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Creator
Chayefsky, Paddy, 1923-1981
Call number
*T-Mss 2001-040 [Text]
Physical description
129.4 linear feet (287 boxes); 32 reels microfilm
Preferred Citation

Paddy Chayefsky Papers, *T-Mss 2001-040, 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

Primarily documenting the career of playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, this collection consists of correspondence, material relating to production of his works, draft and development material for unproduced works and other writings, office papers, vital records, financial and legal records, photographs, and research material.

Biographical/historical information

Paddy Chayefsky, playwright and screenwriter, was born Sidney Chayefsky on January 29, 1923, in the Bronx, New York to Harry and Gussie (Stuchevsky) Chayefsky. A veteran of the New York City public school system, he attended Dewitt Clinton High School, and then the City College of New York. After graduating with a degree in accounting he joined the United States Army, where he took on the nickname Paddy. He served in the 104th Infantry Division in the European Theatre and was wounded, reportedly by a land mine, near Aachen, Germany.

While recovering from his injuries in the Army Hospital near Cirencester, England, he penned the book and lyrics to a musical called No T.O. for Love, which was first produced by the Special Services Unit in 1945, and toured Army bases all over Europe over the next two years. So successful was this debut that the show was brought to London, where it opened at the Scala Theatre in the West End. During the London production of No T.O. for Love, Chayefsky met Josh Logan, who would later work with him on his television and theatrical projects, as well Garson Kanin, who invited him to collaborate on his documentary of the allied invasion of Europe, The True Glory; these contacts would prove critical to the development of Chayefsky's professional writing career in the years following the War.

Chayefsky did not initially pursue his writing upon returning stateside, but instead apprenticed in his uncle's printing shop, an experience which later formed the basis for his teleplay, A Printer's Measure. It was also during this time that he renewed his association with Garson Kanin, who subsidized the writing of his second play, Put Them All Together (later retitled M is for Mother) which was never produced. In 1949, he married Susan Sackler; their son Dan was born in 1955.

By the early 1950's, Chayefsky had adapted a series of scripts for CBS Radio's Theatre Guild of the Air and written episodes for the CBS television series Danger and Manhunt. In 1953, he met Fred Coe, producer of the Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, and wrote his first teleplay for that series, Holiday Song. Chayefsky's scripts for the Philco Playhouse solidified his reputation as a writer; they included The Reluctant Citizen, Marty, The Bachelor Party, The Sixth Year, Middle of the Night, The Mother, The Big Deal, Catch My Boy on Sunday and A Catered Affair. Additionally, Chayefsky developed a working relationship with director Delbert Mann who would later direct three of his feature films. He abandoned television writing in 1955 in favor of screenwriting and Broadway theater. His first film—and the first television play to be successfully remade as a full length motion picture— Marty, won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1955, as well as earning him his first of three Academy Awards for Best Screenplay, and the Grand Prize at Cannes.

A theatrical version of Middle of the Night opened on Broadway in 1956 with Edward G. Robinson and Gena Rowlands. A financial and critical success, it ran for 477 performances and spawned a national tour, paving the way for a film version starring Frederic March and Kim Novak and directed by Delbert Mann in 1959.

Between 1957 and 1959, Chayefsky released three films and a second Broadway show, all to critical acclaim. 1957 saw the release his final collaboration with Delbert Mann, a feature film version of The Bachelor Party, followed the next year by the release of his first original film, The Goddess, starring Kim Stanley. The Goddess earned Chayefsky an Oscar nomination and the Critic's Prize at the Brussels Film Festival. A few months after the release of Middle of the Night, The Tenth Man opened at the Booth Theatre to become Chayefsky's second successful Broadway venture, netting Tony nominations for Best Director (Tyrone Guthrie), Best Scenic Design (David Hays) and Best Play. Chayefsky's third Broadway production, Gideon, opened in 1961 at the Plymouth Theatre with Guthrie once again directing. Another critical success, it garnered a round of Tony nominations for Chayefsky and Guthrie, as well as for Fred Coe (Best Producer) and Frederic March (Best Actor), though once again they failed to take home the honors.

