Series II. Scripts and pre-production material, 1952 - 1986

The Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. papers document the professional and personal activity of the film director, writer, documentarian, and producer of independent gay cinema, Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. (May 27, 1943 - July 29, 1987), dating from 1966 to 1987.

The collection contains film scripts, screenplays, and screen treatments with several notes; pre-production material, such as documents related to film castings, budget, copyrights, and other legal documents; photographs and film stills; relevant negatives and film slides; publicity material, such as flyers, ad sheets, press releases, press kits, and theater tickets; drafts and final copies of Bressan's articles, public reactions to his films, including Buddies (1985), Abuse (1983), Thank You, Mr. President (1983), and Juice (1983), newspaper and magazine clippings; personal and professional correspondence, books with inscriptions, postcards, handwritten notes, and other ephemera.

The collection includes personal correspondence, such as letters, postcards, and handwritten notes from several people, including Robert Woods, and friends. The folder Harvey Milk includes correspondence from Harvey Milk to Bressan in September 1977 and a few protest documents related to Milk’s assassination in 1978. Under the Biographical Files, the sub-series titled Frank Capra indicates Bressan’s affiliation to Capra’s work, including correspondence from and about Frank Capra, a typed script of the film “Meet John Doe” (1941) with a personal inscription by the director to Arthur J. Bressan Jr., and several drafts of Bressan’s article on Frank Capra.

Apart from scripts and pre-production material of Bressan’s well-known films, such as the films Abuse (1983), Juice (1984), Passing strangers (1974), the documentary Gay USA (1977), and others, there are several unreleased scripts, screenplays, and proposals. Other writings include the novelization of the Buddies by Michael Mannion, Bressan’s college paper “My Kinsman, Major Molineux,” and a memorial article by the American LGBT activist, film historian, author, and good friend of Bressan, Vito Russo (1987). The collection does not contain film reels or any audiovisual material.