The Hillard Elkins Papers are separated into two parts, the original collection (1956-1972) organized in the Archives in 1978, and the additions (1959-1979) organized in 1986. Both sections cover Elkins' management and production of theater and motion picture properties and individuals. Many of the files in both sections overlap and supplement each other. The researcher is therefore advised to look at both sections. In addition to records documenting his professional activities, the additions include several files of personal papers.
Part 1, Original Collection, 1956-1972
These papers document Elkins' management and production of theater and motion picture properties and individuals. His career as a producer is particularly well represented by extensive production files for Golden Boy and Alice's Restaurant. The original collection is arranged in six categories: General Subject File; Motion Pictures-Produced; Motion Pictures-Unproduced; Theater-Produced; Theater-Unproduced; and Television.
The GENERAL SUBJECT FILE contains correspondence, agreements, clippings, financial statements, membership lists, reports, and miscellany. Elkin's original alphabetical arrangement was retained wherever possible with materials filed by both individuals' and productions' names. Much of the Subject File relates to Elkin's work as a manager and reveals his efforts to promote his clients' careers. In addition his role as a producer is documented by materials which pertain to productions in which he was involved. Many were never produced, but several were highly successful ventures, such as Bye Bye Birdie and Golden Boy. Some specific files relate to David Alexander, a director whom Elkins represented as an agent and from whom Elkins tried to obtain his commission; Artists Helping the Black Community (AHAB), a group organized in response to Martin Luther King's assassination; Saul Bass, an artistic designer who was hired to do the advertising for Golden Boy; Brigid Bazlen, a young actress whom Elkins represented; the Berkshire Drama Festival, Inc., a proposed theater arts center; the League of New York Theatres, an organization of theater owners; John Lindsay, then mayoral candidate for New York City whom several theater personalities supported; and Edward Padula, co-producer of Bye Bye Birdie. Correspondence and some agreements for Robert Culp, Alex Haley, John Ireland, Van Johnson, James Komack, Steve McQueen, and Susan Oliver can also be found in this series. Of note in the Robert Culp file is a letter in which he comments on the possible consequences of an advertisement listing him as a sponsor for the civil rights benefit Broadway Answers Selma. Culp co-starred with Bill Cosby on I Spy, the first television series to co-star a black actor, and feared the advertisement would have a negative effect on Southern markets.
The remainder of Part 1 consists of production files for the various media in which Elkins worked: motion pictures, theater, and television. The categories for Motion Pictures and Theater have been further subdivided into Produced and Unproduced works. The amount of documentation varies for each production but may include scripts, correspondence, clippings, audition and cast lists, contracts, production notes and reports, financial reports, promotional materials, reviews, and box office statements. Some files document a production from conception through box office returns and include information on financing, casting, legal matters, general production, and promotion and publicity. A complete listing of production titles is found in the list below.
MOTION PICTURES-PRODUCED contains an extensive production file for Alice's Restaurant, a film loosely based on the Arlo Guthrie song of the same name. There are also small files on a cookbook and restaurant franchise, both potential spinoffs in which Elkins was interested. The promotion and publicity files contain criticisms of the publicity campaign United Artists mounted for the film. There are also agreements, legal correspondence, and a screenplay for the Elaine May film A New Leaf in this series.
Among MOTION PICTURES-UNPRODUCED are the files for Revolution for the Hell of It. The research material gathered for this proposed film concerns student unrest and anti-war activities of the 1960's.
THEATER-PRODUCED includes production files of varying lengths for Best Laid Plans, Broadway Answers Selma, Bye Bye Birdie, Come on Strong, An Evening with Richard Nixon, Golden Boy, Hedda Gabler, Oh! Calcutta!, The Rothschilds, and This Winter's Hobby. The files on Broadway Answers Selma document Broadway's effort to collectively respond to the civil rights struggle of blacks. Included is a letter from Roy Wilkins in which he criticized the implication that the NAACP was not a “frontline” civil rights organization. (The proceeds of the one night gala were donated to SNCC and SCLC.) The most extensive production files exist for Golden Boy, a Broadway musical hit which nevertheless underwent several production, financial, and legal problems. The files reveal the difficulties in writing the script, in financing the project, in producing and sustaining a show which served as a vehicle for one star (Sammy Davis), and in transporting and producing a London version of the play. The publicity campaign for the production and the cast album are well covered. The files for Oh! Calcutta! and The Rothschilds, two of Elkins' better known plays, are small.
