Title: James R. Webb Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1953-1964

Creator:

• Webb, James R., 1909-1974

Call Number: U.S. Mss 89AN

Quantity: 1.6 c.f. (4 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society Archives / Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
Contact Information

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of an Academy Award-winning screenwriter, including correspondence, notes, scripts, and working papers for three motion pictures: Cheyenne Autumn (Warner Bros., 1964), Kings of the Sun (UA, 1963), and Pork Chop Hill (UA, 1959).

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0089an

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James R. Webb has written and collaborated on more than twenty films during his career as a writer. He received an Academy Award for his screenplay for How the West Was Won (1963). Among his other credits are South of St. Louis (1949), Raton Pass (1951), The Iron Mistress (1952), Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954), Apache (1954), Vera Cruz (1954), Trapeze (1956), The Big Country (1958), Pork Chop Hill (1959), Cape Fear (1962), Cheyenne Autumn (1964) and Sinful Davey (1969). On these films he worked in association with such directors as Gordon Douglas, Roy del Ruth, Robert Aldrich, Sir Carol Reed, William Wyler, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, John Ford and John Huston.

Mr. Webb is the former president of the Writers Guild of America, West and of the International Writers Guild. He has also served as a Council member, Treasurer and First Vice-President of the WGA, West.

The James R. Webb collection consists of four boxes of materials relating to Webb's work as a screen writer. The material covers three films written by him: Pork Chop Hill (1959), Kings of the Sun (1963) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964). The collection contains correspondence, notes, scripts, and working pages concerning each film. It includes many pages with handwritten changes showing the slow evolution of a screenplay from rough treatment to final script.

Acquisition Information

Presented by James R. Webb, Beverly Hills, California, April, 1965.

Processing Information

Processed by A. Green, June 26, 1969.

	Pork Chop Hill(1959) Note Prod: Sy Bartlett Dir: Lewis Milestone Screen Play: James R. Webb Cast: Gregory Peck, Harry Guardino, Rip Torn, George Peppard
Box   1 Folder   1	Correspondence and memos, 10 May 1953 - 9 June 1959
Box   1 Folder   2	Research materials: Army statements and documents concerning battle of Pork Chop Hill
Box   1 Folder   3	General notes and suggestions
Box   1 Folder   4	Character study and actor list
Box   1 Folder   5	Script
Box   1 Folder   6	Shooting schedule
Box   1 Folder   7	Script fragments (holograph)
	Kings of the Sun(1963) Note Prod: Lewis J. Rachmil Dir: J. Lee Thompson Screen Play: Elliott Arnold, James Webb Cast: Yul Brynner, George Chakiris, Shirley Ann Field
Box   1 Folder   8	Correspondence, 26 June 1962
Box   1 Folder   9	Outlines and treatments
Box   1 Folder   10	Script (last revision page, 17 May 1962)
Box   1 Folder   11	Script (last revision page, 29 August 1962)
Box   2 Folder   1-4	Working pages
	Cheyenne Autumn(1964) Note Prod: Bernard Smith Dir: John Ford Screen Play: James R. Webb Cast: James Stewart, Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, Ricardo Montalban
Box   3 Folder   1	Correspondence, 21 January - 16 September 1963
Box   3 Folder   2	Outline and notes
	Scripts
Box   3 Folder   3	8 April 1963
Box   3 Folder   4	27 May 1963
Box   3 Folder   5	10 July 1963
Box   3 Folder   6	Final script, 1 August 1963 (last revision page, , 19 September 1963)
Box   4 Folder   1-5	Working pages
Box   4 Folder   6	Miscellaneous notes (holograph)