Kraft [Mystery] Theatre: Night Cry

Burbank, CA: National Broadcasting Company [NBC], 1958. Archive of material for the 1958 television episode, which originally aired on August 13, 1958, on NBC, including one Revised First Draft script, a ten-page typescript treatment, and approximately 70 unnumbered typescript draft leaves. Revised First Draft script, treatment script, and one draft page signed by screenwriter Larry Cohen, with Cohen's manuscript annotations throughout all materials, noting substantive revisions and deletions.

"Kraft Theatre" was a dramatic anthology television series which aired on NBC from 1947 to 1958. In this installment, based on William L. Stuart's 1948 novel, a tough, troubled cop is assigned to a homicide case, and begins to use brutal tactics to force the lead suspect to confess. The television debut of actor Peter Falk.

An early venture for screenwriter Larry Cohen, who would go on to write blaxploitation films "Bone" (1972), "Black Caesar" (1973), and "Hell Up in Harlem" (1973), as well as several popular horror and science fiction films, including "It's Alive" (1974), "God Told Me To" (1976), and "The Stuff" (1985).

Set and shot on location in New York.

Revised First Draft:

Self wrappers. Title page present, dated 8/4/58, noted as 1ST REVISION, with credits for screenwriter Larry Cohen. 103 leaves, with last page of text numbered III-97. Mimeograph duplication, rectos only. Pages Very Good plus, with first and last leaves detached from the binding, partially bound with a single staple to the top left corner.

Treatment:

Self wrappers. Title page present, undated, noted as OUTLINE, with credits for screenwriter Larry Cohen and novelist William L. Stuart. 10 leaves, not numbered. Typescript, rectos only. Pages Near Fine, partially bound with a single staple to the top left corner.

Treatment and loose draft pages housed in a manila envelope.

Pagination for typescript draft materials available upon request.

[Book #153669]