Sheldon Abend American Theater Collection
Collection
Identifier: SPC6030
Scope and Contents
This collection contains scripts. This includes but is not limited to, play descriptions, selected scenes, and notes and comments from works such as Grounds for Divorce, Robin Hood’s Party, and the Broadway play The Last Warning. Additionally, this collection includes blueprints on how scenes were developed, corrected, and improved based on comments and concerns from various actors during his career from the early 1920s until his death in 2003.
Dates
- Other: date unknown
Creator
- Sheldon, Abend (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Rights: In copyright. Standardized rights statement: https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
Special Collections & University Archives provides copies of materials in our collections for private study, scholarship, or research. Patrons are responsible for determining the proper copyright holder and securing permission to publish, quote, broadcast, exhibit, or perform that work. FIU Special Collections will provide all available information about the copyright holder of materials found in our collections.
For more information please visit: https://library.fiu.edu/find/copyright/general
Special Collections & University Archives provides copies of materials in our collections for private study, scholarship, or research. Patrons are responsible for determining the proper copyright holder and securing permission to publish, quote, broadcast, exhibit, or perform that work. FIU Special Collections will provide all available information about the copyright holder of materials found in our collections.
For more information please visit: https://library.fiu.edu/find/copyright/general
Biographical / Historical
Sheldon Abend was born on June 13, 1929 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and actor, known for Original Sin (2001), Why Would I Lie? (1980) and Rear Window (1998). He died on August 24, 2003 in New York City.
Extent
47 boxes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Sheldon Abend was a colorful executive producer who also served as an estate representative for such literary luminaries as George Bernard Shaw and Tennessee Williams. He made a name for himself by winning an intense copyright battle with MCA. A New York native who later fought in the ring and worked as a tugboat coal-stoker, Abend went to work for the American Play Country in 1957 with little education and an over-abundance of initiative. He rose through the ranks to own the organization in three short years, and after establishing the Author's Research Company, served as a literary consultant and rights negotiator for David O. Selznick, among many others. Gaining notoriety for taking on MCA, Alfred Hitchcock, and Jimmy Stewart in 1983 to establish what has come to be known as the "Abend Rule," the tenacious negotiator went to the Supreme Court to clarify copyright law for instances in which the author dies during the copyright's term. Abend died on August 24, 2003. Approximately 300+ titles
Arrangement
Folders are organized in alphabetical order by author's name.
Method of Acquisition
Donation
Source of Acquisition
Sheldon Abend
Separated Materials
University of Miami has part of the collection.
Creator
- Sheldon, Abend (Person)
- Title
- Sheldon Abend American Theater Collection
- Author
- Megan Silvera
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- eng
Repository Details
Part of the Florida International University Repository