AN ARCHIVE OF SCREENPLAYS FOR THE FILM ADAPTATION OF STEINBECK'S THE WAYWARD BUS, INCLUDING DRAF...

AN ARCHIVE OF SCREENPLAYS FOR THE FILM ADAPTATION OF STEINBECK'S THE WAYWARD BUS, INCLUDING DRAFTS BY SAROYAN. A series of screenplay drafts for the adaptation of Steinbeck's follow-up to The Grapes of Wrath: SOLOW, EUGENE. Typed Carbon, 'Screen Play Treatment of...,' 126 pp, 4to, undated (but c.1949), in plain blue wrappers, with retained copy of Solow letter to Jerry Wald at Fox pitching the project and comparing it to Johnny Belinda and Gentleman's Agreement. SOLOW, EUGENE. Mimeographed Manuscript, 'Screenplay by...,' 179 pp, 4to, Beverly Hills, September 22, 1949, housed in Feldman wrappers, with typed note laid in identifying this version as the 'fourth best.' SOLOW, EUGENE. Typed Carbon, 'Screenplay by..., 160 pp, 4to, Beverly Hills, February 20, 1950, in Feldman wrappers. LIEBERMAN, LEO. Typed Carbon, 'Screenplay by...,' 142 pp, 4to, Beverly Hills, December 12, 1950, in Feldman wrappers. REED, TOM. Mimeographed Manuscript, 'Screenplay of...,' 153 pp, 4to, Beverly Hills, February 12, 1951, in Feldman wrappers, with Reed's signed certificate of authorship laid down to front pastedown. SAROYAN, WILLIAM. Mimeographed Manuscript, 'Screenplay by...,' 174 pp, undated [but June 2, 1951, according to Feldman memo], bound with brads, lacking wrappers. EISINGER, JO. Typed Carbon, 'Screenplay by...,' 98 pp (but paginated to 123), 4to, August 6, 1951, in Feldman wrappers, note on the cover indicating 'pages missing.' SELLER, TOM. Mimeographed Manuscript, label crediting Seller but title page crediting Saroyan, 172 pp, 4to, Beverly Hills, December 7, 1951, in Feldman wrappers. SCHULMAN, ARNOLD. Mimeographed Manuscript, label crediting Schulman but title page crediting Saroyan, 135 pp, Beverly Hills, November 20, 1952, in Feldman wrappers. With Feldman's notes on rear interior wrapper. SAROYAN, WILLIAM. Mimeographed Manuscript, 150 pp, 'screenplay of John Steinbeck's best selling Novel [The Wayward Bus], 150 pp, 4to, Beverly Hills, n.d. [but July 31, 1953, according to Feldman memo], in Chas. K. Feldman wrappers. SAROYAN, WILLIAM. Typed Carbon on yellow paper, 'Screenplay of...,' 154 pp, 4to, Beverly Hills, n.d., in Feldman wrappers, with penciled note laid in: 'Script which was sent to—Charles Feldman in New York—As result of conference with Henry Hathaway,' and in another hand, 'this went to Fox.' HATHAWAY, HENRY. Typescript, 'Screenplay by...,' 122 pp, 4to, November 11, 1954, in Feldman wrappers. Inked note on spine reads: 'not sent to Fox.' SCHERMER, JULES. Typed Carbon, label crediting Schermer but title page crediting Saroyan, 147 pp, 4to, January 4, 1955, in Feldman wrappers. SCHERMER, JULES. Typed Carbon, 'Screenplay by...,' 135 pp, 4to, February 15, 1955, in Feldman wrappers, with typed note laid in: 'This is script Mr. Schermer sent to Mr. Feldman in NY which Jerome Weidman had.' MOFFAT, IVAN. Mimeographed Manuscript, 123 pp, June 6, 1956, bound with brads in orange 20th Century-Fox wrappers. WITH: file of paperwork relating to the establishment of screenplay credit for the film, including copies of Feldman's contracts with many of the writers above, Feldman's list of the order of the scripts dated 1956, photofaxes of the other contracts not present in original form, and a letter from the studio assigning final screenwriting credit to Ivan Moffat and Victor Vicas (a writer brought in by the studio, not Feldman). The journey from novel to film was as meandering for The Wayward Bus as the literary journey within its pages. Steinbeck had studio interest in his work before publication, and originally assigned the rights to Frank Capra's Liberty Pictures. When Liberty collapsed, Producer Charles K. Feldman picked up the rights to the Steinbeck work and the writer currently attached, Eugene Solow. From that point Feldman went through a raft of writers, bringing on celebrated novelist William Saroyan in 1951, and keeping Saroyan's name attached long after the writer left the project. Eventually, Feldman sold the rights to Twentieth Century-Fox who brought in writer Ivan Moffat, who shared final credit with the film's director, Victor Vicas. This archive represents a portion of the paperwork Feldman put together to help establish writing credit on the film, but interestingly, this grouping also includes director Henry Hathaway's typescript which, for some reason, was not sent to Fox, in spite of the fact that the director was briefly attached to the project by Fox in 1956. It is possible Hathaway did not want the studio to know he did work on the film before it was on their docket. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing