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Marian Spitzer (sometimes credited under her married name, Marian Spitzer Thompson) was an American screenwriter, journalist, playwright, and actress.


Biography

Spitzer was born in Manhattan to Lewis Spitzer and Adaline Wolfsheim. She and her younger sister, Janet, were raised in New York City. After graduating from New York University in 1918, she embarked on a career as a journalist, working at newspapers like ''The Evening Globe''. She was fired from her ''Globe'' job after cutting work to spend time with her future husband, reporter (and future film producer)
Harlan Thompson Harlan Thompson (24 September 1890 – 29 October 1966) was an American theatre director, screenwriter, lyricist, film director, and film and television producer. He wrote the Broadway hit '' Little Jessie James'' (1923–24), and several oth ...
. She then transitioned into working as a publicity agent at the Palace Theatre while also writing short stories. She married Thompson in 1925. She and Thompson wrote a number of plays and films together, and Thompson also had a brief flirtation with acting when she was cast in a role in ''
Thru Different Eyes ''Thru Different Eyes'' is a 1942 American pre-Code drama film directed by Thomas Z. Loring and written by Samuel G. Engel. The film stars Frank Craven, Mary Howard, June Walker, Donald Woods, Vivian Blaine and George Holmes. The film was rel ...
''. The pair moved to Hollywood for a few years to write for the silver screen, and Marian took on a role as a story editor, producer's assistant, and script doctor at Paramount while writing novels and short stories on the side. Later in life, she wrote a book titled ''I Took It Lying Down'' about her experience suffering from tuberculosis, in addition to working for the New York City Office of Cultural Affairs in
Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
. In 1940, she was named as someone with connections to the
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
.


Selected works

;Film: * '' Shake Hands with the Devil'' (1959) * ''
Look for the Silver Lining "Look for the Silver Lining" is a 1919 popular song with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by B.G. DeSylva. Background The song was written in 1919 for the unsuccessful musical ''Zip, Goes a Million''. In 1920, it was publishedSuskin, Steven ...
'' (1949) * '' The Dolly Sisters'' (1945) * ''
Hangover Square ''Hangover Square'' is a 1941 novel by English playwright and novelist Patrick Hamilton. It follows the schizophrenic alcoholic George Harvey Bone and his tortured love for Netta Longdon in the months leading up to the Second World War. Subtit ...
'' (1945) ;Literature: * ''The Palace'' (1969) * ''I Took It Lying Down'' (1951) * ''A Hungry Young Lady'' (1930) * ''Who Would Be Free'' (1924)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spitzer, Marian New York University alumni Screenwriters from New York (state) American women screenwriters 1899 births 1983 deaths 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American screenwriters