Scope and Content Note

The Walter Wanger papers are arranged in nine major series of General Correspondence and Related Materials, which includes personal, family, and business letters; Wanger's Diaries, Speeches, Appointment Calendars, Notes, and Other Personal Papers; Corporate and Financial Records of Wanger and his production companies; Business Correspondence and Staff Memoranda of Wanger and of Walter Wanger Productions Inc. and Walter Wanger Pictures Inc.; Film Production Files; Television and Theater Files; Other Papers; records of the Free World Association; and Films. While the collection contains materials from Wanger's boyhood and college years and service in World War I, the major portion of the collection dates from the late 1930s.

It is very likely that records of Wanger's early productions remained with the studios where he worked. (For some of these early records, researchers should consult Series 4G and 5G of the United Artists collection.) In Box 43, Folder 32A, there are two inventories of Wanger's office files, made in 1956 and in 1962, and a 1965 listing of Wanger's papers located at the offices of his attorneys, Mitchell, Silberberg, and Knupp; an additional listing of documents kept in Wanger's safety deposit box, 1945-1966, is located in Box 45, Folder 15. From these documents, it appears that portions of Wanger's papers that once existed are not included in this collection. The papers may still be among the papers of other individuals, or may no longer exist. In some of her correspondence with Wanger, his secretary, Francine Fitch, occasionally referred to his older files, apparently stored in obscure places on studio lots and virtually forgotten.

Wanger's GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE AND RELATED MATERIALS consists of both personal and business letters; with the majority dating from 1940. The correspondence has been arranged alphabetically by name of each individual or corporate body, and filed chronologically thereunder. Among Wanger's long-time correspondents were Abraham Bienstock, Wanger's New York lawyer and personal friend; Mendel Silberberg and other members of the Mitchell, Silberberg, and Knupp law firm; and his brother and sister-in-law, Henry and Etta Wanger. Wanger also corresponded with other professionals and members of the film industry, such as producers Allyn Butterfield, Walt Disney, William Dozier, Jesse Lasky, Sol Lesser, and David Selznick; directors Victor Fleming, Fritz Lang, and Max Opuls; writer Robin Maugham; and actresses Susan Hayward and Simone Silva. His interest in politics is shown through his correspondence with California Governor Edmund G. Brown, Will Rogers, Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, Harold Stassen, and Wendell Willkie. There is also correspondence with Frank Lloyd Wright in the “W (General)” files of the General Correspondence.

Wanger also maintained extensive contacts with the major film and theater organizations, which are represented in the correspondence series. These include the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, American National Theatre and Academy, Motion Picture Association, Motion Picture Association of America, Motion Picture Industry Council, Producers and Producers Association, Screen Producers Guild, and Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers. There are separate files of correspondence and papers with film agents, on audience research, censorship, on publications and literary rights, publishers, radio show ideas, on unsolicited scripts returned to writers, on story information, and talent seeking. During the early days of television, Wanger was interested in the medium, and in closed circuit television and pay television in particular. He kept extensive files of his negotiations with Sheraton Closed Circuit Television and Zenith, all of which are filed together under Television. Wanger maintained a lifelong interest in his alma mater, Dartmouth College, and kept files of the college announcements and alumni publications. His zeal for the World War II effort, coupled with his wish for postwar peace and interest in adult education, led Wanger to work with many organizations. He was especially active in the Free World Association, and his files reflect his extensive correspondence with its leaders. (There is another file of general and organizational Free World Association records in the Free World Association series.) Other groups represented in Wanger's collection include the Atlantic Union Committee, Council on Foreign Relations, Crusade for Freedom, Los Angeles Committee on Foreign Relations, Los Angeles Committee for Home Front Unity, and Office of War Information. Wanger was active with many organizations, and many of these records are arranged alphabetically by title of the organization. Filed with the personal correspondence are letters, genealogical records, small photographs, and affidavits compiled by Wanger to assist several of his European Feuchtwanger relatives in escaping from Nazi Germany and postwar Europe. Following World War II, Wanger and his brother Henry supported them for many years.

Wanger's DIARIES, SCRAPBOOKS AND NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS, SPEECHES, APPOINTMENT CALENDARS, NOTES, AND OTHER PERSONAL PAPERS are listed in alphabetical order, and include biographical material on Wanger, his address books and telephone directories, certificates and awards, and appointment calendars kept both by Wanger and by his secretaries, some of which date from the 1920s. Wanger generally made daily notes not only of appointments, but of planned activities. During the 1950s and 1960s, Wanger often supplemented his daily calendar with lists of appointments, telephone calls to be made, and other memoranda to himself. Several personal diaries are included in this series, and also in the files pertaining to Wanger's book, My Life with Cleopatra. (Many of these diaries were later annotated by Wanger's attorneys for use in legal documents and court appearances associated with Wanger's lawsuit against Twentieth Century-Fox.) As he grew older, Wanger kept extensive diaries of his activities, thoughts, and feelings. The diaries from the Cleopatrayears are especially expressive, and show his disgust with the studio and the effect of stress on his deteriorating health.

