Dorothy Arzner
Encyclopedia
Dorothy Arzner was an American
film director
. Her directorial career in feature films spanned from the late 1920s into the early 1940s, a time period in which there were very few—if any—other women working in the field.
, Arzner grew up in Los Angeles
, where her father owned a restaurant frequented by many Hollywood celebrities. After finishing high school, she enrolled at the University of Southern California
with hopes of becoming a doctor. During World War I
, she left school to work overseas in the ambulance corps. By the time the war ended, she decided against returning to her medical studies and, after a visit to a movie studio
, decided to pursue a career as a film director.
Through connections with director William C. DeMille
, Dorothy got a job at Paramount Pictures
. She started out as a stenographer. She moved on to be a script writer, was promoted to film editor within six months and quickly mastered the job. Her first assignment as an editor was in 1922 for the renowned classic Blood and Sand, starring Rudolph Valentino
. She was soon receiving accolades for the high quality of her work.
Impressed by her technique, director James Cruze
employed her as a writer and editor for several of his films. Arzner had achieved a great deal of clout through this, along with her work on over fifty other films at Paramount. She eventually threatened to move to rival Columbia Studios unless given a directorial position. Paramount conceded in 1927, putting her in charge of the film Fashions for Women, which became a financial success.
However, Arzner faced significant hurdles to fully capitalize on her skills and talents. Viewing a masculine appearance as one to be taken more seriously, she often dressed in men's suits and ties, although always in a skirt rather than pants. Joan Crawford
once said, "I think all my directors fell in love with me; I know Dorothy Arzner did!"
At Paramount, Arzner directed Clara Bow
's first talkie, The Wild Party
. To allow Bow to move freely on the set, Arzner had technicians rig a microphone onto a fishing rod, essentially creating the first boom mike.The Wild Party was a success with critics and was the 3rd top-grossing film of 1929. The film, set in a women's college, introduced some of the apparent lesbian undertones and themes often cited in Arzner's work. Her films of the following three years were strong examples of Hollywood before the Production Code
. These films featured aggressive, free-spirited and independent women.
She left Paramount in 1932 to begin work as an independent director for several of the studios. The projects she helmed during this period are her best known, with the films launching the careers of many actresses, most notably Katharine Hepburn
, Rosalind Russell
, Sylvia Sidney
and Lucille Ball
. In 1936, Arzner became the first woman to join the newly formed Directors Guild of America
.
For reasons never fully disclosed, Arzner stopped directing feature-length films in 1943. She continued to work in the following years, directing television commercials and Army training films. She also produced plays and, in the 1960s and 1970s, worked as a professor at the UCLA film school, teaching screenwriting and directing until her death in 1979.
Arzner died, aged 82, in La Quinta, California
. She had been linked romantically with a number of actresses, but lived much of her life with her companion, choreographer Marion Morgan. For her achievements in the field of motion pictures, Arzner was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 1500 Vine Street
.
fired her over a kiss scene between Merle Oberon
and fictitious actor Rose Lindstrom (in fact the name of a character played by Isobel Elsom
in Arzner's last film, First Comes Courage, in which Oberon starred) in a never completed final film. It also depicted Arzner and Oberon as lovers, and portrayed Arzner as a "typical" director who wants to "schtup" her leading lady. The play is told in a prologue, four acts, and an epilogue in the form of a post-show interview that contains actual quotations from Arzner. The implication is that First Comes Courage, while never actually named in the film, was taken out of Arzner's hands and men added to the picture (the play depicts the film, which also starred Brian Aherne
, Carl Esmond
, and Fritz Leiber, Sr.
, being made as a war film with no men) against her wishes.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. Her directorial career in feature films spanned from the late 1920s into the early 1940s, a time period in which there were very few—if any—other women working in the field.
Biography
Born in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, Arzner grew up in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, where her father owned a restaurant frequented by many Hollywood celebrities. After finishing high school, she enrolled at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
with hopes of becoming a doctor. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, she left school to work overseas in the ambulance corps. By the time the war ended, she decided against returning to her medical studies and, after a visit to a movie studio
Movie studio
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...
, decided to pursue a career as a film director.
Through connections with director William C. DeMille
William C. DeMille
Willam C. deMille was an American screenwriter and film director from the silent movie era through the early 1930s. He was also a noted playwright prior to moving into film. Once he was established in film he specialized in adapting Broadway plays into silent films...
, Dorothy got a job at Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. She started out as a stenographer. She moved on to be a script writer, was promoted to film editor within six months and quickly mastered the job. Her first assignment as an editor was in 1922 for the renowned classic Blood and Sand, starring Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
. She was soon receiving accolades for the high quality of her work.
Impressed by her technique, director James Cruze
James Cruze
James Cruze was a silent film actor and film director.-Life:Cruze was born as Jens Vera Cruz Bosen. The Vera Cruz middle name came from the battle of Vera Cruz. He was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but did not practice the religion after his teenage years...
employed her as a writer and editor for several of his films. Arzner had achieved a great deal of clout through this, along with her work on over fifty other films at Paramount. She eventually threatened to move to rival Columbia Studios unless given a directorial position. Paramount conceded in 1927, putting her in charge of the film Fashions for Women, which became a financial success.
However, Arzner faced significant hurdles to fully capitalize on her skills and talents. Viewing a masculine appearance as one to be taken more seriously, she often dressed in men's suits and ties, although always in a skirt rather than pants. Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
once said, "I think all my directors fell in love with me; I know Dorothy Arzner did!"
At Paramount, Arzner directed Clara Bow
Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...
's first talkie, The Wild Party
The Wild Party (1929 film)
The Wild Party is a Pre-Code film directed by Dorothy Arzner, released by Paramount Pictures, and known as Clara Bow's first talkie.-Plot:...
. To allow Bow to move freely on the set, Arzner had technicians rig a microphone onto a fishing rod, essentially creating the first boom mike.The Wild Party was a success with critics and was the 3rd top-grossing film of 1929. The film, set in a women's college, introduced some of the apparent lesbian undertones and themes often cited in Arzner's work. Her films of the following three years were strong examples of Hollywood before the Production Code
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
. These films featured aggressive, free-spirited and independent women.
She left Paramount in 1932 to begin work as an independent director for several of the studios. The projects she helmed during this period are her best known, with the films launching the careers of many actresses, most notably Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
, Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...
, Sylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s appearing in numerous crime dramas.-Early life:...
and Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
. In 1936, Arzner became the first woman to join the newly formed Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
.
For reasons never fully disclosed, Arzner stopped directing feature-length films in 1943. She continued to work in the following years, directing television commercials and Army training films. She also produced plays and, in the 1960s and 1970s, worked as a professor at the UCLA film school, teaching screenwriting and directing until her death in 1979.
Arzner died, aged 82, in La Quinta, California
La Quinta, California
La Quinta is a resort city in Riverside County, California, USA, specifically in the Coachella Valley between Indian Wells and Indio. The population was 37,467 at the 2010 census, up from 23,694 at the 2000 census. The Robb Report credits La Quinta as the nation's leading golf destination...
. She had been linked romantically with a number of actresses, but lived much of her life with her companion, choreographer Marion Morgan. For her achievements in the field of motion pictures, Arzner was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 1500 Vine Street
Vine Street
Vine is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that runs north-south from Melrose Avenue up past Hollywood Boulevard. The intersection of Hollywood and Vine was once a symbol of Hollywood itself...
.
In fiction
R.M. Vaughan's 2000 play, Camera, Woman depicts the last day of Dorothy Arzner's career. According to the play, Harry CohnHarry Cohn
Harry Cohn was the American president and production director of Columbia Pictures.-Career:Cohn was born to a working-class German-Jewish family in New York City. In later years, he appears to have disparaged his heritage...
fired her over a kiss scene between Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon was an Indian-born British actress best known for her screen performances in The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Cowboy and the Lady . She began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII . She travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel...
and fictitious actor Rose Lindstrom (in fact the name of a character played by Isobel Elsom
Isobel Elsom
Isobel Elsom was an English screen, stage, and television actress.-Career:Born as Isobel Jeannette Reed in Cambridge, England, Elsom usually was cast as an aristocratic lady of the upper class. Over the course of three decades she appeared in 17 Broadway productions, beginning with The Ghost Train...
in Arzner's last film, First Comes Courage, in which Oberon starred) in a never completed final film. It also depicted Arzner and Oberon as lovers, and portrayed Arzner as a "typical" director who wants to "schtup" her leading lady. The play is told in a prologue, four acts, and an epilogue in the form of a post-show interview that contains actual quotations from Arzner. The implication is that First Comes Courage, while never actually named in the film, was taken out of Arzner's hands and men added to the picture (the play depicts the film, which also starred Brian Aherne
Brian Aherne
Brian Aherne was a British actor of both stage and screen, who found success in Hollywood.-Early life and stage career:...
, Carl Esmond
Carl Esmond
Carl Esmond was an Austrian stage actor, born in Vienna, Austria. His birth name was Willy Eichberger which he later changed to Charles Esmond and finally to Carl Esmond. Like many of his fellow actors, Esmond fled Nazi Germany to England during World War II. Esmond continued to appear on the...
