David Walley research material about Ernie Kovacs, ca. 1972-1975

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Summary

Creators:
David Walley
Abstract:
Research material collected by David Walley during the early 1970s for the writing of his biography on Ernie Kovacs.
Extent:
1 boxes (0.5 linear ft.)
Language:
Finding aid is written in English.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of research material assembled by Walley for his book about Ernie Kovacs called Nothing in Moderation: a biography of Ernie Kovacs (1976). Collected by Walley in the early 1970s, some of the material actually dates from the 1950s and 1960s. Research materials include newspaper clippings (majority are photocopies of the original newspaper), transcribed interviews Walley conducted with Kovacs friends and co-workers, correspondence, annotated production memos, literature on Kovacs, publicity photographs and stills of movies that Kovacs was in, and Walley's annotated draft of the biography.

Biographical / historical:

David G. Walley was born March 18, 1945 in Plainfield, New Jersey, son of Miron Monroe (a lawyer) and Sylvia Silot Walley. In 1967 Walley graduated with a BA from Rutgers University and continued his education at Hofstra University from 1967 to 1968. He worked as a columnist for Jazz and Pop magazine and the East Village Other, and wrote music reviews in Zygote, Fusion, and Changes. He was later Arts Editor of the L.A. Free Press. His books include: No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (1972), Nothing in Moderation: a Biography of Ernie Kovacs (1975), and Teenage Nervous Breakdown: Music Politics in the Post-Elvis Age (c. 1998). Throughout his career he worked as a music critic, book and arts reviewer, editor, lecturer, and media consultant. Walley died in 2006 at the age of 61. At the time he was in the process of finishing a biography of the historian Herbert Feis entitled The Shackled Historian: The Life and Times of Herbert Feis.

Ernie Kovacs was born Ernest Edward Kovacs on January 23, 1919 in Trenton, New Jersey. After graduating acting school at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Kovacs found work as a disc jockey on Trenton's WTTM radio and as a columnist for Trenton's local weekly newspaper The Trentonian. It was in Trenton where Kovacs developed his ad-libbed comedic style. Kovacs found success as a character actor in films such as: Operation Mad Ball, Wake Me When It's Over, Our Man in Havana, Bell Book and Candle, It Happened to Jane, Five Golden Hours, and Sail a Crooked Ship. He also did several TV specials: Silent Show and the Ernie Kovacs Special. Kovacs died in an automobile accident in Southern California when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a power pole on January 13, 1962. Kovacs was only 43 years old.

Acquisition information:
Gift of David Walley, 1976.
Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

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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