Frances Marion

Frances Marion (born Marion Benson Owens, November 18, 1888[1] – May 12, 1973) was an American screenwriter, journalist, author, and film director, often cited as one of the most renowned female screenwriters of the 20th century alongside June Mathis and Anita Loos. During the course of her career, she wrote over 325 scripts.[2] She was the first writer to win two Academy Awards. Marion began her film career working for filmmaker Lois Weber. She wrote numerous silent film scenarios for actress Mary Pickford, before transitioning to writing sound films.

Not to be confused with Francis Marion.

Frances Marion
Marion directing The Love Light,
which she also wrote, 1920
Born
Marion Benson Owens

(1888-11-18)November 18, 1888
San Francisco, California
DiedMay 12, 1973(1973-05-12) (aged 84)
Los Angeles, California
Occupation
  • Screenwriter
  • author
  • journalist
  • film director
Years active1912–1972
Spouse(s)
  • Wesley de Lappe (m. 1906–div. 1910)
  • Robert Pike (m. 1911–div. 1917)
  • Fred C. Thomson
    (m. 1919–1928, his death)
  • George W. Hill
    (m. 1930–div. 1933)

Early life

Marion was born Marion Benson Owens in San Francisco, California, to Len D. Owens and Minnie Benson.[3] She had an older sister, Maude, and a younger brother, Len.[3] Her parents divorced when she was 10, and she lived with her mother. She dropped out of school at age 12, after having been caught drawing a cartoon strip of her teacher. She then transferred to a school in San Mateo and then to the Mark Hopkins Art Institute in San Francisco when she was 16 years old. Marion attended this school from 1904 until the school was destroyed by the fire that followed in the wake of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.[4]

Career

While in San Francisco, Marion worked as a photographer's assistant to Arnold Genthe and experimented with photographic layouts and color film. Later she worked for Western Pacific Railroads as a commercial artist, then as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner. After moving to Los Angeles, Marion worked as a poster artist for the Morosco Theater as well as an advertising firm doing commercial layouts.[1]

Frances Marion in 1915

In the summer of 1914 she was hired as a writing assistant, an actress and general assistant by Lois Weber Productions, a film company owned and operated by pioneer female film director Lois Weber. She could have been an actor, but preferred work behind the camera.She learned screenwriting from Weber.

When Lois Weber went to work for Universal, she offered to bring Marion with her. Marion decided not to take Weber up on the offer. Soon after, close friend Mary Pickford offered Marion a job at Famous Players-Lasky. Marion accepted, and began working on scenarios for films like Fanchon the Cricket, Little Pal, and Rags. Marion was then cast alongside Pickford in A Girl of Yesterday. At the same time, she worked on an original scenario for Pickford to star in, The Foundling. Marion sold the script to Adolph Zukor for $125. The film was shot in New York, and Moving Picture World gave it a positive pre-release review. But the film negative was destroyed in a laboratory fire before prints could be made.[5]

Marion, having traveled from Los Angeles to New York for The Foundling's premiere, applied for work as a writer at World Films and was hired for an unpaid two-week trial. For her first project, she decided to try recutting existing films that had been shelved as unreleasable. Marion wrote a new prologue and epilogue for a film starring Alice Brady, daughter of World Films boss William Brady. The new portions turned the film from a laughable melodrama into a comedy. The revised film sold for distribution for $9,000, and Brady gave Marion a $200/week contract for her writing services.[6]

Frances Marion (right) with Marshall Neilan and Mary Pickford in 1917

Soon Marion became head of the writing department at World Films, where she was credited with writing 50 films. She left in 1917 when, following the success of The Poor Little Rich Girl, Famous Players-Lasky signed her to a $50,000 a year contract as Mary Pickford's official scenarioist.[7] Marion was reported at this time to be "one of the highest paid script writers in the business."[8] Her first project under the contract was an adaptation of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.

Frances Marion in her war correspondent uniform, 1918

Marion worked as a journalist and served overseas as a combat correspondent during World War I.[9][10] She documented women's contribution to the war effort on the front lines, and was the first woman to cross the Rhine after the armistice.[11]

Upon Marion's return from Europe in 1919, William Randolph Hearst offered her $2,000 a week to write scenarios for his Cosmopolitan Productions. Marion shared a house with fellow screenwriter Anita Loos on Long Island.[12]

While at Cosmopolitan, Marion wrote an adaptation of Fannie Hurst's Humoresque. Her success in adapting the novel and her friendship with Hurst contributed to her decision to adapt another Hurst story, "Superman," for her directorial debut. The resulting film, Just Around the Corner, was a best-seller for the studio.[13] Marion directed one more film, The Love Light, starring Mary Pickford.

