Joe Hyams research and manuscripts on Janusz Korczak, 1939-1980

Series — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSS 1479 Series 4

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Research, drafts, and manuscript materials for the book, "A Field of Buttercups," which novelizes the history of Janusz Korczak and his Jewish orphanage in Warsaw, Poland, during World War II. Includes maps, transcripts of a diary, scripts and screenplays, a book on Korczak, reviews of "Field of Buttercups," transcribed clippings, and interview notes, dated 1939-1980.

Dates

Creation: 1939-1980

Creator

Hyams, Joe (1923-2008) (creator, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Photographs in Folders 25 and 42 open for public research. Items kept in cold storage; access requires 24 hours advance notice.

Conditions Governing Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Permission to use material from this collection must be obtained from Reference Services at specialcollections@byu.edu.

Biographical / Historical

From the Collection:

Newspaperman, writer, and Hollywood columnist Joseph Hyams was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 6, 1923. At the age of six, he was encouraged by his aunt to develop his writing talent. In those early years, also, Joe was an admirer of Orson Welles whom he imitated to improve his pronunciation. He attended simultaneously both Boston and Harvard universities and was enrolled briefly at the University of Kentucky.

He joined the Army during World War II and was assigned to a labor battalion in the South Pacific, but en route to his destination in New Guinea, he was reassigned to the Army News Bureau. His first assignment was to cover a USO show where he met Bob Hope, Chill Wills, and Robert Taylor. Following his stint in the Army, Hyams was a reporter with the New York Herald Tribune. Beginning in 1951- and for the next twenty-two years- he was assigned to cover Hollywood as a feature columnist, and became familiar with such Hollywood luminaries as Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, and other stars.

Hyams was married to Elke Sommer for seventeen years. He published sixteen books, among them "Bogie: A Biography of Humphrey Bogart" (1966), "My Life with Cleopatra" (1968), and "Bogart and Bacall" (1975). Hyams moved from Los Angeles to Penrose, Colorado, in 2005. He passed away in Denver on November 8, 2008.