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Samuel Z. Arkoff Papers. Collection Description
Samuel Z. Arkoff Papers. Collection Description
Collection 080
Collection description
Collection title and number: Samuel Z. Arkoff Papers. Collection 080
Accession number: 2008.50; gift of Louis Arkoff and Donna Roth
Collection size: 87 archival document boxes, 16 oversize archival boxes (fifty linear feet); 2 map case drawers
Dates: 1921-2008; bulk dates, 1965-1999
Languages: English
Creator: Samuel Z. Arkoff
Processing history: Processed by Mor Fleisher-Leach and Natalie Sims. Date completed: 2011
The Samuel Z. Arkoff Papers consist of pressbooks, posters, lobby cards, stills, combined continuities, publicity files and organizational files chronicling the career of Samuel Z. Arkoff career as a motion picture producer and executive. Notable topics covered in this collection include information about the companies Arkoff started and worked for; American International Picture's 1979 merger with Filmways, Inc.; contracts and agreements with actors, directors, writers and other American International Picture (AIP) employees; publicity and advertising materials concerning films produced and distributed by Arkoff's companies; and Louis Arkoff's (Samuel Arkoff's son) career as a film producer. Key items within the collection include posters, lobby cards and pressbooks for seminal American International Pictures films such as "Machine Gun Kelly," "Cool and Crazy," and "The Day the World Ended." Also included are publications and advertising materials for the twenty-fifth anniversary of AIP, including information about a retrospective for the company held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. A noticeable lacuna in the collection is the absence of production files from AIP films of the 1950s.