Research Catalog

Title

Collection of contact strips and photographs of S. J. Perelman, Laura Perelamnb, Nathanael West et al.

Author

Perelman, S. J. (Sidney Joseph), 1904-1979.

Publication

[Erwinna, Penn. ; Hollywood, Calif. ; Atlantic City, N.J. ; New York

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Meade, Marion, 1934-2022.

Description

17 contact strips and 24 silver gelatin prints in 3 folders; 4-15 cm

Subject

• Hellman, Lillian, 1905-1984 > Portraits
• Perelman, Laura > Portraits
• Perelman, S. J. 1904-1979 > Portraits
• Perelman, S. J. 1904-1979 > Friends and associates > Portraits
• Perelman, S. J. 1904-1979 > Homes and haunts > Photographs
• West, Nathanael, 1903-1940 > Portraits
• Farms > Pennsylvania > Photographs

Genre/Form

Photographs.

Note

• S. J. Perelman, one of America’s foremost humor writers of the 20th century, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y, in 1904, to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents. Among his most famous successes are the screenplays for the Marx Brothers films “Monkey Business” (1931) and “Horse Feathers” (1932), and for “Around the World in 80 Days,” which won him an Academy Award, in 1956. Over the course of his career, Perelman wrote a novel, 560 short prose pieces, eight plays, eleven film scripts, and numerous television scripts. Perelman met his wife-to-be, Lorraine (“Laura”) West (neé Weinstein) through her brother, Perelman’s Brown University roommate and his closest friend, the novelist Nathanael West (1904-1940), in 1928, when she was 17 years old. They married in 1929. From 1931 to 1942, Perelman and his wife collaborated on two plays and numerous screenplays, establishing themselves as one of Hollywood's most successful screenwriting husband-and-wife teams. Laura died of cancer in 1970, at age 58. That year, Perelman sold the 91-acre Eight Ball Farm outside the town of Erwinna (Bucks County, Penn.), which he had purchased with Nathanael West in 1932, and on which the Perelmans had lived ever since.

With (note)

• labels by the donor, Marion Meade, author of Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.

Access (note)

• Restricted access;

Contents

• Contact strips in folder 1 of 3, numbered with stickers 1-17, each strip with four images, except no. 10, which contains two images, and no. 16, which contains three images; labeled by Meade, “Date: Summer 1933. Location: Cazaux Drive (?), Hollywood. Subjects: Sid Perelman, Nathanael West, unknown visitors and dogs.” 505: Photographs in folders 2 and 3, numbered with stickers 18-42 (numbered by Meade 1-24); vintage photographic prints except nos. 28 and 33, which are later copies.
• Folder 2: no. 18. “1. Sid Perelman on horseback, 1930s, Eight Ball Farm, Erwinna, Pa. (farm purchased jointly in 1932 by Sid and Laura Perelman and her brother Nathanael West)”; no. 19. “2. Laura (nee Lorraine Weinstein) Perelman, 1932, Erwinna”; no. 20. “3. Laura Perelman, c. 1930s, Erwinna”; no. 21. “4. Sid Perelman, Nathanael West, and two unidentified women, c. 1930s, Erwinna”; no. 22. “5. Nathanael West (white tee shirt), 1930s, Erwinna”; no. 23. “6. Nathanael West (hat and cars), 1930s, Erwinna”; no. 24. “7. Nathanael West (with dog Danny), 1930s, Erwinna”; no. 25/26. “8. Danny (West’s hunting dog) two photos, 1930s”; 27. “9. Sid Perelman and Arthur Kober (novelist, playwright, screenwriter, husband of Lillian Hellman), 1933, Hollywood”; no. 28. “10. Sid Perelman and Nathanael West, 1939, Hollywood.” Photographic copy of original photographic print; no. 29. “11. Anna Weinstein (nee Wallenstein, Laura’s mother), c. 1895. 17 years old, Dvinsk, Latvia.” Cabinet photograph with studio information on reverse (Cyrillic); no. 30. “12. Anna Weinstein, 1939, Hollywood.” Stamped on reverse by Thrifty Drug Stores, May 12, 1939, with manuscript annotation: Mrs. Weinstein & West’s hunting dog, 1939.”
• Folder 3: no. 31. “13. Anna and Max Weinstein (Laura’s parents), c. 1930, Atlantic City, NJ.” Stamped on reverse: “Novelty Photo Studio, 2235 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, Home of Action Photos”; no. 32. “14. Infant Lorraine Weinstein with father Max and sister Hinda, 1911”; no. 33. “15. Laura (Lorraine Weinstein) (right) with mother Anna and sister Hinda, c. 1915, New York City.” Photographic print of original cabinet photograph; no. 34. “16. Sophie Perelman (right) (Sid’s mother) and Sophie Mason (Sophie Perelman’s sister-in-law), 1951, Providence, RI,” with manuscript annotations on reverse: “Sophie Mason and Sophie Perelman 1951, Providence Summer, original caption reads: Gramma & Aunt Sophie 1951. Sophie — Sophie’s sister-in-law. Taken in Mason’s backyard. Sophie living in Calif. at time, in Providence for visit”; no. 35. “17. Sophie Perelman (?) flanked by family members, 1930s”; no. 36. “18. 13-year-old Nathan Weinstein (Nathanael West) c. 1916”; no. 37. “19. Nathanael West (fishing), 1930s”; no. 38. “20. Nathanael West (another fishing shot), 1930s”; no. 39. “21. Laura Perelman with daughter Abby and dogs, 1950s, Erwinna”; no. 40. “22. Unidentified woman, c.1890s, possibly Sophie (nee Charren?) Perelman,” cabinet photograph, printed on verso: “Aimé Dupont, 574 Fifth Avenue, New York. Opposite ‘The Windsor’”; no. 41. “23. Unidentified child, tinted photo, Walter Studio, New York City,” cabinet photograph, stamped on reverse: “Walter Studio, 28 East 14th Street, New York City”; no. 42. “24. Unknown woman, c. 1933, Hollywood. Friend of Sid and Laura,” resembles Lillian Hellman, whose husband, Arthur Kober, appears in no. 27, also dated 1933.

Call Number

Berg Coll m.b. Perelman ZP8 C65 1890

OCLC

900666821

Author

Perelman, S. J. (Sidney Joseph), 1904-1979.

Title

Collection of contact strips and photographs of S. J. Perelman, Laura Perelamnb, Nathanael West et al.

Imprint

[Erwinna, Penn. ; Hollywood, Calif. ; Atlantic City, N.J. ; New York : ca. 1890-1955]

With:

labels by the donor, Marion Meade, author of Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.

Access

Restricted access; request permission in holding division.

Connect to:

Request access to this item in the Berg Collection

Added Author

Meade, Marion, 1934-2022. Donor

Meade, Marion, 1934-2022. Former owner

Research Call Number

Berg Coll m.b. Perelman ZP8 C65 1890