Title: John Wexley Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1929-1963

Creator:

• Wexley, John, 1907-1985

Call Number: U.S. Mss 77AN

Quantity: 4.0 c.f. (10 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 a playwright and screenwriter, consisting of scripts and drafts, treatments, contracts, correspondence, playbills, and clippings. Among the better represented titles are the plays The Last Mile (1930) and They Shall Not Die (1934), and the motion pictures Angels with Dirty Faces (Warner Bros., 1938), Confessions of a Nazi Spy (Warner Bros., 1939), Hangmen Also Die (UA, 1943), and The Roaring Twenties (Warner Bros., 1939).

Note:

There is a restriction on use of this material; see the Administrative/Restriction Information portion of this finding aid for details.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0077an

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A native New Yorker, John Wexley, the playwright and screenplay writer, was born September 14, 1907. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School, and attended Cornell University and New York University. Following in the footsteps of his uncle Maurice Schwartz, the Yiddish actor, he appeared in The Dybbuk at the Neighborhood Playhouse and with the Civic Repertory Theater during its first season at 14th Street, New York City.

Mr. Wexley is best known for his stage and screen plays. His first produced plays, a group of three one-act plays, “Machine Gun,” “What Is Your Desire?” and “Rules,” were performed by the Washington Square Players. His first full-length play, The Last Mile, was produced by Herman Shumlin on February 13, 1930. Like most of Wexley's works, its writing was prompted by a real situation of social significance. Suggested by a sketch printed in the American Mercury, depicting a day of execution in a death house, the play is an expose of prison conditions. With a cast featuring Spencer Tracy, it won critical acclaim and was chosen as one of the best plays of the 1929-1930 season by Burns Mantle. Wexley's next play was Steel, produced in 1931. It was revived in 1937 by Labor Stage and given a production featuring a cast of I.L.G.W.U. Players. They Shall Not Die (1934), a play based on the Scottsboro case, was produced by the Theatre Guild. Wexley's subsequent plays were Running Dogs and Comes the Dreamer.

In the 1930's, Wexley became a screenwriter for Warner Brothers. Working alone and in collaboration with others, he wrote a series of films that featured Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Ann Sheridan and other stars. The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938), Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), City for Conquest (1940) and The Long Night (1947) were all directed by Anatole Litvak. Hangmen Also Die (1943), directed by Fritz Lang, was based upon an original story by Lang and Berthold Brecht. Among his other scripts were Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and Cornered (1945).

Mr. Wexley's name was included among others cited in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 and 1953, and he was subsequently blacklisted by the motion picture industry. He did some writing under a pseudonym.

In the 1950's, Wexley set out to write a play about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Reading the court transcript and interviewing people across the country, he became so fascinated by his material that he turned it into a book, The Judgment of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg; the book was published in 1955.

Mr. Wexley and his wife currently reside in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

The John Wexley Papers consist primarily of variant drafts for stage plays and motion pictures written by Wexley, covering the entire span of his career. The first six boxes contain manuscripts for his plays, arranged chronologically. There is a limited amount of additional material, including correspondence, contracts, playbills, photographs and clippings documenting the various productions. Two drafts for a screenplay, They Shall Not Die, apparently unproduced, have been filed after the materials pertaining to the stage play by that name.

Boxes 7 through 10 contain screenplays and treatments, arranged chronologically by dates of the scripts. Only two films represented include additional materials. There is a folder of clippings relating to Footsteps in the Dark (1941); there is a photo of the cast and production crew of The Long Night (1947).

Box 10 contains two items not directly related to Wexley's career. In this box is a copy of “Theatre Incorporated Has the Honor to Present the Old Vic Theatre Company May 6th to June 15th, 1946: A Report and a Reaction,” written by Edward Choate and John F. Matthews. There is also a copy of Scheme and Estimates for a National Theatre by William Archer and Granville Barker (1908).

Two other collections at the State Historical Society contain materials on stage and screen plays written by Wexley. They are the Albert Maltz Papers and the Herman Shumlin Papers.

Use Restrictions

John Wexley retains literary rights.

Acquisition Information

Presented by John Wexley, Ottsville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1963.

Processing Information

Processed by J. Lenschow-B.F., 1969.

