Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography/Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Mort Thaw Collection
Dates: 1956-1982
Collection Number: WGF-MS-059
Creator/Collector:
Thaw, Mort, 1921-2009
Extent: 2 linear feet
Repository:
Writers Guild Foundation Archive
Los Angeles, California 90048
Abstract: The Mort Thaw Collection, 1956-1982, consists of numerous television scripts, as well as two versions of the feature screenplay
Harrad Summer.
Language of Material: English
Access
Available by appointment only.
Publication Rights
The responsibility to secure copyright and publication permission rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
Mort Thaw Collection. Writers Guild Foundation Archive
Acquisition Information
Donated by Mort Thaw, April 1, 2003
Biography/Administrative History
Mort Thaw (1921-2009) was a prolific television writer whose credits included Bonanza, The Detectives, Route 66, and The Untouchables.
He also wrote the screenplay for the 1974 film Harrad Summer. Thaw was a longtime member of the Writers Guild of America,
where he worked on calling attention to the issue of age discrimination.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Mort Thaw Collection, 1956-1982, consists of numerous television scripts, as well as two versions of the feature screenplay
Harrad Summer. Most of the scripts have been catalogued individually and added to the library collection. Particularly notable
are Thaw's teleplays for two daytime series: the courtroom drama Day in Court and the short-lived soap opera Full Circle.
Other teleplays in the collection include episodes of Bonanza, The Detectives, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, Emergency,
Matinee Theatre, Route 66, The United States Steel Hour, and The Untouchables. The collection also includes information about
the Writers Guild Playhouse, a proposed television program that the Guild was hoping to launch in 1959. Thaw wrote one of
39 scripts that were selected for the show, and the collection includes his teleplay, as well as clippings and correspondence
about the show, which was never produced. The collection also includes numerous issues of the Writers Guild of America, West,
Newsletter for the years 1975-1982, which have been transferred to the library's periodicals holdings.