THEATER-UNPRODUCED contains several small production files for proposed works such as Alfie, Golden Spur, Ladies, Ladies, Ladies, and The Three Musketeers. Also included is a script for It's a Funny Old World We Live In--But the World's Not Entirely to Blame!, co-authored by Anthony Newley.
TELEVISION completes the collection and consists of three brief files.
Among them is African Queen, a proposed television program to be based on the Humphrey Bogart-Katherine Hepburn film.
Part 2, 1986 Additions, 1959-1979
This segment of the Hillard Elkins papers documents his career primarily from the late 1960's through the late 1970's. Many files overlap and supplement those in the original collection. This segment illustrates Elkins' management and production of films and plays in the United States, Toronto, Canada, and London, England, through several production companies. These additions are organized in three categories: Personal Papers, Corporate Records, and Production Files.
The small file of PERSONAL PAPERS includes Elkins' awards, a folder of biographical materials, and correspondence with his son from a previous marriage, John Rovinsky (Elkins). (John Rovinsky was adopted by his mother's subsequent husband, Dr. Joseph Rovinsky. After John's mother died, Hillard Elkins provided some of his financial support, and as John grew older he resumed using the name John Elkins.) There are also a few files of financial records, including credit reports, income statements, and fragmentary tax returns and records. Other personal papers consist of correspondence and other records concerning rentals of living accommodations and office space, and inventories and appraisals of personal property and furnishings; and general newspaper clippings.
The Personal Papers category also includes material about actress Claire Bloom. Her personal papers consist of a few of her letters to Elkins during their marriage; general correspondence; biographical and other personal papers; contracts; and very fragmentary records from two of Bloom's films (not produced by Elkins), A Severed Head and Vivat!, Vivat Regina!
CORPORATE RECORDS consist of fragmentary records of Elkins' numerous production companies: Elkins Organizations, Ltd., Elkins Productions, Ltd. (Elkins' British firm), Elkins Productions International Corporation (EPIC), EPIC III, Ltd., Elkins Productions of Canada, Ltd. (EPOC), Entertainment in Cinema, Inc., and Hillard Elkins Entertainment Corp. Records of EPIC comprise the largest portion, and include contracts and agreements, correspondence, financial correspondence and records, insurance, minutes of staff meetings, and files of organizational and legal papers concerning EPIC's reorganization and merger with EPOC, and a proposed merger between EPIC and British-Lion Films, Ltd. Because EPIC always remained the headquarters and most active of the production companies, most of Elkins' business-related correspondence is filed with the EPIC records. The EPIC files also illustrate the difficulties Elkins encountered in financing his productions and his lifestyle. Folders of accounts payable and statements of debt include his bookkeeper's records of past, present, and future financial obligations, and files of paid and unpaid bills, creditors' notices, and legal papers show the efforts of Elkins' creditors to obtain payment. Also included are corporate and payroll tax returns.
PRODUCTION FILES include materials from a variety of produced and unproduced theater and motion picture properties. Some properties listed as “unproduced” were produced by others later, but never produced by Elkins. For many productions, the documentary record is split between the original collection and these additions, and researchers must look in both places to find complete documentation.
Unlike the arrangement found in boxes 1-32 from the original collection, where there were separate series for produced and unproduced motion pictures and theater, here all production files have been integrated in one alphabetical sequence of titles. This technique minimizes confusion in cases where a play was later made into a film, or an unproduced play was subsequently produced.
Production files generally include scripts, correspondence, clippings, casting records, contracts, financial records, promotional and publicity records, reviews, box office statements, and a few tape recordings. Records are most extensive for the films Alice's Restaurant, A Doll's House, and Oh! Calcutta!, and the stage plays A Doll's House, Golden Boy, Oh! Calcutta!, The Rothschilds, the South African plays Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island, A Streetcar Named Desire, and This Winter's Hobby.
