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Frederick J. Jackson

Summary

Frederick J. Jackson, also known professionally as Fred Jackson and Frederick Jackson and under the pseudonym Victor Thorne, (September 21, 1886 – May 22, 1953) was an American author, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and producer for both stage and film.[1] A prolific writer of short stories and serialized novels, most of his non-theatre works were published in pulp magazines such as Detective Story Magazine and Argosy. Many of these stories were adapted into films by other writers.[2]

Frederick J. Jackson
Born(1886-09-21)September 21, 1886
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
DiedMay 22, 1953(1953-05-22) (aged 66)
Hollywood, California
OccupationScreenwriter
Years active1912-1946

Jackson was also a productive screenwriter, penning more than 50 films between 1912 and 1946.[3] He was the author of more than sixty plays.[3] Over a forty-year span, a dozen of his plays were produced on Broadway, and he also had several other plays produced in London's West End. Many of his plays were turned into films; usually by other screenwriters.

Life and career edit

 
Jackson published scores of stories in magazines; "Winged Feet" appeared in The Argosy in 1914.
 
Walter Connolly as the Bishop of Broadminster in the Broadway production of The Bishop Misbehaves (1935)

Frederick J. Jackson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 21, 1886.[4] He was educated at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania.[3] He began his career as a writer in 1905 working for the American magazine publisher Frank Munsey with whom he was under contract for many years.[3]

Under Munsey,[3] Jackson became a prolific writer of short stories and serialized novels, and most of his non-theatre works were published in pulp magazines such as Detective Story Magazine and Argosy.[1] He wrote a wide array of fiction and produced works in nearly every genre in the field in Munsey's magazines; including mystery, romance, westerns, science fiction, and fantasy among others.[3][1] He did publish some novels in book format using the name Fred Smith with other publishing companies, including The Hidden Princess: a modern romance (1910, George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia) and The Third Act (1914, Desmond Fitzgererald Inc., New York).[5] He also published a third novel, Anne Against the World: a love story (1925, Chelsea House) under the pseudonym Victor Thorne;[5] a name he also periodically used as a playwright and short story writer.[3]

Several of Munsey's short stories and serialized novels were turned into films by other screenwriters. Among these films are Annie-for-Spite (1917), Tinsel (1918), High Speed (1924), The Lone Chance (1924), Love Letters (1924), Her Man o' War (1926), and Ladies Beware (1927).[2]

In 1912 Jackson began his career as a screenwriter, and by 1946 he had penned the screenplays for more than 50 films.[1] His first work for the screen was the 1912 short film A Detective Strategy which was a starring vehicle for the silent film actor Charles Clary and which Jackson based on his own short story "Thistledown".[6] Much of his early work as a screenwriter was devoted to writing for the Pearl White serials,[3] such as The Fatal Ring (1917).[7] Some of his notable later films included Wells Fargo (1937), Stormy Weather (1943), Hi Diddle Diddle (1943), and Club Havana (1945, also known as Two Tickets to Heaven).[3]

Jackson was also a prolific writer for the theatre, producing more than sixty plays during his lifetime.[3] Only a fraction of these managed to make it to Broadway.

He died in Hollywood, California on May 22, 1953.[3] He was married to Florence Howe.[3]

Partial list of works edit

Musicals edit

Novels edit

  • The Hidden Princess: a modern romance (1910)[5]
  • The Third Act (1914)[11]
  • The Precious Packet (1916);[2] adapted by George B. Seitz into the 1916 Pathé film of the same name[12]
  • Anne Against the World: a love story (1925, published under the pseudonym Victor Thorne)[5]

