The Jack Cummings papers span the years 1910-1989 (bulk 1930s-1960s) and encompass 13 linear feet. The collection consists of production files, subject files, including correspondence, and oversize material. The production files include material on several of his MGM musicals including BORN TO DANCE (1936), BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940 (1940), BATHING BEAUTY (1944), NEPTUNE’S DAUGHTER (1949), KISS ME KATE (1953), SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) and VIVA LAS VEGAS (1964). Of note is a letter from Fred Astaire discussing how self-conscious he felt during the production of THE BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940 (1940). There is also production material covering his non-musical productions such as THE WINNING TICKET (1935), THE ROMANCE OF ROSY RIDGE (1947), THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS (1954), and THE TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON (1956). There is also a substantial amount of material on unrealized productions including THE BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ and PAINT YOUR WAGON. The subject files include a letter from Hermes Pan. The oversize material includes music scores for THE ROMANCE OF ROSY RIDGE (1947) and VIVA LAS VEGAS (1964).

Jack Cummings (1905-1989) was born J. Komiensky in New Brunswick, Canada to Ida Mayer Cummings, the sister of Louis B. Mayer, and Louis S. Cummings. He attended Boston Latin School and Allan Military School in Massachusetts. In 1922, Cummings moved to Los Angeles to work as an office boy at Louis B. Mayer Productions, which in 1924 became part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and began Cummings’s long association with the studio. He worked on BEN-HUR (1925) and served as assistant director on films including THE HOLLYWOOD REVUE OF 1929 (1929). In 1929, he began producing and directing film shorts including THE SHOOTING GALLERY (1929). In 1935, he became a full-time producer with his first feature-length film THE WINNING TICKET (1935). In 1936, he produced BORN TO DANCE (1936) and went on to produce a string of MGM musicals including BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940 (1940), BATHING BEAUTY (1944), NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER (1949), KISS ME KATE (1953), and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) which was nominated for Best Picture. He also produced the drama THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS (1954) and the comedy THE TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON (1956). Although he left MGM during the late 1950s to form Suffolk-Cummings Productions and produce CAN-CAN (1960), he returned once more to produce VIVA LAS VEGAS (1964). He married Betty Kern, daughter of Jerome Kern, in 1947.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was formed in 1924 when the theater circuit Loew's Inc., owner of Metro Pictures Corporation, acquired Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures and subsequently merged the three companies. The Culver City studio soon became one of the strongest and most prestigious of the major production companies, superior both in profits and in critical acclaim throughout most of the 1930s and 1940s. During the 1950s changes brought about by the Paramount consent decree eventually rendered the studio system obsolete, and MGM, which had once dominated that system, suffered a slow decline. The studio was purchased in 1970 by Kirk Kerkorian, who sold off most of its assets and, in 1973, shut down the distribution arm of the company. Ted Turner purchased MGM in 1986, then immediately sold the studio to Lorimar Pictures while retaining the film library and script material (see Turner/MGM scripts). Acquired by a consortium of investors in 2005, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. continues to function as a film production and distribution company out of its Century City, California headquarters.