The microfilmed scrapbooks and newspaper clippings include material representing Wanger's first theatrical ventures in the United States beginning in 1919, and his later production work in England. There are also general clippings about Wanger, his second wife--actress Joan Bennett, her sisters, and their children. 1961-1962 clippings from Varietyconcern Wanger's film Cleopatra, Spyros Skouras, and Twentieth-Century Fox, and are slightly annotated by Wanger, apparently for his lawsuit against the film company. Also microfilmed are miscellaneous press releases and draft articles about Wanger.

There is an extensive file of Wanger's speeches, which are most numerous for the 1940s and early 1950s, with some reference material and correspondence pertaining to the topic. Most of the speeches deal with the movie industry and its contribution to the World War II effort, wartime topics in general, prisons and prisoners, and education.

Also within this series are a few very early records pertaining to Wanger's family, and to his college and producing careers (Box 36, Folder 4B). Included is a Notice of Application for Change of Name, filed by Stella Feuchtwanger for her three sons, July 21, 1908; two typed letters, 1908, to Stella Feuchtwanger from her brother (probably Walter W. Stettheimer), generally concerning his oversight of family investments while the Feuchtwangers were in Europe, with a power of attorney form; a letter of July 22, 1908, probably from Stettheimer, concerning the payment of a portion of the Sigmund Feuchtwanger estate to Lala B. Feuchtwanger; and several letters between Stettheimer and his nephew, Herbert Wanger, 1908, concerning money loaned to Herbert for mortgage payments on his fraternity house at Dartmouth. There are no other papers concerning Herbert Wanger in the collection. There are also letters of February 15 and 16, 1912, noting that Wanger had failed his course work and had been asked to leave Dartmouth; typescript and handwritten versions of “The Test,” by Wanger and John Meylert Mullin which won first prize in the 1913 Dartmouth vaudeville show; a letter from Wanger to his mother telling her of his summer position teaching dramatics at Dartmouth; an undated proposal and outline of arrangements for Granville Barker's productions of Greek plays, listing Wanger as a staff member; Wanger's certificate of election to The Players, October 15, 1915; and letters from George Arliss, February 8, 1919, Alan Dale, September 9, 1919, David Belasco, September 16, 1919, and 1920, Alla Nazimova, May 4, 1920, and Lynn Fontanne, undated. There is also a press release and an announcement of the “Nazimova Season,” which opened in 1920 with 'Ception Shoals, and a few documents regarding On the Hiring Linepresented at the Philadelphia Theatre (leased by Wanger in 1919), and Five O'Clockand the Five O'Clock Company in New York.

Wanger's CORPORATE AND FINANCIAL RECORDS include both personal and family records and records of Wanger's film production companies. Included with the corporate records are small files regarding Citadel Pictures, Diana Productions Inc., Eagle-Lion Studios Inc., I'd Rather Be Left Company, Marlowe, Ltd., Sierra Pictures Inc. (En Corporation), Societa Anonima Italiana Cinematografica, Tec-Scope, W. Wanger Productions Ltd., Walter Wanger Inc., Walter Wanger International, and Walwa Films, S.A., although records of Walter Wanger Pictures Inc. and of Walter Wanger Productions Inc. are most numerous. Wanger's personal financial records are arranged first, followed by fragmentary personal records of Joan Bennett, Melinda Markey Bena, and Diana Wanger Anderson; guardianship records of Stephanie Wanger Guest and Shelley Wanger; and records of Stephanie Wanger's wedding in 1963. Most of the family records are fragmentary in nature. There are a few scattered records of Barbara Bennett Randall, and from the settlement of the estates of Richard Bennett, Stella Wanger, and Beatrice Wanger.