Plays edit

Screenplays edit

Short stories edit

  • Adele (?); adapted by screenwriter Wallace Clifton into the film Tinsel (1918)[2]
  • Annie for Spite (1916); adapted by screenwriter Julian La Mothe into the film Annie-for-Spite (1917)[2]
  • Beauty to Let (?); adapted into the film Money Isn't Everything (1918)[2]
  • Black Marriage (?); adapted into the film Her Man o' War (1926)[2]
  • The Gray Parasol (1918); adapted into the film The Gray Parasol (1918)[2]
  • Her Martyrdom (?); adapted by screenwriter Harry Chandlee into the film Her Martyrdom (1915)[51]
  • High Speed (1918); adapted into the film High Speed (1924)[2]
  • Jack of Diamonds (?); adapted into the film Ladies Beware (1927)[2]
  • The Lone Chance (?); adapted into the film The Lone Chance (1924)[52]
  • Morocco Box (1923); adapted into the film Love Letters (1924)[2]
  • Thistledown (?); adapted by Jackson into the short film A Detective Story (1912)[6]

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b c d Wlaschin, pp. 256-257
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Goble, p. 240-241
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "F. JACKSON DEAD; WRITER-PRODUCER I; Author of Stage, Film and TVI Successes Started in Movies' With Pearl White Serials". The New York Times. May 24, 1953. p. 88.
  4. ^ Vazzana, p. 168
  5. ^ a b c d Smith, p. 348
  6. ^ a b c Wlaschin, p. 65
  7. ^ a b Wlaschin, p. 83
  8. ^ Pollack, pp. 235-236
  9. ^ Rosenberg, p. 428
  10. ^ "FOR GOODNESS SAKE' BRISK; Good Comedians Make New Musical Comedy Entertaining". The New York Times. February 22, 1922. p. A22.
  11. ^ "THE THIRD ACT. By Fred Jackson". The New York Times. January 18, 1914. p. 28.
  12. ^ Mavis, p. 249
  13. ^ "A FULL HOUSE' IS AN AMUSING FARCE; New Entertainment at the Longacre Is Compounded of Cheerful Nonsense". The New York Times. May 11, 1915. p. 15.
  14. ^ Dietz, 466-468
  15. ^ "A Full House". silentera.com. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  16. ^ Wainscott, p. 56
  17. ^ "LOSING ELOISE' HAS AN AMUSING IDEA; A High-Class Farce Built About the Eloping Wife and Her Lover". The New York Times. November 19, 1917. p. 9.
  18. ^ Soister, Nicolella, & Joyce, pp.273-274
  19. ^ Beck, p. 153
  20. ^ Hischak, p. 87
  21. ^ J. P. Wearing · 2014 (May 15, 2014). "Her First Affaire". The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 52–53. ISBN 9780810893047.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ "The Ninth Man". The Observer. February 15, 1931. p. 13.
  23. ^ Gifford, p. 363
  24. ^ Bordman, p. 98
  25. ^ Bordman, p. 323
  26. ^ Hischak, p. 107
  27. ^ Rainey, p. 444
  28. ^ "Pathé Announces "Darkhorse Film"; 'For Sale' to Be Released June 9, A Story by Fred Jackson with a Plot of Big Interest". Motography. XIX (23): 1096.
  29. ^ Richard Koszarski, ed. (1987). "The Man Hunt". Film History: An International Journal. 1: 182.
  30. ^ a b Nash and Ross, p. 1433
  31. ^ "Casts of Current Photoplays; "Fools and Riches"". Photoplay: 112. 1923.
  32. ^ Wlaschin, p. 79
  33. ^ Solomon, p. 287
  34. ^ Delgado, p. 74
  35. ^ Higham, p. 18
  36. ^ Wlaschin, p. 117
  37. ^ Gifford, p. 368
  38. ^ Frank S. Nugent (July 12, 1937). "THE SCREEN; 'The Great Gambini' Solves a Murder at the Criterion". The New York Times. p. 20.
  39. ^ Katchmer, p. 611
  40. ^ Hoffmann, p. 30
  41. ^ Avallone, p. 456
  42. ^ Frank S. Nugent (December 1, 1938). "THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; The Paramount's 'Say It in French' Heads the List of the Five New Pictures Shown Yesterday". The New York Times.
  43. ^ Martin, p. 218
  44. ^ Fetrow, p. 190
  45. ^ Fetrow, p. 188
  46. ^ Fetrow, p. 481
  47. ^ Fetrow, p. 203
  48. ^ Dunkleberger & Hanson, p. 446
  49. ^ Fetrow, p. 32
  50. ^ Fetrow, p. 24
  51. ^ Lauritzen & Lundquist, p. 256
  52. ^ Kear and King, p. 141

Bibliography edit

  • Susan Avallone, ed. (1998). Film Writers Guide. Lone Eagle. ISBN 9780943728988.
  • Robert Beck (2015). The Edward G. Robinson Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476606668.
  • Gerald Bordman (1996). American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1930-1969. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195358087.
  • Sergio Delgado (2016). Pola Negri: Temptress of Silent Hollywood. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476664309.
  • Dan Dietz (2021). "The Velvet Lady". The Complete Book of 1910s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 466–468. ISBN 9781538150283.
  • Amy Dunkleberger, Patricia King Hanson, ed. (1999). AFI Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States. University of California Press with permission by the American Film Institute. ISBN 9780520215214.
  • Alan G. Fetrow (1994). Feature Films, 1940-1949: A United States Filmography. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780899509143.
  • Denis Gifford, ed. (2018). The British Film Catalogue: The Fiction Film. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317837022.
  • Alan Goble, ed. (2011). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Bowker-Saur. ISBN 9783110951943.
  • Charles Higham (1975). Warner Brothers. Scribner. ISBN 9780684139494.
  • Thomas S. Hischak (2009). Broadway Plays and Musicals: Descriptions and Essential Facts of More Than 14,000 Shows Through 2007. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786453092.
  • Henryk Hoffmann (2015). Western Film Highlights: The Best of the West, 1914-2001. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476608655.
  • George A. Katchmer (1991). Eighty Silent Film Stars: Biographies and Filmographies of the Obscure to the Well Known. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780899504940.
  • Lynn Kear, James King (2009). Evelyn Brent: The Life and Films of Hollywood's Lady Crook. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786454686.
  • Einar Lauritzen, Gunnar Lundquist (1976). American Film-index 1908-1915: Motion Pictures, July 1908-December 1915. Film Index, Akademibokhandeln, University of Stockholm. ISBN 9174100017.
  • Len D. Martin (1991). The Columbia Checklist: The Feature Films, Serials, Cartoons, and Short Subjects of Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1922-1988. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780899505565.
  • Paul Mavis (2015). The Espionage Filmography: United States Releases, 1898 Through 1999. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476606668.
  • Jay Robert Nash, Stanley Ralph Ross (1985). The Motion Picture Guide. Cinebooks. ISBN 9780933997004.
  • Howard Pollack (2006). "La La Lucille". George Gershwin: His Life and Work. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24864-3.
  • Buck Rainey (1990). Those Fabulous Serial Heroines: Their Lives and Films. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810819115.
  • Deena Rosenberg (1997). Fascinating Rhythm: The Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 9780472084692.
  • Geoffrey D. Smith (1997). American Fiction, 1901-1925: A Bibliography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521434690.
  • John T. Soister, Henry Nicolella, Steve Joyce (2014). American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786487905.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Aubrey Solomon (2014). The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786486106.
  • Ronald Harold Wainscott (1997). The emergence of the modern American theater, 1914-1929. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300067767.
  • J. P. Wearing (2014). The London Stage 1890-1959: Accumulated Indexes. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9780810893214.
  • Ken Wlaschin (2009). "Jackson, Frederick". Silent Mystery and Detective Movies: A Comprehensive Filmography. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786443505.
  • Eugene Michael Vazzana (1995). Silent Film Necrology: Births and Deaths of Over 9000 Performers, Directors, Producers, and Other Filmmakers of the Silent Era, Through 1993. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786401321.

External links edit

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