Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett wrote the screenplays for some
of America's most treasured movies, including "It's a Wonderful
Life," "The Thin Man," "Easter Parade," "Father of the Bride,
Naughty Marietta, "and "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," Legendary
films, indeed, but writing both the play and screenplay for "The
Diary of Anne Frank" was their crowning achievement.
Controlled chaos best describes their writing method. They
discussed a scene at length, sometimes acting it out. Afterwards,
they each wrote a draft, which they exchanged. "Then," Frances
said, "began 'free criticism'--which sometimes erupted into
screaming matches." Noisy and contentious, the method worked
splendidly.
Enormously successful and remarkably prolific, Goodrich and Hackett
began their thirty-four-year collaboration in 1928. Married after
the first of their five plays became a hit, they were in many ways
an unlikely pair. Frances, the privileged daughter of well-to-do
parents, graduated from Vassar, then played minor parts on
Broadway. Albert's mother put him on stage at age five, when his
father died, to help pay the bills, and he became a highly paid
comedian.
The Hacketts were known for their wit and high spirits and the
pleasure of their Bel Air dinner parties. They waged memorable
battles with their powerful bosses and were key activists in the
stressful creation of the Screen Writers Guild. Once they had
created Nick and Nora Charles, "The Thin Man"'s bright, charming,
sophisticated lead couple, played memorably by William Powell and
Myrna Loy, many people saw a strong resemblance, and the Hacketts
acknowledged that they "put themselves into" Nick and Nora.
"TheReal Nick and Nora "is a dazzling assemblage of anecdotes
featuring some of the most talented writers and the brightest
lights of American stage and screen. The work was arduous, the
parties luminous. On any given night the guests singing and acting
out scripts at a party might include F. Scott Fitzgerald and
Sheilah Graham, S. J. Perelman, Oscar Levant, Ogden Nash, Judy
Garland, Abe Burrows, Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer, Ira
Gershwin, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell
and June Allyson, Dashiell Hammett, Lillian Hellman, James Cagney,
and Dorothy Parker.
General
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