Zelda Sears
Writing
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Zelda Sears (née Paldi; January 21, 1873 — February 19, 1935) was an American stage actress, screenwriter, novelist and businesswoman. Zelda had various odd jobs, including a writer for a Chicago newspaper, before becoming an actress and writer. In New York she played comic roles on stage, learned shorthand, and even opened her own typewriting business. The impetus of her writing career occurred when she began to copy scientific articles for the noted surgeon Dr. William Bull. Sears observed life in his sanitarium and turned what she saw into a fictional story, which she sold to a magazine. Readers became privy to the inner workings of the institution by reading Zelda's The Name Above The Door. Her income grew after several more short stories were accepted for publication. Dissatisfaction led Sears to return to Chicago, where she joined the acting troupe of John Stapleton. Sears' stage career was boosted by her acting in a production of Lovers Lane. Other plays in which she appeared were Women and Wine, Girls, The Blue Mouse, Love Among The Lions, The Girl He Couldn't Leave Behind Him, Keeping Up Appearances, The Nest Egg, Standing Pat, The Truth, The Show Shop, The Scarlet Woman, and Undertow. Playwrights began to trust her to add dialogue to her roles in stage productions. Sears learned to write stage speeches and construct scenes. Over a period of eleven years she read more than one hundred plays. She embellished ten of these for production. As a writer she benefited greatly from her association with Clyde Fitch. Earlier he had cast her in Lovers Lane. Sears wrote dialogue for theatrical shows like Lady Billy, Cornered, The Clinging Vine, and The Magic Ring. She came to Hollywood to be a scenarist for Cecil B. DeMille and MGM in the early 1930s. Sears co-wrote The Divorcee, a 1930 American Pre-Code drama film, along with Nick Grindé and John Meehan. She died, age 62, at her Hollywood home in 1935 and was survived by her second husband, Louis Wiswell, and a sister, Marie Paldi. She had taken her professional name from her first husband, Herbert E. Sears.
Known For
American Civil War, 1862. After the disaster of the Second Battle of Bull Run, Major Allen, chief of the Secret Service of the Union, asks actress Gail Loveless to become one of his operators and infiltrate enemy territory.
Operator 13
Yvonne is a beautiful model who loves frequenting the Parisian bohemian life, because she loves hobnobbing with artists.
Inspiration
A pair of professional thieves discover that their accomplice, Mary Brennan, is a dead-ringer for wealthy heiress Margaret Waring. They wait until Margaret is absent from the house, then place Mary there to make their heist easier. Unfortunately, Margaret returns before they've finished the job and gets shot. When the police get there, both women claim to be Margaret Waring and accuse the other of being the thief--and they look so much alike that no one can tell the difference.
Cornered
A maid has romances with a two-timer, a boozing millionaire and the master of the house.
Sadie McKee
After decades of raising the motherless Smith children, housekeeper Emma Thatcher is faced with resentment when she marries their father.
Emma
A woman and her children escape severe poverty and abuse. She successfully betters her family's condition while living with the secret that she killed her abusive husband in order to protect her children from him.
A Wicked Woman
A family man becomes innocently involved in an embezzlement.
This Side of Heaven
When the Stack family suffers some financial setbacks, daughter Mary Ellen suggests they buy a car and relocate to California. Unbeknownst to them, their used car is worth more than they ever could have imagined.
Rubber Tires
A beautiful woman lands a job at an exclusive salon that deals with the wives of wealthy businessmen. Her contact with these men leads to a series of affairs.
Beauty for Sale
When a woman discovers that her husband has been unfaithful, she decides to pay him back in kind.
The Divorcee
A follower of Napoleon escapes the firing squad, flees to a woman's bedroom and winds up butler.
Devil-May-Care
A widow's decision to run for mayor kicks off a battle of the sexes in a small town.
Politics
A young woman runs away from an abusive home and pre-arranged marriage only to be frustrated in her attempts to find happiness with a handsome engineer.
Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise)
The murders start with the body of Robin. He is found with a arrow through the heart, but Vance deduces that the body was placed and not found where he was killed. The note found dealing with the murder was part of a nursery rhyme and signed by 'Bishop'. The only witness may have been Mrs. Drukker and Adolph, but they are not talking. As the murders progress, each one is accompanied by a nursery rhyme. It is up to Philo Vance to unravel the clues and unmask the identity of the murderer 'Bishop'.
The Bishop Murder Case
Tugboat, the Narcissus, is owned and captained by Annie Brennan, and among her crew are her alcoholic but good-natured husband, Terry, and her conscientious son, Alec. Annie continually loses business because of Terry's drunken mistakes. Alec wants to quit school to work on the tug full time, but Annie will not sacrifice her son's education. A grown Alec has followed in his mother's footsteps and becomes a mariner, but a more upscale one as the captain of a luxury liner. Alec returns home with his fiancée, Pat - the boss' daughter - with a grand plan to save Annie from the life that drunkard Terry has provided her. But ultimately, it's Annie and Terry that need to be Alec's savior, and by their move show him the meaning of true commitment.
Tugboat Annie
Longtime friends become feuding mothers-in-law when their children marry.
Prosperity
John Blaisdell, a stolid businessman married for 10 years, concludes that romantic love is a thing of the past for him. His wife, Helen, a very domestic and conservative woman, invites Jenny Lou, a young southern girl, as her houseguest, and the girl flirts with John; she is conspicuously unsuccessful until she pretends to faint on the golf course and the unsuspecting victim finds her in his arms.
The Wise Wife
When a hardened businesswoman who goes by the initials A.B. overhears someone calling her an “Amazon” because of her butch ways, she agrees to a more “feminine” makeover. In the end she learns that no matter how she looks she’s still the smartest person in any room.
The Clinging Vine
In this brutal prison drama a hen-pecked husband is sentenced to prison after getting caught with his hand in the company till. He is sent to a high-rise facility in LA. It seems the fellow was only following the instructions of his domineering, constantly nagging wife who, as soon as he is put away, takes up with a more successful businessman. This causes her new lover's ex-lover to get insanely jealous and kill the conniving wife.
Day of Reckoning
Proper parents who treat their adult children as teenagers have a son who wants to go to Paris to study art, and a daughter in love with a married man.