The papers document Fred Coe's involvement in the theater, television, and film. More than
half of the collection relates to television, reflecting his lengthy association with that
medium. The collection includes a small amount of personal and biographical material;
correspondence; production papers; scripts, publicity and reviews from 13 Broadway plays, 14
television series and/or programs, five motion pictures, and several unproduced works in
those media; and a small number of papers either from miscellaneous productions or unrelated
to any production.
The collection is organized in seven series: BIOGRAPHY, RADIO, THEATER, TELEVISION, MOTION
PICTURES, a SUBJECT FILE, and FILMS AND VIDEOS.
The BIOGRAPHY series consists of articles by and about Fred Coe, plus a small amount of
personal correspondence and business papers.
The RADIO series contains tape recordings of the detective serial Johnny Dollar, in which Coe had no involvement.
Much of the material in the THEATER, TELEVISION, and MOTION PICTURES series relates to
production; in some cases, it is the script itself. Most scripts are annotated; those which
are not are designated as “undated.” Many of the television productions include
the scripts as aired; those scripts include commercials, plugs, and crawls. The names which
follow production titles refer to the authors or adapters of the script. The designation
“Original Story” denotes the particular story or script on which the production
was based. The designation “Unproduced” (a subseries of the Theater, Television,
and Motion Pictures series) indicates those productions which were not produced specifically
by Coe. Microfilm Reel 1 contains reviews, articles, and publicity related to the theater
production of Wait Until Dark and to the
motion picture The Miracle Worker, which
are arranged as follows: North America, Europe, Central and South America, the Caribbean,
Oceania, Africa, and the Middle East. Films, kinescopes, and videotapes of many of Coe's
productions may be found in the final series, FILMS AND VIDEOS.
The SUBJECT FILE includes miscellaneous papers unrelated to the other series. In addition,
there is a considerable amount of material on the Robert Goldman production Profile of a Composer, which was an episode of
the CBS television show The Seven Lively
Arts, portraying the life and music of the composer Norman Dello Joio. Though Coe
had worked with Goldman at one time, he was not involved with production of Profile of a Composer. The Subject File also
includes set designs from various productions, plus two sketches of costumes from Georgy.
Finally, the FILMS AND VIDEOS series contains films, kinescopes, and videotapes documenting
Coe's television and feature film work.
