Title: Frank J. Young Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1889-1968

Creator:

• Young, Frank J., 1911-1968

Call Number: U.S. Mss 78AN; PH 3629

Quantity: 3.0 c.f. (2 record center cartons, 1 archives box, 1 oversize box) and 113 photographs

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

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

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Fragmentary personal and professional papers of Frank J. Young, a New York publicist and journalist. Includes correspondence, resumes and press releases, drafts of public relations projects, and newspaper clippings about his career, New York social life, and Naval service. Also includes materials gathered for a book about the theater's Shubert family. Professional papers include publicity records, plans, and press kits done while with General Public Relations, Inc., for The Ann Sothern Show, December Bride, and The Loretta Young Show, promotional material for The Rifleman, a scrapbook of his Screen Gems promotional campaign for Father Knows Best, press releases for NBC, 1951-1952, and station and public relations records for WPIX-TV, 1948-1951, and WNEW radio, 1959-1962. The photographs relate to Young's professional activities and his personal life.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0078an

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Frank Young was born Francis John Young, Jr., December 8, 1911 in Manhattan to Francis J. Young (1880-1913), a stockbroker and Irish immigrant, and Agnes Fox Young (born 1882), a native of Brooklyn. Raised in New York, Young attended Adelphi Academy and Manual Training High School and graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1934 with majors in journalism and English.

Young began his journalism career as a reporter for a Washington radio news service until he joined the United Press as a copy boy. In 1935 Young was transferred to UP's New York bureau, where he worked as a reporter, rewrite man, feature writer, and assistant night editor supervising the preparation and distribution of foreign and domestic news to clients. As a feature writer, Young specialized in theater, motion picture, and nightclub personalities. In 1940, he applied for a commission in the Naval Reserve, and in 1941 he was called to active duty in the Press Section of Radio and Cable Censorship in New York. He served as Night Watch Officer in charge of a field station, and later worked in the historical office of the Third Naval District until his discharge in February 1946.

Following the war, Young joined Jerry Devine Productions, where he handled publicity for two radio shows, Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and This Is Your FBI. From November 1947 until February 1948, Young was an editor for the New York News, supervising preparation of news copy for radio station WNEW. From 1948 to 1950, Young was public relations manager of WPIX television station, where he created a publicity department, wrote promotional brochures and advertising copy, handled audience relations, and helped produce The Gloria Swanson Show, The Truex Family, Four Star Talent, and Broadway First Nights. In 1949 WPIX won the Billboard award for the best television press department in New York.

Young joined NBC in 1951 as director of the press department and public relations representative, and in 1954 he moved to Screen Gems, Inc. as press director. At Screen Gems, Young helped publicize all company activities and programs, including Father Knows Best, Ford Theatre, Rin Tin Tin, Damon Runyon Theatre, and Circus Boy. He was credited with orchestrating the great public opposition to the 1955 cancellation of Father Knows Best that led to the show's return. For a short time in 1957 Young was publicity director of National Telefilm Associates, Inc., where he developed the press campaign launching its unsuccessful “fourth network” of television stations. Next Young worked for Benton and Bowles, Inc., as television publicity supervisor for its wholly-owned subsidiary, General Public Relations, Inc. There, Young directed publicity for such shows as The Danny Thomas Show, Zane Grey Theatre, December Bride, The Loretta Young Show, and The Ann Sothern Show.

From 1960 to 1963, Young worked for Metropolitan Broadcasting Corp., parent company of WNEW radio and television stations, as assistant director of publicity and special events. Subsequently he joined McFadden, Strauss, Eddy, Irwin, and Goodman, as head of its New York television department, which served such clients as Lucille Ball, Van Heflin, George Peppard, Joseph Cotten, and Anthony Quinn.

Frank Young succumbed to throat cancer in 1968.

The papers of Frank Young are quite fragmentary, and thus provide only a partial view of his life and career. The collection has been arranged in three series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, and Photographs.