Chayefsky traveled to the Soviet Union with Alfred Kazin and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. as part of a cultural exchange program in 1959, and the trip fueled his antagonism toward Soviet censorship and propaganda which, alongside his interest in his family's Russian roots, found its expression in the play The Passion of Josef D. Unfortunately, his final Broadway production was a flop both with the critics and at the box office, and it closed after a week-long run.

While developing The Passion of Josef D., Chayefsky was hired to adapt a script for William Bradford Huie's novel, The Americanization of Emily, which was released in 1964 starring Julie Andrews and James Garner and directed by Arthur Hiller, who would later team up with Chayefsky on The Hospital. The Americanization of Emily marked the beginning of a period in Chayefsky's career notable for its concentration on adaptations rather than original works. He collaborated for a time on the film The Cincinnati Kid, and shortly thereafter on Ice Station Zebra and Paint Your Wagon, though he was fired from the latter by producer Alan Jay Lerner. Chayefsky continued to work on original material during this time, however, and formed a repertory group with Burgess Meredith and Zero Mostel to stage his play The Latent Heterosexual (1968). The story, which dealt with one man's battle to keep his money out of the hands of the government, may have been at least in part inspired by Chayefsky's own brush with the IRS, but was also written as a vehicle for Mostel, a performer Chayefsky greatly admired. The play opened in Dallas rather than New York and received mixed reviews before moving on to Los Angeles. However, it was the deteriorating relationship between Chayefsky and Mostel that ultimately doomed the production, which would be Chayefsky's last for the stage. His disappointment with the failure of The Latent Heterosexual resulted in a fallow period in the late 1960s.

Chayefsky's next project was a scathing indictment of the medical community: The Hospital, starring George C. Scott and Diana Rigg and directed by Arthur Hiller. Chayefsky won the 1971 Academy Award for his screenplay, which marked his triumphant return to writing. The 1970s also marked a period of political participation for Chayefsky, who became active in a number of Jewish causes, including Writers and Artists for Peace in the Middle East and the Anti-Defamation League. His interest in Jewish affairs was reiterated in his creative work as well, taking the form of what he called a "political melodrama," The Habakkuk Conspiracy. Much to Chayefsky's disappointment, United Artists rejected the script and the film was never produced.

Although Chayefsky had been an early television pioneer, he had turned his back on the medium while it was still in its infancy, decrying the lack of interest the networks demonstrated toward quality programming. Over the course of his career, he had toyed with the idea of lampooning television more than once, but the concept would not come to fruition until his 1976 film Network, which presaged the advent of reality television by twenty years. In addition to a sardonic satire of television, Network dealt with the dehumanization of modern life, a theme he had explored previously with The Latent Heterosexual and The Hospital. The film met with the ire of many television executives and news anchors, and the acclaim of the critics. Nominated for six Academy Awards, it took home four including Best Actress for Faye Dunaway, Best Supporting Actress for Beatrice Straight, a posthumous Best Actor award for Peter Finch, and Chayefsky's third and final award for Best Screenplay.

Chayefsky's final completed project was first published as a novel and subsequently adapted for the screen. Altered States was a significant departure from his previous work: a story with both scientific and metaphysical ideas at its heart, it was a tale of man's search for his primal self through psychotropic drugs and an isolation tank which Chayefsky himself referred to as "an updated Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." The stress Chayefsky suffered while working on the novel led to a heart attack in 1977, but this was not the last misfortune associated with the project. Publication of the novel prompted a lawsuit by one of the many scientific advisors hired to assist Chayefsky with his research. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed, but at a great expense to Chayefsky in terms of time as well as money spent on his defense. When work on the film commenced, veteran director Arthur Penn, with whom Chayefsky had worked in his Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse days, was hired, but was later removed from the project and replaced by Ken Russell. The relationship between Russell and Chayefsky soon devolved to such a disastrous degree that Chayefsky had his name removed from the picture and was credited instead as Sidney Aaron. Though the film was ultimately popular with audiences, it was a personal defeat for Chayefsky.

