Maurine dallas watkins biography of christopher
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Libeled Lady
1936 film by Jack Conway
Libeled Lady is a 1936 American screwball comedy film directed by Jack Conway and starring Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Spencer Tracy. The screenplay was written by Maurine Dallas Watkins, Howard Emmett Rogers, and George Oppenheimer, from a story by Wallace Sullivan. This was the fifth of fourteen films in which Powell and Loy were teamed, inspired by their success in the Thin Man series.
Libeled Lady was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film was remade in 1946 as Easy to Wed with Esther Williams, Van Johnson, and Lucille Ball.
Plot
[edit]Wealthy Connie Allenbury is falsely accused of breaking up a marriage and sues the New York Evening Star newspaper for $5 million for libel. Warren Haggerty, the managing editor, turns in desperation to former reporter and suave ladies' man Bill Chandler for help. Bill's scheme is to maneuver Connie into being alone with him when his wife shows up, so
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Crime reporter funnen ‘Chicago’ on her beat
Was Maurine Dallas Watkins a playwright masquerading as a Chicago Tribune reporter? Or was the originator of “Chicago” an ink-stained wretch who sold out her reporter’s soul to show biz?
It all depends on whose opinion you believe.
This much fryst vatten known for sure.
Watkins was born in Louisville, Ky., in 1896, attended high school in Crawfordsville, Ind., went to college at Butler University and went to graduate school at Radcliffe College. While there, she signed up for a playwriting class, the so-called “47 Workshop,” which was taught by George Pierce Baker and included Eugene O’Neill and Philip Barry among its famous students. Many American theater historians regard Baker as the spiritual founder of the first generation of U.S. playwrights.
By 1924, Watkins had moved to Chicago. In February, Watkins showed up at the Tribune looking for work as a reporter.
Whether she was looking to beef up her grit to be a better writer -- or merely att
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Maurine Dallas Watkins died on Aug. 10, 1969 — 50 years ago this weekend — in Jacksonville, Fla.
Don’t be surprised if Watkins’ name is unfamiliar. A nine-line death notice in the Florida Times-Union on Aug. 12, 1969, was the only recognition of her passing. Like many newspapers around the country, the Chicago Tribune failed to run her obituary.
In 1926, Watkins wrote the play “Chicago,” which today is a $2 billion entertainment franchise featuring A-list celebrities, a hit, Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and an Oscar-winning movie. It’s likely the most financially successful piece of writing ever produced by a Chicago Tribune reporter in the paper’s more than 170 years of operation.
The content was pulled from the headlines — some of Watkins’ own. She was hired by the Tribune in early 1924 and reported on women inside Cook County Jail who were accused of murder. It was the only professional journalism job in her li