Rita Weiman (1885–1954) was a playwright, journalist, author, and screenwriter.

Biography

Beginnings

Rita was born in Philadelphia in 1885 and raised in a Quaker community. She later recounted that she felt lucky her parents supported her ambitions to become a writer. She attended the

Friends' Central School Friends' Central School (FCS) is a Quaker school which educates students from nursery through grade 12. It is located in Wynnewood, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania in Greater Philadelphia. The school was founded in 1845 in ...

before moving to New York to pursue journalism but soon fell into playwriting.

Writing career

She later worked at ''

The New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. His ...

'' with Alice Leal Pollack, who she'd soon write a well-regarded play, ''The Co-respondent'', with. The next year, it was turned into a film by

Ralph Ince Ralph Waldo Ince (January 16, 1887 – April 10, 1937) was an American pioneer film actor, director and screenwriter whose career began near the dawn of the silent film, silent film era. Ralph Ince was the brother of John Ince (actor), John E. I ...

for

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

. A number of her stories and stage plays were turned into screenplays, including 1920's ''

Curtain A curtain is a piece of cloth Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fa ...

'', which first ran in ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

''. She met director William C. deMille in the early 1920s, and he asked her to write a love story between an older man and a younger woman. She quickly obliged, wrote the story, sold it to a magazine, and then helped turn it into the script for deMille's 1921 film '' After the Show''. With ''

The Grim Comedian ''The Grim Comedian'' is a 1921 American silent drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Phoebe Hunt, Jack Holt, and Gloria Hope.Munden p. 316 Plot As described in a film magazine, an automobile passenger tells an old man a tale, while ...

'', she spent time in California and worked closely with

Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz; yi, שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 (claimed) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor an ...

and director

Frank Lloyd Frank William George Lloyd (2 February 1886 – 10 August 1960) was a British-born American film director, actor, scriptwriter, and producer. He was among the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was its preside ...

to oversee translating her work from script to screen. She'd continue straddling the film and stage worlds through the 1930s, and afterward would continue writing magazine articles, short stories, and plays until her death in 1954.

Personal life

In 1924, weeks after writing a lengthy article about why she remained single, she married advertising man Maurice Marks, who she met years earlier when she first moved to New York.

Selected filmography

* ''

The Co-Respondent ''The Co-Respondent'' is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Ralph Ince and starring Elaine Hammerstein, Wilfred Lucas and George Anderson.Connelly p.334 It was based on a Broadway play, and was adapted again by Universal Pictures as ' ...

'' (1917) * '' Madame Peacock'' (1920) * ''

'' (1920) * ''

Footlights Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University. History Footlights' inaugural ...

'' (1921) * '' After the Show'' (1921) * ''

'' (1921) * ''

Rouged Lips ''Rouged Lips'' is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by Harold M. Shaw and starring Viola Dana, Tom Moore, and Nola Luxford. It is based in the story ''Upstage'' by Rita Weiman which appeared in ''Cosmopolitan Magazine ''Cosmopoli ...

'' (1923) * '' The Whispered Name'' (1924) * ''

The Spotlight ''The Spotlight'' was a weekly newspaper in the United States, published in Washington, D.C. from September 1975 to July 2001 by the now-defunct antisemitic Liberty Lobby. ''The Spotlight'' ran articles and editorials professing a "populist and ...

'' (1927) * ''

On Your Back ''On Your Back'' is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film directed by Guthrie McClintic and written by Howard J. Green. The film stars Irene Rich, Raymond Hackett, H. B. Warner, Wheeler Oakman, Marion Shilling and Ilka Chase. The film was releas ...

'' (1930) * '' Esclavas de la Moda'' (1931) * ''

The Witness Chair ''The Witness Chair'' is a 1936 courtroom drama film directed by George Nicholls, Jr. and starring Ann Harding and Walter Abel. Plot Late one night, secretary Paula Young (Ann Harding) leaves the office of her boss, Stanley Whittaker (Douglas ...

'' (1936) * ''

The President's Mystery ''The President's Mystery'' is a 1936 American film directed by Phil Rosen. The film is also known as ''One for All'' in the United Kingdom. Plot summary The film deals with a "problem Mr. Roosevelt submitted . . . whether it was possible ...

'' (1936)

Selected theatrical works

* ''The Acquittal'' * ''The Co-respondent'' * ''Look Upon the Prisoner'' * ''The Smart Step'' * ''The Watch Dog''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiman, Rita 1885 births 1954 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American women dramatists and playwrights American women screenwriters 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American screenwriters