Summary Information
I. A. L. Diamond Papers
1941-1981
U.S. Mss 109AN
6.0 c.f. (15 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society Archives / Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research Contact Information
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of a noted screenwriter who, in collaboration with Billy Wilder, wrote the scripts for Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), Irma La Douce (1963), Cactus Flower (1969), and many other films. Included are correspondence, notes, conference notes, outlines, treatments, and scripts from his films and unproduced film projects; scripts for plays and a television documentary; and miscellaneous other writings. Many of his scripts were written for Twentieth Century-Fox.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0109an ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Writer I.A.L. Diamond was born Itec Domnici in Rumania in 1920. When he was nine years old, he and his mother and sister immigrated to Brooklyn, New York to join his father and grandfather. The grandfather had already changed the family name from Domnici to Diamond. On Itec's first day at school, his given name was changed to Isidore.
At Boys High School in Brooklyn, he was known for his outstanding mathematical ability. Both in 1936 and 1937 he won the championship of the Interscholastic Algebra League (I.A.L.). In 1937 he entered Columbia University and majored in mathematics and physics in preparation for an engineering career. However, he also wrote books and lyrics for school musicals and was editor of the student newspaper, Spectator. At the prompting of colleagues on the Spectator staff, he adopted the pseudonym I.A.L. Diamond, humorously alluding to his mathematical prowess. He was the first person in the history of the university to write four varsity shows. After reading a 1941 New York Times article about Diamond's authorship of these shows, a Paramount representative signed him on as a contract writer for the studio.
Diamond was under contract to Paramount from 1941 to 1942, to Warner Brothers from 1945 to 1948, and to Twentieth Century Fox from 1950 to 1955. He has since described the plight of a contract writer as “everybody rewriting everybody else, and three times as many scripts being prepared as were ever produced.” While not under contract, he freelanced as a script writer.
His first produced movie was Murder in the Blue Room (Univ, 1944). Some of his other scripts which were produced include Two Guys From Milwaukee (WB, 1946), Always Together (WB, 1947), Two Guys From Texas (WB, 1948), The Girl from Jones Beach (WB, 1949), Let's Make It Legal (Fox, 1951), Monkey Business (Fox, 1952), Something for the Birds (Fox, 1952), and That Certain Feeling (Par, 1956).
In 1957 Diamond began his important collaboration with Billy Wilder with the film Love In the Afternoon (AA, 1957), for which Diamond won the Writers Guild award for best comedy. Their subsequent collaborative efforts have included the following films: Some Like It Hot (UA, 1959), The Apartment (UA, 1960), One, Two, Three (UA, 1961), Irma La Douce (UA, 1963), Kiss Me, Stupid (UA, 1964) The Fortune Cookie (UA, 1966), The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (UA, 1970), and Avanti (UA, 1972). They have won considerable recognition and numerous awards for these films. Diamond received an Academy Award for The Apartment and Academy nominations for Some Like It Hot and The Fortune Cookie.
Not all of Diamond's recent work has been done with Wilder, however; for instance, he worked alone on Cactus Flower (Col, 1969). He is at this writing working with Wilder for Universal on The Front Page, the third film version of the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur 1928 Broadway hit of the same title. This film will star Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.
Diamond is married to Barbara Bentley, and they have two children - Ann and Paul. The family resides in Beverly Hills, California.
Scope and Content Note
The I.A.L. Diamond Papers, 1941-1969, are mainly comprised of correspondence, notes, conference notes, outlines, treatments, and scripts from his career as a screenwriter. In addition, the collection includes a script and program from the 1941 Columbia Varsity play; two unproduced scripts for theater, c. 1945-1946; a television documentary, c. 1953; and a poem and two articles Diamond wrote for The Screenwriter from June to December, 1947.