She won the Academy Award for Writing in 1931 for the film The Big House, she received the Academy Award for Best Story for The Champ in 1932, both featuring Wallace Beery, and co-wrote Min and Bill starring her friend Marie Dressler and Beery in 1930. She was credited with writing 300 scripts and over 130 produced films.

Personal life
Frances Marion attended this parade for women's suffrage in New York City, October 23, 1915

On October 23, 1915, Marion participated in a parade of more than thirty thousand supporters of women's suffrage in New York City.

After her success in Hollywood, Marion often visited Aetna Springs Resort in Aetna Springs, California, using it as a personal retreat and often bringing several film-industry colleagues with her on vacations. The resort, in fact, was directly connected to her own family's history, for Marion's father had built the resort in the 1870s.[14]

Mary Pickford (center) with newlyweds Fred Thomson and Frances Marion (1919)

Marion was married four times, first to Wesley de Lappe and then to Robert Pike, both prior to changing her name. In 1919, she wed Fred Thomson, who co-starred with Mary Pickford in The Love Light in 1921.[9] She was such close friends with Mary Pickford that they honeymooned together when Mary married Douglas Fairbanks and Frances married Fred.[15] After Thomson's unexpected death from a leg wound in 1928, she married director George W. Hill in 1930, but that marriage ended in divorce in 1933. She had two sons—Frederick C. Thomson and Richard Thomson (adopted). Frederick earned a PhD in English at Yale, taught there and later joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina. He became an editor of the writings of George Eliot, publishing editions of Felix Holt, the Radical in 1980 and later.

Later years and death

For many years she was under contract to MGM Studios. Independently wealthy, she left Hollywood in 1946 to devote more time to writing stage plays and novels.

Frances Marion published a memoir Off With Their Heads: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood in 1972. Marion died the following year of a ruptured aneurysm in Los Angeles.[16]

Selected filmography
Year Title Featured Stars Notes
1912 The New York Hat Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish Contributing writer
1915 Camille Clara Kimball Young, Paul Capellani, Robert Cummings Scenario
A Girl of Yesterday Mary Pickford, Frances Marion, Glenn L. Martin Actress
1916 The Foundling Mary Pickford, Mildred Morris, Gertrude Norman Writer
The Gilded Cage Alice Brady, Montagu Love, Alec B. Francis Scenarist/writer
1917 A Little Princess Katherine Griffith, Mary Pickford, Norman Kerry, ZaSu Pitts, Theodore Roberts Writer
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Mary Pickford, Eugene O'Brien Writer
The Poor Little Rich Girl Mary Pickford, Madlaine Traverse, Charles Wellesley, Gladys Fairbanks Writer
1918 Stella Maris Mary Pickford Photoplay
How Could You, Jean? Mary Pickford Scenario
M'Liss Mary Pickford Writer
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley Mary Pickford, William Scott, Kate Price Writer
The Temple of Dusk Sessue Hayakawa, Jane Novak, Louis Willoughby, Mary Jane Irving Writer
1919 The Cinema Murder Marion Davies, Eulalie Jensen, Anders Randolf, Reginald Barlow Scenario
Anne of Green Gables Mary Miles Minter Writer
1920 Pollyanna Mary Pickford Adaptation
The Flapper Olive Thomas, Warren Cook Screenplay, story
The Restless Sex Marion Davies, Ralph Kellard Writer
1921 Just Around the Corner Margaret Seddon, Lewis Sargent, Sigrid Holmquist Director, scenario
The Love Light Mary Pickford, Evelyn Dumo Director, story (uncredited)
1922 The Toll of the Sea Anna May Wong, Kenneth Harlan, Beatrice Bentley Scenario (uncredited), story
1923 The Famous Mrs. Fair Myrtle Stedman, Huntley Gordon Adaptation, screenplay
1924 Secrets Norma Talmadge Adaptation
Cytherea Alma Rubens, Constance Bennett, Norman Kerry, Lewis Stone, Irene Rich Adaptation
The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln George A. Billing, Ruth Clifford, George K. Arthur, Louise Fazenda Story, screenplay
1925 Stella Dallas Ronald Colman, Belle Bennett, Lois Moran Adaptation
A Thief in Paradise Doris Kenyon, Ronald Colman, Aileen Pringle Adaptation
Thank You Alec B. Francis, Jacqueline Logan Writer
Lightnin' Jay Hunt, Wallace MacDonald Writer
1926 The Scarlet Letter Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson Adaptation, scenario, titles
The Winning of Barbara Worth Ronald Colman, Vilma Bánky Adaptation
Son of the Sheik Rudolph Valentino, Vilma Bánky, Montagu Love, Karl Dane, George Fawcett Adaptation
1927 The Red Mill Marion Davies Adaptation, screenplay
Love John Gilbert, Greta Garbo Continuity
Madame Pompadour Dorothy Gish Writer
1928 The Wind Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love, Dorothy Cumming Scenario
The Awakening Vilma Bánky, Walter Byron Story
Bringing Up Father J. Farrell MacDonald, Polly Moran, Marie Dressler Writer
1929 Their Own Desire Norma Shearer, Belle Bennett, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery, Helene Millard Screenplay
1930 Min and Bill Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery Dialogue, scenario
The Big House Robert Montgomery, Wallace Beery, Chester Morris, Lewis Stone Dialogue, story
Won the Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Good News Mary Lawlor, Stanley Smith Scenario
The Rogue Song Lawrence Tibbett, Catherine Dale Owen Writer
Anna Christie Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, Marie Dressler Writer
1931 The Secret Six Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, John Mack Brown, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Ralph Bellamy, Marjorie Rambeau Dialogue, screenplay
The Champ Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Roscoe Ates Story
Won the Academy Award for Best Story
1932 Blondie of the Follies Marion Davies, Robert Montgomery, Billie Dove Screenplay, story
Emma Marie Dressler, Richard Cromwell, Jean Hersholt, Myrna Loy Story
1933 Peg o' My Heart Marion Davies, Onslow Stevens, J. Farrell MacDonald Adaptation
Dinner at Eight Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke Screenplay
The Prizefighter and the Lady Myrna Loy, Max Baer, Walter Huston, Primo Carnera, Jack Dempsey Story
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story
Going Hollywood Marion Davies, Bing Crosby, Fifi D'Orsay, Stuart Erwin Story (uncredited)
Secrets Mary Pickford, Leslie Howard Writer
1936 Camille Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore Screenplay
Riffraff Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy Screenplay, story
Poor Little Rich Girl Shirley Temple, Alice Faye, Jack Haley, Gloria Stuart, Michael Whalen, Claude Gillingwater Writer
1937 Knight Without Armour Marlene Dietrich, Robert Donat Adaptation
Love from a Stranger Ann Harding, Basil Rathbone Adaptation
1940 Green Hell Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Vincent Price, Joan Bennett, Alan Hale, Sr., George Sanders, John Howard Original story, screenplay