Included with PERSONAL PAPERS is a folder of Young's personal documents and correspondence, including his birth and baptismal certificates and obituary, his father's receipt for steamship passage from Ireland and his naturalization certificate, his parents' marriage certificate, clippings concerning the death of Frank Young, Sr., and other papers, mainly pertaining to members of the Fox family. Two folders contain correspondence, resumes, and drafts of public relations projects Young created while seeking employment. These are supplemented by separate folders of resumes and of personal press releases, generally created to announce Young's job changes. One folder of personal newspaper clippings also illustrates Young's professional career and his New York City social life.

Young's service with the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve is represented by correspondence and other papers, generally concerning his transfers and benefits. There are several folders of correspondence, school awards and fraternity records, journalism and other class notes, and term papers from Young's school days. Other examples of Young's writings are found in separate files of general writings and articles, television sketches created for comedians Jackie Gleason and Art Carney and Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, and materials gathered for a book on the Shubert family that Young apparently proposed to write. Young's social life and friendship with New York City restaurateur Toots Shor are illustrated in a separate folder containing clippings, notes, dinner programs, and a humorous “annual report” from 1961.

Young's PROFESSIONAL PAPERS are arranged in alphabetical order by the name of the public relations firm or network for which he worked. Records of his short tenure with General Public Relations, Inc. consist of fragmentary correspondence and a few publicity files illustrating the shows Young publicized. Included are budgets and expenditures, cost summaries, press kits, public relations plans, and publicity reports, all for 1958-1959, for The Ann Sothern Show, December Bride, and The Loretta Young Show; and a program promotion presentation, 1958, for The Rifleman. There are two scripts, 1964-1965, of The Entertainers, apparently from Young's years with McFadden, Strauss, Eddy, Irwin, and Goodman. Representing the National Broadcasting Company are a 1951 organizational chart, a working manual for NBC's 25th anniversary, and press releases. Young's award-winning 1955 publicity campaign to save the cancelled Screen Gems show Father Knows Best is illustrated in a scrapbook.

Young's work at WNEW Radio and WPIX-TV stations is somewhat better represented in the collection. There is a small file of correspondence, press releases, and other papers from WNEW, together with broadcast license renewal applications to the Federal Communications Commission and programming support data, 1962-1963, and summaries of 1962 news and sport coverage by WNEW. For WPIX there are numerous press releases, February 1948-June 1951; breakdowns and proposals for changes in news programs, program announcements and schedules; proposals for publicity campaigns for WPIX, together with newsclippings; lists of sponsors; and a folder of station histories, staff biographies, an organizational chart, program schedule, and studio and advertising rates.

Photographs are of Frank Young and his friends.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. John Shubert, Byram, Connecticut, 1969. Accession Number: MCHC69-25

Processing Information

Processed by Menzi Behrnd-Klodt, October 1984.

