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{{Short description|Actress, novelist, screenwriter and businesswoman}}
[[File:Zelda Sears 001.jpg|thumb|Zelda Sears ca. 1909]]
{{Infobox person
| name = Zelda Sears
| image = Zelda Sears, vaudeville entertainer (SAYRE 9084).jpg
| birth_name = Zelda Paldi
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1873|01|21}}
| birth_place = [[Brockway Township, Michigan]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1935|2|19|1873|1|21}}
| death_place = [[Hollywood, California]], U.S.
| other_names =
| occupation = Actress, writer
| yearsactive = 1924-1934
| spouse = Herbert E. Sears (1892–1895)<br />Louis C. Wiswell (1918–1935)
| signature = File:1913 Signature of Zelda Sears, vaudeville entertainer (SAYRE 9084) (cropped).jpg
}}


'''Zelda Sears''' (née '''Paldi'''; January 21, 1873 — February 19, 1935) was an American actress, screenwriter, novelist and businesswoman.
'''Zelda Sears''' (née '''Paldi'''; January 21, 1873 – February 19, 1935) was an American actress, screenwriter, novelist and businesswoman.


== Early life and background ==
==Youth==
She was born as Zelda Paldi near [[Brockway Township, Michigan|Brockway Township, St. Clair County, Michigan]], into a multi-lingual family that spoke [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[English language|English]]. Her father, Justin Lewis Paldi, was a first-generation Italian immigrant engineer and horse breeder, and her mother Roxa Tyler was of English heritage.<ref name=SheIsStar>{{cite news |title=She Is A Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21808275/she_is_a_star/ |access-date=July 16, 2018 |work=The Daily Herald at Newspapers.com |date=April 16, 1906 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716224245/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21808275/she_is_a_star/ |archive-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=live }}{{free access}}</ref><ref name=PaldivPaldi>{{cite news |title=Paldi vs. Paldi |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21808409/paldi_vs_paldi/ |access-date=July 16, 2018 |work=The Times Herald at Newspapers.com |date=January 13, 1891 |page=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716224046/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21808409/paldi_vs_paldi/ |archive-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=live }}{{free access}}</ref>{{sfn|Marra|1995|p=77}}
Sears was born near [[Brockway Township, Michigan|Brockway Township, St. Clair County, Michigan]]. Her father, Justin Lewis Paldi, ran a farm more than twenty miles from the closest railroad station. By age 12, she worked for L.A. Sherman, a wealthy man in Brockway. He owned a general store where she became a salesgirl. Her father moved his family to [[Port Huron]]. {{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}


Her entry into the job market at age 12 was borne out of a family financial crisis.{{sfn|Marra|1995|p=78}} Merchant L.A. Sherman conducted an essay contest for his store's opening day, with Sears submitting the winning entry and being rewarded with a position as cash runner for the sales staff. In the evening hours, she educated herself on secretarial skills.{{sfn|Marra|1995|p=78}} She was eventually promoted to the position of sales clerk. When she expressed an interest in writing, Sherman transferred her as a reporter on his newspaper the ''Port Huron Daily Times''.<ref name=Footlights>{{cite news |title=Miss Zelda Paldi Wins Additional Honors as a Star of the Footlights |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21652959/miss_zelda_paldi_wins_additional_honors/ |access-date=July 16, 2018 |work=The Times Herald at Newspapers.com |date=June 4, 1914 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716224048/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21652959/miss_zelda_paldi_wins_additional_honors/ |archive-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=live }}{{free access}}</ref>
She found employment for a time as check girl before advancing to cashier and general clerk. The job was obtained by capturing a $10 prize on the stock contained in the store. Winning gave her the privilege of working for $3 a week. Sears was eventually hired to contribute pieces to the town's newspaper by the managing editor. Dissatisfied that Port Huron was too small, she left after five years, aged seventeen. She journeyed first to [[Detroit]] and then ventured to [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]]. {{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}


