) and Black Sunday (1977) and preliminary sketches for New York, New York. There are also cassettes of interviews with Leven.

Biographical / historical:

Boris Leven (1908-1986) was a Russian-born art director and production designer. He attended the University of Southern California and received a Bachelor of Arts in architecture. Leven won an Academy Award for Best Color Art Direction for his work on "West Side Story" (1961). As an art director, Leven worked on "The Flying Deuces" (1939), "Hello Frisco, Hello" (1943), "Invaders from Mars" (1953), and "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (1973). His credits as production designer include "Donovan's Brain" (1953), "Anatomy of a Murder" (1959), "The Sound of Music" (1965), "Star!" (1968), "The Andromeda Strain" (1971), "The Last Waltz" (1978), "The Color of Money" (1986), and "Giant" (1956).

Acquisition information:
Gift of Boris Leven, July 30, 1969.
Processing information:

This collection is unprocessed.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Marissa Chavez for History Associates Incorporated
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2022-04-01 09:04:04 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Cinematic Arts Library at ctlibarc@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Cinematic Arts Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder no. or item name], Boris Leven papers, Collection no. 2364, Cinematic Arts Library, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Location of this collection:
Cinematic Arts Library
Doheny Memorial Library, Room G4
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0185, US
Contact:
(213) 740-8383
ctlibarc@usc.edu
Website