Archive for the ‘Collections now available’ Category

Drawings by actor and costume designer Frank Baker recently processed

Friday, February 1st, 2013

N. S. W. Mounted Police Trooper drawing by Frank Baker for the MGM film “The Bushranger.”

Ned Kelly costume drawing by Frank Baker.

Frank Baker was an Australian actor and stuntman in Hollywood whose career spanned from 1912 to 1970. He was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1892. His brother Snowy Baker was a well-known silent film star and boxing promoter in Australia. Both men eventually settled in Hollywood in the 1920s. Over his career Frank appeared in 18 John Ford films and was considered a member of Ford’s stock company. Baker appeared in bit parts in about 100 films throughout his long career including Of Human Bondage (1934), The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935), Stagecoach (1939), That Forsyte Woman (1949), The Quiet Man (1952) and My Fair Lady (1964). He passed away at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California in 1980.

This collection consists of ink drawings, color paintings and notes by Frank Baker of costumes and locations for the films The Bushranger (1928, directed by Chester Withey) and The Lost Patrol (1934, directed by John Ford).

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Blacklisted Writer’s Papers Available: The Roy Huggins Papers

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

Roy Huggins was an American novelist, blacklisted film and television writer, producer and production manager. His crime novels were inspired by the writings of Raymond Chandler, and include “The Double Take” (1946); “Too Late For Tears” (1947) and “Lovely Lady, Pity Me” (1949).

Huggins made the transition to television in 1955 when he began working for Warner Bros. as a producer. He is best known for creating and writing for the popular television series including “Maverick,” “The Fugitive,” “77 Sunset Strip,” “The Rockford Files,” and “City of Angels.” He was executive producer for television shows such as “Alias Smith and Jones,” “Cool Million,” “Baretta” and “Hunter.” He also wrote for made for television movies and miniseries such as “The Invasion of Johnson County” and “Captains and the Kings.”

In September of 1952, Huggins was summoned before the infamous U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to answer questions about his brief membership in the Communist Party. He continued to write under his own name, and under the name “John Thomas James,” combining the names of his three sons.

The collection is rich in annotated scripts, story submissions, research materials and television viewer thoughts on many of Huggins’s television projects.

The collection is still being processed, and the finding aid will be updated periodically.

Peggy Alexander
Performing Arts Special Collections
UCLA Library Special Collections

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