Category: When Women Wrote Hollywood

To highlight the wonderful yet largely forgotten work of a collection of female screenwriters from the early years of Hollywood (and as a companion to the book, When Women Wrote Hollywood) we will be posting quick bits about the many films they wrote along with links to further information and clips from their works which are still accessible online. Take a few moments once or twice a week to become familiar with their names and their stories. I think you’ll be surprised at how much bold material these writers tackled at the birth of this new medium. — Rosanne Welch

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When Women Wrote Hollywood – 27 in a series – “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1920), Wr: Clara Beranger

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1920 horror silent film, produced by Famous Players-Lasky and released through Paramount/Artcraft. The film is based upon Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and starring actor John Barrymore.

The film was directed by John S. Robertson and co-starred Nita Naldi. The scenario was by Clara Beranger and the film is now in the public domain.

Dr. Jekyll, a kind and charitable man, believes that everyone has two sides, one good and one evil, otherwise considered a split personality. Using a potion that he concocted, Dr. Jekykll becomes Mr. Hyde, creating havoc throughout his town.[1][2]

The early part of Jekyll’s initial transformation into Hyde was achieved with no makeup, instead relying solely on Barrymore’s ability to contort his face.[4] In one scene, as Hyde reverts to Jekyll, one of Hyde’s prosthetic fingers can be seen to fly across the screen, having been shaken loose by Barrymore’s convulsions. The character of Millicent Carew does not appear in Stevenson’s original story, but in the 1887 stage version by Thomas Russell Sullivan starring Richard Mansfield. This 1920 film version used the play’s concept of Jekyll being engaged to Carew’s daughter, and Hyde beginning a dalliance with a dance-hall girl. — Wikipedia 

Watch Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

More about Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1920)

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde on Wikipedia
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on IMDB
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at Movies Silently

More about Clare Beranger

• Read more about this screenwriter in When Women Wrote Hollywood
• Like When Women Wrote Hollywood on Facebook
• Clare Beranger on Wikipedia
• Clare Beranger on IMDB
• Clare Beranger at the Women Film Pioneers Project

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Buy a signed copy of when Women Wrote Hollywood

 

Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition

* 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

To highlight the wonderful yet largely forgotten work of a collection of female screenwriters from the early years of Hollywood (and as a companion to the book, When Women Wrote Hollywood) we will be posting quick bits about the many films they wrote along with links to further information and clips from their works which are still accessible online. Take a few moments once or twice a week to become familiar with their names and their stories. I think you’ll be surprised at how much bold material these writers tackled at the birth of this new medium. — Rosanne Welch

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When Women Wrote Hollywood – 26 in a series – Clara Beranger

Clara Beranger (also Berenger, née Strouse, January 14, 1886 – September 10, 1956) was an American screenwriter of the silent film era and a member of the original faculty of the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Using the pseudonym of Charles S. Beranger, her first screen employment was as a freelancer, writing for the Edison, Vitagraph and Kalem companies, to whom she furnished many originals as well as continuities. Her success attracted some attention and she was appointed as a staff writer for the Fox Corporation. She wrote several scripts for the popular child star Baby Marie Osborne as well as a much-praised adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities. Beranger also wrote The Interloper for Kitty Gordon, The Bluffer for June Elvidge and The Mirror for Marjorie Rambeau, though many of these films are considered lost.[3] With Forrest Halsey, Beranger wrote the stage play, His Chinese Wife, which received good reviews and became one of the successes of the 1919–1920 season.[3]

In 1921, Clara took Frances, then twelve, and migrated to Hollywood to write for motion pictures,[1] where she signed a long contract with Cecil B. DeMille’s Famous Players-Lasky; the outfit with whom she is most associated. She wrote or contributed to more than 24 DeMille productions, and produced both Come Out of the Kitchen and Girls for Marguerite Clark; Sadie Love and Wanted: A Husband for Billie Burke; Judy of Rogue’s Harbor for Mary Miles Minter; The Fear Market for Alice Brady; The Cost for Violet Heming; Half an Hour for Dorothy Dalton; Civilian Clothes for Thomas Meighan, Notoriety for Bebe Daniels and the long-lasting classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for John Barrymore.[3] — Wikipedia 

Watch a movie by Clara Beranger

More about Clara Beranger

• Read more about this screenwriter in When Women Wrote Hollywood
• Like When Women Wrote Hollywood on Facebook
• Clara Beranger on Wikipedia
• Clara Beranger on IMDB
• Clara Beranger at the Women Film Pioneers Project

---

Buy a signed copy of when Women Wrote Hollywood

 

Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition

* 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