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Claude Binyon (October 17, 1905
Claude Binyon (October 17, 1905 Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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– February 14, 1978 Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents ac ...
) 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 ori ...
, musicals, and romances
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
.
As a Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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-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 journalism ...
for the '' Examiner'' newspaper, he became city editor of the show business trade magazine '' Variety'' 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 f ...
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 o ...
." (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''; 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, deve ...
credits included '' The Gilded Lily'' (1935), '' Sing You Sinners'' (1938), and ''Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...
'' (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'' (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
Stella or STELLA may refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media Comedy
*Stella (comedy group), a comedy troupe consisting of Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain
Characters
*Stella (given name), including a list of characters with th ...
'' (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 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, reached number 1 in the UK ...
'' (1952). He directed, but didn't write, '' Family Honeymoon'' (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 Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...
's sole venture into 3-D
3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality
* Three-dimensional space
** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data
** 3D film, a ...
, '' Here Come the Girls'' (1953).
After his death on February 14, 1978, he was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents ac ...
.
Selected filmography
* '' Cross My Heart'' (1946) * '' Mother Didn't Tell Me'' (1950)References
Further reading
* Details Binyon's career as a journalist, screenwriter, and director. * Describes the relationship of Carole Lombard and Binyon. See also .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