Mort Thaw Collection

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

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

Available by appointment only.

The responsibility to secure copyright and publication permission rests with the researcher.

Mort Thaw Collection. Writers Guild Foundation Archive

Donated by Mort Thaw, April 1, 2003

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.

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.