Following Altered States, offers for adaptations and collaborations continued to roll in, including requests for an adaptation of Gorky Park for MGM/UA and Yentl for Barbara Streisand, but Chayefsky refused them. Instead, he turned his energies back to the theater, and began working on a play about accused Communist spy Alger Hiss, but as activity surrounding the 1980 release of Altered States increased, he was forced to put it on hold. Soon, health problems rather than writing took center stage: Chayefsky was diagnosed with cancer. He refused surgery, allegedly claiming he feared retribution by the doctors for his caustic portrayal of them in The Hospital, though he did submit to chemotherapy. He died in New York City on August 1, 1981.

Scope and arrangement

Primarily documenting the career of playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, this collection consists of correspondence, material relating to production of his works, draft and development material for unproduced works and other writings, office papers, vital records, financial and legal records, photographs, and research material. Some personal material is also included in the collection, including correspondence, childhood mementos, and photographs; however, the emphasis is clearly on Chayefsky's work rather than his person.

Correspondence, overwhelmingly of a professional nature, stretches from 1944 until his death in 1981. Individual correspondents range from childhood friends to celebrities and notable public figures. The development of Gideon and The Passion of Josef D. is shown through letters to and from Tyrone Guthrie, while correspondence with production designer Ted Haworth discusses their career trajectories, the entertainment industry, and personal events in a refreshingly frank manner. Chayefsky also discusses the work of others, as demonstrated by an extensive letter to producer Walter Wanger providing feedback on the script for Cleopatra (1963), while a character analysis of that historic title character can be found in a letter to Martin Goldblatt. The correspondence with organizations shows the wide range of social, political, and professional concerns Chayefsky maintained throughout his life. Additionally evident is Chayefsky's role as a cultural emissary in dealings with various US agencies and international bodies. In contrast, Chayefsky's family correspondence discusses personal matters, though rarely in great depth, and contains very little information regarding his work. V-mail sent to his childhood friend Della Wasserman predates his professional writing career and talks quite candidly about his experiences during World War II. Many tributes to Chayefsky's life and work can be found in the condolence letters and cards sent to his wife, Susan.

The collection is rich in material pertaining to Chayefsky's works for stage and screen dating back to his earliest production, No T.O. For Love, which was written during his recuperation from injuries sustained in Germany in 1945. Production material often includes extensive drafts and revisions of scripts, story development notes, casting files, ephemera and clippings, and production-related correspondence. Most thoroughly documented here are his later works, in particular The Latent Heterosexual, The Hospital, Network, and Altered States. Relatively little material relating to his radio scripts and Philco-Goodyear teleplays is available here; in many instances these early productions are represented only by a small volume of correspondence or a single script.

Also abundant in the papers is material relating to collaborations and adaptations ultimately aborted, or completed without Chayefsky's participation. Material for a film on the life of Edna St. Vincent Millay for Elizabeth Taylor, notes in response to a treatment for the I.B. Singer story Yentl, and notes for a treatment of John Reed's Reds for Warren Beatty are representative of the latter. Though not a collaborative effort, Chayefsky offered long-time friend Bob Fosse feedback on portions of the scripts for Sweet Charity and Chicago. A number of unfinished or unproduced original works are also included, such as notes and draft material for a literary satire called Mrs. Orlando, scripts for a political thriller, The Habakkuk Conspiracy, and a pilot script for a comedic television series, The Imposters.

Office papers document Chayefsky's professional life through calendars, date books and numerous biographies generated for biographical dictionaries. The Personal Papers Series represents his early life through vital records and childhood mementos, and also contains material belonging to his mother, wife, and son.

The Financial and Legal Series records the administrative aspects of both his private life and his career, and contains production budgets, royalty statements, contracts, permissions, and other evidence of the financial and legal life cycle of his works. The day-to-day operation of multiple production companies is evidenced through business records and ledgers, while more mundane records such as bank accounts, insurance information, charitable donations, household expenses, and receipts are also present.

