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Mary C. McCall Jr.

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Mary C. McCall Jr.
BornApril 4, 1904
New York City, U.S.
DiedApril 3, 1986 (aged 81)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationScreenwriter
SpouseDwight Franklin (divorced)
Children3[1]

Mary C. McCall Jr.(April 4, 1904 – April 3, 1986) was an American writer best known for herscreenwriting.[2]She was a charter member and the first woman president of theWriters Guild of America(then known as the Screen Writers Guild), serving from 1942 to 1944 and 1951 to 1952.[3][4]

Biography[edit]

Mary C. McCall Jr. was born on April 4, 1904, to a wealthy Irish American family in New York. She wanted to be a writer from the time she was in first grade.[5]After graduating fromVassar CollegeandTrinity College, Dublin,she began writing advertising copy and fiction.[2][4]

In 1932, McCall published her first novel,The Goldfish Bowl,a satirical comedy loosely based onAnne MorrowandCharles Lindbergh.[6]The film rights were purchased byWarner Bros.,but McCall did not get to write the screenplay for the film version,It's Tough to Be Famous(1932), starringDouglas Fairbanks Jr.[5]Instead, Warner Bros. signed her to a ten-week contract to writeStreet of Women(1932).[6]They also assigned her to help with the screenplay of the filmScarlet Dawn(1932), based on her tragic novel of theRussian RevolutiontitledRevolt.[3][7]In 1934, McCall landed a long-term contract with Warner Bros. and became involved with theScreen Writers Guild.[2][8]

McCall became an associate member of the Guild in 1934 and served her first of six terms on the executive board in 1935.[9]As a member of the negotiating committee, she worked to help secure the Guild's first contract with the studios, and as a member of the executive board, she helped secure an across-the-board wage increase from $40 to $125 per week for writers.[10]In 1942, the first year the contract was signed, McCall was elected the first woman president of the Guild.[11]

During her career, McCall wrote for Warner Bros.,Columbia Pictures,andMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer.Among her screen credits are the1935 version ofA Midsummer Night's Dream,Craig's Wife(1936),The Fighting Sullivans(1944), andMr. Belvedere Goes to College(1950). She also adapted Wilson Collison's novelDark DameintoMaisie(1939), launching the successfulMaisieseries. McCall wrote or co-wrote eight of the ten films in the series.[2]

In the 1950s and 1960s, she branched out into television, being credited with four episodes ofThe Millionaireand one each ofSea Hunt,I Dream of Jeannie,andGilligan's Island,among others. A number of her stories were published in magazines such asCosmopolitan,Redbook,Collier's,andThe Saturday Evening Postfrom the 1930s to the 1950s.[12]

McCall was one of many who clashed with the conservativeMotion Picture Alliance.[13]On July 27, 1954, she had to defend herself in front of theHouse Un-American Activities Committeeagainst reports that she was a communist sympathizer.[3][7]She was completely exonerated by the separateCalifornia Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activitiesof the General Research Committee in its report to theCalifornia Senate.[14]

Mary C. McCall Jr. died of "complications of cancer" at theMotion Picture and Television Hospital,one day shy of her 82nd birthday.[4]

She was the first recipient of the Writers Guild'sValentine Davies Awardin 1962. In 1985, she also received the Guild's Edmund J. North Award.

Complete filmography[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Obituary,latimes.com. Accessed August 9, 2023.
  2. ^abcd"Mary C. McCall Jr., Major TV, Film Writer, Dies at 81".Los Angeles Times.1986-04-06.ISSN0458-3035.Retrieved2016-07-24.
  3. ^abc"Past Presidents / Mary C. McCall Jr".Writers Guild of America. Archived fromthe originalon June 7, 2012.RetrievedOctober 10,2009.
  4. ^abc"Mary C. McCall, screenwriter, dies".The San Burnardino County Sun.April 6, 1986 – viaNewspapers.com.Open access icon
  5. ^abSmyth, J. E. (2 March 2018).Nobody's Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood.p. 123.ISBN9780190840839.OCLC1023575960.
  6. ^abSmyth, pp. 123-124.
  7. ^abSlide, Anthony (November 25, 2014)."It's the Pictures That Got Small": Charles Brackett on Billy Wilder and Hollywood's Golden Age.Columbia University Press. p. 399.ISBN9780231538220.RetrievedJuly 24,2016.
  8. ^Wilson, Victoria (November 12, 2013).A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940.Simon and Schuster. p. 484.ISBN9781439199985.RetrievedJuly 24,2016.
  9. ^Smyth, pp. 119-120.
  10. ^Smyth, p. 135.
  11. ^Hughes, Eric (February 5, 2009)."Who is Mary C. McCall Jr.?".www.thewrap.com.Retrieved2019-05-12.
  12. ^"Stories Listed by Author".The FictionMags Index. Archived fromthe originalon October 5, 2009.RetrievedOctober 10,2009.
  13. ^Sbardellati, John (May 1, 2012).J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies: The FBI and the Origins of Hollywood's Cold War.Cornell University Press. pp. 77–78.ISBN9780801464683.RetrievedJuly 24,2016.
  14. ^"The Case of Mary McCall".Online Archive of California.RetrievedJuly 24,2016.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mary_C._McCall_Jr.&oldid=1234437823"