Finding aid for the Cecil B. DeMille collection 2365

Diann Benti

USC Libraries Cinematic Arts Library

2022 April

Doheny Memorial Library G4

3550 Trousdale Parkway

Los Angeles, California 90089-0185

ctlibarc@usc.edu

URL: http://libraries.usc.edu/locations/cinematic-arts-library

Contributing Institution: USC Libraries Cinematic Arts Library

Title: Cecil B. DeMille collection

Creator: DeMille, Cecil B. (Cecil Blount), 1881-1959

Identifier/Call Number: 2365

Physical Description: 20.79 Linear Feet 11 boxes

Date (inclusive): 1891-1975

Abstract: This collection chiefly consists of scripts, awards, scrapbooks, and a small group of papers of American film director and producer Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959).

Language of Material: English.

Conditions Governing Access

Advance notice required for access.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Received from various sources. Part of the collection was received as a gift, circa 1970. The awards were the gift of Cecilia Presley in 1997.

Biographical / Historical

Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959) was an American film producer and director. He was a pioneer filmmaker in Hollywood making both silent and sound films including "Samson and Delilah" (1949), "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1953), "The Ten Commandments" (1956). "The Greatest Show on Earth" won the Academy Award for best motion picture.

Preferred Citation

[Box/folder no. or item name], Cecil B. DeMille collection, Collection no. 2365, Cinematic Arts Library, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Processing Information

A portion of this collection was previously cataloged as Collection #99 and Collection #2099.

Scope and Contents

This collection chiefly consists of scripts, awards, scrapbooks, and a small group of papers of American film director and producer Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959). In addition, there is a set of reviews and a program for the play "The Lost Paradise" (1891) written by DeMille's father Henry C. DeMille.

Personal materials include a notebook with a 1920 appraisal of DeMille's personal property in his study at the Famous Players-Lasky Studio; a photograph album of the Vermejo Club ranch, DeMille's estate in New Mexico; genealogical notes; and some miscellaneous items.

DeMille's film work is represented by more than 80 shooting scripts, often with handwritten notes, as well as some film musical scores; 17 stereopticon cards with stills from "Fool's Paradise" (1921); a handbook for "Samson and Delilah" (1948); scrapbooks of photographs and clippings related to the French release of "The Crusades" (1935), the world premiere of "Union Pacific" (1939) in Omaha, Nebraska, and the Italian publicity campaign for "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1953); and printed materials and 6 stills for "The Ten Commandments" (1956).

There are approximately 80 awards and certificates for DeMille, as well as one for his wife, Constance DeMille, from a variety of organizations related to his movie career and philanthropy.

Conditions Governing Use

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.

Rights Statement for Archival Description

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

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Motion pictures -- Archival resources

Motion picture producers and directors -- Archival resources

Ranches -- New Mexico -- Photographs

Motion pictures -- Production and direction -- Archival resources

Photographs

Scrapbooks

DeMille, Cecil B. (Cecil Blount), 1881-1959 -- Archives

Henry C. DeMille papers

Box 2, Folder 1

The Lost Paradise reviews 1891

Box 2, Folder 2

The Lost Paradise program (Proctor's Theatre, New York City) [1891]

Box 2, Folder 3

Miscellaneous notes and drawing removed from a scrapbook of reviews of the play "Men and Women"

Index page of manuscript plays

Cecil B. DeMille papers

Box 2, Folder 5

DeMille genealogy

Box 2, Folder 6

Personal property appraisal notebook 1920-12-08

Scope and Contents

Title: "Mr. Cecil B. De Mille, Appraisal of personal property in his study at Famous Players-Lasky Studio, 1520 Vine Street, Hollywood, California."

Box 11

Vermejo Club photograph album circa late 1920s-early 1930s

Box 2, Folder 7

Snapshots of the DeMille ranch (3 photographs) 1955

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Margaret Mullin.

Box 2, Folder 8

Frontier Times Monthly 1926-05

Box 2, Folder 9

Los Angeles Times issue with DeMille wedding anniversary article 1952-08-17 1952-08-17

Framed photograph and letter to Robert Stephen from Cecil B. DeMille 1942-04-08

Films

Stereopticon cards

Box 2, Folder 10

Fool's Paradise stereopticon cards 1921

Scripts

Physical Location: The bulk of the scripts are housed in the Cinematic Arts Library curatorial office. Two scripts, "Samson and Delilah" and "The Greatest Show on Earth," are on permanent display in the Cinematic Arts Reading Room.

Adam's Rib 1922

Affairs of Anatol 1920-1921

The Arab 1915

The Buccaneer (2 copies) 1937

The Call of the North 1914

The Captive 1915

Carmen 1915

The Cheat 1915

Chimmie Fadden 1915

Chimmie Fadden Out West 1915

Cleopatra 1934

The Crusades 1935

The Devil Stone 1917

The Dream Girl 1916

Don't Change Your Husband 1918

Dynamite 1928

Feet of Clay 1924

Fool's Paradise 1921

For Better for Worse 1919

Forbidden Fruit 1920

Four Frightened People 1933

The Girl of the Golden West 1914

The Godless Girl 1928

The Golden Bed 1924

The Golden Chance 1915

The Greatest Show on Earth

The Heart of Nora Flynn 1916

Joan the Woman 1916

Kindling 1915

The King of Kings 1926-1927

The King of Kings: Letters 1927-1928

Scope and Contents

Typescript copies of correspondence to DeMille with congratulations and positive comments about the film.

