John Wexley (1907 – February 4, 1985) was an American writer, best known for his play '' The Last Mile''.

Early life and career

Wexley was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. His early career involved acting as part of

Eva Le Gallienne Eva Le Gallienne (January 11, 1899 – June 3, 1991) was a British-born American stage actress, producer, director, translator, and author. A Broadway theatre, Broadway star by age 21, in 1926 she left Broadway behind to found the Fourteenth St ...

Civic Repertory Theatre The Fourteenth Street Theatre was a theatre located at 107 West 14th Street just west of Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City.Berg, J.C. (9 January 2011)The Fourteenth Street Theater, ''nycvintageimages.com'' History It was designed by A ...

Theatre

In 1930, Wexley wrote the play '' The Last Mile'', one of the most prominent "prison dramas" of the 1930s.

Brooks Atkinson Justin Brooks Atkinson (November 28, 1894 – January 14, 1984) was an American theater critic. He worked for ''The New York Times'' from 1922 to 1960. In his obituary, the ''Times'' called him "the theater's most influential reviewer of his ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called it "a taut, searing drama" and "an evening of nerve-racking tension in the theatre". A

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production was produced by Lillian Albertson at the

Majestic Theatre Majestic Theatre or Majestic Theater may refer to: Australia * Majestic Theatre, Adelaide, former name of a theatre in King William Street, Adelaide, built 1916, now demolished *Majestic Theatre, Launceston, a former cinema in Tasmania designed by ...

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, and it was adapted for the screen in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

and

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

. In 1934, he wrote another play titled '' They Shall Not Die'', a dramatization of the Scottsboro case and trials. First performed at the

Royale Theatre The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (formerly the Royale Theatre and the John Golden Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 242 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened ...

in March 1934, Brooks Atkinson described it as "a play of terrifying and courageous bluntness of statement". A film adaptation was planned in 1950 by Charles K. Feldman, with Wexley having written the screenplay. In 1937, his play ''Steel'' was performed at the

Labor Stage Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

by members of the

International Ladies Garment Workers Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) was a labor union for employees in the women's clothing industry in the United States. It was one of the largest unions in the country, one of the first to have a primarily female membersh ...

. It had a successful run in New York as well as national tours. In 1945, Wexley wrote ''Tears Without Laughter'', which focuses on

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

plots to establish cartels in the United States. It was "aimed at" husband-wife duo

Alfred Lunt Alfred David Lunt (August 12, 1892 – August 3, 1977) was an American actor and director, best known for his long stage partnership with his wife, Lynn Fontanne, from the 1920s to 1960, co-starring in Broadway theatre, Broadway and West End thea ...

and

Lynn Fontanne Lynn Fontanne (; 6 December 1887 – 30 July 1983) was an English actress. After early success in supporting roles in the West End theatre, West End, she met the American actor Alfred Lunt, whom she married in 1922 and with whom she co-starred i ...

. In 1946, Wexley's play ''Carrot and Club'' was performed by the

Theatre Guild The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of ...

Film

During the 1930s and 1940s, he wrote several screenplays. These included ''

Angels with Dirty Faces ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' is a 1938 American crime drama film directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Brothers. It stars James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, The Dead End Kids, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, and George Bancroft. The screenplay was wr ...

'' in 1938, the 1939 films ''

Confessions of a Nazi Spy ''Confessions of a Nazi Spy'' is a 1939 American spy political thriller film directed by Anatole Litvak for Warner Bros. It was the first explicitly anti-Nazi film to be produced by a major Hollywood studio, being released in May 1939, four ...

'' and '' The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse'', the 1943 film ''

Hangmen Also Die! ''Hangmen Also Die!'' is a 1943 war film directed by the Austrian director Fritz Lang and written by John Wexley from a story by Bertolt Brecht (credited as Bert Brecht) and Lang. The film stars Brian Donlevy, with Walter Brennan, Anna Lee, and ...

'', and the 1947 film '' The Long Night''. In 1945, he wrote the story for '' Cornered''. In 1943, Wexley wrote an original screenplay for a film titled ''Malta''. It was due to be produced by

Joe Pasternak Joseph Herman Pasternak (born József Paszternák; September 19, 1901 – September 13, 1991) was a Hungarian-American film producer in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood Musical film, "Golden Age" of musicals ...

and distributed by

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 ...

Philip Dorn Philip Dorn (born Hein van der Niet; 30 September 1901 – 9 May 1975), sometimes billed as Frits van Dongen (his screen name for German films prior to World War II), was a Dutch American actor who had a career in Hollywood. He was best kno ...

and Donna Reed were cast to star in the film. In the early 1940s, Wexley had written a screenplay about

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Mark W. Clark Mark Wayne Clark (1 May 1896 – 17 April 1984) was a United States Army officer who fought in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. He was the youngest four-star general in the U.S. Army during World War II. During World War I, he wa ...

. The film, titled ''Advance Agent to Africa'', was warned against by the

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and War Department, apparently due to its accurate descriptions of army tactics. It was cancelled by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

in 1943. Wexley also worked on the script of '' Song of Russia'' for four weeks towards the end of the project.

Other work

In 1955, he published a book about

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (born Greenglass; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were an American married couple who were convicted of First Chief Directorate, spying for the Soviet Union, including ...

titled ''The Judgment of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg''. He continued to write and lecture. Wexley also served in the military, but was discharged some time prior to December 1945.

Communist links

Wexley was named as a

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

sympathiser multiple times throughout the 1950s in front of the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

(HUAC). On April 25, 1951,

Edward Dmytryk Edward Dmytryk (September 4, 1908 – July 1, 1999) was a Canadian-born American film director and editor. He was known for his 1940s films noir, noir films and received an Academy Award for Best Director, Oscar nomination for Best Director for ...

named him as one of several Hollywood stars who were members of the American Communist Party. In March 1953, film writer David A. Lang testified that Wexley was one of several writers who had attended communist meetings. In May 1953, he was one of 57 alleged communists named by

Robert Rossen Robert Rossen (March 16, 1908 – February 18, 1966) was an American screenwriter, film director, and producer whose film career spanned almost three decades. His 1949 film '' All the King's Men'' won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor and B ...

in front of the HUAC. Some of his works had previously been accused of being pro-communist: the theatre reviewer of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

's magazine ''

The Crisis ''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly M ...

'' referred to his play ''They Shall Not Die'' as "propaganda for the Communist party transferred to the stage". According to Graham Petrie, Wexley was a confirmed member of the American Communist Party.

Personal life

After retiring, Wexley moved to

Doylestown, Pennsylvania Doylestown is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the borough population was 8,300. Doylestown is located northwest of Trent ...

. He was married to a woman named Katharine “Cookie” Wexley born in Vienna Austria on January 24, 1905. She painted at least one oil painting in the 1960’s of the countryside in Ottsville Pennsylvania. They had one child, a daughter named Thea. Wexley died of a heart attack on February 4, 1985, at the age of 77.

Published works

Plays

*'' The Last Mile'' (1930) *'' They Shall Not Die'' (1934) *''Steel'' () *''Tears Without Laughter'' (1945) *''Carrot and Club'' ()

Books

*''The Judgment of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg'' (1955)

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wexley, John 1907 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American screenwriters Screenwriters from New York City 20th-century American male writers American male dramatists and playwrights American male screenwriters