Anita Loos was one of the most successful screenwriters, authors, and playwrights of the 20th century.
She and husband John Emerson wrote a book called, How to Write Screenplays, published in 1921. It included this advice, which applies equally to any kind of writing:
"Above all things, the scenario writer should keep alive. Just keep yourself with lively, laughing, thinking people, think about things yourself, and cultivate a respect for new ideas of any kind. Take care of these small ideas and the big plots will take care of themselves."
Mainly I wanted to share that quote with you but in the process, I became fascinated by this amazing woman's story (thanks to Wikipedia for most of the following information).
THE AMAZING, PROLIFIC MS. LOOS
She decided at the age of six that she wanted to be a writer. She started out as a stage actress in San Francisco and sold her first outline for a movie to the Biograph Company, for which she received $25 (not bad for 1911). Her first produced screenplay was The New York Hat, starring Lionel Barrymore and Mary Pickford, directed by D. W. Griffith.
Over the next three years, she wrote 105 scripts, of which 101 were produced. Of course, these were short silent films, but that's impressive nonetheless.
After an unsuccessful first marriage, she fell for John Emerson. According to Loos, he took credit for her work, appropriated her earnings, and once a week went out with younger women. When directors or studio executives had a hard time communicating with a woman as a peer, it was helpful for Loos to keep up the charade of being half of a happily-married writing team and they stayed married from 1919 until his death in 1956.
Loos' best-known work, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, was a success as a series of magazine sketches, a book, a Broadway play, and a movie starring Marilyn Monroe. She also wrote memoirs, essays, novels, a biography, teleplays and of course many screenplays.
Loos kept writing until 1980 and died in 1981 at the age of 92. If you want to read about the rest of her fascinating life, check out the Wikipedia account of her life.
A still from D. W. Griffith's Intolerance, for which Anit Loos wrote subtitles.
