Finding Aid for the Edmund H. North Papers, 1934-1968
Processed by Manuscripts Division staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé and edited by Josh Fiala.
UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections
Manuscripts Division
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/
© 2005
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Edmund H. North Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1934-1968
Collection number: 1076
Creator: North, Edmund H., 1911-
Extent: 4 boxes (2.0 linear ft.)
Abstract: Edmund Hall North (1911-1990) was a free-lance screenwriter (1934- ), and served as president of the screen branch of the
Writers Guild of America, West (1956-57). He won the Screen Writers Guild Award for “One night of love”, and won the Screen
Writers Guild Award and Academy Award for best story and screenplay for “Patton” in 1970. The collection consists of 40 screenplays
and related material by Edmund H. North. Also contains eleven scripts of orientation films made by the Signal Corps for the
War Department during World War II, some of which were written by North, who also produced them.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library.
Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Administrative Information
Restrictions on Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Edmund H. North Papers (Collection 1076). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, UCLA.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Edmund Hall North was born March 12, 1911, in New York City; attended Stanford University (1928-30); became a free-lance screenwriter
in 1934, when he won the Screen Writers Guild Award for, “One night of love”; served as president of the screen branch of
the Writers Guild of America, West (1956-57); won Screen Writers Guild Award and Academy Award for best story and screenplay
for “Patton” in 1970; he died on August 18, 1990 in Santa Monica, California.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of 40 screenplays and related material by Edmund H. North. Includes “One night of love”, “Young man with
a horn”, “Flamingo road”, “Dark canyon (released as “Colorado Territory”)”, “In a lonely place”, “Only the valiant”, “The
day the earth stood still”, “Blue horizons” (released as “The far horizons”), “Destry”, “The proud ones”, “Reminiscences of
a cowboy” (released as “Cowboy”), “Pilots for hire” (released as “The lady takes a flyer”), and “Sink the Bismarck!”, and
several drafts of the screenplay, “Patton”, written with Francis Ford Coppola. Also contains eleven scripts of orientation
films made by the Signal Corps for the War Department during World War II, some of which were written by North, who also produced
them.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
North, Edmund H., 1911- --Archives.
Screenwriters--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources.
Genres and Forms of Material
Film scripts.
Box 1
Script of
One Night of Love.
Scope and Content Note
Produced by Columbia in 1934, starring Grace Moore, directed by Victor Schertzinger. It was the first --- and the most successful
--- of the operatic musicals.
Box 1
2 scripts of
Young Man With A Horn.
Scope and Content Note
Produced by Warner Bros. in 1947, starring Kirk Douglas, lauren Bacall and doris Day, directed by Michael Curtiz.
This is a writer's working script, and included is a letter from the author of the novel, Dorothy Baker, to the producer of
the picture, Jerry Wald, discussing my script in some detail.
Box 1
Script of
Flamingo Road.
Scope and Content Note
Produced by Warner Bros. in 1947, starring Joan Crawford and directed by Vincent Sherman.
Box 1
Script of
Dark Canyon.
Scope and Content Note
Produced by Warner Bros. in 1948, and released as
Colorado Territory. Starred Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo.
Box 1
Script of
In A Lonely Place.
Scope and Content Note
Produced by Columbia in 1949, starring Humphrey Bogart. Directed by Nick Ray.
Box 1
Script of
Only the Valiant.
Scope and Content Note
Produced by Warner Bros. in 1949, starring Gregory Peck.
Box 2
Story outline entitled
Farewell to the Master.
Scope and Content Note
This outline was the basis for the screenplay
The Day the Earth Stood Still.
This picture, released by Twentieth Century-Fox in 1950, starred Michael Rennie and Patricia neal and was directed by robert
wise. This film was one of the first and is considered by many critics to be the best of the science fiction pictures.
Box 2
Script of
The Day the Eart Stood Still.
January 9, 1951
Box 2
Script of
Blue Horizons.
Scope and Content Note
Produced by Paramount in 1954 as
The Far Horizons. It starred Charlton Heston and Fred MacMurray and was directed by Rudy Mate.
Box 2
Script of
Destry.
Scope and Content Note
Produced by Universal in 1954, starried Audie Murphy.
Box 2
Script of
The Proud Ones.
Scope and Content Note
Produced by Twentieth Century-Fox in 1955.
Box 2
Script of
Reminiscences of a Cowboy.
Scope and Content Note
Released by Columbia as
Cowboy in 1958, starring Glenn Ford as Jack Lemmon.
Box 2
Script of
Pilots for Hire.
Scope and Content Note
Produced and released as
The Lady Takes a Flyer by Universal in 1956.
Box 2
Script of
Sink the Bismarck!
Scope and Content Note
Produced in England for Twentieth Century-Fox in 1959, starring Kenneth More and Dana Wynter and directed by Lewis Gilbert.
“I spent a couple of months in the archives of the British Admiralty working with technical experts there to insure accuracy.
The result was that this very compicated naval engagement was portrayed precisely as it happened, each movement of the many
ships engaged being accounted for accurately.”
[Orientation Films]
Scope and Content Note
“The following eleven scripts might be of interest as examples of orientation films made by the Signal Corps for the War Department
during World War II. As a major in the signal Corps, I produced these films and wrote many of them.”
Box 2
Script of
Baptism of Fire.
