Claude Binyon (October 17, 1905

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

– February 14, 1978

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-larges ...

) 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. ...

and director. His genres were

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

, and romances. As a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

-based

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

for the ''

Examiner Examiner or The Examiner may refer to: Occupations * Bank examiner, a kind of auditor * Examiner (Roman Catholicism), a type of office in the Roman Catholic Church * Examinership, a concept in Irish law * Medical examiner * Patent examiner * Tr ...

'' newspaper, he became city editor of the show business trade magazine ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' in the late 1920s. According to Robert Landry, who worked at ''Variety'' for 50 years including as managing editor, Binyon came up with the famous 1929

stock market crash A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a major cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic selling and underlying economic factors. They often foll ...

headline, "

Wall Street Lays An Egg Wall Street Lays An Egg was a headline printed in ''Variety'', a newspaper covering Hollywood and the entertainment industry, on October 30, 1929, over an article describing Black Tuesday, the height of the panic known as the Wall Street Crash of 1 ...

." (However, writer Ken Bloom ascribes the headline to ''Variety'' publisher Sime Silverman.) He switched from writing about movies for ''Variety'' to screenwriting for the Paramount Studio with 1932's ''

If I Had A Million ''If I Had a Million'' is a 1932 American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code Paramount Pictures, Paramount Studios anthology film starring Gary Cooper, George Raft, Charles Laughton, W.C. Fields, Jack Oakie, Frances Dee and Charlie Ruggles, among oth ...

''; his later

screenwriting Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, de ...

credits included '' The Gilded Lily'' (1935), '' Sing You Sinners'' (1938), and ''

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

'' (1940). Throughout the 1930s, Binyon's screenplays were often directed by

Wesley Ruggles Wesley Ruggles (June 11, 1889 – January 8, 1972) was an American film director. Life and work He was born in Los Angeles, California, younger brother of actor Charlie Ruggles. He began his career in 1915 as an actor, appearing in a do ...

, including the "classic" ''

True Confession ''True Confession'' is a 1937 American screwball comedy film directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, and John Barrymore. It was based on the 1934 play ''Mon Crime'', written by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil. In ...

'' (1938). Fourteen feature films by Ruggles had screenplays by Binyon. Claude Binyon was also the scriptwriter for the second series of the

Bing Crosby Entertains ''Bing Crosby Entertains'' was a weekly radio show which ran for two seasons during 1933-1935, and was to cement Bing Crosby's reputation as a radio star. ''Bing Crosby Entertains'' was Crosby's most important radio series to date, and it enabled ...

radio show (1934-1935). In 1948, Binyon made his directorial bow with '' The Saxon Charm'' (1948), for which he also wrote the screenplay. He went on to write and direct the low-key comedy noir '' Stella'' (1950), '' Mother Didn't Tell Me'' (1950), ''

Aaron Slick of Pun'kin Crick ''Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick'' (also known as ''Marshmallow Moon'' in the U.K. and the Philippines and ''Härkiä, heiniä ja hakkailua'' in Finland) is a 1952 Paramount Pictures hillbilly musical film directed by Claude Binyon and produced b ...

'' (1952), and the

Clifton Webb Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966), known professionally as Clifton Webb, was an American actor, singer, and dancer. He worked extensively and was known for his stage appearances in the plays of Noël Coward, i ...

farce ''

Dreamboat "Dreamboat" is a popular music song, the words and music to which were written by Jack Hoffman, (sometimes incorrectly attributed to Al Hoffman). A version produced by Walter Ridley, and performed by Alma Cogan Alma Angela Cohen Cogan ...

'' (1952). He directed, but didn't write, ''

Family Honeymoon ''Family Honeymoon'' is a 1949 domestic comedy film made by Universal International, directed by Claude Binyon, and written by Dane Lussier, based on novel by Homer Croy. It was shot in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Plot Katie Armstrong ...

'' (1949) as well as

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with ...

's sole venture into 3-D, '' Here Come the Girls'' (1953). After his death on February 14, 1978, he was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in

Selected filmography

* '' Cross My Heart'' (1946) * '' Mother Didn't Tell Me'' (1950)

References

External links

* Variety (magazine) people American male screenwriters 1905 births 1978 deaths Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Writers from Palm Springs, California Film directors from California Screenwriters from California 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-screen-writer-stub

Selected filmography

References

Further reading

External links