Title: Nedrick Young Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1947-1968

Creator:

• Young, Nedrick, 1914-1968

Call Number: U.S. Mss 132AN; Audio 1265A

Quantity: 3.6 c.f. (9 archives boxes) and 1 disc recording

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 Nedrick Young, a screenwriter who refused to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1953 and was blacklisted as a result. Most of the collection documents his career as a screenwriter through biographical material, screenplays for motion pictures and television, and unproduced story ideas for various genres; there is extensive documentation for several unproduced films and for The Defiant Ones (UA, 1958) and Inherit the Wind (UA, 1960). Some were written under the pseudonym Nathan E. Douglas. In 1961, Young joined others in a lawsuit against the Motion Picture Producers' Association for damages incurred in their blacklisting. Concerning the lawsuit, there are files of correspondence, legal documents, exhibits and research materials, clippings, and public relations items. A recorded 1961 Carnegie Hall speech by Young on the threat of the blacklist to young writers is also present.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0132an

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

1914, March 23	Nedrick Young was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Before 1941	Acted in films and on the stage in New York.
circa 1941-1945	Served overseas in the U.S. Army as an orientation officer.
circa 1945	Went to Hollywood to continue career as an actor and to write.
1946	Received his first film credit as screenwriter for Decoy (Monogram).
1948	Received film credit as screenwriter for Rusty Leads the Way (Columbia).
1949-1950	Was under acting contract to Warner Brothers, which was reportedly grooming him as a possible replacement for Humphrey Bogart. Acted in various minor roles in Warner films.
1951	Received film credit as screenwriter for Passage West (Paramount).
1953, April 8	Pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked by the House Committee on Un-American Affairs to testify about Communist infiltration in the motion picture industry. Consequently he was blacklisted and forced to work at a variety of jobs such as luggage salesman, junk man, and bartender.
date unknown	His wife, actress Frances Sage, was also blacklisted.
1957	Forced MGM to live up to its contractual obligation and credit him for the screenplay of Jailhouse Rock.
1958	Using the pseudonym of Nathan E. Douglas, he collaborated with Harold Jacob Smith on the screenplay of The Defiant Ones, produced by Stanley Kramer. Starring Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis, the film dealt explicitly with racial tensions.
1959	The Defiant Ones won the New York Film Critics Award, an award from the Screen Writers Guild, and an Academy Award. In honoring Nathan E. Douglas, who was publicly revealed to be Young, the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences rescinded a 1957 decision to render ineligible for award any person who had refused to disavow membership in the Communist Party before a Congressional committee.
1960	Again under the pseudonym of Nathan E. Douglas, Young collaborated with Harold Jacob Smith on the screenplay of another Kramer production, Inherit the Wind. This film received international acclaim and was the first to win two awards from the Berlin Film Festival. The nomination of Douglas and Smith for an Oscar for Best Screenplay sparked an American Legion campaign against Kramer and other producers who employed blacklisted writers.
1961, January	Young joined Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Mary Virginia Farmer, Alvin Hammer, John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Robert L. Richards, Frederick I. Rinaldo, Shimen Ruskin, Gale Sondergaard, and Philip Stevenson in an anti-trust suit against the major motion picture studios of the Motion Picture Producers' Association. The twelve charged that they had been blacklisted and thus prevented from marketing their material since November 1947. They claimed 7,650,000 dollars in damages.
1963, January 7	Frances Sage Young committed suicide, leaving her two children, James and Elizabeth, to Young's care.
1965	Young et al. settled out-of-court for 80,000 dollars. At that time, Young was under contract to Universal and was still using the Nathan E. Douglas pseudonym.
1965	Married television actress Elizabeth MacRae.
1967, Fall	Wrote a screenplay, “Teeth of the Dragon,” that was purchased by ABC-TV.
1968, September 16	After several years of heart trouble, Young died suddenly of a heart attack. He left unfinished a screen adaptation of Ed McBain's novel The Sentries.
1968, December 4	ABC aired “Teeth of the Dragon” as a World Premiere movie entitled Shadow on the Land. For the first time since Jailhouse Rock (1957), Young received credit under his real name.

The Nedrick Young papers, 1947-1968, span the major years of his career as a screenwriter. The papers include biographical material, screenplays for motion pictures and television, unproduced story ideas for various genre, and material on the 1960 suit of Young et al. against the major motion picture studios for damages incurred in their blacklisting.

