Rita Weiman (1885–1954) was a playwright, journalist, author, and screenwriter.

Biography

Beginnings

Rita was born in Philadelphia in 1885 and raised in a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

community. She later recounted that she felt lucky her parents supported her ambitions to become a writer. She attended the Friends' Central School before moving to New York to pursue journalism but soon fell into playwriting.

Writing career

She later worked at '' The New York Herald'' with

Alice Leal Pollack Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

, who she'd soon write a well-regarded play, ''The Co-respondent'', with. The next year, it was turned into a film by

Ralph Ince Ralph Waldo Ince (January 16, 1887 – April 10, 1937) was an American pioneer film actor, director and screenwriter whose career began near the dawn of the silent film, silent film era. Ralph Ince was the brother of John Ince (actor), John E. I ...

for Universal. A number of her stories and stage plays were turned into screenplays, including 1920's ''

Curtain A curtain is a piece of cloth or other material intended to block or obscure light, air drafts, or (in the case of a shower curtain) water. Curtains are often hung on the inside of a building's windows to block the passage of light. For instan ...

'', which first ran in ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

''. She met director William C. deMille in the early 1920s, and he asked her to write a love story between an older man and a younger woman. She quickly obliged, wrote the story, sold it to a magazine, and then helped turn it into the script for deMille's 1921 film '' After the Show''. With '' The Grim Comedian'', she spent time in California and worked closely with

Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (; born Szmuel Gelbfisz; ; July 1879 (most likely; claimed to be August 27, 1882) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer and pioneer in the American film industry, who produce ...

and director

Frank Lloyd Frank William George Lloyd (2 February 1886 – 10 August 1960) was a Scottish-American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He was among the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was its president from ...

to oversee translating her work from script to screen. She'd continue straddling the film and stage worlds through the 1930s, and afterward would continue writing magazine articles, short stories, and plays until her death in 1954.

Personal life

In 1924, weeks after writing a lengthy article about why she remained single, she married advertising man Maurice Marks, who she met years earlier when she first moved to New York.

Selected filmography

* '' The Co-Respondent'' (1917) * '' Madame Peacock'' (1920) Based on Weimar's novel ''Footlights'' * ''

'' (1920) * ''

Footlights The Cambridge Footlights, commonly referred to simply as Footlights, is a student sketch comedy troupe located in Cambridge, England. Footlights was founded in 1883, and is one of Britain's oldest student sketch comedy troupes. The comedy so ...

'' (1921) * '' After the Show'' (1921) * '' The Grim Comedian'' (1921) * ''

Rouged Lips ''Rouged Lips'' is a 1923 American silent film, silent drama film directed by Harold M. Shaw and starring Viola Dana, Tom Moore (actor), Tom Moore, and Nola Luxford. It is based in the story ''Upstage'' by Rita Weiman which appeared in ''Cosmopol ...

'' (1923) * '' The Whispered Name'' (1924) * '' The Spotlight'' (1927) * ''

On Your Back ''On Your Back'' is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film directed by Guthrie McClintic and written by Howard J. Green. The film stars Irene Rich, Raymond Hackett, H. B. Warner, Wheeler Oakman, Marion Shilling and Ilka Chase. The film was re ...

'' (1930) * '' Esclavas de la Moda'' (1931) * '' The Witness Chair'' (1936) * '' The President's Mystery'' (1936)

Selected theatrical works

* ''The Acquittal'' * ''The Co-respondent'' * ''Look Upon the Prisoner'' * ''The Smart Step'' * ''The Watch Dog''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiman, Rita 1885 births 1954 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American women dramatists and playwrights American women screenwriters 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American screenwriters