The Motion Picture material is arranged in two sections - produced and unproduced, and chronologically thereunder. There are varying amounts of material for films he wrote for Paramount and Warners, but an extensive amount for Twentieth Century Fox. For most of the Fox productions and for the unproduced “Pink Tights,” 1952-1955, the collection includes correspondence and conference notes indicating Darryl F. Zanuck's reactions to the films. Only a few scripts document Diamond's work on Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, One, Two, Three, Irma La Douce, The Fortune Cookie, and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Reflecting pressures on the film industry to produce “cleaner” movies are two letters, one from the MPAA re Goodbye Charlie and one concerning the Legion of Decency's reactions to Kiss Me, Stupid. Four scripts reflect the development of Cactus Flower. In both the produced and unproduced sections are several works by Diamond and his long-time collaborator Billy Wilder. Included are a treatment for “Around the World in Eighty Hours,” and scripts and screenplays for the produced films Avanti!, Buddy Buddy, Fedora, Forty Carats, and The Front Page, and the unproduced “Just One of Those Things” and “Tinseltown.” Most of the unproduced material is from the period 1941 to 1956 and is material prepared while Diamond was under contract.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Placed on deposit by I.A.L. Diamond, Beverly Hills, California, 1971, 1979, 1982. Accession Number: MCHC 71-020, 79-041, 82-002.
Processed by Eleanor McKay and K. Remaker, 1973; additions processed by Menzi Behrnd-Klodt, 1985.
Contents List
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Series: Theatre - Produced
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Hit the Road (Columbia Varsity play, April 1941)
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Script, final draft, 1941, March
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Program
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Series: Theatre - Unproduced
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Box
1
Folder
2
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“Easy Does It,” script, c. 1945
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Box
1
Folder
3
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“Some of the People,” script, c. 1946
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Series: Television
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Box
1
Folder
4
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“Give Them This Day,” script, c. 1953
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Series: Writings
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Box
1
Folder
5
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Articles and poem for The Screenwriter, 1947, June-Dec.
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Series: Motion Pictures - Produced
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Road to Utopia (Par, 1945)
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Two treatments entitled “Road to Nome,” 1942, March-May
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Never Say Goodbye (WB, 1946)
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Box
1
Folder
7
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Temporary script entitled “Don't Ever Leave Me,” 1945, April 20
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Box
1
Folder
8
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Revised temporary script entitled “Don't Ever Leave Me,” 1945, June 2
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Two Guys from Milwaukee (WB, 1946)
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Box
1
Folder
9
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Temporary script entitled “A Guy from Milwaukee,” 1945, Oct. 31
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Box
1
Folder
10
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Script, 1945, Nov. 15
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Always Together (WB, 1947)
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Box
1
Folder
11
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Script entitled “A Cool Million”
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Box
2
Folder
1
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Script, 1947, May 17
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Two Guys from Texas (WB, 1948)
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Box
2
Folder
2
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Script
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Box
2
Folder
3
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Script
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Box
2
Folder
4
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Script, 1946, Feb. 18
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Box
2
Folder
5
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Script, 1946, June 28
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Box
2
Folder
6
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Script, 1947, Jan. 3
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Box
2
Folder
7
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Script, 1947, Feb. 7
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Romance on the High Seas (WB, 1948)
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Box
2
Folder
8
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Script, 1947, April 19
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Box
2
Folder
9
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Script, 1947, May 8
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The Girl from Jones Beach (WB, 1949)
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Box
2
Folder
10
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Script, 1947, Sept. 30
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Box
3
Folder
1
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Script
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Box
3
Folder
2
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Script, 1948, March 31
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Box
3
Folder
3
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Script
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It's a Great Feeling (WB, 1949)
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Box
3
Folder
4
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Treatment entitled “The Gay Nineties”
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Box
3
Folder
4
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Script entitled “The Gay Nineties”
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A Millionaire for Christy (Fox, 1951)
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Box
3
Folder
5
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Script entitled “The Golden Goose,” 1949, April 11
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Box
3
Folder
6
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Script entitled “The Golden Goose,” 1949, April 11
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Love Nest (1951, Fox)
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Box
3
Folder
7
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Correspondence and conference notes, 1950, June - 1951, Feb.