The bulk of the collection is comprised of screenplays for produced and unproduced films. Within these two categories, arrangement is alphabetical by title and chronological thereunder. There is extensive documentation of script development for The Defiant Ones and Inherit the Wind, but only a review of Jailhouse Rock and a story draft for Rusty Leads the Way. The material on nine unproduced screenplays is frequently extensive, including notes and numerous drafts.

“Teeth of the Dragon,” which ABC featured on its television World Premiere movie as Shadow on the Land, was intended to be a pilot for a new series, U.S. Cast and set lists, numerous script revisions, and a prologue show how this film developed.

The papers also contain seven unproduced story ideas written by Young for various genres. They are arranged alphabetically by title, and are followed by Young's criticisms of works submitted to him by others.

The collection includes correspondence, legal documents, research material, and public relations material relating to the 1960 suit of Young et al. against the major motion picture studios for damages incurred in their blacklisting. Included in the exhibits and the research material is some information on earlier phases of blacklisting. There is also a disc recording of a speech, “About Young Writers,” delivered by Nedrick Young, September 22, 1961 at Carnegie Hall concerning the threat of the blacklist to young writers. The disc was issued by the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee. A tape user copy is available.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. Nedrick Young, Encino, California, November 21, 1968. Accession Number: MCHC68-122, M92-294

Processing Information

Processed by Eleanor Niermann and A.A., January 11, 1973.

