The Charles Lederer Papers consist of scripts, synopses, and notes for a selection of Lederer's produced and unproduced works from 1949-1964. Housed in two records center boxes, this collection contains records from many of Lederer's projects; however, it does not contain references to all of his projects within the aforementioned timeframe. Notable ommissions include, but are not limited to: "The Thing from Another World" (dir. Christian Nyby and Howard Hawls, 1951), "Gentlement Prefer Blondes" (dir. Howard Hawks, 1953), and the Tony Award-winning musical Kismet. For specific inclusions, refer to the Container List. There are three series within this collection: "Produced/Published", "Unproduced/Unpublished", and "Miscellaneous". The first two series contain relevant subseries based on specific projects, further elaborated on in the respective Series-level notes.
Charles Lederer (December 31, 1906 – March 5, 1976) was an American screenwriter and film director. He was born into a prominent theatrical family in New York and, after his parents divorced, was raised in California by his aunt, Marion Davies, mistress to newspaper publisher William Randolf Hearst. A child prodigy, he entered college at age 13 but dropped out after a few years to work as a journalist with Hearst's newspapers. Lederer is recognized for his comic and acerbic adaptations and collaborative screenplays of the 1940s and early 1950s. His screenplays frequently delved into the corrosive influences of wealth and power. His comedy writing was considered among the best of the period, and he, along with writer friends Ben Hecht and Herman Mankiewicz, became major contributors to the film genre known as "screwball comedy."
Among his notable screenplays which he wrote or co-wrote, were The Front Page (1931), the critically acclaimed His Girl Friday (1940), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), Ocean's 11 (1960), and Mutiny on the Bounty (1962).
With Ben Hecht, he co-wrote the original Kiss of Death which featured Richard Widmark's chilling debut as the psychopathic killer with a giggle. In addition, he wrote and directed the 1959 film Never Steal Anything Small, an adaptation of a play by Maxwell Anderson and Rouben Mamoulian, starring James Cagney. The Spirit of St. Louis was Lederer's last significant film work. The films that followed were primarily vehicles for established stars.
In 1954, he won three Tony Awards for the Broadway Musical Kismet, as Best Producer (Musical), Best Author (Musical) with Luther Davis, and as co-author of the book which, with several collaborators, contributed to the Best Musical win.
