The offered archive includes the May 4, 1955, executed agreement between Loews Incorporated (MGM Studios) and Warner Bros. Studios allowing Warner Bros. to use Elizabeth Taylor in the 1955 film GIANT and allowing MGM to use James Dean in their 1956 film Somebody Up There Likes Me. The archive consists of the signed agreement, an earlier draft of the agreement on Warner Bros. letterhead, a brief of the contract and several other pieces of correspondence on MGM and Warner Bros. letterheads related to the agreement concerning the two stars--there are 41 pages in all. The agreement is signed by executives from both companies.
GIANT is the 1955 epic drama starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. The classic film earned director George Stevens an Academy Award for Best Director, and the film was nominated for nine other Oscars, including a nomination for James Dean for Best Actor. Dean was tragically killed in a car accident prior to the film's release, which also directly relates to the offered agreement between MGM and Warner Bros. With this agreement, MGM was securing Dean's services from Warner Bros. to star in the film Somebody Up There Likes Me. The paperwork covers all sorts of standard issues like compensation, but it also stipulates when Dean will be available for the next film to make sure he can finish GIANT. The contract goes into great detail about MGM NOT starting the production of their picture until after a certain date in 1956. This was to avoid Dean having to make more than three films in any calendar year, which his contract forbade.
The archive is rounded out with several pieces of back and forth correspondence from the two companies. Sadly, the final piece, dated 10-6-55, states "In view of Mr. Dean's death, will you please bill Warner Bros. for $30,468.75." He had died a few days earlier, on September 30, and this bit of financial housekeeping represented the unfortunate end of the agreement. Dean's passing immortalized the young actor, who had only completed three films in what was sure to be long and storied career. The legacy of his iconic status survives to this day.
Famously, after Dean's death, Paul Newman was cast in the lead role in Somebody Up There Likes Me, launching his career as a leading man. The connections between Dean and Newman run deep in this period. Newman auditioned for the role of Dean's character's brother in GIANT, and shortly after Dean's death, Newman replaced him as a boxer in a television adaptation of a Hemingway story, "The Battler," which was broadcast live on October 18, 1955. That role leads to Somebody, which accelerates Newman's career, which ultimately leads to him co-starring with Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on Hot Tin Roof in 1958. A tangled web.
The documents present with age-related toning and expected wear from filing and office handling. Excellent condition overall.