Announcments – Page 21 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

eBook Editions Now Available – When Women Wrote Hollywood

eBook Editions Now Available – When Women Wrote Hollywood

Get a copy for your favorite eReader Today!

This collection of 23 new essays focuses on the lives of female screenwriters of Golden Age Hollywood, whose work helped create those unforgettable stories and characters beloved by audiences–but whose names have been left out of most film histories. The contributors trace the careers of such writers as Anita Loos, Adela Rogers St. Johns, Lillian Hellman, Gene Gauntier, Eve Unsell and Ida May Park, and explore themes of their writing in classics like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Ben Hur, and It’s a Wonderful Life.

When Women Wrote Hollywood Book Launch Event – August 11, 2018 [Photos]

See the entire collection of photos

In honor of the launch of our book of essays – When Women Wrote Hollywood – Jake Flynn, Communications Director for Councilmember Bob Blumenfield presented us this Certificate of Recognition from the Los Angeles City Council for “bringing students from throughout the country to Los Angeles and pairing them with mentors in the heart of the entertainment business…

The flexibility of the program allows for a diverse student body which in turn promotes the telling of stories that have not been heard before.” One certificate will return home to Stephens College with Dean Gail Humphries Mardirosian, who flew out to attend the launch, and the other two will stay with Ken and I here in Los Angeles.

Many thanks to the essay contributors who joined us and spoke so eloquently about the women writers they had researched: Toni Anita Hull, Laura Kirk, Amelia Phillips, Sarah Phillips, Julie Berkobien, Khanisha Foster, Lauren Smith, and to Cari Beauchamp, who wrote the Forward to the collection.

Buy a signed copy of when Women Write Hollywood

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

Angelus Review of “America’s Forgotten Founding Father”

What a treat – reading the review of my book America’s Forgotten Founding Father in Angelus, the weekly Catholic magazine of Los Angeles. I enjoyed the way the magazine’s reviewer, Robert Brennan, compared Mazzei to Forest Gump in that he met so many other, far more well known Founding Fathers. Since it is a novel, Mr. Brennan had called me to ask about the historical accuracy of some of those meetings and I was happy to have been able to say that Mazzei led such an interesting life I didn’t need to make any of that up – even much of his dialogue comes from his own prolific correspondence with everyone from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams.

My favorite part of the review is the ending when Brennan shows how history teaches us how to handle our current lives.

“Although men like Jefferson, Washington and Adams represented a homogeneous group of white, English, Protestant, landed gentry, they all welcomed a new immigrant from a non-English speaking, predominantly Catholic country. And Filippo Mazzei showed that a Catholic could, in good conscience, be fully integrated into that great American experiment at its birth, and help christen it with a little holy water.”

Read the entire review – Not born of the 4th of July — but should have been by Robert Brennan

Order an autographed copy of America’s Forgotten Founding Father

Print Edition | Kindle Edition | Apple iBooks Edition | Nook Edition

Also from the Mentoris Project

Want to use these books in your classroom? Contact the Mentoris Project!`

Kirkus Review – America’s Forgotten Founding Father by Rosanne Welch

I’m happy to share this review for my book on Filippo Mazzei, America’s Forgotten Founding Father, from the Kirkus Review website.

I imagine all authors are nervous when hearing there is a professional review of their work available to view. But I fell in love with Filippo while researching this novel and figured other folks would, too.

I’m especially happy they noted all the “intriguing historical tidbits” as those were so much fun to include. It fuels my desire to get as many of those ‘intriguing historical tidbits’ into my new book on Garibaldi – but I admit that’s harder as these facts aren’t on the tip of my tongue the way American history is (after teaching it for the last 10 years) so the digging has taken me much longer.

Read the review yourself! And then (hopefully) order the book. Filippo did so much for our country, the least we can do is know his story.

Read the Kirkus Review – America’s Forgotten Founding Father

Order an autographed copy of America’s Forgotten Founding Father

Print Edition | Kindle Edition | Apple iBooks Edition | Nook Edition

Want to use this book in your classroom? Contact the Mentoris Project!

