The Bud Barsky papers span the years 1918-1940 and encompass 13 linear feet. The collection contains production files and subject files. Included are produced scripts for more than 60 films with which Barsky was involved. These include AFRICA SCREAMS (1949), AGAIN PIONEERS (1950), BODY AND SOUL (1927), CALIFORNIA (1927), DARK MANHATTAN (1937), FIGHTING THRU (1930), GOOD NEWS (1930), GRAND OLD GIRL (1935), GOOSE STEP (1940), HOLLYWOOD HOTEL (1937), IT TAKES MORE THAN A RECIPE TO BAKE A CAKE (1939), THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD (1926), LAUGHING BOY (1934), PAINTED FACES (1929), PENROD AND SAM (1937), and TARZAN, THE APE MAN (1932). Most of the script material is related to Fox and Tiffany productions. Of particular interest are Darryl F. Zanuck's personal copy of the script for THE STAR WITNESS (1931), annotated by screenwriter Lucien Hubbard; script material, including story material by Barsky, for TARZAN AND HIS MATE (1934); and script and production material for WALLABY JIM OF THE ISLANDS (1937). Also included are several Fox scripts from the early 1930s, such as CAVALCADE (1933), that do not appear to have any direct connection with Barsky. Among the unproduced scripts is a story outline of an original idea by Robert Flaherty for A Singer of the South Seas and screenplays for two unrealized Wallaby Jim films. The subject files contain information on Barsky's Chimps; biographical material; a few contracts; a small amount of correspondence and clippings; and miscellaneous material, including a 1930s bank book for Famous Comedies Productions; a cumulative receipts chart for Major Productions in 1936; a hand-drawn design for Premier Pictures, Inc.; and a 1928 tax form showing Barsky's wages of $24,500 from Tiffany-Stahl Productions. Bud Barsky Productions is represented by a bank book and accounts book from the 1920s and a draft prospectus, circa 1937. One scrapbook contains clippings on Barsky, primarily from the 1920s.

Irving J. "Bud" Barsky (1891-1967) was born in Odessa, Ukraine, and was active as an independent producer in the 1920s and 1930s. He entered the film industry in 1906 and, in the 1910s, was involved with the C.L.B. Film Company and Associated Film Sales in New York and Gotham Film Company in San Antonio. After serving briefly in World War I, Barsky worked for the Pathé Film Exchanges in Kansas City, Missouri, and Peacock Films (then known as Pioneer Films) in St. Louis. He formed Bud Barsky Productions in Hollywood in 1922, producing Kenneth McDonald, Al Hoxie, and Frank Merrill features and short comedies featuring Jimmy Valentine. In 1926 he joined MGM as a unit manager, moving to Tiffany a year later as assistant general manager in charge of production. During this time he went by the name Roy Fitzroy. In 1930 Barsky joined Columbia as studio manager and left in 1931 to produce a series of shorts featuring a group of chimpanzees he had acquired. These chimpanzees were rented to MGM for the first Tarzan features, and Barsky himself worked at MGM from 1932 to 1934 as a unit manager. After a brief period as associate producer at Warner Bros. from 1936 to 1937, Barsky again became an independent producer, this time under contract to Grand National Pictures, where he produced WALLABY JIM OF THE ISLAND (1937), his best-known feature.