In June 1889, at age 16, she made her acting debut as alternating roles in a Port Huron production of ''Esther'' at the City Opera House. Setting her sights on a newspaper career, she journeyed to [[Detroit, Michigan]], with no luck finding a job, and then ventured to [[Chicago, Illinois]].<ref name=Footlights /> While rooming at the Chicago [[YWCA]], and waiting for her big break in the newspaper business, she worked for Longnecker and Company painting flowers on boxes. She earned extra money by selling her original greeting card verses.<ref name=LuckystarOne>{{cite news |last1=Griffin |first1=Mary |title=Was Zelda Sears Born Under A Lucky Star? – She Thinks So! |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21851970/was_zelda_sears_born_under_a_lucky/ |access-date=July 16, 2018 |work=Detroit Free Press at Newspapers.com |date=June 3, 1928 |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716224234/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21851970/was_zelda_sears_born_under_a_lucky/ |archive-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=live }}{{free access}}</ref><ref name=LuckyStarTwo>{{cite news |last1=Griffin |first1=Mary |title=Was Zelda Sears Born Under A Lucky Star (cont. from p.1) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21852052/was_zelda_sears_born_under_a_lucky_star/ |access-date=July 16, 2018 |work=Detroit Free Press at Newspapers.com |date=June 3, 1928 |page=4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716224241/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21852052/was_zelda_sears_born_under_a_lucky_star/ |archive-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=live }}{{free access}}</ref>
==Painter==
She roomed at the Chicago [[YWCA]] for three and a half dollars weekly. Sears answered an ad for women to paint flowers on vases and boxes. Her grandfather, Andrew Paldi, was an Italian painter who painted [[mural]] decorations in [[Detroit, Michigan|Detroit]]. She secured employment in a crowded loft where twenty girls painted on [[celluloid]]. She expended great effort and earned double the cost of her board. {{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}


==Acting and writing careers==
==Newspaper writer==
In 1892, she married actor Herbert E. Sears, and would continue to use his name professionally after the dissolution of their marriage three years later.{{sfn|Marra|1995|p=78}} She got her foot in the door of the ''[[Chicago Times|Chicago Herald]]'' newspaper by contributing to its humor column. When her father died, Sears began reading the numerous play scripts in his extensive personal library, adding to her already considerable interest in the profession.<ref name=Highest>{{cite news |last1=Patterson |first1=Ada |title=From Milkmaid To Highest Paid Playwright |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21910460/the_nebraska_state_journal/ |access-date=July 16, 2018 |work=The Nebraska State Journal at Newspapers.com |date=August 13, 1922 |page=25}}{{free access}}</ref> Actress [[Sarah Bernhardt]] performed in at Chicago's Daly Theater in 1894,<ref name=Bernhardt>{{cite news |title=Bernhardt – La Dame aux Camélias |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21864893/la_dame_aux_camlias_july_1_1894/ |access-date=July 16, 2018 |work=Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com |date=July 1, 1894 |page=9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716224244/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21864893/la_dame_aux_camlias_july_1_1894/ |archive-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=live }}{{free access}}</ref> and Sears initially set out to secure an interview with the star for the ''Herald''. She ended up being hired as an extra in the production, changing the course of her professional life.{{sfn|Marra|1995|p=78}} Later continuing with a local acting stock company, and honing her craft with Hart Conway's American Conservatory of Acting, she eventually relocated to [[New York City|New York]]. Producer [[A.L. Erlanger]] offered her a small role as one of the ballerinas, a skill she had to learn on the job, in the 1896 production of ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' at the [[Casino Theatre (New York City)|Casino Theatre]].{{sfn|Marra|1995|p=78-79}} She spent the next few years expanding her skills with traveling stock companies.{{sfn|Briscoe|1908|p=34}}
She continued painting flowers on vases but started to contribute her writings to a humor column of a Chicago newspaper. She submitted a story about her first bicycle ride. She made $8 a week as a full-time reporter. Sears became fascinated with [[Sarah Bernhardt]] who was performing in Chicago. She observed the famous actress and was able to obtain an interview on one occasion. This came about when she saved Bernhardt from tripping over a loose carpet on stage. Sears' father died around this time. He left his children a small sum in life insurance and a library amply furnished with volumes. Among the books were paperbacks of plays, which she read.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}


