Description
The collection consists almost exclusively of script material, for both produced and unproduced films, and playscripts. The
script material includes drafts, outlines, and treatments. Of interest is a handwritten treatment for GOING MY WAY. There
are congratulatory letters related to Cavett's two Academy Awards.
Background
Frank Cavett was born in Jackson, Ohio in 1905. He attended Ohio University and Yale University, graduating from the Baker
School of Drama at Yale. He entered the film industry as an assistant director for Paramount Pictures in Long Island. In 1932
producer Walter Wanger, who had recently moved from Paramount’s East coast studios to Columbia Pictures in Hollywood, recruited
Cavett and writer Edward Roberts to write the story for Columbia’s VANITY STREET (1932). After completing the assignment,
Roberts and Cavett returned to New York to write for Broadway, where they co-authored the play FORSAKING ALL OTHERS, a romantic-
comedy starring Tallulah Bankhead which ran for 110 performances. In 1935 he was hired for the radio drama “Backstage Wife,”
which he wrote for in its first year on the air. He returned to Hollywood in 1937 and worked there as a screenwriter for the
remainder of his career. His credits include the original story for SECOND CHORUS (1940) and the screenplays for SYNCOPATION
(1942), THE CORN IS GREEN (1945), and ACROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI (1951). He was nominated for an Academy Award, with Dorothy
Parker, for Best Writing, Original Story for SMASH-UP--THE STORY OF A WOMAN (1947). He received two Academy Awards, first
with Frank Butler for Best Writing, Screenplay for GOING MY WAY (1944), and with Fredric M. Frank and Theodore St. John for
Best Writing, Motion Picture Story for THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1952). Cavett died in 1973.
Restrictions
Property rights to the physical object belong to the Margaret Herrick Library. Researchers are responsible for obtaining all
necessary rights, licenses, or permissions from the appropriate companies or individuals before quoting from or publishing
materials obtained from the library.