Archives West Finding Aid

A long list of Barry Shipman's film credits is found in Box 1, Folder 3 (Resume, film credits). Other notable items in this series include brief biographical essays (Recollections) covering specific incidents in Shipman's life and career (particularly some of his childhood experiences with his mother, Nell Shipman, in California, Spokane, Washington, and at Priest Lake, Idaho); rough drafts of federal employment applications, with a detailed record of his education and work history; various publicity news clippings over the years; and papers relating to Shipman's patents (particularly the Sun Tan Tree), his World War II military service, and the Western Caravan film festival in Knoxville at which he was to be honored in 1994. The "Screenwriting" files include letters, reviews and other papers relating to his well-received screenplay, "Stranger at My Door" (1956), as well as studio correspondence revealing Barry Shipman's role in the writing of the "Lone Ranger" serials for Republic Pictures in the 1930s. Among the many poems Shipman wrote are three that offer a wry look at the experiences of extras and other lesser actors in the Hollywood studios in the 1930s (Box 2, Folder 1).

Papers in the subject files include notes, articles, and clippings on people and topics of interest. They reveal Shipman's early interest in both metaphysics and hard science, family history, and the careers of some of his colleagues. Files relating to Nell Shipman are found in Series 4.

Barry Shipman's correspondents include members of his large extended family, lifelong friends, colleagues from the film business, and researchers interested in his career and that of his mother's. Most of the correspondence preserved in the collection dates from Shipman's retirement years (after 1979), though there are a few letters from earlier dates scattered throughout. Quite a few, if not most of the files, contain reminiscences of his life and work, the most extensive of which are the letters exchanged with Mike Newton (Box 6), a fan of the serials, who peppered Shipman with questions about the making of the cliffhangers, and Tom Trusky (Box 9), the Boise State professor who was instrumental in Nell Shipman's "revival." Both sides of the correspondence are represented, as Shipman kept not only the letters he received, but copies of his own letters as well, which he churned out at a prolific rate on his word processor in the study of his San Bernardino home.

Among the correspondents represented are his lifelong friend Dick Diaz, who joined the Nell Shipman entourage as a teenager in the 1920s in New England and accompanied them to Florida and California; Barry's half brother and sister, Charles Douglas Ayers and Daphne Ayers Feldman, children of Nell Shipman and Charles Austin Ayers; his half-brothers on the Shipman side of the family, Robert and Ernest Shipman, Jr., with whom he did not become acquainted until he was an adult; Priest Lake friends Lloyd Peters, Dorothy Winslow Overmyer, and Loie Pierson (his school teacher); World War II Marine Corps colleagues Frank Adreon and Julian "Bud" Lesser; Linda Stirling (who starred in many of the cliffhangers) and William Witney (who directed many); and a host of other friends, associates, film fans and scholars. Correspondence with Douglas Bankson, relating to their collaborative screenplay about Nell Shipman, is located in Series 4.

The letters in the folders marked with an asterisk (*) relate mainly to Nell Shipman's life and career. Many of those correspondents are also represented in the Tom Trusky papers (MSS 99). Barry Shipman's own extensive correspondence with his mother, dating back to 1933, is found in the Nell Shipman collection (MSS 81). Many of those letters he received from his mother, and some he sent her in return, have been published in Letters from God's Country: Nell Shipman, Selected Correspondence and Writings, 1912-1970 (Boise State University, 2003).

This series contains material about Nell Shipman written or collected by Barry Shipman. It includes memorabilia from the dedication of Nell Shipman Point, 1977; letters and other papers (1993-1994) chronicling the discovery that the Doctors' House museum in Glendale, California, was once the home of Nell Shipman; papers about Nell Shipman film screenings, especially ones Barry Shipman attended; and various writings by Barry about Nell in the form of play scripts, film treatments, proposals, and the like. There is a large body of correspondence back and forth between Barry Shipman and his childhood friend from Spokane, Douglas Bankson, who collaborated on a screenplay (never produced) called "Nell." The earliest Nell Shipman-related proposal ("Nell Shipman Presents," Box 12, Folder 14) is dated about 1936, for a series of films based on her works. There is also documentation of a one-woman multi-media play based on Nell's life presented in Boise, Idaho, by Jenny Sternling in 1993. Like one of Barry's own works, it was entitled "Between Pictures." Barry's version of "Between Pictures" was produced in Hawaii in 1991 and starred Nina Shipman as Nell. A videotape of the production is in Series 6.

The general correspondence files (Series 3) also contain much correspondence relating to Nell Shipman.