[[File:1911 NestEgg ParkTheatre Boston Massachusetts postcard.png|thumb|right|Scene from [[Anne Caldwell]]'s ''The Nest Egg'' with Zelda Sears at the [[Park Theatre (Boston)|Park Theatre, Boston]], Massachusetts, ca.1911]]
==Actress==
As she continued to pursue acting roles, Sears operated her own public stenography/typewriting service in New York, near the Empire Theatre on Broadway. Her clients were theatre people, playwrights. She soon developed into a proficient script doctor, with an eye towards becoming a playwright herself.<ref name=LuckyStarTwo/> It was during her 1900 performance as the jealous murderess La Colombe in ''Wine and Women'' at the Boston Theatre, that she met her future collaborator, playwright [[Clyde Fitch]].<ref name=WomanandWine>{{cite news |title=Woman and Wine |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21883292/woman_and_wine/ |access-date=July 16, 2018 |work=The Boston Globe at Newspapers.com |date=August 31, 1900 |page=9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716224159/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21883292/woman_and_wine/ |archive-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=live }}{{free access}}</ref> He offered her a part in his new play ''Lover's Lane''. While continuing her professional relationship with Fitch, including as his script doctor, she took a full-time job with theatrical producer [[Henry Wilson Savage]]. The company's vice president Louis C. Wiswell would eventually become her second husband.{{sfn|Marra|1995|p=81}} Under Fitch's influence, performing in seven plays written by him, she began to develop the stage persona she would become most identified with, a [[spinster]] wise in years but eternally yearning for marriage. Journalist [[Ada Patterson]] would later proclaim Sears "The Greatest of Stage Old Maids".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Patterson|first1=Ada|title=The Greatest of Stage Old Maids|journal=Theatre Magazine|date=1911|volume=13 v.|pages=127–128|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000499996|via=[[HathiTrust]]|access-date=2019-01-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406040251/https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000499996|archive-date=2018-04-06|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[Image:1911 NestEgg ParkTheatre Boston Massachusetts postcard.png|thumb|right|Scene from [[Anne Caldwell]]'s "The Nest Egg" with Zelda Sears at the [[Park Theatre (Boston)|Park Theatre, Boston]], Massachusetts, ca.1911]]
She moved on, working successively as an [[extra (actor)|extra]] girl and in an opera chorus. Sears joined a class in a dramatic school. She journeyed to [[New York City]] with a letter of introduction to a New York theatrical manager. Her initial opportunity in [[New York City]] was obtained through [[A.L. Erlanger]]. She joined a ballet and earned $20 a week while also learning toe dancing. Her first part was a very small one in a stock production of ''Sowing The Wind''. She played comic roles on stage, learned shorthand, and even opened her own typewriting business. The impetus of her writing career occurred when her landlady went on vacation to the mountains and Sears managed her boarding house while she was away. 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. {{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}


She began writing for films at the request of [[Cecil B. DeMille]] and [[MGM]] in the early 1920s, and continued to do so for more than a decade.<ref>{{cite news |title=Not Flappers Only |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21917777/not_flappers_only/ |access-date=July 16, 2018 |work=The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com |date=April 18, 1926 |page=63 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716224255/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21917777/not_flappers_only/ |archive-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=live }}{{free access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Pageant of the Films |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21917975/the_pageant_of_the_films/ |access-date=July 16, 2018 |work=The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com |date=March 23, 1934 |page=13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716224248/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21917975/the_pageant_of_the_films/ |archive-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=live }}{{free access}}</ref>
Dissatisfaction led Sears to return to Chicago, where she joined the acting troupe of John Stapleton. Her first meaningful part came by way of Harry Parker, who was general manager for William A. Brady. Sears' stage career was further 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''. {{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}


== Death ==
In 1907 Sears was appearing in Baltimore in a play called ''The Truth'' by [[Clyde Fitch]]. The star of the play was [[Clara Bloodgood]] who was best friends with Sears. Bloodgood despondent about something concerning the play and Fitch committed suicide in her hotel room.
On August 6, 1918, Sears married her long-time friend Louis C. Wiswell.<ref>{{cite news |title=Matrimonial: Zelda Sears Marries |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21851237/matrimonial_zelda_sears_marries/ |access-date=July 16, 2018 |work=The Times Herald at Newspapers.com |date=August 13, 1918 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716224140/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21851237/matrimonial_zelda_sears_marries/ |archive-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=live }}{{free access}}</ref> She died at age 62 in her Hollywood home in 1935, from undisclosed causes. She was survived by Wiswell, and a sister, Marie Paldi.<ref>{{cite news |title=Play Writer Zelda Sears, Native of Michigan, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12319724/play_writer_zelda_sears_native_of/ |access-date=July 16, 2018 |work=Detroit Free Press at Newspapers.com |date=February 20, 1935 |page=14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716224008/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12319724/play_writer_zelda_sears_native_of/ |archive-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=live }}{{free access}}</ref>


==Writer==
== Stage ==
Partial listing:
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]]. {{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} 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 Hollywood|Pre-Code]] [[drama film]] along with [[Nick Grindé]], and [[John Meehan (screenwriter)|John Meehan]]. She also appeared in it as "Hannah". She had a part in her final film scenario, ''[[A Wicked Woman]]'' (1934).


