Florence Ryerson (September 20, 1892 – June 8, 1965) was an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

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

co-author Collaborative writing, or collabwriting is a method of group work that takes place in the workplace and in the classroom. Researchers expand the idea of collaborative writing beyond groups working together to complete a writing task. Collaboration ...

of the script for the 1939 film ''The Wizard of Oz''.'' Between 1915 and 1927 she published more than 30 short stories and then joined

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 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 (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

in 1926 to work on silent film scripts. In 1930 and 1933 she and her husband wrote two of the earliest novels about the teenage years for girls. The novels were based on a short story series Ryerson had started in 1925. She continued to write for most of her life, writing plays for Broadway in the 1940s.

Life and career

Early years

Florence Ryerson was born in

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 ...

. She was the daughter of Charles Dwight Willard and Mary McGregor. Charles Dwight Willard (1860-1914), journalist and political reformer, was an 1883 graduate of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, worked on the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' and ''

Los Angeles Herald The ''Los Angeles Herald'' or the ''Evening Herald'' was a newspaper published in Los Angeles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1873 by Charles A. Storke, the newspaper was acquired by William Randolph Hearst in 1931. It ...

'', and was author of ''The Fall of Ulysses - An Elephant Story'' (1912), ''The Herald's History of Los Angeles City'' (1901), and other books. Florence was educated at

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. S ...

and Radcliffe. In 1920 Florence and her first husband, Harold Swayne Ryerson, worked in the manufacture of ladies' clothes. Florence was also a She attended

George Pierce Baker George Pierce Baker (April 4, 1866 – January 6, 1935) was a professor of English at Harvard and Yale and author of ''Dramatic Technique'', a codification of the principles of drama. Biography Baker graduated in the Harvard College class of 1887 ...

’s famous “47 Workshop” at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

, as did her second husband, Colin Campbell Clements.

Magazine writer

Ryerson published more than 30 short stories in magazines between 1915 and the early 1930s. Her writing appeared in ''

Munsey's Magazine ''Munsey's Weekly'', later known as ''Munsey's Magazine'', was a 36-page quarto American magazine founded by Frank A. Munsey in 1889 and edited by John Kendrick Bangs. Frank Munsey aimed to publish "a magazine of the people and for the people, w ...

The American Magazine ''The American Magazine'' was a periodical publication founded in June 1906, a continuation of failed publications purchased a few years earlier from publishing mogul Miriam Leslie. It succeeded ''Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly'' (1876–1904), ' ...

, Woman's World,

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In ...

'', and numerous other magazines.

Screenwriter

In 1926, Florence Ryerson joined

to work on silent film scripts, among them '' Adam and Evil'' and ''

Wickedness Preferred ''Wickedness Preferred'' is a lost 1928 American silent comedy film, directed by Hobart Henley, and written by Colin Clements, Robert E. Hopkins and Florence Ryerson. The film stars Lew Cody, Aileen Pringle, Mary McAllister, Bert Roach, and ...

''. Later sound films she wrote include the

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, co ...

and

Philo Vance Philo Vance is a fictional amateur detective originally featured in 12 crime novels by S. S. Van Dine in the 1920s and 1930s. During that time, Vance was immensely popular in books, films, and radio. He was portrayed as a stylish—even foppish� ...

series. She was co-author of the screenplay for ''The Wizard of Oz'', along with frequent collaborator

Edgar Allan Woolf Edgar Allan Woolf (April 25, 1881 – December 9, 1943) was an American lyricist, playwright, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-author of the script for the 1939 film '' The Wizard of Oz''. Early years and education Woolf was the son ...

and British author

Noel Langley Noel Langley (25 December 1911 – 4 November 1980) was a South African-born (later naturalised American) novelist, playwright, screenwriter and director. He wrote the screenplay which formed the basis for the 1939 film '' The Wizard of Oz'' an ...

. Both Ryerson and Woolf created the Wizard's Kansas counterpart, Professor Marvel.

Novelist

With Colin Clements, her second husband, Ryerson wrote two of the earliest novels featuring teenage girlhood: ''This Awful Age'' (1930) and ''Mild Oats'' (1933), both based on a short story series Ryerson had started in 1925 in ''Woman’s World'' magazine. Both books were published by D. Appleton. The couple adapted these stories, first as a play, ''June Mad'' (1939), which was then adapted as a film,

Her First Beau ''Her First Beau'' is a 1941 comedy-drama directed by Theodore Reed and starring Jane Withers and Jackie Cooper. The film was produced by Columbia Pictures, and the screenplay was written by Gladys Lehman and Karen DeWolf based on the 1939 pla ...

(1941). Actors from the film performed the story on the Lux Radio Theatre on October 27, 1941.

Shadow Ranch

In the 1930s, Ryerson and Clements acquired the 19th century Workman Ranch in

Canoga Park Canoga Park is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Before the Mexican–American War, the district was part of a rancho, and after the American victory it was converted into wheat farms and ...

, in the western

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

of Los Angeles. She renamed the estate

Shadow Ranch Shadow Ranch is a historic ranch house, built from 1869-1872 using adobe and redwood lumber, on the original Workman Ranch in the western San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. For much of the 20th century it was in Canoga Park, but it i ...

for the amount of shade provided by the numerous large Blue Gum (''Eucalyptus globulus'') eucalyptus trees, originally planted in the 1860s during the Workman era. They restored and expanded the historic

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for '' mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of ...

and redwood ranch house, and lived there through the 1940s. Ryerson co-wrote ''The Wizard of Oz''

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, f ...

while living there.

Playwright and novelist

Ryerson wrote short stories, plays, and mystery novels with husband Colin Clements. For

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in the 1940s they wrote ''Glamour Preferred'', ''Harriet'', and ''Strange Bedfellows''. In ''Harriet'',

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...

portrayed

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel '' Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the har ...

Later years

Colin Clements died in 1948. Ryerson retired to

Hampton Falls, New Hampshire Hampton Falls (formerly the "Third Parish and Hampton Falls") is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,403 at the 2020 census. History The land of Hampton Falls was first settled by Europeans in 1638 ...

, in 1951, where she continued to write plays, some for the local high school. Florence Ryerson Clements died in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

cardiac insufficiency Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

in 1965.Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974 Record for Florence Ryerson Clements

References

External links

Florence Ryerson and Colin Clements papers, 1909-1965
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryerson, Florence 1892 births 1965 deaths Screenwriters from California 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Writers from Los Angeles People from the San Fernando Valley American women screenwriters 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American screenwriters Writers from Glendale, California American short story writers American women short story writers Stanford University alumni Radcliffe College alumni