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All the Way Home Script

 Collection
Identifier: MS-3541

  • Staff Only

This collection consists of an original copy of the script of the 1962 film All the Way Home, based on Tad Mosel's stage play of the same name and James Agee's novel A Death in the Family. The screenplay was written by Philip Reisman, Jr., and the film was produced by Paramount Pictures. This copy is dated September 5, 1962 and contains handwritten annotations, possibly by a member of the production crew.

Dates

  • 1962 September 5

Conditions Governing Access

Collections are stored offsite and must be requested in advance. See www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.

Conditions Governing Use

The UT Libraries claims only physical ownership of most material in the collections. Persons wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants on www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.

Extent

0.1 Linear Feet

Abstract

This collection consists of an original copy of the script of the 1962 film All the Way Home, based on Tad Mosel's stage play of the same name and James Agee's novel A Death in the Family. The screenplay was written by Philip Reisman, Jr., and the film was produced by Paramount Pictures. This copy is dated September 5, 1962 and contains handwritten annotations, possibly by a member of the production crew.

Biographical/Historical Note

Philip H. Reisman Jr. was born on November 12, 1916, in St. Paul, Minnesota and grew up in New Rochelle, New York. He attended Brown University, after which he worked at RKO-Pathe News as a writer for newsreels and documentaries. He then served in the Marines during World War II as a photographer before returning to RKO-Pathe. He left the company in 1952 to work independently. He died in New Rochelle in 1999. He was 82.

Reisman won five academy awards for his documentary work including This is America. He also wrote for television and film. His most well-known work was All the Way Home (1963), an adaptation of Tad Mosel’s play that was based on James Agee’s A Death in the Family.

James Rufus Agee was born to Hugh James and Laura Whitman (Tyler) Agee in Knoxville, Tennessee on November 27, 1909. Hugh Agee was killed in an automobile accident in 1916, leaving a deep impression on his young son. In 1918, Laura Agee moved James and his younger sister, Emma Farrand, to Sewanee, Tennessee where James attended the St. Andrews School. It was here that he met Father James Harold Flye, who had a profound influence on him. The Agees returned to Knoxville in 1924, and James Agee attended Knoxville High School during the 1924-25 school year. He continued on to Phillips Exeter Academy followed by Harvard University. A parody written for The Harvard Advocate contributed to Agee's employment at Fortune Magazine. His first book (written with photographer Walker Evans), Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, (1940) grew out of an article for Fortune. Agee then wrote book and film reviews for Time before becoming a scriptwriter for television and movies, where he produced such famous works as The African Queen (1951) and The Night of the Hunter (1955). Agee died of heart trouble (exacerbated by his lifelong heavy smoking and drinking) on May 16, 1955 in New York City. At the time of his death, he had been working sporadically on a novel about his father's death for approximately 20 years. His good friend David McDowell completed the work, which was published as A Death in the Family in 1957. The book won Agee a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1958.

Agee's personal life included many lovers and three wives, Olivia Saunders (m. 1933), Alma Mailman (m. 1939), and Mia Fritsch (m. 1945). Alma bore his first son Joel (b. 1940), and Mia gave him Theresa (b. 1946), Deedee (b. 1950), and John (b. 1954).

Arrangement

This collection consists of a single folder.

Acquisition Note

This collection was donated to Special Collections by W. Fleming Reeder in November of 2011.

Repository Details

Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository

Contact:
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville TN 37996 USA
865-974-4480