Boris Leven papers
Scope and Contents
This collection contains the papers of art director and production designer Boris Leven (1908-1986). There are approximately 150 art director’s sketches from films and other productions worked on by Leven; theater music and dance programs; production design sketches from motion pictures including Tillie and Gus (1933), The Shanghai Gesture (1941), Tales of Manhattan (1942), West Side Story (1961), and Star! (1968). Additional set and location stills, sketches, scripts, and notes from other Leven films including Criss-Cross (1949), Sudden Fear (1952), and Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973). There are preliminary notes for Mandingo (1975) and Black Sunday (1977) and preliminary sketches for New York, New York. There are also cassettes of interviews with Leven.
Dates
- 1933 - 1975
Creator
- Leven, Boris (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Cinematic Arts Library at ctlibarc@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Cinematic Arts Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Biographical / Historical
Boris Leven (1908-1986) was a Russian-born art director and production designer. He attended the University of Southern California and received a Bachelor of Arts in architecture. Leven won an Academy Award for Best Color Art Direction for his work on "West Side Story" (1961). As an art director, Leven worked on "The Flying Deuces" (1939), "Hello Frisco, Hello" (1943), "Invaders from Mars" (1953), and "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (1973). His credits as production designer include "Donovan's Brain" (1953), "Anatomy of a Murder" (1959), "The Sound of Music" (1965), "Star!" (1968), "The Andromeda Strain" (1971), "The Last Waltz" (1978), "The Color of Money" (1986), and "Giant" (1956).
Extent
105.54 Linear Feet (45 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection contains the papers of art director and production designer Boris Leven (1908-1986). There are approximately 150 art director’s sketches from films and other productions worked on by Leven; theater music and dance programs; production design sketches from motion pictures. Additional materials include set and location stills, sketches, scripts, notes from other Leven films, and cassettes of interviews with Leven.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Boris Leven, July 30, 1969.
Processing Information
This collection is unprocessed.
- Art objects
- Audiocassettes
- Film stills
- Interviews -- United States -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Leven, Boris -- Archives
- Motion picture art directors -- Archival resources
- Motion pictures -- Production and direction -- Archival resources
- Notes
- Programs (documents)
- Scripts
- Set designers -- United States -- Archival resources
- Sketches
- Title
- Finding aid for the Boris Leven papers
- Status
- Unprocessed
- Author
- Marissa Chavez for History Associates Incorporated
- Date
- 2022 February
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
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Repository Details
Part of the USC Libraries Cinematic Arts Library Repository
Doheny Memorial Library G4
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0185 United States
ctlibarc@usc.edu