Le Roy Prinz papers, 1930-1968

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Summary

Creators:
Prinz, Le Roy
Abstract:
Dance choregorapher Le Roy Prinz began his career staging production numbers for Max Reinhardt and the Folies Bergére. He moved into films in ca. 1929 and went on to work for Cecil B. DeMille, Paramount, and Warner Brothers. The collection consists of motion picture stills, photographs, scripts, awards, and subject files related to Prinz' career.
Extent:
24.0 Linear Feet (50 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Le Roy Prinz Papers (Collection PASC 102). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of material related to the career of director and choreographer Le Roy Prinz. Includes motion picture stills, photographs, scripts, awards, and subject files. Subject files contain photographic research, programs, clippings, and notes used by Prinz for the production of dance numbers in motion pictures. Motion picture projects represented include April in Paris , The Eddie Cantor Story , Night and Day, Sayonara, and South Pacific, among others. Also includes a small collection of stills of actor Warner Baxter, uncle of Mrs. Le Roy Prinz.

Biographical / historical:

Le Roy Prinz was born in St. Joseph, Missouri on July 14, 1895. He attended Northwestern University in the early 1920s and served in the French Foreign Legion. Prinz later served with Edward Rickenbacher's Flying Tigers air squadron during WWI. He began his career as choreographer for Max Reinhardt, the Folies Bergére, and other European companies before coming to Hollywood in 1930 to work as a production assistant and then choreographer for Cecil B. DeMille. Prinz was dance director for Paramount (1931-1941) and Warner Brothers (1942-1957) and choreographed numerous motion picture productions including The Big Broadcast of 1936, Road to Singapore (1940), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1943), Hollywood Canteen (1944), April in Paris (1953), and South Pacific (1958). He also directed a short subject, Boy and His Dog, for which he won an Academy Award in 1948, and produced and choreographed many industrial films and benefit programs. Prinz died in Wadsworth, California on September 15, 1983.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Mrs. Lee Baxter, 1985.
Processing information:

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

Processed by UCLA Library Performing Arts Special Collections staff.

Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  1. Motion Picture Projects
  2. Stage Projects
  3. Independent Projects
  4. Personal Papers

Physical location:
Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Le Roy Prinz Papers (Collection PASC 102). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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