My Next WGA Foundation Panel Discussion: It’s a Funny Story: A Conversation with Women TV Comedy Writers, August 10, 2018

I am very excited to be moderating another panel at the Writers Guild Foundation on…

“It’s a Funny Story: A Conversation with Women TV Comedy Writers” on Friday, August 10, 2018

with these fascinating female writer-creator-artists:

Njeri Brown from black-ish and Dear White People
Natasha Leggero and Riki Lindhome from Another Period
Christine Zander from Loosely Exactly Nicole, Kevin From Work, 3rd Rock from the Sun,and Saturday Night Live
Gail Parent from The Golden Girls, and The Carol Burnett Show AND author of one of those books I was forbidden from reading when I was in middle school, but read anyway: Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York.
Moderated by Dr. Rosanne Welch (Touched By An Angel, Picket Fences, Beverly Hills, 90210)

This is going to be FUN! Hope you can join us!

Get Tickets

From the Writers Guild Foundation

“We could all use a good laugh. Fortunately, we can all unwind with an abundance of outstanding television comedy shows that are available at the click of a button. But comedy isn’t just for the jokes anymore: an increasing number of shows tackle universal problems and surprisingly navigate us through our challenging world. And as writers rooms continue investing in diverse talent, the voices you hear from your television take on fresh perspectives.

Join The Writers Guild Foundation in partnership with Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting for a discussion surrounding how women television comedy writers got their start, how they use their experiences to inform their work, and the challenges they face in the writers room.”

New Podcast: Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone – Check it out!

Check out comedian (and friend to the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting program) Paula Poundstone’s new podcast Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone. She’ll be holding entertaining and engaging conversations as she interviews experts in various interesting fields.

GUESTS
Mario Soto- Sports Psychologist
@mariosportsdoc

Melissa Brandzel – Grammarian
@MediaChickEdits

John Grab – Trombone
John doesn’t have a large social media footprint, but he often plays with The Orchestre Surreal

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

During this inaugural episode at 19:45 you’ll hear a great add for our Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting – between funny conversations first with sports psychiatrist Mario Soto followed by grammarian Melissa Brandzel. In Paula’s typical style she’s funny off the cuff, finding different comic ways to interpret the helpful tips offered by her experts.

I also noticed this fun request on their website…

“We need a theme song! We launched this show without a theme song, and are turning to YOU, dear listener, to find one. If you have a tune in your head that you think should kick off our show each week, please reach out to us via our website.” So if you’re a local musician, check it out – and leave them a comment if you happen to be an expert in some fun field. Maybe they’ll have you on the show!

Visit the Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone Web Site to subcribe via iTunes or your favorite Podcast program

Find out more about the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting

My thoughts on Mister Rogers and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” Documentary in POP! A Pop Culture Podcast #31

Thanks for Ken Mills for asking me to record this fun piece of commentary about how important the Mr. Rogers documentary is to our understanding of the power of television and the importance of early childhood education in empathy.

My segment starts at the 15 minute mark in the show.

Ken Mills & Courtney Dold play Catch up, Play a song or 2 from Das Beatles, Taco Mouth & Matt Farley of Motern Media and Courtney goes to Germany & More!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

My segment starts at the 15 minute mark in the show.

Transcript

I can’t recommend the new Mr. Rogers documentary strongly enough.

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” is about so much more than the man behind one children’s program. It’s about the way you can dedicate your life to a cause. It’s about the obvious point that if we teach children they are loved and give them security in their early years, we can avoid so much of the issues in their later lives. It’s about standing up for what you believe in. It’s about how hard it is to fight our society’s glorification of toxic masculinity. And, to me, most importantly, it’s about the power of television – a topic we all need to consider.

The two quotes I can’t forget – from a set of interviews with Fred Rogers that contained many worthwhile quotes (which is why you need to see the film so I don’t have to replicate them all here) — are:

“What we see and hear on television molds our lives”

and

“Television has the capability of being a neighborhood for the whole country.”

