Dennis Marks Collection

Title: Dennis Marks Collection

Dates: 1963-1991

Collection Number: WGF-MS-132

Creator/Collector: Marks, Dennis, 1932-2006

Extent: 1.25 feet, 1 box

Repository: Writers Guild Foundation Archive

Abstract: The Dennis Marks Collection, 1963-1991, contains outlines, treatments, scripts, and other production materials for children’s cartoons from studios like Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, Marvel, and DC.

Language of Material: English

Available by appointment only. Please contact the Writers Guild Foundation Archive, www.wgfoundation.org.

The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

[Identification of item]. Dennis Marks Collection. Collection Number: WGF-MS-132. Writers Guild Foundation Archive

This collection was donated by Dennis Marks on June 12, 1996.

Dennis Marks was born on August 2, 1932 in New York City to parents who worked in vaudeville. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Duke University, he served in the Navy as a public information officer on the Lexington. Marks began his career in entertainment as a lyricist in New York, before being approached to write for children’s cartoons adapted from Hearst comic strips, such as Barney Google and Snuffy Smith and Beetle Bailey. He also wrote on The Jackie Gleason Show and produced Wonderama before transitioning almost entirely to animated productions like The Beatles and Batfink. Marks worked extensively for Filmation Associates in the1960s and 1980s, writing on the DC shows The Adventures of Batman, Aquaman, Hawkman, and Justice League of America, and animated adaptations like The Lone Ranger. In the 1970s, he worked for Hanna Barbera on Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space and the Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan. In the 1980s, Dennis Marks was hired by Marvel Productions to develop a new show for Spider-Man, called Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Along with writing and producing for the show, Marks voiced the character of Green Goblin. He also developed, produced, voice acted, and wrote for The Incredible Hulk, Dungeons & Dragons, and Transformers. Marks moved on from Marvel in 1983 because of disagreements with the networks. He resumed his work with Hanna-Barbera, writing on network reboots like The Flintstone Kids, Tom and Jerry Kids, home video releases like The Greatest Creation, and his only work to receive a theatrical release, Jetsons: The Movie (1990). Outside of his career in television, Dennis Marks was a lifelong comics fan and avid magician, performing frequently at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. He died of pancreatic cancer on January 10, 2006 at age 73, and is survived by his daughter, Amanda.

The Dennis Marks Collection, 1963-1991, consists of writing, development, and production materials relating to Dennis Marks’ extensive career in children’s animation. The collection is organized into two series. Series I: Produced Projects, 1963-1991, includes scripts, outlines, and treatments, along with any relevant episode documents like handwritten notes, correspondence, character models, storyboards, and newspaper clippings. Subseries A contains scripts for Filmation and DC shows, including The Adventures of Batman, Aquaman, Hawkman, Justice League of America, and The Lone Ranger. Subseries B contains Marks’ work on Hanna-Barbera shows and film, including Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, Tom and Jerry Kids Show, The Flintstone Kids, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Paw Paws, The Greatest Adventure, Foofur, Galtar and the Golden Lance, and Tom and Jerry: The Movie. Subseries C is made up of scripts for Marvel shows and other unrelated production companies. Titles include Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, The Incredible Hulk, Pandamonium, and The Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Barkleys, Cool McCool, Max, the 2,000-Year-Old Mouse, and Snuffy Smith and Barney Google. Series II: Unproduced Projects, approximately 1966-1986, contains treatments, outlines, scripts, notes, pitches, and other materials for unproduced shows. It includes episodes for Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, The Adventures of Batman, The Lone Ranger, Tom and Jerry Kids, and Galtar and the Golden Lance. It also includes Dennis Marks’ development materials on an unproduced series The Power Team and Their Power Machines, along with episode material for the failed Hal Seeger pilot Wilbur the Wanted, and other materials.