Mary C. McCall Jr.

The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Most Powerful Screenwriter
Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-0-231-21528-2
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 312 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 232 mm, Gewicht: 490 g

A screenwriter, novelist, labor leader, Hollywood insider, and feminist, Mary C. McCall Jr. was one of the film industry’s most powerful figures in the 1940s and early 1950s. She was elected the first woman president of the Screen Writers Guild after leading the fight to unionize the industry’s writers and secured the first contract guaranteeing a minimum wage, credit protection, and pay raises. Her advocacy was not welcomed by all: To screenwriters McCall was an “avenging goddess,” but to studio heads she was, in the words of one Hollywood executive, “the meanest bitch in town.” And after a clash with the mogul Howard Hughes in the blacklist-era 1950s, she disappeared from the pages of Hollywood history.

J. E. Smyth tells McCall’s remarkable story for the first time, putting the spotlight on her trailblazing career and crucial influence. She explores McCall’s life and work, from her friendships with stars such as Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and James Cagney to her authorship of the hit Maisie series about a working-class showgirl’s adventures. Analyzing McCall’s deft political maneuvering, Smyth offers new insight on screenwriters’ struggle for equality and recognition. She also examines why McCall’s legacy is unrecognized, showing how the Hollywood blacklist and entrenched sexism obscured her accomplishments. Colorful and compelling, this biography provides a powerful account of how one extraordinary woman shaped Golden Age Hollywood.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Smyth, J. E.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmdrehbücher
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Gewerkschaften, Industrielle Beziehungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction. 1943—The Turning Point
1. Mary Jr.
2. The Pirate
3. It’s Tough Being Famous
4. A Second Chance
5. Bending the Codes
6. Breaking the Rules
7. Independence
8. The Invention of Maisie
9. Golden Girls and Brass Rings
10. A President at War
11. A Woman in the Establishment
12. The Party Is Over
13. Scarlet Woman
14. Smaller Screens
15. The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

J. E. Smyth is a professor of history at the University of Warwick. She is the author or editor of several books, including Nobody’s Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood (2018) and a new edition of Jane Allen’s novel I Lost My Girlish Laughter (2019). In 2021, she was named an Academy Film Scholar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.