Bud Barsky

The Bud Barsky papers span the years 1918–1940 and encompass 13 linear feet. The collection contains production files and subject files. Included are produced scripts for more than 60 films with which Barsky was involved. These include Africa Screams (1949), Again Pioneers (1950), Body and Soul (1927), California (1927), Dark Manhattan (1937), Fighting Thru (1930), Good News (1930), Grand Old Girl (1935), Goose Step (1940), Hollywood Hotel (1937), It Takes More than a Recipe to Bake a Cake (1939), The Johnstown Flood (1926), Laughing Boy (1934), Painted Faces (1929), Penrod and Sam (1937), and Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932). Of particular interest are Darryl F. Zanuck's personal copy of the script for The Star Witness (1931), annotated by screenwriter Lucien Hubbard; script material, including story material by Barsky, for Tarzan and His Mate (1934); and script and production material for Wallaby Jim of the Islands. Also included are several Fox scripts from the early 1930s, such as Cavalcade (1933), that do not appear to have any direct connection with Barsky. Among the unproduced scripts is a story outline of an original idea by Robert Flaherty for A Singer of the South Seas and screenplays for two unrealized Wallaby Jim films. The subject files contain information on Barsky's Chimps; biographical material; a few contracts; a small amount of correspondence and clippings; and miscellaneous material, including a 1930s bank book for Famous Comedies Productions; a cumulative receipts chart for Major Productions in 1936; a hand-drawn design for Premier Pictures, Inc.; and a 1928 tax form showing Barsky's wages of $24,500 from Tiffany-Stahl Productions. Bud Barsky Productions is represented by a bank book and accounts book from the 1920s and a draft prospectus, circa 1937. One scrapbook contains clippings on Barsky, primarily from the 1920s.

Gift of Estelle Barsky, 1986.