Mary C. McCall Jr.

The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Most Powerful Screenwriter

J. E. Smyth

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Hardback

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English

Columbia University Press
03 September 2024

Film theory & criticism; Biography: arts & entertainment; Screenwriting techniques; Social & cultural history; Gender studies: women

"A screenwriter, novelist, labor leader, Hollywood insider, and feminist, Mary C. McCall Jr. was one of the film industry's most powerful figures in the 1940s and early 1950s. She was elected the first woman president of the Screen Writers Guild after leading the fight to unionize the industry's writers and secured the first contract guaranteeing a minimum wage, credit protection, and pay raises. Her advocacy was not welcomed by all: To screenwriters McCall was an ""avenging goddess,"" but to studio heads she was, in the words of one Hollywood executive, ""the meanest bitch in town."" And after a clash with the mogul Howard Hughes in the blacklist-era 1950s, she disappeared from the pages of Hollywood history.

J. E. Smyth tells McCall's remarkable story for the first time, putting the spotlight on her trailblazing career and crucial influence. She explores McCall's life and work, from her friendships with stars such as Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and James Cagney to her authorship of the hit Maisie series about a working-class showgirl's adventures. Analyzing McCall's deft political maneuvering, Smyth offers new insight on screenwriters' struggle for equality and recognition. She also examines why McCall's legacy is unrecognized, showing how the Hollywood blacklist and entrenched sexism obscured her accomplishments. Colorful and compelling, this biography provides a powerful account of how one extraordinary woman shaped Golden Age Hollywood."

By: J. E. Smyth
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780231215275
ISBN 10: 0231215274
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 03 September 2024
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction: 1943—the Turning Point 1. Mary Jr. 2. The Pirate 3. It’s Tough Being Famous 4. A Second Chance 5. Bending the Codes 6. Breaking the Rules 7. Independence 8. The Invention of Maisie 9. Golden Girls and Brass Rings 10. A President at War 11. A Woman in the Establishment 12. The Party Is Over 13. Scarlet Woman 14. Smaller Screens 15. The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

J. E. Smyth is professor of history at the University of Warwick. She is the author or editor of several books, including Nobody’s Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood (2018) and a new edition of Jane Allen’s novel I Lost My Girlish Laughter (2019). In 2021, she was named an Academy Film Scholar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Reviews for Mary C. McCall Jr.: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Most Powerful Screenwriter

In this brilliantly written book, Smyth restores Mary C. McCall Jr. to a male-dominated history of film from which she is glaringly absent. With encyclopedic knowledge and lively and engaging prose, Smyth crafts a thorough-going portrait of McCall's life and oeuvre, documenting the challenges that women screenwriters and union leaders faced before the backlash of the 1950s ended so many of their careers. -- Carol Stabile, author of <i>The Broadcast 41: Women and the Anti-Communist Blacklist</i>