Clifford McCarty collection

Special Collections
Margaret Herrick Library © 2013


Descriptive Summary

Title: Clifford McCarty collection
Date (inclusive): circa 1935-2004
Collection number: 1202
Creator: McCarty, Clifford
Extent: 29 linear feet of papers.
Repository: Margaret Herrick Library. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Languages: English

Important Information for Users of the Collection

Access

Available by appointment only.

Publication rights

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.

Preferred Citation

Clifford McCarty collection, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Maxine McCarty, 2005

Biography

Clifford McCarty spent most of his life in the book business after graduating from Los Angeles City College in 1953. His passion for film music lead him on a lifelong quest to document authorship of film scores, often through primary research at film studios. His writings include "Film Composers in America: A Checklist of Their Work," (1953) and "Film Composers in America: A Filmography, 1911-1970" (2000). He contributed articles to "The Cue Sheet," "Down Beat," "Films in Review," "Film and TV Music," and "Pro Musica Sana," and wrote composer entries for "The New Grove Dictionary of American Music" (1986). He was one of the founders of The Film Music Society and served as the first editor of its quarterly journal, "The Cue Sheet," from 1984 to 1987. He edited the Society's first book, "Film Music 1" (1989). McCarty also authored or co-authored books on Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, and Frank Sinatra.

Collection Scope and Content Summary

The Clifford McCarty collection spans the years circa 1935-2004 and encompasses 29 linear feet. The collection consists of McCarty's research files and includes articles and clippings on film music and film composers, correspondence with composers and other researchers, filmographies, music cue sheets, music scores, scripts, books, periodicals, and disc recordings. McCarty maintained files on composers with the intent of authoring a reference work, "Film Composers in America: A Biographical Guide to the Film Composers and Their Work." These files may include biographical questionaires, correspondence asking composers to confirm credits or other information, and biographical material retyped by McCarty from a variety of esoteric biographical reference sources. There are index cards with music credits for Abe Meyer Synchronizing Service, Columbia, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount, Republic, RKO, Triangle, 20th Century-Fox, United Artists, Universal, and Warner Bros. And, there are index cards with film composers' birth and death dates.

Arrangement

Arranged in the following series: 1. Subject files

Indexing Terms

McCarty, Clifford , 1929-2005--Archives.
historians