Inside the USC Libraries: Cinematic Arts Library

  • Nathan Masters
  • Jun 25, 2010


Cecil B. DeMille's annotated working manuscript from The Greatest Show on Earth

The first in a series exploring the many USC Libraries.

Motion picture productions are major enterprises that spend millions of dollars and employ hundreds of people, all to produce a few reels of 35mm film. After that film is screened for audiences and digitized for release on television and DVD, the production leaves behind a long paper trail of documents--studio memos, handwritten musical scores, screenplay drafts. These documents make up the core of the USC Cinematic Arts Library’s collections. 

Such records are an invaluable resource for students, faculty, and other scholars looking for insight into the origins of a particular movie or studying the filmmaking process in general. And when, despite preservationists’ best efforts, finished films are lost forever to neglect or accident, film scholars must follow the paper trail to construct an understanding of the film. 

Part of the library's mission is to support the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Library Head Steve Hanson says the library maps well to the film school's curriculum. When the school recently ventured into video gaming with its Interactive Media Division, for example, the library expanded its collection of games so students could check them out and play them at home for research.

Hanson estimates that half of the library’s users come from outside the USC community, and each year close to 300 researchers fly to Los Angeles from around the world to access what he calls the library’s “destination collections.” Those include major archives from five studios--20th Century Fox, Carolco Pictures, Hal Roach Studios, MGM, and Universal Pictures--as well the collections of film score composers Elmer Bernstein and Dimitri Tiomkin. In 1996, the Cinematic Arts Library acquired the archives of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which today includes treasures such as the complete sketch files from Johnny Carson's 30-year run on The Tonight Show.

Scholars are not the only users of the Cinematic Arts Library's collections. Studios and filmmakers often visit or call the library while researching new films. During the production of Lethal Weapon 4, for instance, Warner Bros. Pictures needed ideas on scoring the film. It found those ideas at USC, in unused scores from the first three Lethal Weapons pictures. Avatar Director James Cameron, too, took advantage of the library's unique resources, teaching himself about visual effects by reading dissertations kept at the library.

In addition to the collections kept for research or practical value, the library also houses several unique artifacts. Among them:

  • Seven Oscar statuettes
  • Mel Gibson’s sword from Braveheart
  • Frank Sinatra’s iconic fedora
Come visit the Cinematic Arts Library on the ground floor of the Doheny Memorial Library. On display are a rare matte painting of the Emerald City from The Wizard of Oz, autographed headshots and letters from movie stars, and stills, annotated scripts, and awards from several of director Cecil B. DeMille’s career. While you’re there, don’t miss Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers, showing through October 1 across the hall in the David L. Wolper Center.
Closeup of the annotated script from Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth. The black rectangle in the bottom right is a film frame from the scene.
 

Cover of Cecil B. DeMille's work manuscript from The Greatest Show on Earth