People far too often ignore television but because it comes into our homes effortlessly and is ever present, it does have the ability to shape ideas and opinions and it has always had the ability to educate. I don’t mean it only has to teach us multiplication and fractions, but like any good genre of storytelling, it teaches us empathy and understanding of others. Mr. Rogers did that gently and quietly because he was addressing children as they formed their identities, and for that we ought to be grateful.

On top of all that, when he says “The greatest thing you can teach someone is that they are loved, and are capable of loving,“ he validates a frequent comment I make to writing students – that every story, in the end, is a love story. And this one is one you should not miss.

It almost makes me sad that children today on their iPads are watching the animated adventures of Daniel Tiger. While I’m happy they are being exposed to Mr. Rogers’ stories and lessons, I hope they don’t forget to show this new generation the actual episodes starring Mr. Rogers because seeing a gentle man in real life is probably more instructive than all the messages an animated tiger can give.

Paperback LA is Reprinting The Monkees Article that Started it All!

I was so proud to receive a request from Susan La Tempa, editor of the new Paperback L.A about reprinting my first article, Hey, Hey, They Wrote The Monkees!, on the writers of The Monkees, which I had done for Written By magazine in 2012.

Her new anthology covers life in LA and she found both the lives of writers AND, of course, the existence of The Monkees to be iconic to Los Angeles.

Check out her first book in the series: Book 1, A Casual Anthology: Clothes. Coffee. Crushes. Crimes

And look out for the announcement when the issue containing “Hey, Hey, They Wrote The Monkees!” publishes!

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

McFarland (Direct from Publisher) | Amazon | Kindle Edition | Nook Edition

Want to use “Why The Monkees Matter” in your classroom?

Order Examination Copies, Library and Campus Bookstore orders directly from McFarland

Event: Monkeemania in Australia: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Monkees Australian Tour in 1968, August 1, 2018, Melbourne

If you’re in Melbourne – or have friends and family there – check out the invitation and GO to this exhibit centered solely on The Monkees in honor of the 50th anniversary of their Australian tour.

In another wonderful example of how The Monkees bring people together I’m happy to help announce an exhibit open to all our Australian Monkees fans. I met Derham Groves, professor architecture at the Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne because he wrote a review of Why The Monkees Matter for The Journal of American Culture and was kind enough to send me a link. Then he happened to be in Los Angeles for a conference so we met for a marvelous dinner of pasta and Monkees conversation in Hollywood.

Derham’s special interest is the influence of popular culture on architecture and design, but he’s written quite a lot about the history of television in Australia, including a book called TV Houses: Television’s Influence on the Australian Home (2004). Last year he curated an exhibition at the Baillieu Library to celebrate the 60th anniversary of television in Australia.

For fun – here are some great clips on Youtube – their arrival and conference:

And the newsreel (though the footage jumps a lot) about their arrival with the funny line “the only thing to rival man’s descent from the apes is their descent from an airplane”:

It’s certainly an event worth celebrating!

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

McFarland (Direct from Publisher) | Amazon | Kindle Edition | Nook Edition

Want to use “Why The Monkees Matter” in your classroom?

Order Examination Copies, Library and Campus Bookstore orders directly from McFarland

Index from When Women Wrote Hollywood – Who, what and where of early Hollywood! – Get Your Copy Today

Wondering who and what are covered in When Women Write Hollywood? Take a look at this Index to find out! Then, get your copy today!

