Harry D. Buckley joined United Artists soon after World War I as manager of the Kansas City
exchange. Later Douglas Fairbanks Sr. hired him as road manager for Robin Hood (1922)
after which Buckley was appointed general manager for the Douglas Fairbanks Picture Corporation
and then business and personal agent for both Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Buckley resigned
from this position in 1926 to become vice president at United Artists and assistant to
Joseph M. Schenck. In 1934 he was appointed corporate treasurer and in 1941 became assistant
secretary.
Buckley's files relate to the various executive responsibilities he exercised for the
company and are arranged into the following series: Title Registration Files, Executive
Correspondence, Exchange Files, and Labor Files. Much of the Executive Correspondence dating
from the 1920s concerns Buckley's relations with the Douglas Fairbanks Picture Corporation
(there is no direct correspondence with Fairbanks however), the foreign distribution of
United Artists products, and the exhibition and distribution of particular films such as
The House of Rothschild (1934).
Dating from the early years of his tenure as vice-president is correspondence with
exchanges and the Hays Office. The majority of the material from this period is financial in
nature covering such topics as shared advertising and exploitation expenses although there
is some correspondence with production companies. Of special interest in this series is the
impact of censorship on the advertising of the film The Outlaw (1943)
starring Jane Russell.
Correspondence which appears to represent Buckley's work as assistant corporate secretary
(1941-1950) also documents the career of Harry J. Muller who also served as assistant
secretary from 1933-1950. This file contains financial and legal correspondence exchanged
between the two men as well as correspondence of both executives with other parties.
The Exchange Files deal with office management, labor disputes, and supplies. Some of the
files are broken down into subcategories on "frontroom" clerical employees and "backroom"
blue color employees. A large portion of Buckley's later exchange correspondence appears to
have been handled by A.E. Bollengier, the exchange manager, when it referred to routine
matters pertaining to wages and salary adjustments.
Related to this aspect of the exchange correspondence are the Labor Files which consist of
correspondence, agreements, documents presented in court or to the National Labor Relations
Board, and employment and salary data for various unions (IATSE, Screen Office Professional
Employees Guild, Screen Publicists Guild, Colosseum of Motion Picture Salesmen) that
represented United Artists office personnel during the World War II era.
The Title Registration Files are included because Buckley was in charge of United Artists'
dealings with the Title Registration Bureau of the Motion Picture Producers and Directors
Association. Most of the correspondence, however, was actually the work of Buckley's
assistants Flora Gordon and later a Miss Rees.
As a member of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MMPDA), United
Artists had the power to register titles for its independent producers who were not members.
As a result, the file consists mainly of correspondence between United Artists and producers
and United Artists and the Title Bureau with United Artists channeling registration requests
to the MMPDA and explaining the bureau's actions to the producers. A complete list of all of
the represented film titles is included in the first box.
