Summary Information

Title: Howard Koch Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1937-1976

Creator:

• Koch, Howard, 1902-

Call Number: U.S. Mss 50AN

Quantity: 2.9 c.f. (7 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 Howard Koch, a writer of motion pictures. Included are scripts, revisions, treatments, correspondence, stills, clippings, and explanatory notes for various Warner Brothers releases which Koch wrote including Casablanca (1942), for which he received an Academy Award; In This Our Life (1942); The Letter (1940); Mission to Moscow (1943); Rhapsody in Blue (1945); The Sea Hawk (1941); Sergeant York (1941); and other produced and unproduced motion pictures. Because Mission to Moscow led to Koch's testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947, the notes and correspondence pertaining to the writing of this screenplay are of special interest. Also relating to this subject are a transcript of his testimony to the committee and notes and correspondence relating to his subsequent blacklisting. The collection also includes a file on War of the Worlds which Koch wrote for Mercury Theatre of the Air (CBS) in 1938 and which was largely responsible for launching his career. Included are several script revisions, a letter from Koch describing the documents, a book, and a made-for-TV movie concerning the famous broadcast. Among Koch's prominent correspondents are Ingrid Bergman, Joseph E. Davies, Margaret Sullivan, Jack Warner, and Edward Bennett Williams.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0050an