On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

  Though Tess Slesinger wrote only 12 films her contribution to classic Hollywood screenwriting and adaptation deserves focus.  Born on July 16, 1905 to Jewish parents of Hungarian-Russian heritage, Slesinger grew up with three older brothers on New York’s Upper West Side.  Her father worked in the garment world and her mother, Augusta Slesinger went from being … Continue reading "Empowered...

    Though writer Catherine Turney was born (in 1906) and raised in Chicago, she and her parents moved to Pasadena in her later teens and that made all the difference. At the age of 20, Turney began working for the School of Theatre at the Pasadena Playhouse where she eventually attended. Turney graduated in … Continue reading "From the Pasadena Playhouse to Warner Brothers, Paramount, and D...

    Many of today’s screenwriters have come from the world of education so it could be said they are following the path laid out by Ethel Doherty in the 1920s and 30s. Born in Los Angeles in 1899 Doherty and the film industry grew up together. Her parents moved back and forth between Los … Continue reading "Knowing History and Writing for the “It Girl” Launched The Screenwriting Career of Et...

In honor of Valentine’s Day it’s time to celebrate a female screenwriter who managed to take bubble-gum parts for actresses and give them more gumption, gravitas, and giggles inside the light musical genre films she was assigned. Born in New York City in 1909, Dorothy Kingsley could be called a nepo-baby as her mother Alma … Continue reading "A Master of Musical Romances: The Screenwriting C...

Though born in 1894 in Washington, D.C., the family business was theatre, not the politics of President Grover Cleveland’s administration.  With an actor for a father – Henry Dupree Sinclair – the future Ruth Sinclair would also begin her career on the stage before turning to film, where she wrote for silent stars such as … Continue reading "Trusted to Write for the Greatest Stars of t...