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Creator
Lawrence, Jerome, 1915-2004
Call number
*T Mss 1967-003
Physical description
56 linear feet (133 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Lawrence and Lee Papers, *T-Mss 1967-003, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, writers of stage, screen, television and radio were both born in Ohio. They met in New York where they were pursuing careers in broadcasting. Among the founding fathers of Armed Forces Radio, they created and adapted many stories for radio. Later they entered the world of commercial broadcasting for both radio and television. In the 1940s they began writing plays. Among their best known works are Auntie Mame, Mame, Inherit the Wind and The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail . The Lawrence and Lee papers consist of their early correspondence and writings from broadcasting including Armed Forces Radio and commercial radio and television as well as production files and scripts from many of their major works. Also included are project ideas, other writings and speeches, scrapbooks and some photographs. The papers document their careers up until the mid-1960s. Missing from the collection are their works after this date.

Biographical/historical information

Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee were a writing team who wrote, adapted and produced for radio, television and the stage from the 1940s into the 1990s. Both from Ohio, they didn't meet and become collaborators until 1942 when they were among the founders of Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS). While with the AFRS, they wrote a wide variety of programs that were broadcast to troops overseas - comedy programs, dramatic programs, and informational programs - including such titles as Command Performance, Yarns for Yanks and Mail Call.

After the war, Lawrence and Lee continued their successful collaborative efforts writing for commercial television, radio and the theater. Railroad Hour, Favorite Story, Young Love and Request Performance are a few of the radio programs which used materials written or adapted by Lawrence and Lee. They were also successful in their theatrical endeavors writing such famous plays as, Auntie Mame, Mame, Inherit the Wind, Look, Ma, I'm Dancin'!, Dear World, First Monday in October and The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. Lawrence and Lee also wrote and adapted for film and television. Their television work includes adaptations and original scripts for Favorite Story and The Unexpected. They also adapted for television their play Inherit the Wind which was produced for Hallmark Hall of Fame. Their film adaptations include the screenplay for First Monday in October.

In later years, Lawrence and Lee continued as writers, teachers and lecturers, giving talks to a wide range of academic and general interest groups throughout the country and around the world.

Scope and arrangement

The papers of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee contain correspondence, scripts, drafts of scripts and rewrites, production files, production notes, programs, clippings and personal papers and document their careers from 1942 until 1966. The collection contains early correspondence between Robert E. Lee and his family and friends during his time in school and in the army during World War II. Radio scripts from the Armed Forces Radio Service mark the beginning of Lawrence and Lee's collaboration as a writing team.

The collection is rich in its documentation of their writings through the 1960s. Included are scripts, notes and production files from their commercial radio career and the early years of Broadway. Productions included are Inherit the Wind, Auntie Mame, Mame, The Gang's All Here, Look, Ma, I'm Dancin'! and A Call on Kuprin, to name a few. Radio programs include Favorite Story, The Railroad Hour, Hallmark Playhouse, Young Love, The World We're Fighting For and Request Performance. Television programs include The Unexpected and Favorite Story. The papers also include writings done by Lawrence and Lee for speeches, lectures and seminars.

Missing from the collection is any personal correspondence belonging to Jerome Lawrence and any scripts and production materials from later plays including The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, Dear World and First Monday in October.

The Lawrence and Lee papers are arranged in fourteen series:

  • Series I: Personal Papers
    1943-1970
    1 box

    The bulk of this series is Robert E. Lee material which includes a folder of papers regarding his Air Force flight school experience in the early 1940s and notes about productions he had seen over the years. Lawrence's record of his impressions of theater viewing experiences are also included.

  • Series II: Correspondence
    3 boxes

    This series, consisting mainly of personal and professional correspondence to Robert E. Lee, includes some business correspondence to both Lawrence and Lee, Lawrence's letters relating his experiences while on a world tour, and his annual Twelfth Night letters.

  • Series III: Armed Forces Radio Service Papers
    1942-1945
    3 boxes

    This series contains individual and bound volumes of radio scripts written for Armed Forces Radio. Most but not all of the scripts were written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. Among the individual scripts are Chain of Command, Japan's Road to Fascism, Let's Go to Town!, and Why?. Two bound volumes of Yarns for Yanks also include D-Day, VE-Day, and VJ-Day special broadcasts and post-war programs. Two volumes entitled Overseas Broadcasts contain scripts for Mail Call, Song Sheet, and Personal Album, among others, and photographs of broadcasts. Papers related to the creation of Armed Forces Radio Service include correspondence to Lawrence and Lee, guidelines, budgets, ideas for programming, and program lists. Box 5, folder 2 includes Robert E. Lee's induction papers.

