Thomas Lennon (10 May 1896 – 17 March 1963) was a

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

who wrote Frank Buck’s film, '' Jacaré'', and a screen adaptation of the

Maxwell Anderson James Maxwell Anderson (December 15, 1888 – February 28, 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist. Background Anderson was born on December 15, 1888, in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to ...

play ''

Knickerbocker Holiday ''Knickerbocker Holiday'' is a 1938 musical written by Kurt Weill (music) and Maxwell Anderson (book and lyrics); based loosely on Washington Irving's ''Knickerbocker's History of New York'' about life in 17th-century New Netherland (old New ...

''.

Early years

Thomas Lennon was the son of John Lennon, a wholesale grocer, born in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1847, and Mary Lennon. Thomas was a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

veteran, according to the

1930 US Census The United States census of 1930, conducted by the Census Bureau one month from April 1, 1930, determined the resident population of the United States to be 122,775,046, an increase of 13.7 percent over the 106,021,537 persons enumerated during ...

Motion pictures

In 1934 Lennon won recognition as author of ''The Laughing Journey'', a bitter and brilliant Irish novel. It was too artistic for Hollywood to regard seriously, so he continued in his job as copy editor in the

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

press office. Lennon was assigned to prepare a

Wheeler & Woolsey Wheeler & Woolsey were an American vaudeville comedy double act who performed together in comedy films from the late 1920s. The team comprised Bert Wheeler (1895–1968) of New Jersey and Robert Woolsey (1888–1938) of Illinois. Collaboration a ...

comedy but just as he was about to begin, was offered a part in

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...

Sylvia Scarlett ''Sylvia Scarlett'' is a 1935 American romantic comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, based on '' The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett'', a 1918 novel by Compton MacKenzie. Directed by George Cukor, it was notorious ...

. Lennon promptly accepted because, as he said, "actors make indecent wages." In 1937, Lennon was a writer of ''The Man Who Found Himself''. After a few more assignments Lennon moved to

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

in 1938.

Hollywood Ten

Lennon wrote two screenplays with men later part of the

Hollywood Ten The Hollywood blacklist was an entertainment industry blacklist, broader than just Hollywood, put in effect in the mid-20th century in the United States during the early years of the Cold War. The blacklist involved the practice of denying empl ...

: *''Secrets of a Nurse'' (1938) with

Lester Cole Lester Cole (June 19, 1904 – August 15, 1985) was an American screenwriter. Cole was one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of screenwriters and directors who were cited for contempt of Congress and blacklisted for their refusal to testify regarding ...

, about a nurse whose duties lead her to evidence of corruption in professional prize-fighting *''We Go Fast'' (1941) with

Adrian Scott Robert Adrian Scott (February 6, 1911 – December 25, 1972) was an American screenwriter and film producer. He was one of the Hollywood Ten and later blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses. Life and career Early life Scott was born ...

, a B-movie comedy

Work on Jacaré

Lennon was the writer of Jacaré, for which

Clyde E. Elliott Clyde Ernest Elliott (July 23, 1885 – June 12, 1959) was an American motion picture director, producer, and writer. He is best known for animal films, especially Frank Buck (animal collector), Frank Buck’s first movie, ''Bring 'Em Back A ...

, Charles E. Ford and James Dannaldson shot some 260,000 feet of film on the lower reaches of the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

in Spring 1942. The group spent three and a half months at Para, at the mouth of the Amazon, usually within a

day's journey A day's journey in pre-modern literature, including the Bible, ancient geographers and ethnographers such as Herodotus, is a measurement of distance. In the Bible, it is not as precisely defined as other Biblical measurements of distance; the dis ...

of the city, so that they could return to civilization for the night. The company's most primitive adventure occurred on

Marajó Marajó () is a large coastal island in the state of Pará, Brazil. It is the main and largest of the islands in the Marajó Archipelago. Marajó Island is separated from the mainland by Marajó Bay, Pará River, smaller rivers (especially ...

Island, at the mouth of the Amazon, where they spent four weeks. They ran out of imported food and had to subsist for five days on moldy doughnuts filled with small worms and on chickens which seemed to be 90 per cent vulture.

Later career

In 1942 Lennon wrote a play about

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and

Anne Hathaway Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Anne Hathaway, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Awar ...

, ''The Truth About Ann''.LENNON, Thomas. ''The Truth About Ann''. New York,

John Day Company The John Day Company was a New York publishing firm that specialized in illustrated fiction and current affairs books and pamphlets from 1926 to 1968. It was founded by Richard J. Walsh in 1926 and named after John Day, the Elizabethan printer. W ...

942 Year 942 ( CMXLII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – The Hungarians invade Al-Andalus (modern Spain) and besiege the fortress ...

/ref> In 1944 Lennon wrote a screen adaptation of the

play,

Family and final years

Thomas and Margaret Lennon had one daughter. Thomas Lennon died in Los Angeles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lennon, Thomas 1896 births 1963 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male screenwriters American male novelists Writers from San Francisco 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights Screenwriters from Los Angeles 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters