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The
collection includes behind-the-scenes rehearsal notes, scripts
and photographs of iconic characters and sketches from a show
that launched the careers of comedians Gilda Radner, John
Belushi, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and
others. It also includes some of 80-year-old Michaels' personal
correspondence.
SNL, the most Emmy Award-nominated show in television history,
is in its 50th season. It is set to broadcast “SNL50: The
Anniversary Special” live on Feb. 16.
Although way off Broadway and far from the show's New York City
roots, the Ransom Center is one of the top literary and
humanities archives and research institutions in the country.
Its literary archive includes the collections of Nobel Prize
winner J.M. Coetzee, Pulitzer Prize winners David Mamet and
Norman Mailer, actor Robert DeNiro, the television drama “Mad
Men” and the “Gone With the Wind” collection of Hollywood
producer David O. Selznick.
The Michaels collection documents his career in television from
his earliest writing for “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” and “The
Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show,” but the bulk of it is related to
SNL. The Ransom Center plans an exhibit, “Live from New York!
The Making of Lorne Michaels” to open in September with sketch
drafts, correspondence, video, photos and artifacts that detail
show production and highlight SNL's role as a comedic window
into, and influence on, culture and politics.
“Lorne Michaels has kept us up late and laughing for 50 years,”
Ransom Center Director Stephen Enniss said, “and I’m confident
for years to come his archive will be studied by students and
researchers looking for insight into the social, political, and
cultural history of our time. We are deeply grateful to him for
entrusting this rich legacy to us.”
A Michaels representative did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
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