Herbert Brodkin Television Production Files

Collection

Call Number: YCAL MSS 281

Scope and Contents

The Herbert Brodkin Television Production Files document the work of producer Herbert Brodkin from 1953 to 1972, and television content generally during what is often called its "golden age." The collection consists of Brodkin's bound copies of scripts and related production files for some of the programs that he produced, including the The Defenders, The Nurses, Brenner, Coronet Blue, and numerous episodes for anthologies such as The Alcoa Hour and The Elgin Hour. Contents of the production files vary for each episode, and can include shooting schedules; production reports; staff, crew and cast lists; budgets; photographs and contact sheets of production stills; reviews; blueprints; and rights and permissions.

Dates

1953 - 1972

Creator

Brodkin, Herbert, 1912-1990

Language

English

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Herbert Brodkin Television Production Files is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Herbert Brodkin, 1972.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged alphabetically by program title. Under the heading for each title, bound scripts are arranged by volume number. Following each volume are production files that correspond with the episodes in that volume.

Extent

30 Linear Feet (30 boxes)

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.brodkinherbert

Additional Description

Overview

Herbert Brodkin (1912-1990)

Herbert Brodkin was a successful and influential television producer whose work spanned the first four decades of the medium. Concentrating chiefly on dramatic programming, he worked for sponsored anthologies including The Alcoa Hour and The Motorola TV Hour in the 1950s, and then went on to produce popular series such as the courtroom drama The Defenders and the hospital drama The Nurses in the 1960s. Brodkin's programs, and those produced by his companies Plautus Productions and Titus Productions, frequently explored controversial social, ethical, and political issues including addiction, abortion, euthanasia, racism, blacklisting, and war crimes.

Brodkin was born on November 9, 1912, in New York City, to Russian immigrant parents. He earned a B.A. in drama from the University of Michigan and an M.F.A. in directing and set design from the Yale School of Drama. Before his career in television began in the late 1940s, he worked in the theatre in and around New York City, and as a filmmaker for the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II. He died on October 29, 1990, in New York.