There are fewer than 100 photos in the collection, most of which are miscellaneous snapshots, publicity photos for Barry Shipman's invention, the "Sun Tan Tree," and photos from his work for the Air Force in the 1960s and 1970s. Photos of Barry and his mother Nell can be found in the Nell Shipman collection (MSS 81).

This series contains videos of motion pictures and serials scripted by Barry Shipman, several other motion pictures featuring his wife Beulah (as Gwynne Shipman), and videotapes of an appearance by Barry Shipman on the "Our World" television interview program in 1987, among others. It also includes a videotape of a production of "Between Pictures," the story of Nell Shipman by Barry and Nina Shipman, and a tape recording of Nell Shipman reading the story "Doraleen," also by Barry and Nina Shipman. (Scripts for "Between Pictures" and "Doraleen" are located in Series 4 and Series 9, respectively.) A notable addition to the collection in 2009 was a somewhat blurry but still viewable VHS copy of "Lady Marines," a World War II film produced by Barry Shipman while serving with the Marine Corps Photographic Section. It features a voiceover by his mother, Nell Shipman.

This series contains scripts (teleplays) and story outlines written for television by Barry Shipman. The name of the television series is listed first, followed by the name of the particular episode. Unless otherwise indicated, a script is represented; story outlines and other papers (correspondence, etc.) are identified when they occur. While a few of the scripts are Barry Shipman's own typewritten versions, most are mimeographed shooting scripts prepared by the studio. Barry Shipman did not copyright these scripts in his own name; they became the property of the studios when accepted for production. The earliest work in the series is the script for a pilot for a proposed Hoosier Hot Shots television series, 1949 (Box 25, Folder 3); the latest are scripts for the Lassie series.

The screenplays in Series 8 are scripts and treatments for both feature films and serials. As in the case of the television scripts, a few (including Dick Tracy, Episode One, 1937) are Barry Shipman's own typewritten versions, but most are duplicated shooting scripts prepared by the studios. Several films are represented by more than one version of the script. The dates following the names of the scripts are the dates on the scripts themselves, and not necessarily the dates the films were released.

Barry Shipman's most acclaimed film, Stranger at My Door (1956), is represented by two treatments and several versions of the script. The treatments and early versions are filed under the original working title, "Jesse James Was My Neighbor" (Box 26), based on the book of the same name. Only the final version was entitled "Stranger at My Door" (Box 28, Folder 1). The James family estate objected to Shipman's depiction of Jesse James in the script, so the name of the lead character was changed to Clay Anderson. (Barry Shipman to Alan Virta, 9 February 1989, in Box 4, Folder 8).

The shooting schedule for the Durango Kid serial episode, Prairie Roundup (Box 30, Folder 8), reveals the expeditious pace at which these serials were filmed. Prairie Roundup, featuring Charles Starrett as the Durango Kid, was shot at the Columbia Ranch in Burbank and the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth in seven days in July 1950. A few of the Durango scripts are not Shipman's, but were written by others.

With one exception, the works in this series are not known to have been produced or published. They include short stories, story ideas, radio plays, proposals and scripts for feature films, documentaries, and television, and other works of an unidentified or miscellaneous nature. Almost all are in typescript form. The earliest works in the series appear to be two short stories, "And So to Bedlam" (written in 1930, when Barry was 18), and "The Personal Adventures of a Guinea Pig," which may be even earlier. Other early works include stories coauthored with his mother, Nell Shipman, in the 1930s, and some written for producer Nat Levine. Television proposals in this series include story ideas pitched to the producers of the Bonanza, Cheyenne, and Jetsons series. One of Shipman's unfulfilled projects attracted press attention. The Los Angeles Herald of February 8, 1936, featured a story about his research on the religious society of Penitentes and its alleged link to the murder of writer Carl Taylor in New Mexico (clipping included in the file on "The Penitentes"). He was planning to write a screenplay about the subject.

The one work in this series that is known to have been produced is the musical fantasy "Doraleen," which Shipman wrote with his daughter, Nina Shipman. It was produced by Nina Shipman at the University of Hawaii Hilo in 1986.

Included in this series are scripts and production papers for films Barry Shipman wrote, directed, or produced while working as a consultant with the U.S. Navy (1964-1966 ) and as a civilian employee of the U.S. Air Force (1967-1979). Many of the scripts are shooting scripts, with camera directions as well as dialogue. Production papers may include memos, travel schedules, shooting schedules, and commendations. The titles, particularly those on early script versions and production papers, may not be those under which the film was released. A number of the films relate directly to the Vietnam War; some films relate to aircraft piloting.