Chayefsky rigorously annotated the research material he collected, and such notes give a window into the writer's thought processes as he laid the groundwork for his productions. His life as a member of both the Hollywood and Broadway communities is well documented in photographs, though his private life is only sparingly captured on film, and various awards announce critical praise for his work as well as appreciation for his social efforts. The papers give tremendous insight into the working life of one of America's celebrated writers

The Paddy Chayefsky papers are arranged in nine series:

  • Series I: Correspondence
    1944-1990
    38 boxes

    This series consists of correspondence of both a personal and professional nature documenting Chayefsky's career as a writer, and includes both correspondence between Chayefsky and individuals, and between Chayefsky and the numerous professional, artistic and political organization with which he was involved. The earliest letters in this collection come in the form of V-Mail sent by Paddy from Germany detailing his World War II experiences, and correspondence continues through his death in 1981.

  • Series II: Produced Works
    1945-1998
    81 boxes, 32 reels microfilm

    Produced Works contains material relating to the artistic development and production of Paddy's works, including radio plays, stage plays and screenplays, and serves as a record of the life cycle of his productions from notes on the initial concept to the promotion of the final product. The type of material contained in this series ranges from correspondence with directors, producers and studios to promotional material and clippings. Many productions are represented through multiple treatment and script drafts (many annotated by Chayefsky), as well as a quantity of discarded material kept in the original bulk order as it was received. Research material, often heavily annotated by Chayefsky, is available, as is related ephemera such as programs and flyers. Production files often contain notes on casting and staffing, rehearsal schedules, and shooting schedules. Some foreign productions and revivals have also been documented here, though this should not be considered an exhaustive source of information on these productions. Also included are a number of notebooks containing early development notes and brainstorming for various productions.

    Chayefsky's later works, specifically The Latent Heterosexual, The Hospital, Network, and Altered States are most extensively represented in this collection, while his work during the Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse era is less thoroughly documented, often with only a single copy of a script extant to represent many of his radio and teleplays. Notable within this series is a script from Chayefsky's first theatrical project, No T.O. For Love, which he wrote while serving in the US Army, and which opened on the West End in 1945. Documentation of a lawsuit brought against Chayefsky by one of his scientific consultants on Altered States is also present.

    Finally, a number of spiral-bound notebooks reside in this series containing development notes, fragments of dialogue and other draft material relating to both produced and unproduced works, as well as material unrelated to specific productions. Often, material for multiple works is contained in a single notebook. Many of these productions are referenced by working or descriptive titles only while other works remain unidentified. Notes for Jackie Gleason's Gigot can be found here, as well as a diary kept during his 1959 trip to the Soviet Union. Extensive notes for The Passion of Josef D., Gideon, The Latent Heterosexual and The Hospital are included, as are remarks on Walter Wanger's script for Cleopatra, and draft material for a number of unproduced works including a television series about the life of photographer Robert Capa and a play about Lee Harvey Oswald.

  • Series III: Other Works
    1949-1981
    21 boxes

    This series contains various drafts of screenplays, theatrical plays, speeches, lectures and other creative material not covered in Series II: Produced Works. None of the original dramatic works contained in this Series reached production; many were abandoned at the conceptual stage, and are documented only by a few notes or a short treatment, others, such as The Habbakkuk Conspiracy, were ready for production but were never optioned. Throughout his career, Chayefsky accepted work on collaborations and adaptations, but in many cases he removed himself from the project prior to its completion, and extant material from these projects can be found in this Series. Also in this Series are Chayefsky's non-fictional writings, including speeches, eulogies, and articles about the process of writing.

  • Series IV: Office Papers
    1948-1990
    25 boxes

    This series documents Chayefsky's professional life through date books and planners, address books, miscellaneous notes and memos, biographical material and clippings. Also included here are awards and certificates (see also Series IX: Oversized Material) and a large body of unsolicited material in the form of treatments, scripts, galleys and manuscript drafts sent to Chayefsky from various authors, agents, and other members of the entertainment industry.

  • Series V: Personal papers
    1932-1984
    9 boxes

    Some of Chayefsky's vital records can be found in this series, mainly in facsimile form, including copies of his birth and death certificates, early school and armed forces records, and some genealogical material. Also included here is material relating to personal travel, and material relating to his immediate family including his mother Gussie, his wife Susan, and his son Dan.

  • Series VI: Financial and Legal, 1946-1998
    79 boxes

    The Financial and Legal series contains documentation of the administrative aspects of Chayefsky's career and personal life. Included here are financial records pertaining to produced works and to Chayefsky's production companies; records relating to the operation of various offices and the Chayefsky household, documentation of business-related travel, personal finances, and philanthropy. It consists of fourteen Sub-series.

  • SERIES VII: Photographs
    ca. 1940s-1989
    7 boxes

    This series contains candid and professional photographs of events in Chayefsky's life, photographs of events surrounding productions, promotional photographs, photographs taken at various parties and functions, and some family photographs. It is divided into six sub-series.

  • Series VIII: Research Material
    1907-1979
    15 boxes

    This series contains books, articles, clippings and other research material collected by Chayefsky for project development or personal interest. All of the books are annotated by Chayefsky, as are some of the articles.

  • Series IX: Oversized Material
    1956-1980
    11 boxes

    Contains photographs, lobby cards, and promotional items. Awards, plaques and large certificates are also included. Of particular note are selections from the original score for The Goddess and two caricatures of Chayefsky of unknown attribution.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

The Paddy Chayefsky Papers were purchased by the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 2001.

Processing information

Processed by Kit Messick and Brad Campbell; Machine-readable finding aid created by Kit Messick.

Separated material

  • Billy Rose Theatre Division: *T-Cabinet
    • Leather Briefcase
    • 5 Tobacco Pipes
    • Copacabana match book with photo of Chayefsky and unidentified woman
    • 3 Luggage Identification Tags
    • Participant badge, World Conference of Jewish Communities on Soviet Jewry, 1971
    • Purple velvet jewelry case
    • Paris metal medalion
    • Felt Pennant, "Belleayre Mountains, NY"
    • Felt Pennant, "Paris"
    • 3 Fish-shaped Carving Knives
  • Billy Rose Theatre Division: Flat File
    • "Prix de L’Exposition Universale de Bruxelles," Award mounted on board, 1959
    • Middle of the Night Promotional poster, 1959
    • Ice Station Zebra, schematic submarine diagram (side view), pencil, ink, 1969
    • Corita Kent designed poster, using quote from Gideon, 1969
  • Theatre on Film and Tape (TOFT)
    • 1/2" video, The Burning Bed, 1984
    • 1/2" video, Molly’s Pilgrim, 1985
    • 1/2" video, More Than Broken Glass: Memories of Kristallnach, 1991
    • 1/2" video, The Tenth Man, reviewer’s reel, 1989
    • 1/2" video, Zelda, 1993
    • 3/4" video, Marty, Philco-Goodyear Playhouse telecast, 1953
    • Betamax, 7 cassettes, Altered States dailies, 1979
    • 16mm film, Catch My Boy on Sunday, 1954
    • 16mm film, The Face of the Land (USA, 26 min., ca. 1959)
    • 16mm film, Give a Damn, ca. 1960s
    • 16mm film, The Key, 1953 16mm film, Middle of the Night, 1954
    • 16mm film, One Suitcase, 1959
    • 16mm film, Printers Measure, 1952
  • Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound
    • LP, Noah, Leslie Bricusse, 2 demo pressings of first draft scores
    • LP, Lindsay for Mayor, "Why I want to be Mayor"
    • LP, What is Drama? Soundtrack for filmstrip
    • 1/4" tape, Dateline Israel with Arnold Foster, Program #25: Interview with Paddy Chayefsky, 1972
    • 1/4" tape, Voice of America, Critic's Choice: Ruth Kocenogi Interviews Paddy Chayefsky, c. 1972
    • 1/4" tape, Film Music, Composed and conducted by Richard Behrke
    • 1/4" tape, Charity Benefit Poetry Reading, “Monster Poetry Orgy at the Coffee Gallery," 1960
    • 1/8" tape, The Tenth Man Musical Opening by Sarah Hershberg
    • 1/8" tape, Theme song for unsolicited movie treatment Black Women Stride with Pride
    • 1/8" tape, 4 casettes, research Material for Network

Related Material

Additional papers of Paddy Chayefsky are held by the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives / Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.

Additional papers of Paddy Chayefsky are held by the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives / Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research

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

Materials in this collection may only be reproduced with permission of the copyright holder.

Alternative form available

Boxes 43-102 available on microfilm only (*ZC-670).