INDEX for When Women Wrote Hollywood

39 Steps, The 168
Academy Awards 2, 9, 15, 17, 58, 61, 153, 175, 177, 180-181, 188, 205, 209
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 5-6, 25, 58
Actress, The 208
Adam’s Rib 9, 205-207, 211-212, 215
After The Thin Man 144
Akins, Zoë 9, 183-191
Alas and Alack 134
Alcott, Louisa May 9
Algonquin Round Table, The 18, 159, 208
All for Peggy 135
Anastasia, Czarina 194
Angle Shooter 14
Arizona 179
Arzner, Dorothy 14, 188
Astor, Mary 61
Back in Circulation 14
Ball, Lucille 147
Barrymore, Ethel 187
Barrymore, John 60-62, 73
Barrymore, Lionel 15
Beauchamp, Cari 1, 4-5, 32, 40, 105-106, 114
Belasco, David 81-82
Ben-Hur (1924) 7, 57-58, 60-61, 102, 112-113
Beranger, Clara 8, 121, 125-132
Bergman, Ingrid 197
Big House, The 2
Biograph Studios 24, 38, 56-57, 113
Blaché, Alice Guy 6, 33, 47-55
Blaché, Herbert 47, 52, 54
Blacklist 8, 67, 164, 192
Blood and Sand 7, 97, 99-101
Blot, The 109
Bogart, Humphrey 142
Born Yesterday 209=210
Bow, Clara 7, 65-67, 80-81, 84, 89
Boy Meets Girl 195
Brackett, Charles 184
Brawn of the North 202
Cabbage Fairy, The 51
Camille (1921) 7, 99, 101-102, 188
Campbell, Alan 160-164
Capra, Frank 145-146, 196
Captain January (1924) 84
Careers for Women 137-138
Casablanca 58, 149, 171
Cather, Willa 185
Cat’s Meow, The 90
Champ, The 2, 18, 200
Chaney, Lon 80, 83, 118, 122, 133-134
Chaplin, Charlie 5, 71, 74, 91, 99
Chatterton, Ruth 188
Cheat, The 28, 30-32
Children’s Hour, The 8, 151
Christopher Strong 189
Cleopatra (1934) 25
Consequences of Feminism, The 53
Corbaley, Kate 2, 120
Crawford, Joan 11
Cukor, George 17, 44-45, 180-181, 203, 205-206, 209, 212
Curtiz, Michael 58-60
Dance Madness 65
Dark Star 8, 120
Davenport, Dorothy 14, 121
Davies, Marion 2, 41, 91
Davis, Bette 203
de Mille, Richard 120-122, 128-129
de Mille, William C. 8, 65, 71-72, 81, 121-122, 126-129, 132
DeMille, Cecil B. 1-2, 6, 20, 24-31, 65, 81, 83, 104, 110, 118, 122, 129
Death and Taxes 157
Dialogue for a Horse 194
Diary of Anne Frank, The 8, 145, 147-148, 214
Don Juan 61
Doorways in Drumorty 8, 119
Double Life, A 205
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) 126, 128
Dramatists Guild, The 143
Dressler, Marie 2, 13, 120, 187
Drunken Mattress, The 51
Dynamite 31-32
Earhart, Amelia 12
Easter Parade 146
Edison Company 20, 24
Edison, Thomas Alva 50
Emerson, John 28, 39-40, 43-45
Enough Rope 160
Ephron, Nora 154-155
Epstein, Julius 149
Esquire Magazine 164
Fairbanks, Douglas 1, 5, 27, 38, 40, 178-179
Fairfax, Marion 7, 69-79
Famous Players Lasky 25-26, 70-71, 76, 80, 82-83, 89, 126, 168, 176
Father of the Bride (1949) 146
Father’s Little Dividend (1951) 146
Ferber, Edna 159
Final Verdict 15
First National 72, 74-75, 176
Fitzgerald, F. Scott 9, 43, 203
Fonda, Jane 154
Fontaine, Joan 169-170, 172
Fool and His Money, The 53
Foreign Correspondent 171
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 1, 7, 98-100
Free Soul 15
From the Manger to the Cross 8, 114
Garbo, Greta 2, 15, 58, 61, 121, 188
Garland, Judy 146
