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

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

co-author Collaborative writing is a procedure in which two or more persons work together on a text of some kind (e.g., academic papers, reports, creative writing, projects, and business proposals). It is often the norm, rather than the exception, in many ac ...

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, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

in 1926 to work on silent film scripts. In 1930 and 1933 she and her husband wrote two of the earliest books about teenage girlhood. The books 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 located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

. 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 The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, worked on the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' and '' Los Angeles Herald'', 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 Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

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’s famous “47 Workshop” at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, 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 Magazine'' was an American magazine founded by Frank Munsey in 1889 as ''Munsey's Weekly'', a humor magazine edited by John Kendrick Bangs. It was unsuccessful, and by late 1891 had lost $100,000 ($ in ). Munsey converted it into ...

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 that ran until 2016 and was 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 centur ...

'', and numerous other magazines.

Screenwriter

In 1926, Florence Ryerson joined

to work on silent film scripts, among them '' Adam and Evil'' and '' Wickedness Preferred''. Later sound films she wrote include the

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu ( zh, t=傅滿洲/福滿洲, p=Fú Mǎnzhōu) 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 f ...

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

Author

With Colin Clements, her second husband, Ryerson wrote two of the earliest books 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 (1941). Actors from the film performed the story on the Lux Radio Theatre on October 27, 1941. Ryerson wrote other short stories and mystery novels with Clements.

Shadow Ranch

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

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

of Los Angeles. She renamed the estate Shadow Ranch 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 (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) 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 use ...

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

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

while living there.

Playwright

In addition to ''June Mad'', Ryerson and Clements wrote several Broadway plays in the 1940s, including ''Glamour Preferred'', ''Harriet'', and ''Strange Bedfellows''. In '' Harriet'',

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur (; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress. Often referred to as the "First Lady of American Theatre", she was the second person and first woman to win EGOT, the EGOT (an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and ...

portrayed

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (185 ...

Later years

Colin Clements died in 1948. Ryerson retired to Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, in 1951, where she continued to write plays, some for the local high school. Florence Ryerson Clements died in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

of cardiac insufficiency 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, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

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