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Box
3
Folder
8
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Treatment entitled “The Reluctant Landlord,” 1950, Aug. 3
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Box
3
Folder
9
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Script, first draft continuity of “The Reluctant Landlord,” 1950, Sept. 26
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Box
3
Folder
10
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Script, first draft continuity of “The Reluctant Landlord,” 1950, Nov. 6
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Box
4
Folder
1
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Temporary script of “The Reluctant Landlord,” 1950, Dec. 11
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Box
4
Folder
2
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Final script of “The Reluctant Landlord,” 1951, Jan. 9
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Box
4
Folder
3
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Revised final script of “A WAC in his Life,” 1951, Feb. 28
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Let's Make It Legal (Fox, 1951)
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Box
4
Folder
4
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Correspondence and conference notes, 1951, Feb-May
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Box
4
Folder
5
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Script, 1951, Mar. 27
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Box
4
Folder
6
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Script entitled “Grandma Was a Golddigger”
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Box
4
Folder
7
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Script entitled “Don't Call Me Mother”
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Box
4
Folder
8
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Second revised final script of “Don't Call Me Mother,” 1951, March 28
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Box
4
Folder
9
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Shooting final script of “Don't Call Me Mother,” 1951, April 26
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Monkey Business (Fox, 1952)
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Box
4
Folder
10
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Story outline and Zanuck's comments, 1951, Oct. 9
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Box
4
Folder
11
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Writer's working script of “Darling - I Am Growing Older,” 1951, Oct. 9
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Something for the Birds (Fox, 1952)
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Box
5
Folder
1
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Step sheet treatment and conference notes, 1951, Nov. - 1952 April
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Box
5
Folder
2
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Writer's working script, 1952, Jan. 5
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Box
5
Folder
3
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Revised writer's working script, 1952, March 27
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Box
5
Folder
4
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Temporary script entitled “Old Sailors Never Die,” 1952, April 21
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The I Don't Care Girl (Fox, 1953)
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Box
5
Folder
5
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Treatment and conference notes, 1949, Nov-Dec
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Box
5
Folder
6
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First draft continuity, 1949, Nov. 28
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Box
5
Folder
7
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Revised first draft continuity, 1950, Feb. 20
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Box
5
Folder
8
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Revised first draft continuity, 1950, March 21
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There's No Business Like Show Business (Fox, 1954)
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Box
5
Folder
9
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Correspondence and conference notes, 1952, Dec-1953, Jan.
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Box
5
Folder
10
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Second revised temporary script, 1953, Feb. 4
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Three Coins in the Fountain (Fox, 1954)
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Box
5
Folder
11
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Final script with revisions possibly by Diamond, 1953, July 2
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Daddy Long Legs (Fox, 1955)
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Box
5
Folder
12
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Correspondence and treatment, 1953, July 22
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That Certain Feeling (Par, 1956)
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Box
6
Folder
1
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Script, 1955, Sept. 19
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Box
6
Folder
2
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Final white script, 1955, Sept. 26
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Love in the Afternoon (AA, 1957)
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Box
6
Folder
3
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Script Fragment
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Box
6
Folder
4
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Script
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Box
6
Folder
5
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Script
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Me and the Colonel (Col, 1958)
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Box
6
Folder
6
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Script, fourth draft, entitled “Jacobowsky and the Colonel,” 1957, March 29
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Box
6
Folder
7
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Final draft of “Jacobowsky and the Colonel,” 1957, Sept. 4
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Merry Andrew (MGM, 1958)
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Box
6
Folder
8
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Temporary incomplete script, 1957, April 10
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Box
6
Folder
9
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Incomplete script, 1957, June 3
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Box
6
Folder
10
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Incomplete script, 1957, June 24
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Some Like It Hot (UA, 1959)
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Box
7
Folder
1
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Script
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The Apartment (UA, 1960)
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Box
7
Folder
2
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Script fragment
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Box
7
Folder
3
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Script, 1960, May 19