Gaumont Company 50-51, 54
Gaumont, Léon 6, 48-49, 51-52
Gauntier, Gene 8, 112-116, 121
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 1, 6, 35, 42-43, 65
Girl Like I, A 37, 42, 45
Gish, Lillian 2, 37
Glyn, Elinor 7, 88-94
Godless Girl, The 30
Goodrich, Frances 8, 140-150
Gordon, Ruth 9, 205-216
Grable, Betty 67
Grant, Cary 172, 195
Great Moment, The 88
Greeks Had A Word for It, The 187-188
Griffith, D. W. 5, 20, 24, 37-39, 51, 56, 83, 104, 106-107, 110
Hackett, Albert 8, 140-150
Hammett, Dashiell 143, 152, 155, 162
Hand That Rocks, The 106
Harlow, Jean 1, 44
Harrison, Joan 9, 161, 166-174
Hart, Moss 145
Hayakawa, Sessue 71
Hayes, Helen 45
Hays Code 44, 61, 151, 172, 194-195
Hearst, William Randolph 12-13, 90-91
Heckerling, Amy 137
Heerman, Victor 9, 175-182
Hellman, Lillian 8-9, 147, 149, 151-156, 161-162, 190
Hepburn, Audrey 148
Hepburn, Katharine 8, 181, 188-189, 197, 203, 207, 209, 211
Hidden Way, The 134, 136-137
His Double Life (1930) 129
His Girl Friday 12, 172
His Picture In The Papers 39
Hitchcock, Alfred 9, 82, 161, 166, 168-169, 171-172, 174
Honeycomb, The 12, 16, 18
Hopper, Hedda 2, 166-167
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) 8, 150, 154, 156, 162, 197
How to Marry a Millionaire 188
Ince, Thomas 38, 90, 106, 178
Interpretations 184
Intolerance 39, 106
It 66, 88, 91
It’s A Wonderful Life 8, 145-146
Jamaica Inn 169
Johnson, Nunnally 147
Julia 154
Kalem Company, The 113
Kanin, Garson 9, 140, 147-148, 205-216
Keaton, Buster 101
Kelly, Gene 146, 194
Kennedy, John F. 27
Kid, The 99
King of Kings, The 20, 26
Kiss Hollywood Good-by 45
Kiss Me, Kate 194
Lady in the Dark 145
Lady of the Night 15
Laemmle, Carl 65, 108
Lasky, Jesse 82, 88
Leave It To Me 194
Lilies of the Field 75
Little American, The 30
Little Foxes, The 8, 152, 161
Little Women (1933) 9, 176-177, 180-181
Lois Weber Productions 108-109
Long, Long Trailer, The 147
Loos, Anita 1, 3, 5-6, 35-45, 65, 67, 89, 97, 188, 202
Los Angeles Times 20, 33, 173
Lost World, The 73, 75
Love, Laughter, and Tears: My Hollywood Story 11, 16, 18
Loy, Myrna 143, 155
Luce, Clare Booth 44
Lying Truth, The 73-74
Maas, Ernest 66
Maas, Frederica Sagor 7, 63-68, 84
Macpherson, Jeanie 1, 6, 20-33, 57-58, 97, 118
Madame’s Cravings 51
Male and Female 28, 30, 32, 118
Marion Fairfax Production 72, 74
Marion, Frances 1-5, 16-18, 40, 88, 91, 97, 105-106, 120-121, 123, 178, 188, 200, 203
Marrying Kind, The 205, 213-214
Marshall Neilan Productions 72-73
Marx Brothers, The 9
Mason, Sarah Y. 9, 175-182
Mathis, June 1, 7, 95-103
May, Elaine 207
Mayer, Louis B. 2, 5
Medicine Man, The 85
Mencken, H. L. 41, 43
Meredyth, Bess 7, 25, 56-62, 203
Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) 1-2, 25, 43, 57-58, 60, 88, 142, 147, 160-161, 177, 190, 202-203, 210-212
Min and Bill 120-121
Minelli, Vincent 146-147
Minter, Mary Miles 27
Miss Fane’s Baby Is Stolen 14
Miss Lulu Bett 126-127
Moon, Lorna 8, 117-124
Murfin, Jane 9, 17, 200-204
Murray, Mae 66
My Favorite Wife 195
My Side 209, 213
Mystery of the Leaping Fish 39
