DAVID O SELZNICK Original Confidential Memo 1948 Shirley Temple Not in Sex Movie

David O. Selznick, original typed confidential memo from DOS concerning Shirley Temple publicity, dictated on February 2, 1948 and sent to publicity department heads Houser and MacNamara onf February 3, 8.5 by 5.5 inches, on yellow onion skin paper, in good condition.  Selznick is concerned that people may get a mistaken notion that Shirley Temple, who was under contract to Selznick, is associated with a sex picture because one of her film projects is entitled What Every Young Bride Should Know.  He tells his publicity people that they should call it a delightful comedy in their first announcements to the press announcing that the story is ready to go.   (As it turned out, the project never got off the ground and the film was never made.)  

David O. Selznick was one of the greatest film producers of all time, having been responsible for Gone with the Wind, Rebecca, A Star is Born, Spellbound and many more famous movies.  What makes him stand out was his obsession with being on top of every decision in the making of each film and then their publicity and distribution.  One of the most important books in film history Memo From: David O. Selznick edited by Rudy Behlmer described how his films were made by quoting from a selection of the tens of thousands of memos that Selznick created.  No one was more detail oriented.  Anyone who worked with Selznick could expect a barrage of memos every day on the job as he had an entourage of secretaries who worked around the clock taking dictation, then having the memos typed and distributed.  So everyone could recognize his memos, his and only his memos were typed on yellow paper. 

This memo was concerned about a relatively minor event but, like everything concerning the Selznick studio, it was still important enough for him to be on top of it.  It was one of many memos Mervin Houser received each day.  Not many original Selznick memos can be found in the market because only a few of each were distributed and the Selznick papers with his retained copies were placed in the University of Texas library.   The memo comes from the Mervin Houser estate sale held about 20 years ago.