Goodman Ace Papers
Catalog Record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm82010132
General International Standard for Archival Description
Manuscript Division Library of Congress Washington, D.C.
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2009
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Goodman Ace Papers 1931-1972 (bulk 1931-1967)
Ace, Goodman, 1899-1982
Biographical History for: Goodman Ace Papers 1931-1972 (bulk 1931-1967)
Biographical Note Date Event 1899, Jan. 15 Born Goodman Aiskowitz, Kansas City, Mo. 1919 Drama and film critic, Kansas City Post, Kansas City, Mo. 1928 Broadcast his newspaper column on radio station KMBC, Kansas City, Mo. Married Jane Sherwood (died 1974) 1928-1945 Wrote, produced, directed, and acted with wife, Jane Ace, in “Easy Aces,” radio program 1945-1946 Head writer, “The Danny Kaye Show,” radio program 1946 Supervisor of comedy, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) 1947 Established School of Comedy Writers, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) 1948-1949 Wrote, produced, directed, and acted with wife, Jane Ace, in “Mr. Ace and Jane,” radio program 1949-1950 Wrote and acted with wife, Jane Ace, in television version of “Easy Aces” 1950-1952 Writer, “The Big Show,” radio program hosted by Tallulah Bankhead 1952-1955 Head writer, “The Milton Berle Show,” television program 1955-1959 Head writer, “The Perry Como Show,” television program 1955 Published The Book of Little Knowledge: More Than You Want to Know about Television (N.Y.: Simon & Schuster. 183 pp.) 1957 Wrote screenplay for I Married a Woman 1960-1967 Writer, “Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall” television specials 1963-1964 Writer, “The Sid Caesar Show,” television program 1966 Published The Fine Art of Hypochondria; or, How Are You? (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. 188 pp.) 1960s-1970s Wrote “Top Of My Head,” column in Saturday Review 1970 Published Ladies and Gentlemen, Easy Aces (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. 210 pp.) 1971 Published The Better of Goodman Ace (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. 230 pp.) ca. 1972 Began periodic appearances on “All Things Considered,” radio program 1982, Mar. 25 Died, New York, N.Y.
Scope and Content Note The papers of Goodman Ace (1899-1982) span the years 1931-1972, with the bulk of the material dating from 1931 to 1967. They consist primarily of bound volumes containing approximately two thousand scripts for radio and television programs. Goodman Ace was a comic writer who wrote for radio in the 1930s and 1940s and for television in the 1950s and 1960s. Ace and his wife Jane starred in a long-running network radio program, “Easy Aces,” which Goodman Ace wrote, produced, and directed. He later wrote for radio and television programs featuring such performers as Tallulah Bankhead, Milton Berle, Perry Como, and Danny Kaye. At one point, Ace was the highest paid writer in television. The Goodman Ace Papers contain scripts for most of the programs for which he wrote. Some scripts contain hand-written annotations. The papers are organized in three series: Radio Scripts, Television Scripts, and Miscellany. The Radio Scripts series consists primarily of those for “Easy Aces.” The program, a situation comedy featuring Goodman and Jane Ace as a married couple, was noted for its verbal humor, including malapropisms spoken by Jane. The earliest scripts, from 1931 until early 1933, are for network shows produced in Chicago. Later shows were produced in New York. Episode dates are missing from most scripts from October 1931 through January 1936. This series also contains a volume of scripts from “The Danny Kaye Show.” The Television Scripts series focuses on Ace's work as head writer for television programs featuring Milton Berle and Perry Como. “The Milton Berle Show” was one of the most popular television programs in the early years of television. Scripts for this series, a mixture of comedy and variety featuring the man known as “Mr. Television,” cover the years 1952 to 1955 and are compiled in bound volumes. During this period the program changed sponsorship. It was first called “Texaco Star Theater” and later changed to the “Buick-Berle Show.” In late 1955, Goodman Ace became head writer for “The Perry Como Show,” a weekly musical variety series. In the 1960s, the program was renamed “Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall” and changed from a weekly series to television specials. Scripts from 1961 to 1963 are compiled in bound volumes. Scripts from 1964 to 1967 are unbound. The Miscellany includes three letters from Ace regarding a lecture he was to give in 1972.
series
Radio Scripts, 1931-1946
Bound volumes.
The first volume of “Easy Aces” scripts is available on microfilm. Shelf no. 20,020
file
“The Danny Kaye Show,” 1945, Sept. 28-1946, Mar. 8
“Easy Aces”
Nos. 1-40 Available on microfilm. Shelf no. 20,020
Nos. 41-75
Nos. 76-116
Nos. 1-104
Nos. 1-72
Nos. 73-144
Nos. 1-51
1936, Feb. 4-Apr. 30, nos. 156-194
1936, May 5-Oct. 29, nos. 195-272
1937, May 4-Oct. 28, nos. 351-428
1938, May 3-Oct. 27, nos. 507-584
1939, May 2-Oct. 26, nos. 663-740
1940, Apr. 30-Oct. 24, nos. 819-896
1943, Dec. 8-1944, July 19, nos. 1-32
1944, July 26-1945, Jan. 17, nos. 33-58
Television Scripts, 1952-1967
Bound volumes and a few unbound scripts.
“The Milton Berle Show”
1953, Mar. 3-June 9, nos. 19-30
1954, Feb. 2-May 25, nos. 43-55
1954, Sept. 21-1955, Mar. 8, nos. 56-68
“The Perry Como Show”
1955, Sept. 17-Dec. 10, nos. 1-13
1956, Mar. 17-June 9, nos. 27-39
1956, Sept. 15-Dec. 8, nos. 40-52
1957, Mar. 16-June 8, nos. 66-78
1957, Sept. 14-Dec. 7, nos. 79-90
1958, Mar. 15-June 7, nos. 104-116
1958, Sept. 13-Dec. 6, nos. 117-129
1959, Mar. 14-June 6, nos. 143-155, includes “Pontiac Presents Perry,” Mar. 24
“Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall”
1960, Oct. 5-Nov. 30, nos. 189-196
1960, Dec. 7-1961, Feb. 1, nos. 195 [misnumbered]-204
1961, Feb. 8-Mar. 29, nos. 205-212
1961, Apr. 5-June 7, nos. 213-221
1961, Oct. 4-Nov. 15, nos. 222-228
1961, Nov. 22-1962, Jan. 10, nos. 229-234, includes “The Jimmy Durante Show,” Dec. 13
1962, Jan. 17-Mar. 7, nos. 235-239, includes “The Rex Allen Show,” Feb. 28
1962, Mar. 14-June 6, nos. 240-250, includes “The American Landscape,” Apr. 11
1963, May 1-June 12, nos. 278-283
Miscellany, 1965-1972
Correspondence.
Correspondence, 1965, 1972