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One, Two, Three (UA, 1961)
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Box
7
Folder
4
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Script
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Box
7
Folder
5
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Script
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Irma La Douce (UA, 1963)
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Box
7
Folder
6
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Script
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Box
7
Folder
7
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Script
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Goodbye Charlie (Fox, 1964)
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Box
7
Folder
8
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Script, first draft, 1960, Aug. 12, and conference notes, , 1960, August 25
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Box
7
Folder
9
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Letter from MPAA re code certificate of approval and suggested revisions
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Box
8
Folder
1
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Revised first draft screenplay, 1960, Sept. 27
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Kiss Me, Stupid (Lopert, 1964)
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Box
8
Folder
2
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Letter re Legion of Decency rating and suggested revisions, 1964, Nov. 9
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Box
8
Folder
3
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Script
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Box
8
Folder
4
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Script
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Box
8
Folder
5
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Script
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The Fortune Cookie (UA, 1966)
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Box
8
Folder
6
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Temporary final incomplete script
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Box
8
Folder
7
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Script
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Box
8
Folder
8
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Script
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Sweet Charity (UA, 1969)
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Box
8
Folder
9
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Step outline by Diamond, 1967, July 28
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Box
8
Folder
10
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Script, first draft by Diamond, 1967, Aug. 17
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Cactus Flower (Col, 1969)
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Box
9
Folder
1
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Script, first draft, 1968, Jan. 11
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Box
9
Folder
2
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Revised first draft, 1968, Feb. 16
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Box
9
Folder
3
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Script, 1969, Jan. 2
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Box
9
Folder
4
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Final draft, 1969, Jan. 9
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The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (UA, 1970)
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Box
9
Folder
5
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Script
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Box
9
Folder
6
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Script
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Avanti! , (1972)
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Box
14
Folder
2
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Revised Script, by Billy Wilder and Diamond, ca. April 1972 (annotated)
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Forty Carats (Columbia, 1973)
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Box
15
Folder
1
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Revised First Draft Screenplay, by Diamond, September 11, 1970
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Box
15
Folder
2
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Second Draft Screenplay, November 12, 1970
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The Front Page (Universal, 1974)
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Box
15
Folder
3
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Final Screenplay, by Wilder and Diamond, February 15, 1974
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Box
15
Folder
4
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Revised Final Screenplay, March 15, 1974
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Box
15
Folder
5
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Revised Final Screenplay, March 15, 1974, with later revisions
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Fedora (United Artists, 1979)
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Box
14
Folder
6
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Screenplay, by Wilder and Diamond, based on a story from “Crowned Heads,” by Thomas Tryon, n.d.
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Box
14
Folder
7
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Screenplay, n.d.
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Box
14
Folder
8
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Screenplay, n.d.
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Buddy Buddy (MGM, 1981)
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Box
14
Folder
3
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First Draft Screenplay, by Wilder and Diamond, July 8, 1980
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Box
14
Folder
4
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Final Draft Screenplay, August 8, 1980
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Box
14
Folder
5
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Shooting Script, October 19, 1981
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Series: Motion Pictures - Unproduced
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“Miss Robin Hood”
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Box
9
Folder
7
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Treatment, 1941, Sept. 5
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“Amateur Admiral”
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Box
9
Folder
8
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Four treatments and a short sequence, 1941, Oct. 11
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“The People's Choice”
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Box
9
Folder
9
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Treatment and sequences A-D, 1941, Nov-1942, Feb.
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“Henry Aldrich Takes the Count”
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Box
9
Folder
10
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Treatment, 1942, June 17
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“This Way Lies Danger”
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Box
9
Folder
11
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Two treatments, 1942, Oct. 19; n.d.