January 6, 1943
Scope and Content Note
“This film attempted to prepare the soldier for his first encounter with the enemy.”
Box 2
Script of
Cracking Tanks.
October 1, 1942
Scope and Content Note
“This film showed how infantrymen can deal with an enemy tank attack.”
Box 2
Script of
How To Get Killed in One Easy Lesson.
October 1, 1942
Scope and Content Note
“This film illustrates a series of 'dont's' for the combat soldier.”
Box 2
Script of
Kill Or Be Killed.
December 1, 1942
Scope and Content Note
“A film treatise on hand-to-hand combat and dirty fighting.”
Box 2
Script of
Secret Weapon.
March 26, 1943
Scope and Content Note
“A film on the importance of taking that one extra step, firing that one extra shot.”
Box 2
Script of
Keep it Clean.
october 1, 1942
Scope and Content Note
“A film illustrating the vital importance of keeping your rifle clean.”
Box 3
Script of
It's Your America.
October 6, 1944
Scope and Content Note
“A booster shot in citizenship for post-hostilities occupation troops.”
Box 3
Script of
Don't Be A Sucker.
February 19, 1945
Scope and Content Note
“This film on racial and religious tolerance was made for the War Department and subsequently released to the public by Paramount.”
Box 3
Script of
Your Next job.
September 14, 1944
Scope and Content Note
“A picture on post-hostilities vocational guidance.”
Box 3
Script of
Follow Me Again.
July 14, 1944
Scope and Content Note
“A film for leaders of post-hostilities education program.”
Box 3
Script of
Opportunity Knocks Again.
July 14, 1944
Scope and Content Note
“A film outlining the educational program.”
Box 3
Script of
Negro Soldier in Eto.
July 17, 1945
Scope and Content Note
“A filmed account of the contribution made by Negro soldiers in all phases of the European campaign.”
Box 3
Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Scope and Content Note
(Twentieth Century-Fox, not yet produced)
“This is an epic naval story of the biggest sea battle of World War II, and in preparing it I did a great deal of research,
both in the Defense Department in Washington and also with the Commanders of the Japan Self Defense force in tokyo. I have
the entire file of material on this project, from my original plan for the screenplay based on C.S. Forester's account straight
through to the revised final script., in addition to much research material. This represents an unusually complete package
and would give the student a good view of the preparation of a highly technical subject, from inception through research to
the final script.”
Box 3
Treatment of
Battle of Leyte Gulf by C.S. Forester, of
Captain Horatio Hornblower fame.
September 26, 1960
Box 3
A plan for the screenplay, by E.H.N.
February 15, 1961
Scope and Content Note
Includes a chronology of the battle and a detailed description of the characters and how they function in the story.
Box 3
Four scripts, including Writer's Working Script, First draft screenplay, final screenplay and revised final screenplay.
March 16, 1961;
June 15, 1961;
September 29, 1961;
May 10, 1962
Box 3
A declassified Navy Department official chronology of the battle.
Box 3
A bibliography of research materials.
Box 3
Letter from Office of Secretary of Defense.
January 31, 1962
Scope and Content Note
Letter is notifying studio that script has been reviewed and approved for production with full Navy cooperation assured.
Box 3
Book describing the battle written by Vice Admiral Tomiji Koyahage, Chief of Staff to Admiral Kurita, commander of the Japanese
Fleet.
Scope and Content Note
“Admiral Koyanage inscribed this copy to me in Japanese and included a photograph of himself with Admiral Kurita and staff.”
Box 3
Envelope containing other research material, notes, etc.
Patton
Scope and Content Note
A top-budget roadshow picture, to be released by Twentieth Century-Fox in February of 1970, based on the World War II career
of General George S. Patton, Jr. This picture stars George C. Scott and Karl Mauldin (Scott playing Patton and Mauldin playing
General Omar N. Bradley).
The picture was directed by Franklin Schaffner and produced by Frank McCarthy.
“General Bradley himself acted as Senior Military Adviser, and we worked with him throughout the preparation of the final
script.”
“I prepared the final script, using material contained in a script written by Francis Ford Coppola. (At no point did we actually
work together.) The material is as follows:”
Box 4
First draft of screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola.
December 27, 1965
Scope and Content Note
“This copy has notes, in my handwriting, of cuts and revisions suggested by Darryl F. Zanuck to mcCarthy, Schaffner and North
in Antibes, France, in June 1968.”
Box 4
Revised screenplay.
July 8, 1968
Scope and Content Note
“With notes in my hand, indicating comments and suggestions made by General Omar N. Bradley (who is portrayed as a character
in the picture).”
Box 4
Second revised screenplay.
October 24, 1968
Box 4
Third revised screenplay.
December 10, 1968
Scope and Content Note
“With my handwritten notes indicating revisions suggested by George C. Scott, the actor who plays Patton.”
Box 4
Final Screenplay.
January 1, 1969
Box 4
Shooting script.
February 1, 1969
Box 4
Long research memorandum from Frank McCarthy, producer of the picture, who had been working on the project for over fifteen
years.
October 4, 1967
Box 4
Exchange of telegrams between Darryl F. Zanuck and Richard Zanuck, head of production
re various phases of development.
Box 4
Research material from General Bradley and also from the Pentagon on various subjects.
Box 4
Copious writer's notes regarding source material, patton's speeches, miscellaneous items, some in long hand.