- unitid
-
{"value"=>"188097", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Berg Coll MSS 188097", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b23550913", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"2018-2021", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"2018/2021"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Josh Alan Friedman collection on Bruce Jay Friedman"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"73 computer files", "unit"=>"computer_files"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"95.8 megabytes", "unit"=>"megabytes"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Bruce Jay Friedman (1930-2020) was an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and playwright who pioneered black comedy as a literary genre in the United States. The Josh Alan Friedman collection on Bruce Jay Friedman, dating from 2018 to 2021 and compiled by Friedman's son, contains several of Friedman's writings, including short story notes from the final two years of his life. The collection also includes obituaries and remembrances of Bruce Jay Friedman in the weeks following his death."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Friedman, Bruce Jay, 1930-2020", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Bruce Jay Friedman was born on April 26, 1930 in New York City. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, Friedman studied journalism at the University of Missouri and served for two years in the United States Air Force, where he wrote for the military publication <span class=\"title\">Air Training</span>. He sold his first short story, \"Wonderful Golden Rule Days,\" to <span class=\"title\">The New Yorker</span> in 1953. Friedman then worked as a writer and editor for Magazine Management, which published men's adventure magazines.</p> <p>By the 1960s, Friedman had become known for social satire. His first two novels, <span class=\"title\">Stern</span> (1962) and <span class=\"title\">A Mother's Kisses</span> (1964), addressed antisemitism and insecurities among middle-class Jewish families. He edited the 1965 anthology <span class=\"title\">Black Humor</span>, one of the first American books devoted to black humor as a literary genre, and a style with which Friedman became closely associated. His subsequent works, including the plays <span class=\"title\">Scuba Duba</span> (1967) and <span class=\"title\">Steambath</span> (1970), similarly combined humor with religion, race relations, death, and other topics.</p> <p>Beginning in the late 1970s, Friedman turned his attention to film. He wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for <span class=\"title\">Stir Crazy</span> (1980), <span class=\"title\">Doctor Detroit</span> (1983), and <span class=\"title\">Splash</span> (1984). Additionally, two of Friedman's short stories, \"A Change of Plan\" and \"The Lonely Guy's Book of Life,\" were adapted by writer Neil Simon for the films <span class=\"title\">The Heartbreak Kid</span> (1972) and <span class=\"title\">The Lonely Guy</span> (1984), respectively.</p> <p>Friedman continued to write novels, plays, and short stories for the rest of his life. His later novels include <span class=\"title\">The Current Climate</span> (1989), <span class=\"title\">A Father's Kisses</span> (1996), and <span class=\"title\">Violencia!: A Musical Novel</span> (2002). His 1995 play, <span class=\"title\">Have You Spoken to Any Jews Lately?</span>, was performed at the American Jewish Theatre in New York City. In 2012, Friedman published <span class=\"title\">3.1 Plays</span>, a collection of old and new theater pieces. He also wrote several short story collections, such as <span class=\"title\">Three Balconies</span> (2008). Friedman's memoir, <span class=\"title\">Lucky Bruce: A Literary Memoir</span>, was published by Biblioasis in 2011.</p> <p>Friedman was married to Ginger Howard from 1954 to 1978. They had three sons: Josh, Kipp, and Drew. In 1983, Friedman married Patricia O'Donohue, with whom he had a daughter, Molly. Friedman died on June 3, 2020 at his home in Brooklyn, New York after contracting neuropathy several years earlier.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Josh Alan Friedman collection on Bruce Jay Friedman, dating from 2018 to 2021, holds several of Friedman's writings, as well as obituaries and remembrances following his death on June 3, 2020. The collection was assembled by Friedman's son, Josh Alan Friedman.</p> <p>The writings feature forty-one notes for short stories written or dictated by Friedman on his phone during the final two years of life, when he was unable to use a computer keyboard due to neuropathy. There are four voice memos included with the notes. Josh Alan Friedman sent the notes and memos to himself over email on June 20, 2018; all the notes and memos exist in this email format. The notes typically contain a line or two of text.</p> <p>Other writings include Friedman's drafts for three plays: <span class=\"title\">Have You Spoken to Any Jews Lately?</span>, <span class=\"title\">Sardines</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Utopowitz</span>. There is also a scan of an assignment Friedman wrote for an English class at DeWitt Clinton High School in 1944, and a 2021 edition of his 2011 memoir, <span class=\"title\">Lucky Bruce: A Literary Memoir</span>.</p> <p>Obituaries and remembrances are mostly screen captures of posts on Facebook in the two weeks following Friedman's death. The posts are by friends, fellow writers, and publications.</p>"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Arranged into Writings, and Obituaries and Remembrances.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by Josh Alan Friedman in 2021.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Nathan Evans</span> in <span class=\"date\">2025</span>.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Bruce Jay Friedman papers, 1938-2002, Berg Coll MSS Friedman.</p> <p>Bruce Jay Friedman Papers, 1953-2012 [bulk 1998-2012], Berg Coll MSS Friedman 1953.</p>"}
- date_start
-
2018
- keydate
-
2018
- date_end
-
2021
- date_inclusive_start
-
2018
- date_inclusive_end
-
2021
- extent_statement
-
95.8 megabytes (73 computer files)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Josh Alan Friedman collection on Bruce Jay Friedman, Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library"}