Wilson Mizner

Рождение : 1876-05-19, Benicia, California, USA

Смерть : 1933-04-03

История

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Wilson Mizner (May 19, 1876 – April 3, 1933) was an American playwright, raconteur, and entrepreneur. His best-known plays are The Deep Purple, produced in 1910, and The Greyhound, produced in 1912. He was manager and co-owner of The Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles, California, and was part of the failed project of his older brother, Addison, to create a new resort in Boca Raton, Florida. Taking considerable liberties with their lives, he and Addison are the protagonists of Stephen Sondheim's musical Road Show (alternately known as Wise Guys, Gold!, and Bounce). Wilson's playwriting career was undermined by his laziness and an opium addiction that started when he was prescribed painkillers after an assault. He was convicted in 1919 for running a gambling den on Long Island, and received a suspended sentence. After he was nearly beaten to death — the details are unknown — at Addison's invitation he followed him to Palm Beach, Florida, where Addison and other investors were announcing a new resort, Boca Raton, Florida. Wilson was secretary and treasurer of the Mizner Development Corporation created in 1925, in effect working for his brother. Unfortunately Addison's plans were financially unsound and the Corporation was forced into receivership within a year, and bankruptcy soon after. When Wilson returned to California he obtained backing from Jack L. Warner and Gloria Swanson and bought into and managed the Brown Derby, and wrote screenplays for some of the early talkies. His best known film work is the screenplay for the Michael Curtiz film 20,000 Years in Sing Sing. Wilson called his Hollywood years "a trip through a sewer in a glass-bottomed boat." Several of the brothers' friends from New York, including Marie Dressler and Ben Hecht, helped him in his later escapades.

Фильмы

Heroes for Sale
Screenplay
Tom Holmes is someone guided by honesty and moral rectitude, a heroic veteran of the World War I marked by the unbearable suffering caused by his battle wounds, a traumatized but courageous man who will experience, in the years to come, the pain of misfortune but also the happiness of success and hope and love for other human beings.
Маленький великан
Screenplay
Prohibition is ending so bootlegger Bugs Ahearn decides to crack California society. He leases a house from down-on-her-luck Ruth and hires her as social secretary. He rescues Polly Cass from a horsefall and goes home to meet her dad who sells him some phony stock certificates. When he learns about this he sends to Chicago for mob help.
The Mind Reader
Screenplay
Chandler, a con-man, and his helper Frank decide to create a clairvoyant act for the carny circuit, as a little research reveals Ameicans spent $125 million on mind-readers and astrology. The carny, renamed Chandra, falls for one of his marks, Sylvia, but their love is tested when he brings tragedy to other peoples' lives and she asks him to go straight.
Strictly Personal
Story
Soapy Gibson (Edward Ellis) and his wife Annie (Marjorie Rambeau) run a lonely hearts club in a small town. Even during the Depression years these were often "clip joints" - places where people with money but no mate got taken by someone offering the promise of companionship. However, Soapy and Annie are strictly on the level - and they have more than one reason to want to stay on the level. You see Soapy escaped from the law years ago, had some plastic surgery and changed his name, and has been living on the lam with his wife ever since.
Тяжело управлять
Screenplay
A hustling public relations man promotes a series of fads.
Frisco Jenny
Screenplay
Frisco Jenny was orphaned by the 1906 earthquake and fire and has become the madame of prosperous bawdy house. She puts her son up for adoption and he rises to prominence as district attorney dedicated to closing down such houses. When her underling Dutton proposes killing the DA, she kills the underling and must face execution.
20 000 лет в Синг Синге
Screenplay
Том Коннорс приговорен к заключению в тюрьме Синг-Синг, но верит, что его влиятельные друзья скоро помогут ему выйти на свободу. Однако, он проводит 90 дней в камере-одиночке и понимает, что на свободе он окажется нескоро. Он узнает, что его подруга Фэй ранена, и начальник позволяет Тому посетить ее, отпуская его под честное слово. Во время столкновения с гангстером Джо Финном Фэй убивает Джо, но обвиняет в случившемся Тома. Теперь ему грозит электрический стул…
Путешествие в одну сторону
Screenplay
На борту круизного лайнера из Гонконга в Сан-Франциско зарождается любовь между пойманным преступником, которого под конвоем везут в тюрьму Сан-Квентин, где его должны казнить, и неизлечимо больной пассажиркой.
Победитель забирает все
Adaptation
Overworked boxer Jim goes to a health ranch in New Mexico to recover where he falls in love with Peggy and her sickly son. Once recovered, Jim leaves to return to the ring. Can their romance survive the distance?
Темная лошадка
Writer
The Progressive Party convention is deadlocked for governor, so both sides nominate the dark horse Zachary Hicks. Kay Russell suggests they hire Hal Blake as campaign manager; but first they have to get him out of jail for not paying alimony. Blake organizes the office and coaches Hicks to answer every question by pausing and then saying, "Well yes, but then again no." Blake will sell Hicks as dumb but honest. Russell refuses to marry Blake, while Joe keeps people away from Blake's office. Blake teaches Hicks a speech by Lincoln. At the debate when the conservative candidate Underwood recites the same speech, Blake exposes him as a plagiarist. Hicks is presented for photo opportunities and gives his yes-and-no answer to any question, including whether he expects to win.
The Cock-Eyed World
Story
Two Marines are sent to South Sea island where they fight over a local island girl.
The Deep Purple
Theatre Play
Doris Moore is a country girl who is conned by two crooks, Harry Leland and Pop Clark. They convince the naive girl to come with them to New York City and play the badger game on William Lake. But the intervention of Kate Fallon, who runs the gang's New York home, saves the innocent and traps the guilty. Instead of tricking Lake, Doris marries him.
The Law of Compensation
Story
A 1917 film directed by Joseph A. Golden & Julius Steger