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Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm82012104
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Henry Denker, novelist, playwright, and screenplay writer, were received by the Library of Congress from Henry Denker as gifts from 1968 to 2009 and as deposits from 1975 to 1996. The deposits were converted to gifts in 2009.
Material from Denker's play, "A Case of Libel," was received and processed in 1968. This collection was incorporated into the current papers when all fifteen accessions were processed in 2016.
Audio recordings have been transferred to the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division where they are identified as part of the Henry Denker Papers.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Henry Denker in these papers and in other collections in the custody of the Library of Congress is reserved. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division for further information.
The papers of Henry Denker are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Henry Denker Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Henry Denker (1912-2012) span the years 1929-2009, with the bulk of the material dating from 1940 to 2000. The papers are organized into three series: a small Subject File , a Writings File comprising the major part of the papers, and an Oversize consisting of a scenic design plan.
Denker was prolific during his nearly sixty-five years of professional work, writing for stage, radio, television, and film as well as publishing thirty-four novels. He occasionally took a role in producing and directing as well. His correspondence with producers, directors, actors, lawyers, and publishers reveals a wide range of activities related to the business of theater, film, and television production. Denker was skilled at adapting his work to other genres and did so frequently; a stage play would become a screenplay and then be worked into a novel. Denker began his adult life as a lawyer, and perhaps because of this, he did not hesitate to litigate. Legal papers accompany many of the titles in the Writings File, in particular the files for
The Subject File includes material that was not connected to a particular piece of writing. The series includes correspondence with family, friends, directors, producers, actors, literary agents, and publishers as well as organizational files, biographical material, speeches, fan mail, and miscellany. A large file on the economist Leo Cherne documents the long friendship of the two men, starting in high school in the Bronx. Denker and Cherne attended New York University Law School together and remained lifelong friends. Other prominent correspondents in the Subject File include the actor Alan Hewitt, television producer and writer Austin Kalish, film producer William Perlberg, writer, director and producer George Seaton, and screenwriter Stanley H. Silverman. Treated in the correspondence are scripts, casting, financial deals, and critiques of plays. Denker often shared his political opinions, opinions that can be detected in his creative writing (for an example, see his novel and play
The bulk of the collection is the Writings File , organized by the final title of each work. Some files contain only a proposal or outline of an idea that was never realized. Files for successfully produced or published projects include a variety of documents such as a series of drafts, correspondence, reviews, playbills and other printed material, legal files, research files, and financial records. Files also exist for work that was never produced or published, for example the lengthy file and multiple drafts of
Some of the earliest writings in the papers are the scripts for
Denker wrote seven plays that reached Broadway, including
This collection is arranged in three series:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm82012104
Personal and business correspondence, family papers, fan mail, speech files, biographical material, and related material.
Arranged alphabetically by topic, type of material, or name of person or organization.
Drafts and final versions of novels, plays, radio scripts, screenplays, teleplays, as well as proposals and outlines of story ideas written by Denker and filed together with related correspondence, legal papers, printed matter, financial records, and research material.
Organized and named by the final title of a work, not by titles of drafts. Most files have drafts placed in the front folders followed by related material arranged in original order. Correspondence within some titles is arranged separately in chronological order.
Scenic design plan.
Arranged and described according to the series, container, and folder from which the item was removed.