Land of Liberty (release dialogue script, 2 copies) 1939

The Little American 1917

Madam Satan 1930

Male and Female 1919

The Man From Home 1914

Manslaughter 1922

Maria Rosa 1915

North West Mounted Police 1940

Old Wives for New 1918

The Plainsman 1936

Reap the Wild Wind 1941

The Road to Yesterday 1925

A Romance of the Redwoods 1917

Rose of the Rancho 1914

Samson and Delilah

Saturday Night 1921

The Sign of the Cross 1932

The Sign of the Cross (prologue) 1944

Something to Think About 1920

The Squaw Man 1913

The Squaw Man 1918

The Squaw Man 1931

The Story of Dr. Wassell 1943

Temptation 1915

The Ten Commandments 1923

The Ten Commandments 1955

The Ten Commandments (Egypt sequences) 1954

The Ten Commandments (revised script with Bible quotations) 1956

The Ten Commandments (Italian version: I Dieci Comandamenti)

The Day and Age 1933

Till I Come Back to You 1918

The Trial of the Lonesome Pine 1915-1916

Triumph 1924

The Unafraid 1915

Unconquered 1946

Union Pacific (shooting script) 1938

Union Pacific (signed script) 1938

Union Pacific (research bibliography) 1938

The Virginian 1914

The Volga Boatman 1925-1926

The Warrens of Virginia 1914-1915

We Can't Have Everything 1918

What's His Name 1914

The Whispering Chorus 1917-1918

Why Change Your Wife 1919

Wild Goose Chase 1915

The Woman God Forgot 1917

Music scores

The Greatest Show on Earth (music score) 1951

Joan the Woman (music score) 1917

North West Mounted Police (music score) 1940

Madam Satan (music score) 1930

Reap the Wild Wind (music score) 1942

The Story of Dr. Wassell (music score) 1944

The Ten Commandments (music score) 1956

Unconquered (music score) 1947

Scrapbooks

The Crusades

Box 6

Livre d'Or du film Les Croisades de Cecil B. de Mille, Le Paramount, Paris [1935]

Union Pacific

Box 6

World premiere Union Pacific, Omaha, scrapbook 1939

The Greatest Show on Earth

Box 9

Italian publicity campaign: photos 1953

Box 9

Italian publicity campaign: press 1953

Samson and Delilah handbook

Box 2, Folder 11

Samson and Delilah handbook 1948-10-21

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Joleene Hanks, Spring 1981.

Samson and Delilah handbook 1948-10-21

The Ten Commandments documents and ephemera

Box 2, Folder 12

Typescript documents

Scope and Contents

Contains: "Suggested address to be delivered prior to special screening of C. B. DeMille's production The Ten Commandments"; "Ten Commandments" [historical context]; "Production notes"; "Facts about Cecil B. DeMille's production of The Ten Commandments"; and "Cecil B. Demille Producer-Director of 'The Ten Commandments.'"

Box 2, Folder 13

Stills (6 photographs) 1956

Box 2, Folder 14

Press clippings 1957

Box 2, Folder 15

"Moses and Egypt: the documentation to the Motion Picture The Ten Commandments" [University of Southern California Press, 1956] by Henry S. Noerdlinger 1956

Box 2, Folder 16

Souvenir booklets

Awards

Awards to Constance DeMille

Box 7

Castelar Creche board of directors commendation 1943

Awards to Cecil B. DeMille

Boxed awards

Box 8

American Airlines, Inc., commission as Admiral of the Flagship Fleet 1951

Box 5

American Cancer Society Inc. certificate of merit 1953

Box 5

The American Legion memorial 1951

Box 3

Association of Motion Picture Producers of California appreciation 1931

Box 4

Association of Motion Picture Producers resolution of tribute

Box 3

Australia: thanks for help in victory loan

Box 4

Baylor University honor doctor of laws degree 1957

Box 1

Box Office Blue Ribbon Award: The Best Picture of the Month (for The Story of Dr. Wassell) 1944-07

Box 1

Box Office Blue Ribbon Award: The Best Picture of the Month (for North West Mounted Police)

Box 5

Brazilian Association of Movie Critics commendation 1954

Box 8

California Legislature Assembly Concurrent Resolution 1959

Box 3

Cambridge Springs, Penn., award 1947

Box 3

Christian Herald picture of the month award (for Samson and Delilah) 1949-12

Box 4

Christian Herald reader's award 1957 Picture of the Year (for the Ten Commandments) 1957

Box 8

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Inglewood Stake scroll of honor 1949

Box 8

City of Los Angeles resolution on DeMille's 75th birthday 1956

Box 5

City of Tyler (Texas) Mayor for the Day 1953

Box 4

Civil Air Patrol 1955

Box 8

Il Consorzio della Stampa Cinematografica award (for The Ten Commandments) 1957/58

Box 8

County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors birthday tribute 1955

Box 3

Dale Carnegie Club International human relations award 1956

Box 3

Daughters of the American Revolution best picture of 1952 (for The Greatest Show on Earth) 1952

Box 4

Department of the Air Force exception service award 1955

Box 5

Eighth Washington Pilgrimage of the Religious Heritage of America, Inc., lay churchman of the year award 1958

Box 5

Exhibitor Laurel Award: leading producer-director 1948

Box 4

Exhibitor Laurel Award: number one topliner producer-director 1949

Box 4

Exhibitor Laurel Award: topliner producer-director 1950/51

Box 4

Exhibitor Laurel Award: best producer-director 1952

Box 4

Exhibitor Laurel Award: number one producer-director 1954

Box 4

Exhibitor Laurel Award: best producer-director 1955

Box 4

Exhibitor Laurel Award: best producer-director 1957

Box 1

Fame Achievement Award (for The Ten Commandments) 1958

Box 4

Federation of Motion Picture Councils Inc. award of exceptional merit (for The Ten Commandments)

Box 8

The Film Daily: Ten Best Pictures of 1956 (for The Ten Commandments) 1956

Box 4

Foreign Press Association of Hollywood tribute 1952

Box 7

Freedom Trail Explorers citation of public service presented to Cecil B. DeMille for his contribution to the schoolchildren of the nation on the moral lesson of freedom found in his production of The Ten Commandments 1957

Box 5

Freedoms Foundation certificate of merit 1949

Box 10

Honor from attendees of the University of Colorado, College of Journalism Newspaper week 1942

Box 5

The Independent Exhibitorating Award: top money producer-director 1951/52

Box 7

Independent Theatre Owners Association citation (for The Greatest Show on Earth) 1953

Box 8

Iowa State College Veishea award 1952

Box 1

Maryland State Council American Jewish Congress: Stephen S. Wise Medallion (for The Ten Commandments) 1957

Box 3

Motion Picture Appreciation Association, Kansas City, Missouri, pictures of the century award (for The Ten Commandments) 1961

Box 10

Motion Picture Pioneers: Pioneer of the Year 1949

Box 7

Mount Sinai Hospital and Clinic plaque of appreciation 1956

Box 5

National Right to Work Committee commendation 1975

Box 8

National School Boards Association certificate of appreciation 1957

Box 10

Pennsylvania Military College honorary doctor of letters degree 1931

Box 3

Photoplay Magazine achievement award (for The Greatest Show on Earth) 1952

Box 3

Rotary Club of Los Angeles speaker of the day 1958

Box 3

Seventeen picture of the month (for The Greatest Show on Earth) 1952-03

Box 7

Southern California Motion Picture Council award (for The Greatest Show on Earth) 1952

Box 5

Southern California Motion Picture Council Inc. certificate of award (for The Greatest Show on Earth) 1952

Box 8

Tau Sigma Delta, Kappa Chapter, recognition scroll 1952

Box 3

United Cerebral Palsy distinguished service award 1951

Box 5

United States Navy certificate for the Seaward, which served in World War II 1947

Box 8

War Agencies of the Government of the United States plaque for World War II service

Displayed awards

Physical Location: These awards are on permanent display in the Cinematic Arts Library reading room.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences certification of nomination for award (for special effects, Samson and Delilah) 1950

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences certificate of nomination for award (for The Greatest Show on Earth) 1952

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences certificate of nomination for award (for The Ten Commandments) 1956

American Association for Jewish Education 1958

American Institute of Cinematography honorary membership

American Weekly annual motion picture poll (for The Greatest Show on Earth) 1952

Box Office Blue Ribbon Award: The Best Picture of the Month (for The Greatest Show on Earth)

Broadcast Pioneers special citation

California State Society The Daughters of the American Colonists award of merit

Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America business member certificate 1956

Christian Herald picture of the month (for The Greatest Show on Earth) 1952-02

Christopher Award 1957

Exhibitor Laurel Award selection for best picture (for Samson and Delilah) 1949-11

Gavel award

Grand Lodge Distinguished American

Hollywood Chamber of Commerce 1942

Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association Cecil B. DeMille award 1952

IV Semana Internacional de Cine Religioso Valladolid (for The Ten Commandments) 1959-04

Los Angeles Herald Examiner award (for The Ten Commandments)

National Women's League Pacific Southwest Branch Torah Branch 1956

The Parents Magazine Medal

Photoplay Magazine certificate (for The Ten Commandments) 1956

The Salvation Army Association of New York citation of merit 1957-12-17

The Salvation Army Award 1957-06-12

50 years of service award presented by Hedy Lamarr 1952