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“Head Over Heels”
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Box
10
Folder
1
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Treatment, 1942, Nov. 23
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“Road to Rome”
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Box
10
Folder
2
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Treatment, 1942, Dec. 17
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“Holiday in Mexico”
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Box
10
Folder
3
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Two treatments, 1944, May 11 - July 27
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Box
10
Folder
4
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Script, 1944, May 22
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“Crazy to Dance”
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Box
10
Folder
5
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Script, 1944, Dec. 5
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“Spring Is in the Air”
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Box
10
Folder
6
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Treatment, 1945, Aug. 3
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“Happiness”
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Box
10
Folder
7
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Story outline, 1945, Aug. 30
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“And Be My Love”
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Box
10
Folder
8
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Story, c. 1945
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“Has Anybody Seen Kelly?”
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Box
10
Folder
9
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Script fragment, c. 1945
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“Russian Dressing”
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Box
10
Folder
10
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Story, c. 1945
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“Take It from There”
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Box
10
Folder
11
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Story, c. 1945
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“Honeymoon Freight”
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Box
10
Folder
12
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Script, 1946 Nov. 6
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“Rise Above It”
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Box
10
Folder
13
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Script, 1948, Jan. 9
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Box
11
Folder
1
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Script, 1948, Jan. 27
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“East of Fifth”
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Box
11
Folder
2
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Treatment, 1948, May 5
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Box
11
Folder
3
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Script, 1948, July 12
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Box
11
Folder
4
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Script, 1948, July 15
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“Working Our Way Through College”
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Box
11
Folder
5
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Treatment
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Box
11
Folder
6
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Script, 1949, June 31
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Box
11
Folder
7
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Script, 1949, Aug. 29
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“Everything Happens To Me”
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Box
11
Folder
8
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Story, c. 1950
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“The Scoutmaster”
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Box
11
Folder
9
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Treatment, c. 1950
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“Stand Up and Cheer”
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Box
11
Folder
10
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Treatment, c. 1950
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“The Loud Red Patrick”
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Box
11
Folder
11
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Treatment, 1951, May 8
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“The W. C. Fields Story”
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Box
11
Folder
12
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Treatment, 1951, July 17
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“Pink Tights” I
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Box
11
Folder
13
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Treatment entitled “The Bowery,” 1952, July 21
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Box
11
Folder
14
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Script entitled “The Bowery Nightingale,” 1952, July 21
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Box
12
Folder
1
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Step sheet entitled “Belle of the Bowery,” 1952 Aug. 14
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Box
12
Folder
2
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Writer's working script of untitled musical, 1952, Aug. 27
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Box
12
Folder
3
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Conference notes including Zanuck's reaction to script, 1952, Aug. 20-1955, April 12
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Box
12
Folder
4
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First draft continuity, 1952, Dec. 16
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Box
12
Folder
5
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New first draft continuity, 1953, Sept. 25
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Box
12
Folder
6
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Step sheet, 1954, April 15
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Box
12
Folder
7
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Musical breakdown and writer's working script, 1954, May 5
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“Pink Tights” II
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Box
12
Folder
8
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Writer's working script, 1954, Nov 3
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Box
12
Folder
9
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First draft continuity, 1955, Feb. 17
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“From Under My Hat”
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Box
12
Folder
10
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Outline, c. 1952
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“The Form Devine”
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Box
12
Folder
11
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Writer's working script, 1953, May 29
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“McCluskey Gives the Word”
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Box
12
Folder
12
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Step sheet
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Box
12
Folder
13
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Writer's working script, 1954, Feb. 18
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“Knock on Silk”
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Box
13
Folder
1
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Diamond's notes and conference notes for “Far East Story,” 1955, Nov. 1 - 1956, Jan. 13
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Box
13
Folder
2
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Script entitled “Far East Story,” 1955, Dec. 23
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Box
13
Folder
3
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Script, 1956, March 5
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“Just One of Those Things”
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Box
15
Folder
6
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Screenplay, by Diamond, 1980 (updated version of “Love and Other Disasters,” , 1972)
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“Tinseltown”
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Box
15
Folder
7
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Screenplay, by Diamond, 1975, based on “Lord Arthur Saville's Crime,” by Oscar Wilde
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“Around the World in Eighty Hours”
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Box
14
Folder
1
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Treatment, by I.A.L. Diamond and Herbert Baker, 1978
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