The papers are arranged six series: SUBJECT FILES, TELEVISION SCRIPTS, MOTION PICTURE SCRIPTS, RADIO SCRIPTS, BOOKS and MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS.
The majority of the papers concern Pollock's career as a writer, although some documentation of his earlier work in advertising and publicity is also included. The collection also provides some sketchy information on his blacklisting during the 1950's and 1960's, but there is little material to suggest the impact that it had on his personal life. Some of the writing files, as well as the copies of legal documents pertaining to his suit, Pollock vs. MPAA, were transferred from the Galligan-Margolis legal reference files in the Biberman-Sondergaard Papers. Several portraits received with the papers are filed in the WCFTR name file.
The SUBJECT FILE consists of clippings, correspondence, financial records, promotional literature, and one file relating to the television series, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The correspondence is fragmentary, but does include comments on the motion picture campaign that Pollock designed and a 1938 memorandum which describes the structure and operation of Universal's publicity department. Notable also are a brief undated, handwritten note from Linus Pauling and a note from Clifford Odets (written on a July 7, 1963 memorandum from Pollock) in which they exchanged story ideas for The Richard Boone Show. Also added here is a copy of this Pollock Papers register annotated by David Pollock to indicate known broadcast dates. Correspondence pertaining to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, the only title for which there is such background documentation, contains a discussion of script development and references to his belief that he was eventually cut from the television assignment in 1964 because of “my old troubles.” The financial records consist of a 1938/1939 Universal comparative picture report listing money earned and a breakdown of expenses incurred during a 1941 Miami junket for movie critics to promote Back Street. The promotional literature consists primarily of a limited edition book, Advertising the Motion Picture, which includes samples of industry promotions for 1936-1937 films.
Script material in the collection has been arranged by genre as TELEVISION SCRIPTS, MOTION PICTURE SCRIPTS, and RADIO SCRIPTS. Each series is then arranged alphabetically by title. Included are mimeo scripts and treatments, with The Jackie Robinson Story, The Richard Boone Show, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea being most extensively documented. For several story concepts (such as “Stork Bites Man,” “Vote No on 11,” and “Breakdown”), the collection contains versions in several genre. “Breakdown” is also represented by a sound recording of the 1949 radio production. The script drafts filed with the teleplay Who Killed Cock Robin? include variant drafts which may have been intended for the stage rather than television.
The BOOKS section includes a published copy of Stork Bites Man (inscribed to Cleta Pollock) and outlines for the development of several other titles.
The MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS section includes copies of published articles and short stories and draft versions of numerous titles for which the intended genre is uncertain. The file identified as the “Faith Series” consists of articles ghost written by Pollock for a number of motion picture stars.
