EDDIE BRACKEN - CONTRACT SIGNED 06/11/1954 CO-SIGNED BY: ELLIOTT NUGENT, COURTNEY BURR - HFSID 178216

EDDIE BRACKEN, CO-SIGNED BY: ELLIOT NUGENT AND COURTNEY BURR
Eddie Bracken signed this contract in 1954 to appear in the male lead role as Richard Sherman in The Seven Year Itch. He received a weekly salary of $1,000 and 10 percent of the play's gross receipts as compensation. Also signed by Elliot Nugent and Courtney Burr, who produced the Broadway version of this play.
Carbon copy contract signed "Courtney Burr" and "Elliot Nugent" in blue ink as Managers and "Eddie Bracken" in black inkas Actor. 2 pages, 8½x21¾, 1 sheet front and verso. June 11, 1954. Titled: "Actor's Equity Association/Standard Run-of-the-Play Contract".Bracken signed this contract to appear in the national company of The Seven Year Itch in the role of "Richard", probably the male lead role of Richard Sherman. The term of this contract is obscured, but it's for the 1954-1955 season. He received a weekly salary of $1,000 and 10 percent of the play's gross receipts. ELLIOT NUGENT (1899-1980, born in Dover, Ohio) and COURTNEY BURR (1891-1961, born Howard Courtney Burr in St. Johns, Kansas) were both producers of the Broadway production of The Seven Year Itch, which opened at the Fulton Theatre on Nov. 20, 1952 and closed on Aug. 13, 1955 after 1,141 performances. Bracken appeared as one of two replacements for Tom Ewell, whose performance as Richard Sherman won the 1953 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. A child performer in vaudeville, EDDIE BRACKEN (1920-2002, born in Astoria, Queens) moved on to Broadway and then movies, typecast in comic roles as a bewildered bungler. His film career spanned more than half a century (1938-1994). His peak year was 1944, when he starred in Hail the Conquering Hero and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. Lightlytoned and creased. Carbon copy marks. Two file holes at top edge. Staple holes along left edge. Folded five times and unfolded. Discolored at one fold. Otherwise in fine condition.