, and Fritz Leiber, Sr.
Fritz Leiber, Sr.
Fritz Reuter Leiber Sr. , was an was a American actor . Highly respected as a Shakespearean actor on stage, he also had a successful career in film...
, being made as a war film with no men) against her wishes.
Director
- First Comes Courage (1943)
- Dance, Girl, DanceDance, Girl, DanceDance, Girl, Dance is a film released in 1940, directed by Dorothy Arzner.In 2007, Dance, Girl, Dance was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", describing it as Arzner's...
(1940) - The Bride Wore RedThe Bride Wore RedThe Bride Wore Red is a 1937 motion picture, directed by Dorothy Arzner, and starring Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, Robert Young and Billie Burke. It was based on the unproduced play The Bride from Trieste by Ferenc Molnár. In this "rags to riches" tale, Crawford plays a cabaret singer who poses as...
(1937) - The Last of Mrs. CheyneyThe Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937 film)The Last of Mrs. Cheyney is a 1937 drama/comedy motion picture starring Joan Crawford, William Powell, Robert Montgomery and Frank Morgan. The film tells the story of a chic jewel thief in England, who falls in love with one of her marks....
(1937) (uncredited) - Craig's WifeCraig's Wife (film)Craig's Wife is a 1936 drama film starring Rosalind Russell as a domineering wife. It was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play of the same name by George Kelly , and directed by Dorothy Arzner...
(1936) - Nana (1934)
- Christopher StrongChristopher StrongChristopher Strong is a 1933 RKO film, directed by Dorothy Arzner and starring Katharine Hepburn in her second screen role. The screenplay by Zoë Akins is adapted from the novel by Gilbert Frankau.-Synopsis:...
(1933) - Merrily We Go to HellMerrily We Go to HellMerrily We Go to Hell is a 1932 Pre-Code film starring Academy Award winning actor Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney. The film was directed by Dorothy Arzner. The film's title is an example of the sensationalistic titles that were common in the Pre-Code era. Many newspapers refused to publicize the...
(1932) - Working Girls (1931)
- Honor Among LoversHonor Among LoversHonor Among Lovers is a 1931 drama film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Dorothy Arzner. The film stars Claudette Colbert, Fredric March, Monroe Owsley, Charles Ruggles and Ginger Rogers.-Plot:...
(1931) - Anybody's Woman (1930)
- Paramount on ParadeParamount on ParadeParamount on Parade is a all-star revue released by Paramount Pictures, directed by several directors including Edmund Goulding, Dorothy Arzner, Ernst Lubitsch, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Victor Heerman, Lothar Mendes, Otto Brower, Edwin H...
(1930) co-director - Sarah and SonSarah and SonSarah and Son is a 1930 film which tells the story of a woman who searches for the son that her abusive husband sold to a wealthy family. It stars Ruth Chatterton, Fredric March, Fuller Mellish Jr., Gilbert Emery and Doris Lloyd....
(1930) - Behind the Make-UpBehind the Make-UpBehind the Make-Up is a 1930 drama film starring Hal Skelly, William Powell, and Fay Wray. It is based on the short story "The Feeder" by Mildred Cram. A vaudeville performer takes advantage of his partner, even to stealing his girlfriend.-Cast:...
(1930) (uncredited) - The Wild PartyThe Wild Party (1929 film)The Wild Party is a Pre-Code film directed by Dorothy Arzner, released by Paramount Pictures, and known as Clara Bow's first talkie.-Plot:...
(1929) - Manhattan CocktailManhattan Cocktail (film)Manhattan Cocktail was a part-talkie film, directed by Dorothy Arzner, and starring Nancy Carroll, Richard Arlen, and Lilyan Tashman...
(1928) (lost, except for the montage sequence by Slavko VorkapićSlavko VorkapicSlavko Vorkapić , was a Serbian-American film director and editor, former Dean of USC Film School, painter, and a prominent figure of modern cinematography and film art.-Early life:Slavko Vorkapić was born on March 17, 1894, in...
released in 2005 on DVD Unseen Cinema) - Get Your ManGet Your ManGet Your Man is a 1934 British comedy film directed by George King and starring Dorothy Boyd, Sebastian Shaw and Clifford Heatherley. A determined young woman sets up an elaborate plan to secure the man she has fallen in love with...
(1927) - Ten Modern Commandments (1927)
- Fashions for Women (1927)
- Blood and Sand (1922) (additional footage) (uncredited)
External links
- Dorothy Arzner bibliography via UC Berkeley Media Resources Center
- Dorothy Arzner at Find-A-Grave
- Dorothy Arzner at the Internet Movie Database
- Literature on Dorothy Arzner