Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Correspondence and subject files
General material designation
- Textual record
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on contents of series
Level of description
Series
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
- 1.6 m of textual records
- 65 photographs : b&w nitrate negative and prints
- 6 objects
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Theodore (Ted) Pierce Taylor was born September 5, 1896 in Oak Park, Illinois, to L.D. and Annie Louise Taylor, shortly after L.D. s arrival in Vancouver, British Columbia. Annie and Ted joined L.D. in Vancouver in 1901, and lived there until 1906, when Annie moved Ted and his brother Kenneth (Ken) (b. 1902) to Los Angeles.
Ted graduated from L.A. Berendo High School in June 1915. As a student, he was active in theatre and the school newspaper. Upon graduation, he began writing about motion pictures and, in 1918, he became a reporter for the Los Angeles Times . In March 1919, Ted was hired as the Director of the News Department for the Metro Pictures Corporation. Upon his resignation in May 1920, he became the editor and publisher of the Studio Publicists Association s Mouth Organ . Later that year he worked for Universal Pictures for a short time and then concentrated on freelance publicity work for individuals such as Ferdinand Earle, William Desmond Taylor and Reginald Barker. In 1921 Ted married Ruth Wing.
Following employment as the editor and publisher of CAMERA! in 1921 and 1922, Ted was hired as Motion Picture Editor and editor of the Cinematters column for the Los Angeles Record in July 1922. In 1923, he also worked as a publicist for the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation.
Immediately following an appointment as the Los Angeles representative of the New York Morning Telegraph in January 1925, Ted moved to Paris, France with Mary Beaton (b. July 19, 1905), the daughter of Octavia (d. 1946) and George Beaton (d. 1938). Having obtained a divorce from Ruth Wing, he married Mary and she gave birth to a daughter, Mary Louise Taylor, on April 16, 1925. Mary died shortly after from complications related to the birth. Ted remained in Paris until September 1928, working as a reporter for the Paris Times . Octavia Beaton arrived in Paris in later in 1925 to care for Mary Louise, and returned with Mary to the United States in 1928. In 1929, they joined Ted in Los Angeles.
Upon his return to Los Angeles, Ted became the manager of the L.A. Press Services, which Ken, now the editor of the Los Angeles Express, had been running in his absence. For the next several years, Ted was employed in various press positions, including: reporter, Variety (September 1929 to June 1932); editor, Los Angeles Today (September 1933); reporter and assistant editor, Hollywood Reporter (May 1934-October 1937); publicity copy editor, features, Columbia Pictures (October 1937-June 1940); editor and weekly columnist, Hollywood MOVIES (August to December 1940, 1941). He then worked as a freelance publicist, and acquired additional employment with the Screen Publicists Guild, Screen Cartoonists Guild, Hollywood Sun , War Labor Board, Federated Press, and the magazines Frauds and Cosmopolitan . He was also a co-writer of Leonard Louis Levinson s The Left-Handed Dictionary .
Ted was an active member of several organizations during his career, including the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers (WAMPAS), Screen Publicists Guild, Affiliated Picture Interests, Committee of 14, Los Angeles Press Club, American Newspaper Guild, Motion Picture Democratic Committee, Conference of Studio Unions, Los Angeles Central Labor Council, and the Victory Council.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Series consists of Ted Taylor correspondence and other records arranged by Ted into chronological and subject files. Records pertain to Ted s personal and professional activities, and concern his relationships with family members, his marriages, friendships, involvement with various associations, and his career as a Hollywood publicist and journalist, including his work at Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures and Universal Pictures studios. The series also includes several subject files pertaining to L.D. Taylor. Although the majority of records in the series were created or received by Ted Taylor, the series also includes some records of Caroline Little Pierce, Annie Louise Taylor, Octavia Beaton, Mary Louise Taylor and Osborne J. Pierce. In addition to correspondence, the series includes photographs, notes, legal documents, financial records, agreements, journals, articles, press releases, notebooks, appointment books, address books, drawings, paintings, scripts, newspaper clippings, newsletters and other publications, studio passes, programs, cards, ephemera and objects.
Notes area
Physical condition
Some records in this series are very acidic and brittle. Some items have been affected by mold
Includes 64 prints and 1 nitrate negative
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
- The original chronological order of the correspondence files within the series has been maintained.
- Copies of photographs already retained and described elsewhere in the fonds were not retained; however, their presence within a file was noted
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Restrictions apply to some records within this series
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
- File descriptions are available
- Item descriptions are available for some photographs
Associated materials
Accruals
General note
Some records having no informational value, such as general receipts, bills, scraps of paper, greeting cards and ephemeral items, and duplicate photographs were culled from the files.
Conservation
Photographs were physically removed from files and stored separately from textual records for preservation reasons