The Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) files on visitors to Hollywood studios span the years 1943-1975 (bulk 1953-1973) and encompass approximately 19 linear feet. The collection contains subject files with the following subseries: Events, Index Cards, and Visitors.

The Events subseries contains information on events held for individual visitors and organizations or events attended by the AMPTP in other countries. Included in the files are biographies, correspondence, guest lists, itineraries, menus, seating charts, and a few speeches. The material covers visits by dignitaries including Arthur da Costa e Silva, president of Brazil, Mohammed Daud Khan, president of Afghanistan, Lord Mountbatten, Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of India, Masashi Shimizu, the president of the Toho Company, King Paul and Queen Frederika of Greece, as well as other politicians and royalty. There are also visits by groups including fan clubs, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, the London Press Club, the Italian Film Producers Association, the Theatre Owners of America, and the Youth Film Foundation. Events include the Boy Scout Jamboree, Expo ’58, Expo ’67, Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, and lesser-known film festivals including the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and Uruguayan Film Festival.

The Index Cards subseries contain information on foreign dignitaries visiting the United States. The cards are arranged alphabetically by country and each card has the names of the visitors, their respective titles, the date of the visit, and the tour stops.

The Visitors subseries contain AMPP (later AMPTP) reports, studio reports, correspondence, and other paperwork regarding requests and arrangements for tours, some of which were turned down. Most of the arrangements were made by Clark H. “Duke” Wales whose name appears frequently in the paperwork. Visitors include actors, businessmen, filmmakers, journalists, labor leaders, politicians, professors, and radio and TV managers. The reports and correspondence were kept together since they were related. The folders are organized by month/year and organized chronologically within each folder by tour date, not by the date of the correspondence. The reports usually list the name of the visitor, their occupation, their country, along with correspondence and a detailed itinerary of their tours which usually included meeting stars at the studios and sometimes visiting the film sets. Some of the sets visited included those for AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957), BLACKBOARD JUNGLE (1955), THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (1959), THE FLY (1958), FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956), THE LOVE BUG (1968), THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956), THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962), NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), OKLAHOMA! (1955), REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955), SABRINA (1954), SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959), THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956), VERTIGO (1958), and WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954).

These reports offer a rich insight into the way access to the studios was used to shape public opinion and influence individuals and groups on both a domestic and international level. They can also show how various groups were deemed unimportant at the time. Of note is a letter from Clarence Muse, an African American actor, to Arch Reeve asking for a tour of a studio on behalf of a fraternity, April 6, 1948, with a response from Reeve turning down his request. A card and postcard for “Muse-A-While Ranch” accompanies the letter. Also of interest is a report on Rudolf Vogel's list of weaknesses in the German film industry, especially with regards to censorship, July 26, 1951. From the 1950s through 1970s, the AMPP hosted several Russian film delegations during the height of the Cold War. There is a letter from Duke Wales to Kenneth Clark noting that the Russians kept proposing the idea of co-productions with everyone they met, but that it did not cause him concern since they did not have any substantial ideas as to how to follow through, October 24, 1961. There is an amusing letter from Vernon R. Stutts, United States Air Force, to William Gordon, director of public relations for Universal-International Pictures, identifying the foreign pilots in a photograph, failing to identify Jeff Chandler whom he did not realize was the star of the film [THE LADY TAKES A FLYER (1958)], May 27, 1957. To show how far-reaching the AMPTP was, there is even a letter from the chief of the Wachagga tribe in Chaggaland, Tanzania from July 20, 1957. Another letter is from William D. Johnson to Wales introducing Aiko Yamano, a famous beautician from Japan who introduced the permanent wave in her country, August 31, 1957, with an attached program on her international tour. Also of note is an entry from an AMPP report about Satyajit Ray, the famous film director from India, who visited the camera department and stills laboratory at Columbia, visited set of FATHER KNOWS BEST [TV] where he talked to Robert Young and cameraman, lunched with Robert Andrews at MGM, visited the set of NIGHT OF THE QUARTER MOON, and talked with George Stevens, October 31, 1958. There is a handwritten letter from Harpo Marx, on "El Rancho Harpo" stationery, to Y. Frank Freeman from 1964 sending his regrets that he cannot attend a breakfast for the Prime Minister of Israel. There is also a mock-up invitation for an AMPTP screening of ROBIN HOOD (1973), December 17, 1973, along with a program displaying three alternating characters from the film.

COMMENTS:
The AMPP reports evolved and changed over time. Between 1955-1959, there began to be more formalized weekly AMPP reports with accompanying reports from the studios, but the AMPP reports disappeared again in the 1960s. Sometimes the AMPP reports and studio reports were repetitive in describing visits. Sometimes there are gaps in the reports or missing studio reports and documentation. Domestic visits or cancelled visits were not always mentioned in the reports. Sometimes a folder has paperwork on tours which both occurred and were cancelled. It is important to note that a cancelled tour is different from a tour simply not granted in the first place. Tours not granted were cataloged separately. Sometimes the reports listed visitors who came to the studios through channels other than AMPP, but other times they did not. However, accompanying paperwork can still be found on these non-AMPP tours. Names are sometimes misspelled in the reports. Any names connected to the film industry were cataloged. Films mentioned often have working titles. A film is only mentioned once in the description of the record even if the film is mentioned several times in the paperwork for various tours. Countries that names have changed are noted in brackets. Sometimes reports mistakenly cited “Africa” as a country. All countries mentioned in a report are listed in the public note field with both its former and current names.

The Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) was a trade association involved in labor relations, legislative affairs, and press and public relations for the industry. It was preceded by the Association of Motion Picture Producers (AMPP). The AMPP was organized in 1924 to negotiate labor contracts and in the mid-1930s took over contract negotiation responsibilities from the Academy. In 1982 the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers was succeeded by the similarly named Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.