U.S. Mss 132AN Box   1 Folder   1	Series: Biographical Material, 1967-1968
	Series: Motion Pictures - Produced	⇧
	The Defiant Ones (United Artists, 1958) Note: Screenplay by Nathan E. Douglas (Nedrick Young) and Harold Jacob Smith
	“The Long Road”
Box   1 Folder   2	Notes, undated
Box   1 Folder   3	Script, undated
Box   1 Folder   4	Script, undated
Box   1 Folder   5	Script, undated
Box   1 Folder   6	Script, 1958, January 28
	The Defiant Ones
Box   1 Folder   7	Script, undated
Box   1 Folder   8	Promotional Material, 1958
Box   1 Folder   9	Reviews, 1958, August - October
Box   1 Folder   10	Academy Award, 1959, March
Box   1 Folder   11	Other Awards, 1958-1959
	Inherit the Wind (United Artists, 1960) Note: Screenplay by Nathan E. Douglas (Nedrick Young) and Harold Jacob Smith
Box   1 Folder   12	Correspondence, 1960, December
Box   1 Folder   13	Script, 1958, October 21
Box   1 Folder   14	Correspondence and Script Revisions, 1958, November
Box   2 Folder   1	Script, 1959, August 13
Box   2 Folder   2	Promotional material, 1960
Box   2 Folder   3	Reviews, 1960, June - November
Box   2 Folder   4	Awards, 1960, June - December
	Jailhouse Rock (Columbia, 1957)
Box   2 Folder   5	Review, 1957, October 16
	Rusty Leads the Way (Columbia, 1948)
Box   2 Folder   6	“Rusty,” Story Draft, 1947, August 29
	Series: Motion Pictures - Unproduced	⇧
	“The Art of Living,” by Howard Dimsdale and Nedrick Young
Box   2 Folder   7	“Automotion,” Notes, undated
Box   2 Folder   8	“Big Man,” Story Draft, undated
Box   2 Folder   9	“Automation,” Film Treatments and Notes, undated
	“The Art of Living,” undated
Box   2 Folder   10	Film Treatment and Notes
Box   2 Folder   11	Film Treatment
	“The Confessor,” by Nedrick Young
Box   2 Folder   12-13	Notes, undated
Box   2 Folder   14	Script, first draft, undated
	Script, undated
Box   2 Folder   15	Part I
Box   2 Folder   16	Part II
Box   3 Folder   1	Part III
Box   3 Folder   2	Part IV
Box   3 Folder   3	Part V
Box   3 Folder   4	Script, 1964, March 20
	“The Day It Rained Money,” by Nathan E. Douglas (Nedrick Young) and Harold Jacob Smith
Box   3 Folder   5	Notes, undated
Box   3 Folder   6	Treatment, undated
	“The Flowers of Hiroshima,” by Nathan E. Douglas (Nedrick Young) and Harold Jacob Smith
Box   3 Folder   7	Correspondence, 1962, June
Box   3 Folder   8-9	Research Material, undated
	Script, undated
Box   4 Folder   1	Scenes 1-32
Box   4 Folder   2	Scenes 33-75
Box   4 Folder   3	Scenes 76-156
Box   4 Folder   4	Scenes 157-263
Box   4 Folder   5	Script, incomplete, undated
Box   4 Folder   6	Script, incomplete, undated
Box   4 Folder   7	Script, undated
Box   4 Folder   8	Script, undated
	“The Green Bay Packers,” by Nedrick Young
Box   5 Folder   1	Script, undated
	“My Glorious Brothers,” by Nathan E. Douglas (Nedrick Young) and Harold Jacob Smith
Box   5 Folder   2	Script, second draft, 1960, July 15
	“Night of Camp David,” by Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith Note: Adapted from Fletcher Knebel's Night of Camp David (1965)
Box   5 Folder   3	Notes, undated
Box   5 Folder   4	Script, incomplete, undated
Box   5 Folder   5	Script, first draft, 1965, June 3
Box   5 Folder   6	Script, revised first draft, undated
Box   5 Folder   7	Script, undated
	“Rebel Troop,” by Nathan E. Douglas (Nedrick Young) and Harold Jacob Smith Note: While under contract to Universal
Box   5 Folder   8	Script, 1964, December 30
Box   5 Folder   9	Script, second draft, 1965, June 18
Box   6 Folder   1	Script, revised second draft, 1965, August 10
Box   6 Folder   2	Script, undated
	“The Sentries,” by Nedrick Young Note: Adapted from an Ed McBain novel. It was submitted to Warner Brothers on September 16, 1968, two days before Young's death.
Box   6 Folder   3	Notes, undated
	Script, undated
Box   6 Folder   4	pages 1-80
Box   6 Folder   5	pages 81-150
Box   6 Folder   6	Script, undated
Box   6 Folder   7	Script, annotated, 1968, June 4
	Series: Television	⇧
	World Premiere - Shadow on the Land (ABC, 1968, December 4), by Nedrick Young Note: Originally “Teeth of the Dragon,” a pilot for a series U.S.
	U.S.: “Teeth of the Dragon”
Box   6 Folder   8	Cast and Set Lists, 1967, October 6
Box   6 Folder   9	Pilot Script, 1967, August 7
Box   7 Folder   1	Script, undated
Box   7 Folder   2	Script, undated
Box   7 Folder   3	Script, second draft, 1967, August 31
	Script Revisions, page insertions
Box   7 Folder   4	1967, October - December
Box   7 Folder   5	undated
Box   7 Folder   6	Script, final draft, 1967, November 17
Box   7 Folder   7	Script, annotated final draft, 1967, November 17
Box   7 Folder   8	“Prologue,” 1968, February 14
	Series: Unproduced Story Ideas	⇧
	Nedrick Young
Box   7 Folder   9	“Avery,” undated
Box   7 Folder   10	“Don Coyote,” undated
Box   7 Folder   11	“Joshua Cable,” undated
Box   7 Folder   12	“A Love Story,” undated
Box   7 Folder   13	“The Marriage,” 1967, April 20
Box   7 Folder   14	“National Guard General,” undated
Box   7 Folder   15	“The Obstinate Donkey,” undated
Box   7 Folder   16	Criticism of works submitted to Young by others, undated
	Series: Hollywood Blacklisting	⇧
	Young et al. vs. Motion Picture Producers' Association
Box   8 Folder   1	Correspondence, 1960, November - 1962, August
	Legal Documents
Box   8 Folder   2	Miscellaneous Exhibits
	Research Material
	Clippings
Box   9 Folder   1	Regarding Blacklist, 1959-1961
Box   9 Folder   2	Regarding American Legion Campaign, 1958-1960
Box   9 Folder   3	Public Relations Material in Support of Blacklisted Persons, 1953-1961
1265A/1	Speech by Young, “About Young Writers,” 1961 Note: Issued by the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee. Also on the recording are Corliss Lamont, vice-chair of the Committee, and attorney David Shapiro. The record jacket has been autographed for Alvah Bessie. Also Disc 202A.