MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, PART II, THE SEQUAL, 1973-2001
File
Scope and Content
From the Collection:
John Nichols' papers document a wide range of history and culture and personal connections in New Mexico (and elsewhere) over the last 55 years. This all-inclusive collection contains almost every draft of every manuscript Nichols has written, and every piece of correspondence that he has sent and received since the late 1950s. The collection not only documents the creation and evolution of his literary works, but precisely documents the literary process. His correspondence, speeches, and artwork chronicle contemporary political and social issues and shed light not only on John Nichols, but also illuminate the perspectives of a large array of contemporary literary, political, and everyday figures and issues in New Mexico and around the globe.
Activities, 1970-2008: These files include speeches, political organizing, trips, magazine articles, and many other projects and activities undertaken by Nichols.
Articles, 1969-2007: Contain various newspaper and magazine articles about John Nichols and his books.
Artwork, 1969-2004: Sketchbooks, drawings and cartoons by John Nichols. Significant works including a complete set of pen and ink calavera drawings, artists proofs, and etchings of calaveras done to illustrate The Magic Journey; published and unpublished political cartoons, mostly done during the 1970s for Albuquerque's alternative newspaper, Seer's Catalogue, and illustrations and cartoons done for Hamilton College's track & field newsletter The Good Scout.
Book Reviews, 1965-2007: Published reviews of John Nichols' books.
Book/Film Contracts, 1964-2012: Xerox copies of some of the main contracts Nichols has signed for book publishing, film options, and screen-writing assignments. With a few magazine and journal and audio recording pufferies thrown in.
Book/Movie/Agent Correspondence, 1963-2007: This consists of files of correspondence between Nichols and agents, editors, publishers, producers, directors, production people, and others involved with his professional life of writing books and screenplays.
Correspondence 1950s-1960s, 1950-2012: This series contains letters from Nichols' teenage years, while at Hamilton College, and then living in New York City until 1969. Later correspondence is often included, the criteria being that the letter exchanges began in the 1950s or 1960s.
Envelope Diaries, 1998-2002: Envelope diaries and field observations played a huge role in creating Nichols' literature. He kept a record of hikes on the backs of envelopes and carefully typed up these transcripts afterwards. Once he began carrying a little tape recorder that was the end of the envelope diary field notes.
Eulogies, 1980-2007: Written by John Nichols for some of his departed friends.
Fan Letters, 1969-2011: Consist mainly of letters to Nichols, mostly from strangers, commenting on his books or other projects, and of carbons of some of his typed replies to these letters from strangers.
General Correspondence, 1970-2012
Jouranl/Diary Ephemera, 1955-1966: Ephemera connected to Nichols' life between age 15-26, during prep school and college and a few years after college.
Journal/Diary Files, 1956-2007: Nichols has kept journals off and on since age fifteen.
Manuscripts, 1957-2012: This series contains nearly every draft of every title that John Nichols wrote between 1957 and 2012. Notable titles include "The Sterile Cuckoo" and the New Mexico Trilogy: "The Milagro Beanfield War," "The Magic Journey," and "The Nirvana Blues."
Memorabilia, 1968-1997: Hermes Rocket typewriter used to type Milagro, and Olympia typewriter used to type manuscripts from 1974 until 1997, when Nichols finally began using the computer.
Miscellaneous Carbons, 1964-2009: These are carbon copies of business and personal letters, typed by Nichols and not matched up with correspondence files elsewhere.
Novel Notes, 1961-2006: Notes that Nichols scribbled in notebooks and on the backs of envelopes. He often wrote dozens of variations on a theme in notebooks trying to get a handle, find a starting point.
Phone Messages, 1987-2007
Photographs, 1955-2013: This is a cross-section of photographs of Nichols, his family and friends, lots of photographs related to publicity for his books, or hiking mesas and climbing mountains.
Photography Workshops in Taos, 1988-1998: Nichols' friend sponsored the Owens Valley Photography Workshops (begun in 1975) for many years. The workshops catered to serious, and usually large-format, photographers in the mold of Ansel Adams and others of his ilk. Nichols guest lectured at the workshop for 10 summers, beginning in 1988.