Wanger's personal financial records are most complete from about 1940 until his death. His accountants, Osborne and Harvey, Morgan Maree and Associates (primarily Jess Morgan), and the British firm of Sydney Morse and Company, kept detailed, individual records of the personal and business transactions of Wanger and Joan Bennett. There are fairly complete runs of account books, journals, ledgers, and cash books, supplemented by bank statements, contracts (between Wanger personally and actors and technicians; contracts made by a Wanger company are filed with the corporate financial records), financial correspondence and memoranda of bank balances prepared by the accountants, expenditures, financial statements and summaries, receipts and disbursements, and payroll and tax records. Other personal financial records include records of house purchases, renovations, and maintenance; insurance records; investments, stocks, bonds, and oil and gas exploration records; loans to and from Wanger; and legal papers and records of lawsuits. Wanger's personal records clearly document his interests and lifestyle, which was quite luxurious through the early and mid 1940s. Wanger's economic problems beginning in 1947 or 1948 are also clearly shown in his files of loans received, insurance (cash values of policies), and tax records. These problems can also be seen in files concerning Wanger's sale of films and film rights between 1947 and 1954. Of the several lawsuits documented, the most interesting is the 1923 suit by Wanger against Provincial Cinematograph Theatres, Ltd. (Great Britain), over Wanger's management of the Regent Theatre, Brighton. The suit was dropped on a consent action, on the terms that the defendant pay Wanger 8000 pounds in full discharge of all claims.

Since the same accounting firms kept both Wanger's personal and business records, in many cases it was difficult during arrangement of the files to separate the two types of files. Researchers should check both personal and corporate files to insure that all pertinent documents are located; when it was impossible to separate the two types, records were placed in Wanger's personal files. (Researchers should also check the Business Correspondence and Staff Memoranda series for further information.) The financial records of Walter Wanger Pictures Inc. and Walter Wanger Productions Inc. are fairly complete and contain documents similar to those in Wanger's personal financial records. Records of Walter Wanger Pictures Inc. include minute books and other corporate records, bank statements, cash received records, contracts and agreements (including loan-out agreements with other studios), invoices paid, loans, receipts, and tax records. There are corporate dissolution records, 1941, and a 1963 inventory of office files prepared in anticipation of transfer to the University of Wisconsin. Of interest are the numerous files of contracts and legal agreements, between Wanger and studios, and between Wanger and actors, technicians, and guilds. Of particular note are early contracts, loan-out agreements, and loan records between Wanger and actress Sylvia Sidney. Also noteworthy are the files of loans which were arranged by Wanger during the late 1940s, and the file concerning Wanger's loan to Ingrid Bergman as part of the agreement involving En Corporation (later Sierra Pictures Inc.). There is a substantial run of corporate, employer's, and income tax returns, with some drafts and financial statements used in drafting also available (Box 42, Folder 9). Similar though less numerous records for Walter Wanger Productions Inc. are also present. These records consist of bank statements, contracts, financial statements, journals, and tax records.

A small but interesting file in the corporate records series is that of the Societa Anonima Italiana Cinematografica (SAIC). During the late 1930s, Wanger attempted to establish a film studio in Italy in conjunction with the Italian government. Although the file of correspondence regarding SAIC is small, it clearly shows the increasing influence of fascism in Italian life and business and the obstacles placed in Wanger's path by Mussolini's government. Wanger finally withdrew from the project after the suppression of Jews began in Italy.

Of particular interest to the researcher seeking to locate early Wanger records and films are two files of inventories of Wanger's papers. Box 43, Folder 32A contains inventories made in 1956 and 1962 of Wanger's office files and a 1965 record of his papers kept in the office of his attorneys, Mitchell, Silberberg, and Knupp. In Box 45, Folder 15 is a listing of the contents of Wanger's safety deposit box including important documents, 1945-1966. Unfortunately, while these inventories tell the researcher what documents once existed, they only confirm that many of the early records now may be lost, destroyed, or inaccessible because they are located elsewhere. Information regarding the disposition of Wanger's films may be found in the files in Box 45, Folders 19-21 pertaining to Wanger's sale of films to Allied Artists in 1954, and of film rights to Sol Lesser Productions, 1950; and to Trans World Films Inc., 1947-1954. These records also show the relinquishment of Wanger's ownership and rights forced by two bankruptcy suits during the early 1950s. Other records of these bankruptcy proceedings and of Wanger's efforts to maintain financial stability are also present in this series.

Other business records may be found in the files of BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE AND STAFF MEMORANDA. These files contain letters and inter-office memoranda prepared by Wanger's secretaries, administrative assistants, comptrollers, legal counsel, and publicists and thus are important sources of information about the daily business of Wanger and his company. Most interesting are the records kept by Rosemary Foley, Wanger's secretary who eventually became his administrative assistant, because they date from 1937 to 1950; Percy Guth, Wanger's comptroller, 1934-1942, including film distribution, cost, loan, and bank balance information; George Mercader, Wanger's business manager; and David Tannenbaum, his legal counsel. There are detailed daily notes and memos to and from Wanger prepared by secretary Francine Fitch, 1961-1966, which record Wanger's last years as a film producer, but unfortunately, these documents deal primarily with routine matters. Also included in this series are daily staff notes kept to remind Wanger of his appointments and planned activities, and lists of telephone calls and messages. From the mid-1950s until his death, Wanger dictated many of his letters, memos, and notes to his staff on an audograph (Dictaphone) machine. While his staff then transcribed his correspondence, they also kept a large carton of the actual discs, which are now among the unprocessed additions to this collection. There are also files of correspondence and lists of box office and film receipts figures collected for Wanger by Budd Rogers and by Producers' Representatives. These files provide daily reports concerning film promotion campaigns, and public reception of the films, often by comparing Wanger's pictures to the most popular contemporary films. Also included is correspondence with the Title Registration Bureau and registration records of film titles chosen by Wanger.

The FILM PRODUCTION FILES best document Wanger's films dating from the late 1930s and early 1940s. Wanger's earliest films are not represented in the collection, while beginning with The President Vanishes(Paramount, 1934), there is generally only a script, and a few financial records, such as a budget or negative cost report. Later films are better documented, with the files usually including correspondence from the period of film production, and the pre- and post-production periods; financial records, such as budgets, contracts, some distribution and income records, insurance policies, picture and story cost reports, and some box office reports; casting and staff records; clippings and reviews; and credits and titles. Often Wanger's films had censorship difficulties, documentation of which is also included in censorship or correspondence files. Among the films so illustrated are “The Ballad and the Source” (which never was produced because of British censorship problems), Cleopatra, I Want to Live!, Scarlet Street(over which Universal sued the City of Atlanta), and Smash-Up. There are also records of the routine military censorship applied to all films with war or military subjects made during World War II.

The film production files are arranged in alphabetical order by name of production, and contain information on produced and unproduced films, on films produced by other producers at a later date, and story ideas collected but never used by Wanger and his staff. Films for which there are extensive records include The Adventures of Hajji Baba(1954), “The Ballad and the Source” (unproduced because of script and censorship problems), “The Duchesse de Langeais” (an unproduced film planned for Greta Garbo), Eagle Squadron(1942), Gung-Ho!(1943), the Academy Award winning film I Want to Live!(1958), The Invasion of the Body Snatchers(1956), The Lost Moment(1947), A Night in Paradise(1946), The Reckless Moment(1949), Riot in Cell Block 11(1954, inspired by Wanger's prison sentence), “So Gallantly Gleaming” (an unproduced story of Jessie Benton Fremont), Tap Roots(1948), Tulsa(1949), and “Yellow Knife” (an unproduced story of the Yukon). Several of the films represented were made by Wanger to support the military effort during World War II, either by inspiring patriotism or encouraging escapism (for which Wanger and others were criticized at the time). There are also fairly complete files of story ideas that were well developed but which were never produced as films, including “The Dud Avocado,” the four novels of Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet, “Night of the Short Knives,” “Dynasty,” and “The Man From Snake River.” The first three of this group were in preparation during the early 1960s, and were entangled with Wanger's lawsuit with Twentieth Century-Fox. When the lawsuit was resolved, Wanger also lost control of these properties. Also included is material concerning To the People of the United States, a venereal disease film made by Wanger for the U.S. Public Health Service, but which was never widely distributed due to pressure from the Catholic Church and several city censorship boards.

Wanger's last movie, Cleopatra, is most heavily documented, and the extensive files clearly show early production problems, the growing disagreement between Wanger and studio staff, Wanger's inability to control the film's stars, and the final breakdown of the production and upheaval within the Twentieth Century-Fox hierarchy, resulting in dismissals, incredible cost overruns, and lawsuits.

There is extensive correspondence between Wanger and his attorneys and members of the Twentieth Century-Fox studio and production staff. Among those represented by files are studio officials Buddy Adler, Robert Goldstein, Peter Levathes, Doc Merman, Archibald Ogden, Sid Rogell, Lew Schreiber, Spyros Skouras, head of Twentieth Century-Fox until the Cleopatraproblems caused his ouster, Jerry Wald, and Darryl Zanuck, Skouras's successor. Wanger also corresponded with director Rouben Mamoulian and with his replacement, Joseph L, Mankiewicz, who also wrote portions of the film script, and with Carlo Maria Franzero, author of the original story, The Life and Times of Cleopatra. There are small files of correspondence with Elizabeth Taylor and Rex Harrison, and larger files of letters, notes, and ideas sent to Wanger by writers. Hate and fan mail inspired by the controversy over the film and the sensationalism of the press also reached Wanger, and some is present in the collection. Lawyer Gregson Bautzer, and members of the firm Gang, Tyre, Rudin, and Brown, and the firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison (who handled Wanger's lawsuit against Twentieth Century-Fox), are also represented in the correspondence.

