Scope and arrangement
The Betty Mandeville production papers contain scripts from the radio show The FBI in Peace and War from 1950 to 1958. The collection also contains a small amount of material related to television projects involving Mandeville and two of the show's writers, Louis Pelletier and Jack Anson Finke.
The FBI in Peace and War scripts consist of original drafts, revised drafts, and the copies used by Mandeville during production. There are multiple versions of many of the scripts. Original and revised drafts contain sound cues, advertisement copy, and often have handwritten revisions. Mandeville's producer's copies are annotated, and have cast lists and notes regarding rehearsal and performance. Mandeville's copies often have further handwritten revisions and additional advertisements that are not in earlier drafts. The collection does not contain a script for every episode that aired from 1950 to 1958; many scripts from 1950 and 1954, especially, are missing. The collection holds one script from 1948, "The Psychiatric Set-Up," and one script from 1958 that was never used because of the show's cancellation.
The television materials consist of scripts by Louis Pelletier and Jack Finke, as well as some correspondence and production materials. Scripts include two episodes for a possible television version of The FBI in Peace and War, and several scripts for the show Willy (originally called The Artful Miss Dodger), which Pelletier co-created. Some of Pelletier's television scripts have handwritten drafts. Also present are two files of correspondence documenting the efforts of Mandeville's husband, NBC television producer George McGarrett, to have the shows Anthology '53 and The Gopher produced as kinescopes. The Anthology and Gopher files contain correspondence, scripts, production budgets, and copies of legal agreements with actors.
Arrangement
Scripts for The FBI in Peace and War are arranged chronologically by year of broadcast. Television records are grouped together by title.