	Series: Stage plays
	The Last Mile (N.Y., 1930, Feb. 13) Note Prod: Herman Shumlin Dir: Chester Erskin Cast: Spencer Tracy, James H. Bell, Howard Phillips
Box   1 Folder   1	Holograph mss., titled All the World Wondered, 1929
	Revisions for first draft
Box   1 Folder   2	Act I
Box   1 Folder   3	Act II
Box   1 Folder   4	Act III
Box   1 Folder   5	Copyrighted typescript, titled All the World Wondered, 1929
Box   1 Folder   6	Third draft, titled All the World Wondered
Box   1 Folder   7	Revisions, Act III
Box   1 Folder   8	Revised draft with stage manager's annotations
Box   1 Folder   9	Galleys for Samuel French edition
Box   1 Folder   10	Samuel French edition, 1930
Box   1 Folder   11	Samuel French paperback edition
Box   1 Folder   12	Samuel French edition, one-act version, 1931
Box   1 Folder   13	Contract
Box   1 Folder   14	Playbills for stage play and for film
Box   1 Folder   15	Photographs
Box   1 Folder   16	Political cartoons
	Steel Note New York, 1931, Nov. 18 Prod: Richard Geist, Inc. Dir: John Wexley Cast: Egon Brecher, Lili Zehner, Eleanor Phelps, Barton MacLane, Paul Guilfoyle New York, 1937, Spring Prod: Labor Stage, Inc. Dir: Mark Schweid Cast: I.L.G.W.U. Players (Local 10 Group)
Box   2 Folder   1	Original holograph draft, 1931, May 18
Box   2 Folder   2	Original typed draft, 1931, May 21
Box   2 Folder   3	Carbon typescript, annotated
Box   2 Folder   4	Typescript: , 1931 Broadway production
Box   2 Folder   5	Carbon typescript, annotated for 1937 Labor Stage production
Box   2 Folder   6	Revised carbon typescript, used for 1937 production
Box   2 Folder   7	Prompt script, 1937 production
Box   2 Folder   8	Correspondence, 1937, Jan. 25 - Feb. 18
	Photographs, playbill
Box   2 Folder   9	1931 production
Box   2 Folder   10	1937 production
Box   2 Folder   11	Prospectus, Labor Theatre Committee for touring Steel
	They Shall Not Die (New York, 1934, Feb. 21) Note Prod: The Theatre Guild Dir: Philip Moeller Set designer: Lee Simonson Cast: Claude Rains, Tom Ewell, Ruth Gordon, Dean Jagger
Box   3 Folder   1	Holograph outline, acts and scenes, with some dialogue, 1933, April 29 - May 17
Box   3 Folder   2	Original typescript, annotated by author
Box   3 Folder   3	Deleted or revised scenes
Box   3 Folder   4	Revised first draft
Box   3 Folder   5	Original second draft, annotated by author
Box   3 Folder   6	Script from which last draft was made, annotated
Box   3 Folder   7	Production script with cuts and revisions
Box   3 Folder   8	Cut prologue and epilogue, explanation of Act I, unused final scene
Box   3 Folder   9	Discarded pages
Box   3 Folder   10	Script for book publication
Box   4 Folder   1	Galley proofs for Alfred Knopf edition
Box   4 Folder   2	Alfred Knopf edition, 1934
Box   4 Folder   3	Alfred Knopf paperback edition, revised and rewritten (1950)
Box   4 Folder   4	Scene designs
Box   4 Folder   5	Photograph, playbill
Box   4 Folder   6	John Wexley, “White Supremacy,” Fight, April, 1934, p. 7.
	Screenplay
Box   4 Folder   7	First draft with annotations, 1949, Sept. 30 (unproduced?)
Box   4 Folder   8	Final draft, 1949, Dec. 28
Box   5 Folder   1	Revised final draft, 1950, Jan. 25
	Carrot and Club (Walnut Theater, Philadelphia, 1947, Feb. 4) Note Prod: William Herz, Jr. Dir: John Wexley Cast: Polly Rowles, Diane Chadwick, Bert Lytell
Box   5 Folder   2	Holograph sections, 1945
	Holograph
Box   5 Folder   3	Act 1, Scene 1, incomplete
Box   5 Folder   4	Act 1, Scene 2, incomplete
Box   5 Folder   5	Act II, Scene, 1, incomplete
Box   5 Folder   6	Typed revisions for Act I, Scene 2
Box   5 Folder   7	Mimeograph script, 1946, Oct. 26
Box   5 Folder   8	Revised mimeograph script, 1947, Jan. 19
Box   5 Folder   9	Final prompt script, 1947, Feb. 8
Box   5 Folder   10	Misc. production notes, blueprint of set
Box   5 Folder   11	Photographs, clippings
	Running Dogs! (unproduced?)
Box   6 Folder   1	Typescript, with annotations
Box   6 Folder   2	Typescript
Box   6 Folder   3	One-act version, mimeographed
	Prometheus Tempted (unproduced?)
Box   6 Folder   4	Typescript, annotated
Box   6 Folder   5	Mimeograph script
Box   6 Folder   6	Mimeograph script
	Comes the Dreamer
Box   6 Folder   7	Carbon typescript
