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Hotch at 100: “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man”

By Array

In this installment of “Hotch at 100,” our ongoing series of video interviews with writer, philanthropist, and Washington University in St. Louis alumnus A. E. Hotchner, Hotch tells us about the making of the film “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man,” and how it evolved from his first Hemingway adaptation, “The Battler” (detailed in a previous “Hotch at 100” installment). Shortly after “The Battler” aired in 1955, Hotch was contacted by the producer John Houseman about adapting more of Hemingway’s Nick Adams stories into a cycle for live television. Hotch recounts how he turned the stories into “The World of Nick Adams” and got the composer Aaron Copland to contribute the score. After the live broadcast, which included a chamber orchestra playing Copland’s score live in the studio, Hollywood producer Jerry Wald inquired as to whether Hotch would be willing to expand the story even further for a feature film. That film turned “The World of Nick Adams” into “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man,” which starred Richard Beymer, Eli Wallach, Ricardo Montalban, Paul Newman, and Susan Strasberg.

Stay tuned for our next installment, where Hotch tells us how years later he and Paul Newman returned to “The World of Nick Adams” for a series of highly successful and acclaimed charity stage shows!

The following images are from materials related to “The World of Nick Adams” and “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man,” including draft script pages and production photographs, acquired in a recent accession which is being added to the A. E. Hotchner Papers.

A typed letter on paper with a header of "Aaron Copland, Shady Lane Farm, Ossining, New York." The letter is dated 4 February 1958 and reads "Dear Hotch: I was about to write you when your letter came. I have been reading at (underlined) the Hemingway and still have a pretty good opinion of its possibilities. My trouble is that the pressure of other commitments makes me despair of being able to sit down seriously and think through such a project until next year. I am about to go off on a 5-week tour and will be in and out of town between now and Tanglewood time, after which I head for England until December. So you see I cannot be of much use to you for the time being. On the other hand, I can understand your wish to get going and urge you to proceed full speed ahead whether or not I personally am involved in the project. Cordially, Aaron Copland."
Letter from Aaron Copland to A. E. Hotchner regarding writing a score for “The World of Nick Adams”
Title page of a draft of “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man” by A. E. Hotchner, with holograph notes
Draft page from the script of “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man” by A. E. Hotchner
Draft page from the script of “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man” by A. E. Hotchner with holograph notes
Draft page from the script of “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man” by A. E. Hotchner
Production photo from “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man,” featuring A. E. Hotchner, Susan Strasberg, and Eli Wallach
Production photo from “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man,” featuring Ricardo Montalban, Susasn Strasberg, A. E. Hotchner, Eli Wallach, and director Martin Ritt
Production photo from “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man,” featuring Ricardo Montalban, Susasn Strasberg, A. E. Hotchner, Eli Wallach, Richard Beymer, and director Martin Ritt
Production photo from “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man,” featuring Richard Beymer, Susan Strasberg, director Martin Ritt, and A. E. Hotchner

The Modern Literature Collection has been acquiring Hotchner’s manuscripts and other papers since 1967. The A. E. Hotchner Papers currently consist of manuscript and editorial material toward the books Papa Hemingway (1966), Treasure (1970), King of the Hill (1970), The Man Who Lived at the Ritz (1981), Looking for Miracles (1975), Choice People (1984), Louisiana Purchase (1996) and Hemingway in Love (2015), as well as scripts for Hotchner’s adaptations of Hemingway materials for television and original plays for television and the stage. View the Finding Aid here.

A major new acquisition from Hotchner this year includes further manuscripts and screenplays, correspondence with Hemingway, photographs and other memorabilia of Hotchner’s time at Washington University, dozens of photographs of Hemingway, and many materials related to Hotchner’s long-running charity production of the Hemingway story-cycle “The World of Nick Adams.” These acquisitions are currently being processed.