Neilan, Marshall 74, 178
New York Hat, The 37
New York Times 14, 35, 95, 193, 200, 202, 207, 213
New Yorker, The 160, 206
Noah’s Ark 58
Normand, Mabel 11, 16
Old Love For New 14
Old Maid, The 190
Old Wives For New 31
Only A Fireman’s Bride 38
Over Twenty-One 210
Paramount Studios 26, 66, 71, 80, 121, 142, 145, 190
Park, Ida May 8, 77, 133-139
Parker, Dorothy 9, 157-165
Parsons, Louella 128
Pat and Mike 205-207, 212-213
Pathé 25, 133
Phantom Lady 173
Philadelphia Story, The 210
Photoplay 1, 3, 13, 22-23, 39, 137
Pickford, Mary 2, 5, 25, 27, 30, 37, 73, 80, 82, 88, 97, 178
Pirate, The 146
Pitts, ZaSu 2, 178-179, 187
Plastic Age, The 65, 81, 84
Poor Little Rich Girl 2
Poor Simp, The 177-178
Powell, William 140, 195
Price of Silence, The 136
Pulitzer Prize 8-9, 18, 148, 151-152, 183, 190, 194
RKO Pictures 172, 176, 180-181, 201, 203, 209
Reason Why, The 92, 94
Rebecca 169, 172
Red Headed Woman 43-44
Redgrave, Vanessa 154
Reid, Wallace 14
Rex Motion Picture Company 133
Roaring Road, The 71, 73
Rogers, Ginger 145, 148, 203
Rolled Stockings 66
Rosemary’s Baby 9
Russell, Rosalind 13
Saboteur 173
Samson and Delilah 63
San Francisco 45
Saphead, The 101
Schulberg, B.P. 65, 80, 83-84
Screen Writers Guild 1, 143, 145-146, 162, 203
Sea Beast, The 60
Selznick, David O. 17, 169, 176, 178, 181, 189
Sennett, Mack 38, 176
Shady Lady 208
Shearer, Norma 15, 66-67, 202
Sherlock Holmes 73
Shocking Miss Pilgrim, The 66-67
Single Standard, The 15
Skyrocket, The 17-18
Smalley, Phillip 106, 133
Smart Woman 15
Smilin’ Through 202
Solax Studios 52, 54
Some Are Born Great 18
Spewack, Bella 9, 192-199
Spewack, Sam 9, 192-199
St. Johns, Adela Rogers 2, 5-6, 9, 11-18, 67, 98, 200
Star is Born, A (1937) 9, 18, 161
Stevens, George 148
Stewart, Jimmy 144
Stromberg, Hunt 144, 203
Strongheart 9, 200, 202
Such Men Are Dangerous 90
Suspense 107
Suspicion 171-172
Swanson, Gloria 13, 28, 30, 32
Talmadge, Constance 41
Talmadge, Norma 202
Tarzan’s Romance 57
Taylor, William Desmond 11
Ten Commandments, The (1923) 20, 26
Thalberg, Irving 1-2, 43-44, 58, 61, 66, 144
Thin Man, The 8, 143-144, 155
Three Weeks 88, 92
Tiffany Pictures 66
Tony Award 194
Triangle Films 38
True Glory, The 209
Twentieth Century-Fox 148
United Artists 5
Universal Studios 20, 24-25, 57, 107-108, 133-134, 137
Unsell, Eve 7, 77, 80-87
Up Pops The Devil 142, 144
Valentino, Rudolph 1, 60, 97-98, 100
Variety 17, 74, 82, 176-177, 180-181
Vidor, King 88, 178
Vitagraph 201
Walt Disney Studios, The 138
Warner Bros. Studios 138, 190
Warner, Jack 5
Weber, Lois 2-3, 8, 104-111, 133-134
Welcome to Britain, A 195-196
Wharton, Edith 189-190
What Price Hollywood? 9, 17, 200, 203
Whispering Chorus, The 29
Wilder, Thornton 207-208, 214
Wilson, Carey 65
Winchell, Walter 12
Woman of Affairs, A 58, 61
Women, The 44, 45, 202-203
Wonder of Women 58
Woollcott, Alexander 159, 208
Writers Guild of America 7, 65, 71, 84, 147, 203
Writing for the Screen 130-131
yellow peril 7, 83
Zukor, Adolph 27, 82

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