I was very surprised to stumble upon screenwriter Sonya Levien and learn how extensive her work in silents and talkies were, even winning an Academy award. Perhaps the reason why she went under my radar was her contract. She didn't get screen credit for much of her work. Why that's so when Anita Loos and Frances Marion did, I don't know. I'll read her biography for more insight. Oops! No real biography. Why not? From one bit of information it seems that her family didn't want to help any biographers. It's not easy to reconstruct someone's life with no help from those who knew her.
I consider this a huge loss to film history.
She probably worked on hundreds of films including those for Will Rogers, Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor, Frank Borzage, and Allan Dwan. She collaborated with the excellent and prolific S.N. Behrman, worked on Curly Top starring Shirley Temple and was there for Charlie Chan. In other words some of the finest entertainment to come out of Hollywood.
Hollywood is the way it is now because talents like Sonya Levien have passed.
No comments:
Post a Comment