“In London one of Eve Unsell’s first employees was a young Alfred Hitchcock who designed title cards presumably under Unsell’s tutelage on such films as The Call of Youth (1921). Unsell is credited with teaching Hitchcock ‘the ins and outs of story and screenplay mechanics as well as adapting novels for film.'”
* 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
Rebecca is a 1940 American romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was Hitchcock’s first American project, and his first film under contract with producer David O. Selznick. The screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison, and adaptation by Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan, were based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. The film stars Laurence Olivier as the brooding, aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter and Joan Fontaine as the young woman who becomes his second wife, with Judith Anderson and George Sanders in supporting roles. The film won the 1940 Academy Award for Best Picture.
The film is a gothic tale shot in black-and-white. Maxim de Winter’s first wife Rebecca, who died before the events of the film, is never seen. Her reputation and recollections of her, however, are a constant presence in the lives of Maxim, his new wife and the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers.
Rebecca won two Academy Awards, Best Picture and Cinematography, out of a total 11 nominations. Olivier, Fontaine and Anderson also were Oscar-nominated for their respective roles as were Hitchcock and the screenwriters. Rebecca was the opening film at the 1st Berlin International Film Festival in 1951.[2] — Wikipedia
* 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
Born in Guildford, Surrey, Harrison studied at St Hugh’s College, Oxford and reviewed films for the student newspaper. She also studied at the Sorbonne. In 1933, she became Alfred Hitchcock’s secretary. Eventually she began reading books and scripts for him and became one of Hitchcock’s most trusted associates. Harrison appears in a scene in Hitchcock’s original version of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), eating dinner with Peter Lorre’s character. She was among the screenwriters for the film Jamaica Inn (1939) based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier.
When Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in March 1939 to begin his contract with David O. Selznick to direct films, Harrison went with him as an assistant and writer.[1] She continued contributing to the screenplays for Hitchcock’s films Rebecca (1940), also adapted from a du Maurier novel, Foreign Correspondent(1940), Suspicion (1941), and Saboteur (1942). She was also credited as one of the screenwriters for Dark Waters (1944). — Wikipedia
* 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
Learn more about the American Revolution through the eyes of an important, Italian Immigrant, Filippo Mazzei. Read his story today!
“For years later, even as he wrote his own history of the revolution, the words of Patrick Henry that struck Filippo deepest, the words that caught fire, were: ‘We have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne…we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!'”
For her 5th Doctor Who lecture to the CPP community, Dr. Rosanne Welch discusses how society – and the show’s writing staff – prepared the audience for a major change in this 50-year franchise – the creation of the first Lady Doctor!
Transcript:
…and just a side note in the world of production which I think is so interesting. When they went to film this particular episode each of these two actors had other jobs. So it turned out by accident they were only available on the same morning to film their goodbye scene. So Russell Davies invented the fact that they were married. he actually had two different stories written for them to film on different days and suddenly he only had them for 3 hours one morning. So he married them off. Though it was cute. Put it up there. Controversy from people saying “You took the only people of African descent and forced them to be married to each other like you don’t believe in interracial marriage.” I had two actors who could only work on one day. I had to be creative and I personally think that that’s an excellent ending for both of them because they shared adventures with The Doctor. How do you get together with someone who doesn’t share your background? who can’t understand your emotions and what you’ve done in your life, right? So Mickey. Mickey is a cool sensitive guy. Of course, I’ve already talked about captain Jack so I’ll just fly through him. Nothing wrong with looking at a few pictures of Captain Jack for a few minutes. Doesn’t hurt anybody to go, “Wow!”
Rosanne Welch PhD teaches the History of Screenwriting and One-Hour Drama for the Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting.
Writing/producing credits include Beverly Hills 90210, Picket Fences, ABCNEWS: Nightline and Touched by an Angel. In 2016 she published the book Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop; co-edited Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia; and placed “Transmitting Culture Transnationally Via the Characterization of Parents in Police Procedurals” in the New Review of Film and Television Studies. Essays appear in Torchwood Declassified: Investigating Mainstream Cult Television and Doctor Who and Race: An Anthology. Welch serves as Book Reviews editor for Journal of Screenwriting and on the Editorial Advisory Board for Written By magazine, the magazine of the Writers Guild.
We spent the weekend down in San Diego attending WhoCon 2018. Rosanne was speaking on “Feminism in the Who-niverse in the Era of a Lady Doctor” (video coming soon).
Here are 50 photos from the presentation and the overall event.
I’ll also soon have a video interview with Dalek Builder Steve Roberts who kept us entertained all weekend with this fully functional Dalek!
Learn more about Doctor Who with these books and videos!
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* 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
“The Lost World was an adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous dinosaur novel, and the film itself did the story justice. Fairfax both wrote the adaptation and directed the editing.
After the massive success of The Lost World, which broke records, Fairfax was more in demand than ever.”
Silent Screenwriter, Producer and Director: Marion Fairfax Sarah Phillips
* 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
A Star Is Born is a 1937 American Technicolor romantic drama film produced by David O. Selznick, directed by William A. Wellman from a script by Wellman, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker, and Alan Campbell, and starring Janet Gaynor (in her only Technicolor film) as an aspiring Hollywood actress, and Fredric March(in his Technicolor debut) as a fading movie star who helps launch her career. The supporting cast features Adolphe Menjou, May Robson, Andy Devine, Lionel Stander, and Owen Moore.
It was originally made in 1937 with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, and then remade three times: 1954 (starring Judy Garland and James Mason), in 1976(starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson), and in 2018 (starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper).
North Dakota farm girl Esther Victoria Blodgett yearns to become a Hollywood actress. Although her aunt and father discourage such thoughts, Esther’s grandmother gives Esther her savings to follow her dream.
Esther goes to Hollywood and tries to land a job as an extra, but so many others have had the same idea that the casting agency has stopped accepting applications. Esther is told that her chances of becoming a star are one in 100,000. She befriends a new resident at her boarding house, assistant director Danny McGuire, himself out of work. When Danny and Esther go to a concert to celebrate Danny’s employment, Esther has her first encounter with Norman Maine, an actor she admires greatly. Norman has been a major star for years, but his alcoholism has sent his career into a downward spiral. — Wikipedia
* 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
Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.
From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary works published in such magazines as The New Yorker and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the breakup of the circle, Parker traveled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. Her successes there, including two Academy Award nominations, were curtailed when her involvement in left-wing politics resulted in the being placed on the Hollywood blacklist.
Dismissive of her own talents, she deplored her reputation as a “wisecracker.” Nevertheless, both her literary output and reputation for sharp wit have endured. — Wikipedia
* 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
“Other Virginians displeased by the Intolerable Acts decided to form the Independent Company of Albemarle County, a militia group that eventually included Filippo, Bellini, who joined to show his loyalty to his new country and James Monroe, who had become a frequent guest at both Monticello and Colle in between semesters at William and Mary. They all enlisted as volunteers in this militia convened by the Committee rather than the royally approved Assembly.”
![33 Mickey and Martha from Gender Diversity in the Who-niverse [Video] (1:01)](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/gender-dw-33-mickey-martha.jpeg)
