Alexander Golitzen film production collection

Access and use

Location of collection:
George Mason University
2400 Fenwick Library
Special Collections Research Center
Fenwick Library MS2FL
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Mieko Palazzo
Phone: (703) 993-2220
Fax: (703) 993-2669
Restrictions:

There are no access restrictions.

Terms of access:

The copyright and related rights status of this collection have not been evaluated (See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/)

Preferred citation:

Alexander Golitzen film production collection, C0009, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Summary

Extent:
6 Linear Feet 3 boxes
Creator:
Golitzen, Alexander, 1908-2005
Abstract:
This collection contains two original film scripts - Colossus by James Bridges, (Revised Final Screenplay, October 8, 1968) and Freud by John Huston and Wolfgang Reinhardt (Final Shooting Script, February 10, 1962). It also contains two scrapbooks representing artistic design research compiled by Hecht-Hill-Lancaster for the production company's 1957 film production of George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple.
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Alexander Golitzen film production collection, C0009, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains two original film scripts - Colossus by James Bridges, (Revised Final Screenplay, October 8, 1968) and Freud by John Huston and Wolfgang Reinhardt (Final Shooting Script, February 10, 1962). It also contains two scrapbooks representing artistic design research compiled by Hecht-Hill-Lancaster for the production company's 1957 film production of George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple. Alexander Golitzen was the supervising art director at Universal Studios at the time, and it is unknown if he was involved in the film in an unofficial capacity.

Biographical / historical:

Alexander Golitzen (1908-2005) was a prolific Academy Award-winning film production designer and art director. Born in Moscow, Russia, Golitzen immigrated to the United States in 1917, fleeing the Russian Revolution. Golitzen's career in film production began in the early 1930s, and in 1942 began his long-term association with Universal Studios as their Art Director. Golitzen is credited with creating the look and feel of hundreds of movies of significance through the mid-20th century, including Gunsmoke (1953), My Man Godfrey (1957), and films by Douglas Sirk, among others. Nominated for fourteen Academy Awards, Golitzen won in Art Direction for Foreign Correspondent (1940), The Phantom of the Opera (1943), Spartacus (1960), amd To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).

Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions was a film production company that lasted from the late 1940s-1960. Created by actor Burt Lancaster and and his agent Harold Hecht, literary agent Harold Hecht eventually joined the company, which was quite successful throughout the 1950s. Notable films to come out of the production company include Marty (1955), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Separate Tables (1958), The Devil's Disciple (1959), and Birdman of Alcatraz (1962).

Acquisition information:
Collection donated by Cynthia Garn, daughter of Alexander Golitzen, in 1989.
Processing information:

Processed by Special Collections Research Center staff. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in April 2009. Finding aid updated and collection reprocessed by Amanda Menjivar in September 2023.

Arrangement:

Arranged by document type.

Physical location:
OS R 6, C 1, S 6