Screenwriter of the Month: Sidney Howard

Sidney Howard.
Picture found here.

A Short Biography:

Sidney Howard was born in Oakland, California, the son of Helen Louise (née Coe) and John Lawrence Howard. He graduated from theUniversity of California, Berkeley in 1915 and went on to Harvard University to study the art of playwriting under George Pierce Baker in his "47 workshop." Along with other students of Harvard professor A. Piatt Andrew, Sidney Howard volunteered with Andrew's American Field Service, serving in France and the Balkans during World War I. After the War, Howard, competent at foreign languages, translated a number of literary works from French, Spanish, Hungarian and German.

In 1921, Howard had his first Broadway production, with a neo-romantic verse drama, Swords, which failed to win approval from either audiences or critics. It was with his realistic romance, They Knew What They Wanted in 1924 that Howard found recognition. The story of a middle-aged Italian vineyard owner who woos a young woman by mail with a false snapshot of himself, married her, and then forgives her when she becomes pregnant by one of his farm hands, it was praised for its non-judgmental and unmelodramatic view of adultery, and its warm-hearted, tolerant view of all its characters. The play won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, was thrice adapted into film (1928, 1930, and 1940) and later became the Broadway musical, The Most Happy Fella. Lucky Sam McCarver, a coolly observed, unsentimental account of the marriage of a New York speakeasy owner on his way up in the world with a self-destructive socialite on her way down, failed to attract audiences but won the admiration of some reviewers. The Silver Cord, a drama about a mother who is pathologically close to her sons and works to undermine their romances, was one of the most successful plays of the 1926-27 Broadway season.

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A prolific writer, and a founding member of the Playwrights' Company, he wrote or created more than seventy plays; he also directed and produced a number of works. In 1922 he married actress Clare Eames (1896–1930) who had played the female lead in Swords. She later starred in Howard's Lucky Sam McCarver (1925), and Ned McCobb's Daughter (1926) on Broadway, and The Silver Cord in London (1927). Clare Eames was the niece of opera singer Emma Eames on her father's side, and of the inventor Hiram Percy Maxim on her mother's side, and a granddaughter of former Maryland governor, William Thomas Hamilton. Howard and Eames had a daughter, Jennifer Howard. They separated in 1927, and Howard's anger and frustration at the disintegration of his marriage is reflected in his bitter satire of modern matrimony, Half Gods (1929). Following the unexpected death of Eames in 1930, Sidney Howard married Leopoldine (Polly) Damrosch, daughter of the conductor Walter Johannes Damrosch in 1931, with whom he had three children.

A particular admirer of the understated realism of French playwright Charles Vildrac, Howard adapted two of his plays into English, under the titles, S. S. Tenacity (1929) and Michael Auclair (1932). One of his greatest successes on Broadway was an adaptation of a French comedy by Rene Fauchois, The Late Christopher Bean. Yellow Jack, an historical drama about the war against yellow fever, was praised for its high purpose and innovative staging when it premiered in 1934.

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Hired by Samuel Goldwyn, Howard worked in Hollywood, writing several successful screenplays. In 1932, Howard was nominated for an Academy Award for his adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel Arrowsmith, and again in 1936 for Dodsworth, which he had adapted for the stage in 1934.

Howard wrote the stage adaption of Humphrey Cobb's novel Paths of Glory which played on Broadway in 1935. The play was a flop because of its harsh anti-war scenes that alienated the audience, as a World War I veteran Howard wanted to show the horrors of war. Convinced that the novel should be filmed, Howard wrote, “It seems to me that our motion picture industry must feel something of a sacred obligation to make the picture.” The film version of the novel directed by Stanley Kubrick did not appear until 1957. Howard's screenplay for Gone with the Wind echoed, perhaps, Paths of Glory, with an unflinching look at the horrors of war.

Posthumously, he won the 1939 Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for Gone with the Wind (he was the only one honored, despite the fact that his script was revised by several other writers). This was the first time a posthumous nominee for any Oscar won the award.

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A lover of the quiet rural life, Sidney Howard died in Tyringham, Massachusetts while working on his 700-acre (2.8 km2) hobby farm. Howard was crushed to death in a garage by his two and one half ton tractor. He had turned the ignition switch on and was cranking the engine to start it when it lurched forward, pinning him against the wall of the garage. Apparently an employee had left the transmission in high gear.

He is buried in the Tyringham Cemetery.

Howard left behind a number of unproduced works. Lute Song, an adaptation of an old Chinese play co-written with Will Irwin, premiered on Broadway in 1946. A lighthearted reworking of the Faust legend, Madam, Will You Walk?, closed out of town when produced by the Playwrights Company in 1939, but was more warmly received as the first production of the Phoenix Theatre in 1953.