Pocket Notebooks, 1980-2010: Things to do, lists, notes for novels, field notes when hiking, random thoughts, and so forth.
Publications, 1959-2007: Magazines and newspapers containing articles by or about Nichols. This includes prep school and college literary magazines, the Hamilton Spectator and New Mexico Review.
Request Letters, 1970-2012: Mostly letters from people asking John Nichols to "do stuff," like read their books, blurb their books, find them a publisher, come and speak to their class, do a workshop, contribute books for their benefit auction, etc.
Royalty Statements,1965-2011
Screenplays, 1965-2004: Includes screenplays, drafts, and edited drafts of screenplays written by Nichols, or written by others as adaptations of Nichols' works. Notable titles include "Missing" and "The Milagro Beanfield War."
Slides, 1960-2000: Most of the slides were taken between 1973 and 1995, primarily in and around Nichols' Taos home, in Taos proper, or around the immediate Taos valley and western mesas, or on some of the small streams southeast of Taos or in the mountains of Taos County.
Videos 1984-2013: This is a collection of videos include interviews or documentariesJohn Nichols has done I've done or documentaries I've done, or have been included in.
Activities, 1970-2008: These files include speeches, political organizing, trips, magazine articles, and many other projects and activities undertaken by Nichols.
Articles, 1969-2007: Contain various newspaper and magazine articles about John Nichols and his books.
Artwork, 1969-2004: Sketchbooks, drawings and cartoons by John Nichols. Significant works including a complete set of pen and ink calavera drawings, artists proofs, and etchings of calaveras done to illustrate The Magic Journey; published and unpublished political cartoons, mostly done during the 1970s for Albuquerque's alternative newspaper, Seer's Catalogue, and illustrations and cartoons done for Hamilton College's track & field newsletter The Good Scout.
Book Reviews, 1965-2007: Published reviews of John Nichols' books.
Book/Film Contracts, 1964-2012: Xerox copies of some of the main contracts Nichols has signed for book publishing, film options, and screen-writing assignments. With a few magazine and journal and audio recording pufferies thrown in.
Book/Movie/Agent Correspondence, 1963-2007: This consists of files of correspondence between Nichols and agents, editors, publishers, producers, directors, production people, and others involved with his professional life of writing books and screenplays.
Correspondence 1950s-1960s, 1950-2012: This series contains letters from Nichols' teenage years, while at Hamilton College, and then living in New York City until 1969. Later correspondence is often included, the criteria being that the letter exchanges began in the 1950s or 1960s.
Envelope Diaries, 1998-2002: Envelope diaries and field observations played a huge role in creating Nichols' literature. He kept a record of hikes on the backs of envelopes and carefully typed up these transcripts afterwards. Once he began carrying a little tape recorder that was the end of the envelope diary field notes.
Eulogies, 1980-2007: Written by John Nichols for some of his departed friends.
Fan Letters, 1969-2011: Consist mainly of letters to Nichols, mostly from strangers, commenting on his books or other projects, and of carbons of some of his typed replies to these letters from strangers.
General Correspondence, 1970-2012
Jouranl/Diary Ephemera, 1955-1966: Ephemera connected to Nichols' life between age 15-26, during prep school and college and a few years after college.
Journal/Diary Files, 1956-2007: Nichols has kept journals off and on since age fifteen.
Manuscripts, 1957-2012: This series contains nearly every draft of every title that John Nichols wrote between 1957 and 2012. Notable titles include "The Sterile Cuckoo" and the New Mexico Trilogy: "The Milagro Beanfield War," "The Magic Journey," and "The Nirvana Blues."
Memorabilia, 1968-1997: Hermes Rocket typewriter used to type Milagro, and Olympia typewriter used to type manuscripts from 1974 until 1997, when Nichols finally began using the computer.
Miscellaneous Carbons, 1964-2009: These are carbon copies of business and personal letters, typed by Nichols and not matched up with correspondence files elsewhere.