  • Series IV: War Related Writings
    1942-1945
    1 box

    This series contains wartime scripts for radio, screen and stage done by Lawrence and Lee as individuals. Included are scripts for the radio program They Live Forever, a series written by Jerome Lawrence and Howard Teichmann and aired on CBS radio. The program's primary function was to boost wartime morale. The rest of the materials include scripts written by Robert E. Lee and are primarily army productions for training and entertainment. Titles include Fantasy at Versailles, G. I. Heaven, Hammond on the Air, and Hitler Comes Calling.

  • Series V: Organizations
    1956-1967
    9 boxes

    Correspondence, clippings, programs, memos, minutes, speeches, and photographs document Lawrence and Lee's various organizational affiliations. Included are: American Conservatory Theatre Foundation, American Playwrights Theatre, the Margo Jones Award, National Repertory Theatre, U.S. Department of State Office of Cultural Presentations Ad Hoc Drama Panel, and the Broadcasting and Film Commission.

  • Series VI: Stage and Film Productions
    65 boxes

    This series includes correspondence, production files, notes, clippings, programs, ephemera, and scripts and documents the major works of Lawrence and Lee from the late 1940s until the mid-1960s.

  • Series VII: Ziv Productions
    24 boxes

    This series is divided into four sub-series and contains business and production files of the Frederic W. Ziv Company primarily dealing with Favorite Story and The Unexpected. Included are correspondence, contracts, writer and celebrity clearances, scripts and financial records for Lawrence and Lee's affiliation with Ziv Productions.

  • Series VIII: Radio and Television Productions
    14 boxes

    This series contain radio and television scripts for major radio shows written, directed or adapted by Lawrence and Lee.

  • Series IX: Miscellaneous Radio, Television and Sound Recording Productions
    1942-1955
    3 boxes

    This series contains notes, research files, production files and scripts for radio, television and sound recordings written by Lawrence and Lee. Included are scripts for the radio programs Halls of Ivy, starring Ronald Colman, Presenting Charles Boyer, and special United Nations broadcasts.

  • Series X: Project Ideas
    1932-1965
    4 boxes

    This series contains screenplays, treatments and outlines for films, radio and television stories, many of which were in development but never produced. Included in this series are film scripts for The New Yorkers a screenplay written by Lawrence and Lee and commissioned by U-I. The film was to star Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. Included as well are drafts of scripts for The Joyous Season, based on the book by Patrick Dennis, and project proposals for television and radio shows.

  • Series XI: Other Writings
    2 boxes

    This series contains writings, other than scripts, by Lawrence and Lee. Included are notes and drafts for Robert E. Lee's book Television: The Revolutionary Industry (1944), notes and research for Jerome Lawrence's book Off Mike (1944) and various articles and speeches by both playwrights.

  • Series XII: Miscellaneous Financial Papers
    1952-1959
    1 box

    This series contains miscellaneous box office papers, including statements for Inherit the Wind and Auntie Mame, and royalty statements for various radio, television and recording productions (1930s-1960s).

  • Series XIII: Scripts by Other Writers
    3 boxes

    This series is arranged alphabetically by title and contains scripts written by other authors and kept by Lawrence and Lee for review or possible adaptation for television, radio and or film.

  • Series XIV: Scrapbooks
    ca. 1942-1961
    10 volumes

    The scrapbooks, spanning the 1940s-1960s, consist of clippings and other memorabilia about Lawrence and Lee and their various radio, television and stage productions. Included are scrapbooks for Auntie Mame, A Call on Kuprin, Inherit the Wind, The Gang's All Here and Look, Ma, I'm Dancin'! as well as a scrapbook about a summer season of Lawrence and Lee plays produced at the Berea Summer Theatre in Ohio and three scrapbooks of miscellaneous clippings.

Administrative information

Custodial history

The Lawrence and Lee papers were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 1967 by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The papers were in good condition and arrived with a complete inventory of their contents.

Source of acquisition

Gift, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, 1967

Processing information

Processed by Susan McArthur and Archival Staff.

In 1995 the papers were retrospectively converted, a finding aid was written and an RLIN record was created. In 2000 an EAD finding aid was added to the New York Public Library website.

Separated material

Audiovisual materials separated from archival collections are cataloged individually and can be found in the Library catalog. Search CATNYP, The New York Public Library catalog.

  • A Call on Kuprin - 30 A Photographs; 24 B Photographs
  • Diamond Orchid - 5 B Photographs
  • The Gang's All Here- 37 A Photographs
  • Inherit the Wind - 55 A Photographs; 3 B Photographs
  • The Laughmaker - 2 A Photographs; 2 B Photographs
  • Look, Ma, I'm Dancin'! - 4 A Photographs
  • Only in America - 26 A Photographs; 2 B Photographs; 17 Friedman-Abeles Photographs
  • Shangri-La (Television program) - 40 A Photographs; 7 B Photographs
  • Sound recordings are in the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound.

Related Material

Other materials on Lawrence and Lee can be found at the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute at Ohio State University.

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.

Access restrictions

Photocopying prohibited.