His Best Known & Awarded Movies:

"A Lady to Love"
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- "A Lady to Love" (1930) - Based upon Howard's play, They Knew What They Wanted, "A Lady to Love" is about a "middle-aged Napa Valley grape-grower Tony (Edward G. Robinson) posts a marriage proposal to San Francisco waitress Lena (Vilma Banky) enclosing a photo of his handsome younger brother Buck (Robert Ames). When she gets there she overlooks his duplicity and marries him. Then she falls in love with Buck." Written by Ed Stephan (Source here.)

"Arrowsmith"
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- "Arrowsmith" (1931) - Starring Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes, and "based on a Sinclair Lewis novel Martin Arrowsmith. A medical researcher is sent to a plague outbreak, where he has to decide priorities for the use of a vaccine." Written by Anonymous (Source here.)

- Nominated for a 1932 Oscar for 

"Best Writing, Adaptation"

"The Silver Cord"
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- "The Silver Cord" (1933) - Based on Howard's play of the same name, "The Silver Cord" is about "a domineering matriarch (Irene Dunne) is less than happy when her son (Joel McCrea) brings home his new bride (Laura Hope Crews). She immediately sets to work at sabotaging their marriage as well as the engagement of her younger and weaker son (Eric Linden)." Written by Daniel Bubbeo (Source here.)

"Dodsworth"
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- "Dodsworth" (1936) - Based on a Sinclair Lewis novel, it's about "[the] bittersweet tale of the increasing estrangement of a retired automobile tycoon (Walter Huston) and his wife (Ruth Chatterton). Increasingly obsessed with maintaining an appearance of youth, she falls in with a crowd of frivolous socialites during their 'second honeymoon' European vacation. He, in turn, meets a woman (Mary Astor) who is everything she is not; self-assured, self-confident, and able to take care of herself." Written by Sonya Roberts (Source here.)

- Nominated for an Oscar in 1937 for 

"Best Writing, Screenplay"

"Raffles" movie poster.
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- "Raffles" (1939) - "Man about town and First Class cricketer A.J. Raffles (David Niven) keeps himself solvent with daring robberies. Meeting Gwen (Olivia de Havilland) from his schooldays and falling in love all over again, he spends the weekend with her parents, Lord and Lady Melrose. A necklace presents an irresistible temptation, but also in attendance is Scotland Yard's finest, finally on the trail." Written by Jeremy Perkins (Source here.)

"Gone with the Wind"
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- "Gone With the Wind" (1939) - "This tale of the Old South from the start of the Civil War through to the period of reconstruction focuses on the beautiful Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh). Before the start of the war life at the O'Hara plantation, Tara, could only be described as genteel. As for the young Scarlett, she is without doubt the most beautiful girl in the area and is always the belle of the ball. She is very much looking forward to a barbecue at the nearby Wilkes plantation as she will get to see the man she loves, Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard). She is more than a little dismayed when she hears that he is to marry his cousin Melanie Hamilton (Olivia de Havilland) and in a fit of anger, she decides to marry Melanie's brother. War is soon declared and as always seems to be the case, men march off to battle thinking that it will only last a few weeks. Now living in Atlanta, Scarlett sees the ravages that war brings. She also becomes re-acquainted with Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), whom she had first met at the Wilkes barbecue. Now a widow, she still pines for the married Ashley and dreams of his return. With the war lost however, she returns to Tara and faces the hardship of keeping her family together and Tara from being sold at auction to collect the taxes. She has becomes hardened and bitter and will do anything, including marrying her sister's beau, to ensure she will never again be poor and hungry. After becoming a widow for the second time, she finally marries the dashing Rhett but they soon find themselves working at cross-purposes, their relationship seemingly doomed from the outset." Written by garykmcd (Source here.) Also stars Hattie McDaniel who was the first African American to be nominated for an Oscar in 1940 for "Best Actress in a Supporting Role" and the first to win for her role as Mammy.

- Won the 1940 Oscar for "Best Writing, Screenplay". 

Though four others had helped write the screenplay 

(Oliver H.P. Garrett, Ben Hecht, Jo Swerling, 

and John Van Druten), Howard was the only one to receive it. 

He's also the first person to be posthumously 

nominated and awarded for an Oscar. 