The production of Cleopatrais well illustrated by files of production, location, and art department correspondence. The correspondence especially reveals the initial conflict between the studio, which wanted to film on location in London, and Wanger, who realized that a warmer location was necessary, and the great costs and production delays incurred by the attempt to film in London. Also present are a daily production log; minutes of production meetings, September 1961 to June 1962, and with Buddy Adler, September 1959-June 1960; daily production reports of first and second units, September 1961-July 1962; a salvage list prepared when the film was moved to Rome; and set construction orders. Other files also deal with production problems, including bank account records; budgets and cost estimates; casting, employment, and staffing correspondence; censorship materials; picture cost summary sheets and story cost reports; detailed cost, distribution, and invoice statements; and files dealing with costumes and wigs, hairdressers, music, credits and titles, shooting schedules, and weather forecasts in London and Rome. Several folders of clippings show press and public reaction to the production and later, to the activities of stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and Eddie Fisher. Copies of Wanger's contract to produce the film and other contracts, including those of his subsidiary company, Walwa Films, S.A., are found in the collection, with correspondence and papers transferring Wanger's legal rights in the film. There are also numerous drafts and revisions of the script, together with outlines, notes, a treatment, synopses, and a breakdown.

Among the most interesting materials in the Cleopatrafiles are Wanger's personal notes regarding delays in production, and notes of meetings and research, particularly when combined with the extensive diaries Wanger kept throughout production. The diary volumes from 1959 to 1965 are to be found in the series Diaries, Speeches, Appointment Calendars, Notes, and Other Personal Papers, but portions of Wanger's annotated diary from 1960 to 1962 are included in this series. The annotations were added by Wanger to a transcript of his reminiscences and responses to questions of Joe Hyams. Four tape recordings of the Hyams-Wanger interview are also present.

Also included are records of Wanger's 2.6 million dollar lawsuit against Twentieth Century-Fox for breach of contract in dismissing him from Cleopatraand discontinuing payments of salary and expenses. Spyros Skouras also sued Wanger for libel, based on Wanger's book. Both of these suits were settled out of court in 1965, although other suits between Twentieth Century-Fox and Taylor and Burton continued for a time.

A small file of TELEVISION AND THEATER FILES contains synopses and outlines, a few scripts, story ideas, contracts, and correspondence concerning television programs Wanger was interested in promoting. Most were never produced. There is also a small file concerning the play Parlor Story, in which Wanger invested.

OTHER PAPERS in the collection consist of a few files of records from conferences Wanger attended and projects with which he was involved, and miscellany.

There are also records of the Hollywood branch of the FREE WORLD ASSOCIATION RECORDS, an organization first proposed in 1940 as a union of anti-fascist forces, and formed as the International Free World Association in 1941 by representatives of 16 nations. The Association worked with similar organizations to help with World War II, and to contribute to the organization of a democratic world based on principles of collective action, social security, freedom and justice. Clark Eichelberger was the first director, and the general secretary was Louis Dolivet. The Hollywood branch was interested primarily in the use of films to promote adult education, especially among members of the film industry. The Association believed that films were powerful international and social influences. Walter Wanger was a major financial supporter of the group, and his correspondence with the organization is located in the General Correspondence and Related Material files. This series of records was probably the office files of the Association itself, in particular those records kept by the director, Elsie Jensen, with some papers of Louis Dolivet. Unfortunately many of the records are routine in nature. Included are correspondence of the board of directors and of Elsie Jensen, fragmentary financial records, membership lists and files, personnel files, radio scripts, speeches, statements of principle, and subscriptions. The files show the initial involvement of several prominent and wealthy Hollywood individuals and corporations, and the eventual disbanding of the organization due to lack of interest and to organizational problems with the parent body, New York Free World Association.

The AUDIO RECCORDINGS in the collection consist mainly of dictation including correspondence, memos, and scheduling. Also includes a few interviews.

The FILMS in the collection consist mainly of home movies, most probably taken by Gene Markey, of Joan Bennett and her three eldest daughters as children. These films date from 1929 through the early 1940s. Other films include two copies of Aladdin and His Lamp, a Wanger film; one of two parts of a Greta Garbo screen test, made circa 1940 for Wanger's proposed film “The Duchesse de Langeais” (the second part of the test was lost or stolen from the studio); Northern Frontier(Associated Screen Studios, Canada, 1945); Sometimes You Strike It Right(a Salmita Production, 1945); two Universal Pictures Newsreels, October 31 and November 12, 1946; and Woman in the Window(International Pictures, 1944).