Novel Notes, 1961-2006: Notes that Nichols scribbled in notebooks and on the backs of envelopes. He often wrote dozens of variations on a theme in notebooks trying to get a handle, find a starting point.
Phone Messages, 1987-2007
Photographs, 1955-2013: This is a cross-section of photographs of Nichols, his family and friends, lots of photographs related to publicity for his books, or hiking mesas and climbing mountains.
Photography Workshops in Taos, 1988-1998: Nichols' friend sponsored the Owens Valley Photography Workshops (begun in 1975) for many years. The workshops catered to serious, and usually large-format, photographers in the mold of Ansel Adams and others of his ilk. Nichols guest lectured at the workshop for 10 summers, beginning in 1988.
Pocket Notebooks, 1980-2010: Things to do, lists, notes for novels, field notes when hiking, random thoughts, and so forth.
Publications, 1959-2007: Magazines and newspapers containing articles by or about Nichols. This includes prep school and college literary magazines, the Hamilton Spectator and New Mexico Review.
Request Letters, 1970-2012: Mostly letters from people asking John Nichols to "do stuff," like read their books, blurb their books, find them a publisher, come and speak to their class, do a workshop, contribute books for their benefit auction, etc.
Royalty Statements,1965-2011
Screenplays, 1965-2004: Includes screenplays, drafts, and edited drafts of screenplays written by Nichols, or written by others as adaptations of Nichols' works. Notable titles include "Missing" and "The Milagro Beanfield War."
Slides, 1960-2000: Most of the slides were taken between 1973 and 1995, primarily in and around Nichols' Taos home, in Taos proper, or around the immediate Taos valley and western mesas, or on some of the small streams southeast of Taos or in the mountains of Taos County.
Videos 1984-2013: This is a collection of videos include interviews or documentariesJohn Nichols has done I've done or documentaries I've done, or have been included in.
Dates
- 1973-2001
Language of Materials
From the Collection:
English
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research, however, researchers must sign consent form prior to gaining access to materials. Calavera drawings, proofs, and etchings as well as "little diaries" (Boxes 14, 125, 126, 129, 142) are housed in high security and may require up to 24 hours for retrieval. Enlarged photocopies and typed transcriptions of "little diaries" in Box 142 are located in Box 184.
Extent
From the Collection: 184 boxes (172 cu. ft.)
General
I started working on this at the end of 1994. We wound up calling it MIDNIGHT RETURN. It was a sequal to the 1978 film directed by Alan Parker and written by Oliver Stone. I began working with Ridley Scott and his co-producer, Mimi Polk, then they split up and Mimi took the project with her when she began her own production company. So mostly I worked with Mimi (who got married when she split from Ridley, becoming Mimi Polk Gitlin) and Billy Hayes, upon whose life (and the book he wrote about it) the original film was based. Released in 1978, Oliver Stone got an Academy Award for his script, and the Alan Parker film was very popular. That movie dealt with Billy's prison life in Turkey, and ended when he escaped. Originally, this film was to begin at the escape, trace Billy's return to America, his fame and fortune, and then his attempts to get his buddy, Harvey Bell, out of prison in Turkey. Then the movie evolved into a pure prison escape/buddy film set exclusively in Turkey. No political agenda. I worked on it jut for fun to see if we could make an adventure movie like The Fugitive. I worked much of 1995 and into 1996 with Billy and Mimi on a treatment, and toward the end of 1995 I finally got the okay to go ahead with a script. I did a couple drafts of the script, ending in Feb. 1996 just before I went to Spain to be with my wife in Sevilla. At that point the project stalled. Then Mimi passed it on to a producer team of Peter Davis and Bill Panzer, who had some noteriety from making Highlander movies and the Highlander TV series. Davis-Panzer hired me to continue on the project, and I did scripts and polishes up through 2001. At one point I think we had a great film. But they kept asking for more and more changes, and when they got the director Walter Hill interested, he wanted changes I felt were just too cynical and I finally bowed out of the project. Davis-Panzer continued making the film more and more of a cartoon, finally plowing it into the ground. So far (2008) it hasn't gotten made.
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu