The Pumpkin Coach

Los Angeles: Samuel Goldwyn Productions, 1946. Treatment script for an unproduced film by screenwriters Daniel Fuchs and Phil Rapp, dated 10/16/46. First page of carbon typescript treatment is a contract with Samuel Goldwyn Productions, Inc., signed and dated by Fuchs in manuscript ink, with date illegible.

Daniel Fuchs began his writing career in his mid-twenties with the novels "Summer in Williamsburg" (1934), "Homage to Blenholt" (1936), and "Low Company" (1937) (published in a single volume under the title "Three Novels," in 1965, and in a subsequent edition in 2006 as "The Brooklyn Novels," with an introduction by novelist Jonathan Lethem), as well as short stories and personal essays, primarily for The New Yorker.

At the age of 26 Fuchs moved to Los Angeles to begin a career in screenwriting. Fuchs' films include Robert Siodmak's 1949 crime noir "Criss Cross," Elia Kazan's 1950 noir "Panic in the Streets," Joseph M. Newman's 1954 crime noir "The Human Jungle," and Charles Vidor's 1955 musical biopic of Ruth Etting "Love Me or Leave Me," which won Fuchs the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. He retired from screenwriting in the late 1950s and in 1971 published his short Hollywood novel "West of the Rockies" and in 1979 the collection of short stories "The Apathetic Bookie Joint," which won him the National Jewish Book Award in 1980. John Updike said of Fuchs, "Nobody else writes like Daniel Fuchs. I think of him as a natural - a poet who never had to strain after a poetic effect, a magician who made magic look almost too easy."

Philip Rapp, award winning writer, director and producer for film, television, and radio, created the legendary long-running 1940s radio series "The Battling Bickersons," the character Baby Snooks for the Ziegield Follies star Fanny Brice, and the popular 1950s television series "Topper," among others. His screenwriting credits include six hit films for Danny Kaye, among them, co-writing, then uncredited, Norman Z. McLeod's 1947 film "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." Rapp also co-wrote the screenplay for Edward Buzzell's hit 1955 musical "Ain't Misbehavin'." Rapp's archives can be found at the Grant R. Brimhall Library in Thousand Oaks, California.

Ace photographer Frank Wether is dispatched to cover rising screen star Sallymay Smith's divorce for a LIFE Magazine piece "Life Goes to a Hollywood Divorce," only to discover that Smith's attorney is none other than her own husband.

Set in Hollywood.

Blue titled wrappers, noted as Revised story outline on the front wrapper, dated 10/16/46, with credits for screenwriters Daniel Fuchs and Phil Rapp. 17 leaves, with last page of text numbered 16. Carbon typescript, rectos only. Pages Near Fine, wrapper Near Fine, bound with two silver brads.

[Book #148403]