Published works
  • Minnie Flynn. NY: Boni and Liveright, 1925
  • The Secret Six. NY: Grosset & Dunlap, 1931 [novelization of her own screenplay]
  • Valley People. NY: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1935
  • How to Write and Sell Film Stories. NY: Covici-Friede, 1937
  • Molly, Bless Her. NY: Harper & Brothers, 1937
  • Westward The Dream. Garden City NY: Doubleday and Company, 1948
  • The Passions of Linda Lane. NY: Diversey Publications, 1949 [paperback; revised edition of Minnie Flynn]
  • The Powder Keg. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1953
  • Off With Their Heads!: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood. NY: The Macmillan Company, 1972 [memoir]

Bibliography
  • Beauchamp, C. Marion, Frances. American National Biography Online, February 2000.
  • Beauchamp, Cari (1997). Without lying down: Frances Marion and the powerful women of early Hollywood. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21492-7.

References
  1. Beauchamp, Cari (1997). Without Lying Down. University of California Press. pp. 22–37. ISBN 978-0520214927.
  2. Kwong, Jess. "17 Women Who Made History — That You've Never Heard Of". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  3. 1900 United States Federal Census
  4. Lamphier, Peg A.; Welch, Rosanne (January 23, 2017). Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection [4 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 246. ISBN 9781610696036.
  5. Beauchamp (1997). pp. 41–47.
  6. Beauchamp (1997). pp. 47–52.
  7. Beauchamp (1997). pp. 69–70.
  8. Photoplay. Media History Digital Library. Chicago, Photoplay Magazine Publishing Company. September 1, 1917. pp. 113.CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. Biography.com. "Frances Marion Biography". Archived from the original on August 7, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
  10. Motion Picture Magazine. MBRS Library of Congress. The Motion Picture Publishing Co. November 1, 1918. pp. 53.CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. The Photo-Play Journal. MBRS Library of Congress. Central Press Company. May 1, 1919. pp. 252.CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. Beauchamp (1997). pp. 104–108.
  13. Beauchamp (1997). pp. 117–121.
  14. Jensen, Peter (February 6, 2012). "A grand 19th-century resort to be reborn in Pope Valley". Napa Valley Register. Napa, California. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
  15. "The Love Light (Frances Marion, Mary Pickford Co. US 1921) (d/w)". YouTube. October 10, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  16. Sicherman, Barbara; Hurd Green, Carol (1980). Notable American Women: The Modern Period : A Biographical Dictionary. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 457. ISBN 0-674-62732-6.
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