Donald Ogden Stewart, Part I -- Garbo
With this post I'm continuing a series about humor writers whose work influenced me through books I borrowed from the Indianapolis Public Library when I was a teenager.
Recently, I did a few posts about humorist Clarence Day, and in one of those entries I mentioned that, once Life With Father became a best-selling memoir, it was then adapted into a play. After that, "Life With Father" moved from Broadway to the silver screen. One of the members of the screenwriting team which adapted the Broadway hit into the 1947 film was Donald Ogden Stewart.
To me personally, while to others it might seem easier to make a movie from a play than it would be to make the play from a book, I'm not sure that's true. I've seen films that were very stage-y and they just didn't work. Theater timing is different than movie timing, for one thing. And the physical movements of actors onstage are different than the action shots in movies, which are edited so tightly. It think it really takes a dab hand to take a hit play and skillfully transform it into a hit movie.
"Life With Father" wasn't Donald Ogden Stewart's only success. You may have seen a little picture called, lemme see. . "The Philadelphia Story," for instance.
A second book I remember from those long-ago days spent perusing the Dewey Decimal 800s at the public library was Donald Ogden Stewart's humorous etiquette guide, written three generations before Miss Manners came on the scene.
The wonderful volunteer reading service which brings us expired-copyright literature, Libravox, has provided us with a listenable version of Perfect Behavior:
For those seeking more information about Stewart's work in Hollywood, including his 1931 Oscar nomination and his appearances on film, the internet's got lots of good stuff. For instance, the Turner Classic Movies website includes a fabulous profile of the screenwriter. And a blog called "Obscure Hollywood" has done a good post about Stewart.
Next week: Stewart's complex love life, his fierce opposition to Hitler and fascism, the blacklist, and two memoirs.
Recently, I did a few posts about humorist Clarence Day, and in one of those entries I mentioned that, once Life With Father became a best-selling memoir, it was then adapted into a play. After that, "Life With Father" moved from Broadway to the silver screen. One of the members of the screenwriting team which adapted the Broadway hit into the 1947 film was Donald Ogden Stewart.
To me personally, while to others it might seem easier to make a movie from a play than it would be to make the play from a book, I'm not sure that's true. I've seen films that were very stage-y and they just didn't work. Theater timing is different than movie timing, for one thing. And the physical movements of actors onstage are different than the action shots in movies, which are edited so tightly. It think it really takes a dab hand to take a hit play and skillfully transform it into a hit movie.
"Life With Father" wasn't Donald Ogden Stewart's only success. You may have seen a little picture called, lemme see. . "The Philadelphia Story," for instance.
The Motion Picture Academy agreed with my own assessment of the quality of Stewart's work for "The Philadelphia Story" and they gave him an Oscar in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.
There were a number of other films which Stewart helped along, when the assigned screenwriters were struggling, and for some of these, he's finally receiving credit:
But I've wandered off-topic a bit. This blog series, after all, focuses on humor writers whose work appeared in books and magazines.When I was a teenager, if I'd seen "The Philadelphia Story" during the Moonlight Matinee on our local low-power TV station, I didn't have enough life experience or cultural awareness to understand what was going on.
But I did know who H. G. Wells was. So did the rest of the world at one time, and a parody of Wells' best-known work of nonfiction launched Donald Ogden Stewart's career. Decades later, I was thrilled to find a much-yellowed edition of Stewart's A Parody Outline of History on the library shelf.
At 17, I'm sorry to say that was enough of a book nerd to have my own third-hand copy of The Outline of History (Photos below -- I still have it.) So when I found Donald Ogden Stewart's version, I was instantly hooked on the humor of this writer of whom I'd never heard.
The original H. G. Wells book:
And the Donald Ogden Stewart version:
[Google Books has the parody here.]
A second book I remember from those long-ago days spent perusing the Dewey Decimal 800s at the public library was Donald Ogden Stewart's humorous etiquette guide, written three generations before Miss Manners came on the scene.
The wonderful volunteer reading service which brings us expired-copyright literature, Libravox, has provided us with a listenable version of Perfect Behavior:
More an e-book person? Both A Parody Outline of History and Perfect Behavior are free Kindle offerings.
For those seeking more information about Stewart's work in Hollywood, including his 1931 Oscar nomination and his appearances on film, the internet's got lots of good stuff. For instance, the Turner Classic Movies website includes a fabulous profile of the screenwriter. And a blog called "Obscure Hollywood" has done a good post about Stewart.
Next week: Stewart's complex love life, his fierce opposition to Hitler and fascism, the blacklist, and two memoirs.
in the meantime, I'll be waiting for this Stewart book to be delivered and pondering what Amazon means by "last purchased." How could I own this and not know it? Am I buying and selling volumes of 1926 wit in my sleep??
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| Garbo |
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