Frances Guihan (September 22, 1890 – December 21, 1951) was an American
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.
...
. She worked on more than 40 films during her career, including a number of
B westerns
The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
.
Biography
Beginnings
Frances was born in
East St. Louis, Illinois, the youngest daughter of Dennis Guihan and Catherine Fagan. She began her career working in a St. Louis office for $12 a week, writing scenarios at night (most of which were rejected).
Hollywood career
Her scenarios eventually attracted notice from people in high places, and soon she was in Hollywood commanding $70,000 a year.
In those early years, she was known for writing (and, in one case, directing) scenarios for Japanese actor
Sessue Hayakawa
, known professionally as , was a Japanese actor and a matinée idol. He was a popular star in Hollywood during the silent film era of the 1910s and early 1920s. Hayakawa was the first actor of Asian descent to achieve stardom as a leading man ...
. She then transitioned into writing for actress and producer
Ruth Roland
Ruth Roland (August 26, 1892 – September 22, 1937) was an American stage and film actress and film producer.
Early life and career
Roland was born in San Francisco, California to Elizabeth Lillian Hauser and Jack Roland. Her father managed a t ...
.
Over the course of her career, she also wrote at Balboa, Metro, and Haworth.
She'd later work extensively on the
Buck Jones
Buck Jones (born Charles Frederick Gebhart; December 12, 1891 – November 30, 1942) was an American actor, known for his work in many popular Western movies. In his early film appearances, he was credited as Charles Jones.
Early life, milit ...
Westerns.
Personal life
In 1919, she married
Ivan Kahn
Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...
, an actor, businessman, scenario writer, and amateur boxer. The pair met while Kahn started writing comedies for Pathe and Kalem.
After they divorced, she'd remarry.
She also owned an anti-gray hair tonic company she purchased from a friend. "You'd be surprised how many stars use the stuff," she'd later tell a reporter (although she declined to name names).
Selected filmography
* ''
A Heart in Pawn
''A Heart in Pawn'' is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by William Worthington. Sessue Hayakawa's Haworth Pictures Corporation produced the film and Worthington played the lead role along with Vola Vale and his wife Tsuru Aoki.
Cast
...
'' (1919)
* ''
The Courageous Coward
''The Courageous Coward'' is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by William Worthington and featuring Sessue Hayakawa and Tsuru Aoki in lead roles. It is presumed to be a lost film, with only reel 5 preserved at the EYE Film Institute ...
'' (1919)
* ''
The Cancelled Debt'' (1927)
* ''
She's My Baby'' (1927)
* ''
Thumbs Down'' (1927)
* ''
Closed Gates'' (1927)
* ''
In the First Degree
''In the First Degree'' is a 1927 American silent melodrama film, directed by Phil Rosen. It stars Alice Calhoun, Bryant Washburn, and Gayne Whitman, and was released on April 15, 1927.
Cast
* Alice Calhoun as Barbara Hurd
*Bryant Washburn a ...
'' (1927)
* ''
Face Value
The face value, sometimes called nominal value, is the value of a coin, bond, stamp or paper money as printed on the coin, stamp or bill itself by the issuing authority.
The face value of coins, stamps, or bill is usually its legal value. Ho ...
'' (1927)
* ''
Stranded'' (1927)
* ''
Marry the Girl'' (1928)
* ''
A Million for Love'' (1928)
* ''
Burning Up Broadway'' (1928)
* ''
Bachelor's Paradise'' (1928)
* ''
Midstream
The petroleum industry, oil and gas industry is usually divided into three major components: upstream (petroleum industry), upstream, midstream and downstream (petroleum industry), downstream. The midstream sector involves the transportation (by Oi ...
'' (1929)
* ''
Cock o' the Walk'' (1930)
* ''
Bulldog Courage'' (1935)
* ''
Empty Saddles
''Empty Saddles'' is a 1936 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander. It is a Buck Jones B Western. (''Empty Saddles'' is also the title of a 1962 Burt Arthur mystery novel.)
Plot
Cast
* Buck Jones as Buck Devlin
* Louise Brooks a ...
'' (1936)
* ''
The Boss Rider of Gun Creek'' (1936)
* ''
The Cowboy Star
''The Cowboy Star'' is a 1936 American Western film directed by David Selman and starring Charles Starrett.
Plot
Spencer Yorke is a star of western films, but he has grown tired of the unreality of the movies in which he appears. He decides he ...
'' (1936)
* ''
Westbound Mail
''Westbound Mail'' is a 1937 American Western film directed by Folmar Blangsted and starring Charles Starrett, Rosalind Keith and Edward Keane.Pitts p.390
Cast
* Charles Starrett as Jim 'Skinner' Bradley
* Rosalind Keith as Marion Saunder ...
'' (1937)
* ''
Law for Tombstone'' (1937)
*''
Frontier Scout'' (1938)
References
Bibliography
* Pitts, Michael R. ''Western Movies: A Guide to 5,105 Feature Films''. McFarland, 2012.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guihan, Frances
1890 births
1951 deaths
American women screenwriters
20th-century American women writers
20th-century American screenwriters