Director and choreographer (1895-1976) whose lavish, elaborate dance numbers defined the look of movie musicals in the 1930s and 1940s. Archive of material from Berkeley’s estate, comprising approximately 40 pages written in his hand, the majority of which is a comprehensive index, apparently for his proposed book Girls, Glamour and Glory. Includes:
A handwritten alphabetized three-page “list of the many well-known stars and featured players I have directed in Picture and on Broadway,” naming actors and actresses such as Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Eddie Cantor, Cary Grant, Betty Grable, Al Jolson, Bert Lahr, Hedy Lamarr, Veronica Lake, Debbie Reynolds, Claude Raines, Frank Sinatra, and dozens of others.
A four-page handwritten outline breaking his autobiography down into “Reels,” beginning with “Reel 1: Childhood days from Kansas City on, up to time I enlisted in World War I.”
A ten-page handwritten index on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. letterhead, recording names, places, and companies, with page numbers (presumably where they appeared in a draft of the book). Among the hundreds of listed items are: “N.B.C.,” “Joseph Cotton,” “Gertrude Berkeley,” “W. C. Fields,” “N.Y. Times Review,” “Oscar Hammerstein,” “Eddie Cantor,” “Tommy Dorsey,” “Universal,” “Dolores del Rio,” “Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,” “King Vidor,” “Dick Powell,” “Ginger Rogers,” “Louis B. Mayer,” “Adolph Zukor,” “Jane Wyman,” “Humphrey Bogart,” “Mickey Rooney,” “Judy Garland,” “Margaret Hamilton,” “James Stewart,” “Lady Be Good,” “Esther Williams,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Oklahoma,” “South Pacific,” and “My Fair Lady.”
A seventeen-page handwritten index on Hotel Mark Hopkins letterhead, listing similar names and page numbers in rough alphabetical order.
A folder marked “Them Lovely Rascals,” containing four pages of handwritten notes by Berkeley and two typescripts of treatments for a musical entitled “Them Lovely Rascals” by Sidney Phillips.
Several typescripts related to the production of a book: a five-page hand-corrected typescript featuring the dedication page and foreword for his book; six typed pages marked “Girls, Glamour, and Glory - 305” with essentially identical text; an eleven-page typed packet headed “Anecdotes: These anecdotes may be inserted in the story in proper context, provided my collaborator feels he wants to use them - for a change of pace etc.” While the proposed ‘Girls, Glamour and Glory’ was not published, it was adapted into Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley by Jeffrey Spivak. In overall very good to fine condition.
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