U.S. Mss 78AN	Series: Personal Papers
Box   1 Folder   1	Personal and Family Papers and Correspondence, 1889-1968; Obituary, , 1968
Box   1 Folder   2-3	Job Hunting Records - Correspondence, Resumes, Draft Public Relations Papers, Notes, 1940, 1946-1964
Box   1 Folder   4	Miscellany
Box   1 Folder   5	Patent Application Papers and Correspondence, 1946-1948
Box   4	Oversize Personal and School Papers, Awards and Certificates, and Sketches and Artwork
Box   1 Folder   6	Personal Newspaper Clippings
Box   1 Folder   7	Personal Press Releases, 1951-1964
Box   1 Folder   8	Press Cards and Passes and Business Cards
Box   1 Folder   9	Resumes, 1946-1963
	School Papers
Box   1 Folder   10-11	Correspondence and School Papers, 1919-1934, 1938
Box   1 Folder   12-13	Journalism and Other Class Notes, 1931-1934
Box   1 Folder   14	Term Papers and Book Reports, 1932-1934
Box   1 Folder   15	Shubert Files for Proposed Book - Chapter Outlines, Critique, Clippings, and Other Papers, 1962-1965
Box   1 Folder   16	Toots Shor's Restaurant, New York - Clippings and Program from Closing, 1959; “Annual Report,” , 1961; Dinner Programs, , 1954, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   17	U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve - Correspondence and Service-Related Papers, 1939-1956
	Writings and Articles
Box   1 Folder   18	General
Box   1 Folder   19	Television Sketches for Jackie Gleason and Art Carney, 1956; Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, 1958
	Series: Professional Papers	⇧
	General Public Relations, Inc., New York
Box   1 Folder   20	Correspondence and Other Papers, 1959
	Publicity for Television Shows
	The Ann Sothern Show
Box   1 Folder   21	Budget and Expenditures, 1958-1959
Box   1 Folder   22	Cost Summaries, June 1958-May 1959
Box   1 Folder   23	Press Kit
Box   1 Folder   24	Public Relations Plan, 1958
Box   1 Folder   25	Publicity Report, July-December 1958
Box   1 Folder   26	Publicity Reports, Monthly, September 1958-June 1959
	December Bride
Box   1 Folder   27	Budgets and Expenditures, November 1958-June 1959
Box   1 Folder   28	Cost Summaries, June 1958-June 1959
Box   1 Folder   29	Press Kit
Box   1 Folder   30-31	Press Releases, May 1958-March 1959
Box   2 Folder   1	Public Relations Plan, 1958
Box   2 Folder   2	Publicity Report, July-December 1958
Box   2 Folder   3	Publicity Reports, Monthly, September 1958-June 1959
	The Loretta Young Show
Box   2 Folder   4	Expenditures, 1959
Box   2 Folder   5	Press Kit
Box   2 Folder   6	Press Releases, 1958-1959
Box   2 Folder   7	Public Relations Plans, 1958
Box   2 Folder   8	Public Relations Report, July-December 1958
Box   2 Folder   9	Publicity Reports, Monthly, September 1958-June 1959
	The Rifleman
Box   2 Folder   10	Program Promotion Presentation, 1958
	McFadden, Strauss, Eddy, Irwin, and Goodman, New York
	The Entertainers (CBS-TV)
Box   2 Folder   11	Script #1, Revision #1, September 25, 1964
Box   2 Folder   12	Script #27, Revision #1, March 27, 1965
	NBC
Box   2 Folder   13	Organizational Chart, 1951; Working Manual for 25th Anniversary; Press Releases, , 1951-1952
	Screen Gems, Inc.
Box   4	“An Audience Promotion Campaign for Father Knows Best, January-March 1955” Scrapbook
	WNEW Radio Station, New York
Box   2 Folder   14	Correspondence, Press Releases, and Other Papers, 1959-1963
Box   2 Folder   15	FCC Applications and Programming Support Data, 1962-1963
Box   2 Folder   16	News Coverage, 1962
Box   2 Folder   17	Sports Coverage, 1962
	WPIX Television Station, New York
Box   2 Folder   18	News Programs - Breakdowns and Proposals for Changes, 1948-1949
	Press Releases
Box   2 Folder   19-27	February 1948-December 1950
Box   3 Folder   1	January-June 1951
Box   3 Folder   2	Program Announcements, January-February 1950
Box   3 Folder   3	Program Schedules, Weekly, undated
Box   3 Folder   4	Publicity and Promotional Material, 1948-1950
Box   3 Folder   5	Publicity Campaigns, 1948, 1950
Box   3 Folder   6	Sponsors Lists, November 1948-July 1950
Box   3 Folder   7	Station Histories, Staff Biographies, Organizational Chart, Program Schedule, and Studio and Advertising Rates
Box   4	Oversize Miscellaneous Public Relations Campaign Paste-ups
PH 3629	Series: Photographs	⇧