Papers of a producer and director in the media of theatre, television, and film. Coe was involved with television from its early years, and became a well-known and influential producer of television drama, especially live broadcasts. He produced more than 500 television dramas; two comedy series; the Kennedy-Nixon debates; several Emmy Award shows; and several specials, including "Peter Pan." He produced and/or directed 14 Broadway plays, and produced, directed, and/or co-wrote six feature films. The papers document Fred Coe's career and include a small amount of personal and biographical material; correspondence; production papers; scripts; publicity and reviews; and other papers. More than half of the collection relates to television, including files from the series "Goodyear Television Playhouse," "Philco Television Playhouse," "Playhouse 90," "Playwrights '56," "Producer's Showcase," and "Adams Chronicles." Also documented are the play "Wait Until Dark," both the play and the film versions of "A Thousand Clowns" and "The Miracle Worker," and other works both produced and unproduced. Recordings of the radio detective series "Johnny Dollar," in which Coe was not involved, and material from a Robert Goldman television program on composer Norman Dello Joio are also included. Motion pictures include films and kinescopes from Coe's television and feature film work. The processed portion of this collection is summarized above, dates 1949-1975, and is described in the register. Additional accessions date ca. 1953-1985 and are described below.