"They Knew What They
Wanted" movie poster.
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- "They Knew What They Wanted" (1940) - Screenplay written by Robert Ardrey and based upon Howard's Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name. "Tony (Charles Laughton), a successful but illiterate middle-aged grape farmer, sends the photograph of his handsome young foreman, Joe (William Gargan), instead of his own, hoping to woo and marry Amy (Carole Lombard), a waitress in a San Francisco restaurant. Through a series of letters, the two become close and Tony invites his 'future wife' to visit. When the beautiful, young Amy arrives at Tony's Napa, California ranch she falls for the wrong man thinking that Joe (William Gargan) is the wealthy Tony. When Tony tries to win her over in broken English, she is at first furious and then charmed. But Tony breaks his legs while showing off to impress Amy, and -- left alone to care for a cripple -- she reluctantly succumbs to Joe's charms and becomes pregnant. Although Tony discovers that he has been cuckolded and that Joe has run off, his anger turns to genuine love and he offers to take Amy back unconditionally for the sake of the child and his own true feelings for Amy." Written by E. Summer (Source here.)

Sources:
- #1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Howard

Book Review: "Rewrites: A Memoir"

"Rewrites: A Memoir"

by Neil Simon

"Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, The Goodbye Girl, The Out-of-Towners, The Sunshine Boys -- Neil Simon's plays and movies have kept many millions of people laughing for almost four decades. Today he is recognized not only as the most successful American playwright of all time, but also as one of the greatest. More than the humor, however, it is the humanity of Neil Simon's vision that has made him America's most beloved playwright and earned him such enduring success. Now, in 'Rewrites', he has written a funny, deeply touching memoir, filled with details and anecdotes of the writing life and rich with the personal experiences that underlie his work.

"Since Come Blow Your Horn first opened on Broadway in 1960, few seasons have passed without the appearance of another of his laughter-filled plays, and indeed on numerous occasions two or more of his works have been running simultaneously. But his success was something Neil Simon never took for granted, nor was the talent to create laughter something that he ever treated carelessly: it took too long for him to achieve the kind of acceptance -- both popular and critical -- that he craved, and the path he followed frequently was pitted with hard decisions.

"All of Neil Simon's plays are to some extent a reflection of his life, sometimes autobiographical, other times based on the experiences of those close to him. What the reader of this warm, nostalgic memoir discovers, however, is that the plays, although grounded in Neil Simon's own experience, provide only a glimpse into the mind and soul of this very private man.

"In 'Rewrites', he tells of the painful discord he endured at home as a child, of his struggles to develop his talent as a writer, and of his insecurities when dealing with what proved to be his first great success -- falling in love. Supporting players in the anecdote-filled memoir include Sid Caesar, Jerry Lewis, Walter Matthau, Robert Redford, Gwen Verdon, Bob Fosse, Maureen Stapleton, George C. Scott, Peter Sellers, and Mike Nichols. But always at center stage is his first love, his wife Joan, whose death in the early seventies devastated him, and whose love and inspiration illuminate this remarkable and revealing self-portrait. 'Rewrites' is rich in laughter and emotion, and filled with the memories of a sometimes sweet, sometimes bittersweet life."

It's true that this book is quite good. I enjoyed it. I thought it was funny. 

Originally, I had picked it up because I thought I would learn something from it. There wasn't much to learn, except for a few things. Mostly that art imitates life and life imitates art. And I can understand why he had to be a writer to make money for his family. His few business endeavors never made any money.

While he's obviously a talented playwright, I felt there was nothing to be learned from his experiences because everything happened so fast for him. He wrote one play, got an agent that wanted to represent him right away, and then got a producer that wanted to produce his work right away. And then afterwards he was with him for most of the rest of his career. That's it, there was almost no struggle whatsoever. Like he was shot out of a cannon.

Now, I have yet to read his work, but I have heard of most of it and the commentary is almost always positive. There were a number of funny anecdotes about his small misadventures vacationing, working with crazy actors and a movie set full of crazy people. He has worked with legends of the stage and a few on the silver screen, but the only one I can remember is Bob Fosse, mostly because of his brilliant work ethic and because Simon mentions him so often in the book. 

It gave me an odd chuckle every now and then, and the ending was terribly sad, but I don't think it's something that will stick with me.

Now, as far as screenwriting is concerned, there isn't much to learn. Mr. Simon didn't like Hollywood. He liked the money, but he didn't like anything else. He didn't like California, or the way the studios ran, or anything. He didn't hate it, he just preferred New York and playwriting over screenwriting. I can see his point and one day I would like to write a play. 

I know that writing a screenplay and writing a play are two different endeavors and that, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't suggest they are the same. But I still think that there are things to be learned from the stagecraft and it could help people write better scripts. Mostly it has to do with dialogue, because plays have to rely on it more so it has to be better, whereas some movies can get away with a close-up, an awkward pause, or explosions. Sometimes, in that exact order.

Though he has worked on a few movie sets, there isn't much that he can tell you in regards to what helped him write. I suggest reading this book anyway, because it is funny, but don't expect to learn anything from it.

I give this book 3 out of 5 typewriters.