Paul Gerard Smith
Writing
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Paul Gerard Smith (September 14, 1894 – April 4, 1968) was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 90 films between 1926 and 1955. Smith started writing musical revues at the age of ten. He joined the Marines for World War I and while still in Germany wrote and directed the Sixth Marine Revue in the Rhine Occupation Area. He arrived back in the States in 1919 and started writing vaudeville acts. He became so successful that he was one of the few writers to be credited on the playbill. He scripted the Ziegfeld Follies of 1924, 1925, and 1926 and was also one of the writers of Funny Face. Smith was brought to Hollywood by Buster Keaton to work on The General and Battling Butler. Early film credits include In Old Arizona, Mother Knows Best, and Dressed to Kill, as well as the first talkies of Harold Lloyd, Welcome Danger and Feet First. He wrote dozens of B movies for Universal Studios, Fox Film Corporation, Paramount Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures, Warner Bros., and Hal Roach Studios. He also scripted USO shows and personal appearances for many film and radio stars entertaining overseas. After World War II he returned to film and radio scripting and also wrote and directed some early television programs on ABC, including The Gay Nineties Revue. He returned to stage writing with Hullabaloo for the Pasadena Playhouse.
Known For

Comedy short.
In Holland

Two zany transients get jobs as vendors at a sports arena. One of them accidently knocks out one of the fighters, and must take his place, with his partner acting as referee.
Waltzing Around

A gentle botany student has to toughen up to replace his father as chief of police.
Welcome Danger

Buster, the eldest son in a family of hillbillies who manage a hotel, attempts to raise money to save the hotel from foreclosure.
Love Nest on Wheels

Steel-worker brothers compete for the same woman.
Steel Against the Sky

Bandleader/singer/songwriter Ted Barry arrives to heaven. The receptionist tells him that before he can take his place in the Hall of Music, a committee must review his work and decide whether he is worthy of admittance.
Heavenly Music

Set in New York's Lower East Side during the Gay '90s, this lively low-budget musical follows the exploits of a feisty and talented saloon owner's daughter who loves nothing more than to perform in her father's tavern. Her late-night shenanigans appall her wealthy and socially conscious aunt who launches a secret campaign to shut down the bar and force her niece to reside in her palatial home.
Sunbonnet Sue

Buster agrees to pose as a murderer to throw off the police while his room mate, a reporter, searches for the real killer.
Jail Bait

An ambitious shoe salesman, Harold, unknowingly meets the boss' daughter and tells her he is a leather tycoon. The rest of the film he spends hiding his true circumstances, in the store and later on a ship. Trying to deliver a letter, he later finds himself dangling high above the street on a building's scaffolding.
Feet First

The swamp folk of the deep Okefenokee live a brutal primitive life untouched by modern times - they support themselves by hunting alligators and selling them to the outside world. Jeff returns home from college with an engineering degree and dreams of bringing modern medical care and education to the swamps. He is immediately confronted by his old boyhood rival, "Gator-Bait" Blair, who thinks things are just fine the way the are. "Gator" whips the ignorant locals into a frenzy of fear and resistance. When Jeff is unintimidated by their threats, Blair sets out to stop his plans once and for all - with a rifle.
Untamed Fury

Desperate for work, Johnny Barclay leaves Ma and Grandpop to join the newly formed Civilian Conversation Corps. On the way he meets cynical young hobo Roscoe "Rockie" Johnson, and, although Rockie believes that hopping freight trains is a great life, Johnny convinces him to join the Corps.
It's a Great Life

The Western hero takes on a ruthless land baron whose henchmen killed his best friend.
Wild Bill Hickok Rides

A salesman tries to sell a tractor to a customer who hates tractors while falling for the girl.
Earthworm Tractors

Singing, dancing, and ice skating are featured in this musical that focuses on ice-skating sensation Belita. The story begins as she travels to a California resort where she has been hired as a replacement for a dance team. The resort is run by a handsome fellow. As a result of the gig, the skater becomes a national star while the resort manager gets fired and becomes a drifter until he ends up in the Army. The Oscar nominated score includes the following songs: "Silver Shadows and Golden Dreams", "Dream of Dreams", "Rio", "In the Days of Beau Brummel", "Lady, Let's Dance", "Happy Hearts", "Ten Million Men and a Girl", and the rhumba standard "Esperanza".
Lady, Let's Dance

A con artist attends a reunion in his hometown and discovers that his former classmates are trying to trick an old millionaire into returning to build a factory.
Welcome Home

A young reporter pines for his high-school sweetheart, but she's preoccupied with appearing in their small town's community musical show. This 1934 comedy, with numerous songs, was inspired by the popular Depression-era comic strip of the same title. With Hal Le Roy, Rochelle Hudson, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert,Douglass Dumbrille and Patricia Ellis.
Harold Teen

A pretty young socialite falls for a charming but shady hustler, who abandons her when he finds that she has been disowned by her wealthy father. Three of the hustler's partners, who have also been left high and dry by heir former associate, come up with a plan to get her to the annual Yale-Harvard football game to reunite with her former sweetheart, an honest but nerdy bookworm.
Hold 'Em Yale

The nosy antics of a honeymooner puts an unwed couple in the same room.
Niagara Falls

An international jewel thief tries to keep his secret from his niece.
Oh, What a Night!

Pa Higgins' attempts at success in the advertising business are constantly frustrated by his eccentric family.