David Stenn
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David Stenn is an American television writer-producer, biographer, and film preservationist. His television credits range from ''
Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...
'' to ''
Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and broadcast on the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s and ...
''. He is known for his biographies of Hollywood stars
Clara Bow Clara Gordon Bow (; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the ...
and
Jean Harlow Jean Harlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter; March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937) was an American actress. Known for her portrayal of "bad girl" characters, she was the leading sex symbol of the early 1930s and one of the defining figures of the ...
.


Early life and television career

Stenn was born in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, Illinois and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree from
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
. His television career began one year later, when he became the youngest writer of the landmark NBC series ''
Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...
''. He subsequently served as a writer and story editor for the anthology series ''
Alfred Hitchcock Presents ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, aired on CBS and NBC between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers and mysteries. Between 1962 and 1965 it was ren ...
'' (1985–86). His teleplay for the made-for-TV movie '' She Was Marked for Murder'' (1988) earned him an
Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...
nomination from the
Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award ...
. Stenn also wrote the Universal feature film ''
Cool as Ice ''Cool as Ice'' is a 1991 American romantic musical comedy film directed by David Kellogg, written by David Stenn and starring rapper Vanilla Ice in his feature film debut. The plot focuses on Johnny Van Owen, a freewheeling, motorcycle-riding ...
'' (1991). Subsequent television series credits include the Fox Network's ''
21 Jump Street ''21 Jump Street'' is an American police procedural television series that aired on the Fox network and in first run syndication from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focuses on a squad of youthful-loo ...
'' (writer-producer) and ''
Beverly Hills 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to by its short title, ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling under his production company Spelling Television. The series ran fo ...
'' (writer-supervising producer and creator of the character Dylan McKay, portrayed by
Luke Perry Coy Luther "Luke" Perry III (October 11, 1966 – March 4, 2019) was an American actor. He became a teen idol for playing Dylan McKay on the Fox television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' from 1990 to 1995, and again from 1998 to 2000. He ...
); the NBC miniseries '' The Secrets of Lake Success'' (writer-executive producer); the CBS series ''
Central Park West Eighth Avenue is a major north–south avenue on the west side of Manhattan in New York City, carrying northbound traffic below 59th Street. It is one of the original avenues of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 to run the length of Manhattan, ...
'' (writer-co-executive producer); Showtime's ''
The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene Ch ...
'' (writer-co-executive producer), and the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
period gangster drama ''Boardwalk Empire'' (writer-supervising producer, consultant).


Books

Concurrently with his early television career, Stenn wrote the biographies ''Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild'' (1988) and ''Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow'' (1993), both edited by
Jacqueline Onassis Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A pop ...
at Doubleday. Widely praised for their sensitivity and depth of research, both books are considered definitive works on their subjects: ''Bombshell'' was named a ''New York Times'' "Notable Book" of the year, and ''Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild'', a best-seller, remains in print today and is considered among the most durable titles of Onassis's two-decade editorial career.


Patricia Douglas and ''Girl 27''

While researching ''Bombshell'', Stenn stumbled across a reference to a long-buried Hollywood scandal about an underage dancer whose career and life were derailed after she was brutally raped by an M-G-M sales representative at an exhibitors' convention in 1937, then stigmatized by the studio's aggressive cover-up of the crime. His pursuit of this story turned into a decade-long research project, one notable result of which was his astonishing discovery that the victim, Patricia Douglas, was still alive. He located her and persuaded her to tell her story, which he first detailed in a 2003 ''Vanity Fair'' article, "It Happened One Night...At MGM." Stenn subsequently produced a documentary film on the subject, '' Girl 27'' (2007), which incorporated footage of both the M-G-M exhibitors’ convention and of Douglas herself, who had agreed to appear on-camera for the first time shortly before her death. The film was picked up for distribution by Red Envelope Entertainment (Netflix), then Magnolia Pictures after its premiere in competition at the
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
. The revelations regarding sexual misconduct by certain powerful men in the entertainment industry that received widespread media coverage beginning in late 2017 brought renewed attention to ''Girl 27'', in recognition of its documentary evidence of the perennial existence of this systemic problem. In a ''New York Times'' op-ed piece in January 2018, Stenn made the point that "Injustice can thrive only in silence, and finally the story of Patricia Douglas and others like her now resonates in Hollywood and beyond."


Film preservation

Stenn is a passionate and generous supporter of film preservation, an activity that grew out of his discovery, while researching his Clara Bow biography, that more than two-thirds of her silent films were believed to either no longer exist, or to survive only on unstable
nitrate film Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...
stock. His search for Bow's lost or endangered films has resulted in the location and/or preservation of at least twenty-five titles, with Stenn personally funding the restoration of four Bow features: ''
Parisian Love ''Parisian Love'' is a black and white 1925 American silent romantic crime drama film directed by Louis J. Gasnier and starring Clara Bow Clara Gordon Bow (; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom ...
'' (1925), '' Mantrap'' (1926) and ''
The Saturday Night Kid ''The Saturday Night Kid'' is a 1929 American pre-Code romantic comedy film about two sisters and the man they both want. It stars Clara Bow, Jean Arthur, James Hall, and in her first credited speaking role, Jean Harlow. The film was based on ...
'' (1929) at the
UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the archiv ...
; and ''
Capital Punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
'' (1925) at the Library of Congress. Stenn has also been active in tracking down other films previously thought to have been lost, including at least one dozen short films featuring silent screen child star
Baby Peggy Diana Serra Cary (born Peggy-Jean Montgomery; October 29, 1918 – February 24, 2020), known as Baby Peggy, was an American child film actress, vaudevillian, author and silent film historian. She was the last living person with a substantial car ...
; the feature '' The Letter'' (1929), starring theatrical legend
Jeanne Eagels Jeanne Eagels (born Eugenia Eagles; June 26, 1890 – October 3, 1929) was an American stage and film actress. A former Ziegfeld Girl, Eagels went on to greater fame on Broadway and in the emerging medium of sound films. She was posthumously no ...
; and most recently, the original twelve-reel version of director
James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Fran ...
's ''
The Road Back ''The Road Back'', also translated as ''The Way Back'', (german: Der Weg zurück) is a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque, commonly regarded as a sequel to his 1929 novel ''All Quiet on the Western Front''. It was first serialized in the ...
'' (1937), which had been cut by almost thirty minutes after its original release at the behest of
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. Preserved by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
with funds from Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation, this restored version of ''The Road Back'' premiered at the Berlinale (
Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...
) in February 2016. Stenn also has served since 2009 on the Board of the Film Department at the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
(MoMA) in New York, and is also a member of the Board of Advisors of the UCLA Film and Television Archive.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stenn, David American television writers Television producers from Illinois American male writers Yale University alumni People from Chicago Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Screenwriters from Illinois American male television writers