Box   6 Folder   8	Galleys for First Stage publication
Box   6 Folder   9	Published version: First Stage, Winter, 1962-1963, pp. 7 - 36.
	Series: Motion picture scripts	⇧
	The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse(1938) Note Prod: None listed Dir: Anatole Litvak S. Play: John Wexley, John Huston Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor, Humphrey Bogart
Box   7 Folder   1	Mimeo script, 1938, Jan. 26
	Angels with Dirty Faces(1938) Note Prod: Sam Bischoff Dir: Michael Curtiz S. Play: John Wexley, Warren Duff Cast: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan
	Mimeo script
Box   7 Folder   2	1938, May 27
Box   7 Folder   3	1938, June 22
	Confessions of a Nazi Spy(1939) Note Prod: None listed Dir: Anatole Litvak S. Play: Milton Krims, John Wexley Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer, George Sanders
Box   7 Folder   4	Mimeo script, 1939, Jan. 27
	The Roaring Twenties(1939) Note Prod: Hal B. Wallis Assoc. Prod.: Samuel Bischoff Dir: Raoul Walsh S. Play: Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, Robert Rossen Cast: James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, Gladys George
Box   7 Folder   5	Treatment, proposed by John Wexley, titled The World Moves On, 1939 May 9
	Footsteps in the Dark(1941) Note Exec. Prod: Hal B. Wallis Assoc. Prod: Robert Lord Dir: Lloyd Bacon S. Play: Lester Cole, John Wexley Cast: Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Ralph Bellamy, Alan Hale
Box   7 Folder   6	Mimeo script, temporary, 1939, March 25
Box   7 Folder   7	Second revised final, 1940, Oct. 1
Box   7 Folder   8	Clippings
	City for Conquest(1940) Note Prod: Hal B. Wallis Assoc. Prod: William Cagney Dir: Anatole Litvak S. Play: John Wexley Cast: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Frank Craven
	Carbon typescript
Box   8 Folder   1	1940, Jan. 19
Box   8 Folder   2	1940, Jan. 26
Box   8 Folder   3	1940, May 8
	Mimeo script
Box   8 Folder   4	1940, May 15
Box   8 Folder   5	1940, July 15
	Danger Signal(1945) Note Prod: William Jacobs Dir: Robert Florey S. Play: Adele Commandini, Graham Baker Cast: Faye Emerson, Zachary Scott
Box   8 Folder   6	Treatment, proposed by John Wexley, 1940, May 20
	Carbon typescript, draft by Wexley
Box   8 Folder   7	1940, August 3
Box   8 Folder   8	1940, August 9
	Knockout (1941) Note Assoc. Prod: Edmund Grainger Dir: William Clemens S. Play: M. Coates Webster Cast: Arthur Kennedy, Olympe Bradna, Virginia Field, Anthony Quinn
Box   9 Folder   1	Treatment, by Wexley and Warren Duff
Box   9 Folder   2	Carbon typescript, by Wexley and Warren Duff
Box   9 Folder   3	Mimeo script, 1940, Nov. 7, by M. Coates Webster
	Mackintosh (unproduced?)
Box   9 Folder   4	Treatment, 1941, Feb. 13
Box   9 Folder   5	Revised treatment, 1941, March 15
	Hangmen Also Die (1943) Note Prod: Fritz Lang Assoc. Prod: T. W. Baumfield Dir: Fritz Lang S. Play: John Wexley (from an original story by Fritz Lang and Berthold Brecht) Cast: Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, Anna Lee, Gene Lockhart
Box   9 Folder   6	Mimeo shooting script, 1942, Oct. 16
	Malta (unproduced?)
Box   9 Folder   7	Carbon typescript, 1943, April 1, written for Joe Pasternak
	Cornered (1945) Note Prod: Adrian Scott Dir: Edward Dmytryk Author: John Wexley S. Play: John Paxton Cast: Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Micheline Cheirel
Box   9 Folder   8	Typescript, 1945, April 15
	The Long Night (1947) Note Prod: Robert Hakim Dir: Anatole Litvak S. Play: John Wexley Cast: Henry Fonda, Barbara Bel Geddes, Vincent Price
Box   10 Folder   1	Carbon typescript, 1946, June 19
	Mimeo script
Box   10 Folder   2	With annotations, 1946, Aug. 16
Box   10 Folder   3	1946, Sept. 18
Box   10 Folder   4	Photograph (group photo of cast and production team)
	Series: Miscellany	⇧
Box   10 Folder   5	Choate, Edward and John F. Matthews, “Theatre Incorporated Has the Honor To Present the Old Vic Theatre Company May 6th to June 15th, 1946: A Report and a Reaction”--Second mimeo edition, with photos, copyrighted Nov. 13, 1946.
Box   10 Folder   6	Archer, William and Granville Barker, Scheme and Estimates for a National Theatre (New York: Duffield and Co., 1908).