- Elmer Blaney Harris
Elmer Blaney Harris (
January 11 ,1878 -September 6 ,1966 ) was an Americanauthor ,dramatist , andplaywright .Biography
He was born in
Chicago, Illinois , the youngest of eight children. He moved with his family toOakland, California , after his father's broom factory burned to the ground. After high school, he attended theUniversity of California, Berkeley , graduating in 1901 with a B.S. in Writing, and as an actor for the university theater troupe would gain him a patron,Phoebe Apperson Hearst , mother ofWilliam Randolph Hearst . With her financial backing, Harris was able to study inNew York City andEurope for the next four years. When he returned toSan Francisco he became a newspaper reporter for the San Francisco Call-Bulletin, and he lectured at clubs and universities on authors and playwrights, such asGeorge Bernard Shaw andHenrik Ibsen . This didn't last very long; when theSan Francisco earthquake of 1906 destroyed the newspaper's office and the newspaper, Harris left for New York City. He would write feverously for newspapers and magazines, contributing articles, reviews, and short stories, all the while translating withCora Older . He would travel back and forth fromManhattan to the Bay Area, and in California he helped to found theCarmel-by-the-Sea artist colony. At Carmel he dramatized his first play, "Sham", a short story by Geraldine Bonner., and from silent films to sound. For the next twenty years he was very prolific, collaborating on, directing, adapting, or supervising the production of almost 35 silent and "sound" films, while also writing seven original screenplays of his own.
When
World War I broke out he was 39, which was too old at the time for combat. He went to work for theFood Board underHerbert Hoover , but sick of working with graham flour, he took a new position as civil aide to the commander in charge of amusements and morale atCamp Bowie ,Texas as a dramatic director with theFosdick Commission . He was also stationed in San Diego.He wrote his first
screenplay in 1919, "Lottery Man". He would live half the time in New York City, writing for the stage, andHollywood , writing for the motion picture industry. He would base the story of "Johnny Belinda" on the residents in the local area of his summer home in Fortune Bridge, and actual events that occurred there. The title character is based on Lydia Dingwell (1852-1931), of Dingwells Mills,Prince Edward Island .Elmer Blaney Harris died at age 88 in
Washington, D.C. .External links
* [http://elmer.hipbo.org/crit/overview.html Bio @ The Official Elmer Blaney Harris Homepage]
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* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=5371 Elmer Harris @ Internet Broadway Database]
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