{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
==Death==
|+ Broadway credits of Zelda Sears
Sears died at her Hollywood home in 1935, aged 62 from undisclosed causes. She 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.
! scope="col"|Year
! scope="col"|Title
! scope="col"|Theatre
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |{{abbr|Ref(s)|Reference(s)}}
|-
!scope="row"|1889
|''Esther''
|City Opera House (Port Huron)
|As Azila
|align="center"|<ref name=Footlights/>
|-
!scope="row"|1889
|''[[La Dame aux Camélias]]''
|Daily Theater (Chicago)
|Extra
|align="center"|<ref name=Bernhardt/>
|-
!scope="row"|1896
| ''Jack and the Beanstalk''
|[[Casino Theatre (New York City)|Casino Theatre]]
|As a ballerina
|align="center"|{{sfn|Marra|1995|p=78-79}}
|-
!scope="row"|1900
|''Woman and Wine''
|[[The Boston Theatre]]
|As La Colombe. Written by [[Arthur Shirley]] and Benjamin Landeck
|align="center"|<ref name=WomanandWine/>
|-
!scope="row"|1901
|''Lover's Lane''
|[[Manhattan Theatre]]
|Written and staged by [[Clyde Fitch]]
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Lover's Lane |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/lovers-lane-5455 |website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1903
|''Glad of It''
|[[Savoy Theatre]]
|Written and staged by Clyde Fitch
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Glad of It |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/glad-of-it-5807 |website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1904
|''The Coronet of the Duchess''
|[[Garrick Theatre]]
|Written and staged by Clyde Fitch
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Coronet of the Duchess|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-coronet-of-the-duchess-5920 |website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1905
|''Cousin Billy''
|[[Criterion Theatre]]
|Written and directed by Clyde Fitch
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Cousin Billy|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/cousin-billy-4954|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1907
|''The Truth''
|Criterion Theatre, [[Lyceum Theatre (Broadway)|Lyceum Theatre]]
|Written and staged by Clyde Fitch. Sears played Mrs. Crespigny, reprised her performance in a 1914 production, and assumed the role again when the drama was adapted as a 1920 film of the same title.
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Truth|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-truth-6312|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1908
|''Nearly a Hero''
|[[Casino Theatre (New York City)|Casino Theatre]]
|Mrs. Doolittle
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Nearly a Hero |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/nearly-a-hero-6529 |website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829214659/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/nearly-a-hero-6529 |archive-date=2017-08-29 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1908
|''Girls''
|Daly's Theatre
|As Lucille Purcelle; written and staged by Clyde Fitch
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Girls|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/girls-6546|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1909
|''The Blue Mouse''
|Lyric Theatre<br /> [[Maxine Elliott's Theatre]]
|Replacement performer; written and staged by Clyde Fitch
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Blue Mouse|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-blue-mouse-6611|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1909
|''Girls''
|Hackett Theatre
|Revival, reprised her role as Lucille Purcelle
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Girls|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/girls-6547|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1910
|''The Girl He Couldn't Leave Behind''
|Garrick Theatre
|
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Girl He Couldn't Leave Behind|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-girl-he-couldnt-leave-behind-him-7134|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1910
|''Keeping Up Appearances''
|Collier's Comedy Theatre
|
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Keeping Up Appearances|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/keeping-up-appearances-7202|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1910
|''The Nest Egg''
|[[Bijou Theatre (Manhattan, 1878)|Bijou Theatre]]
|Lead role as Hetty Gandy
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Nest Egg|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-nest-egg-7221|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1914
|''The Truth''
|[[Hayes Theater|Little Theatre]]
|Reprise performance as Mrs. Crespigny
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Truth|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-truth-7997|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1915
|''The Show Shop''
|[[Hudson Theatre]]
|
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Show Shop|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-show-shop-8118|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1916
|''Fast and Grow Fat''
|[[Lunt-Fontanne Theatre|Globe Theatre]]
|
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Fast and Grow Fat|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/fast-and-grow-fat-8430|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1917
|''Captain Kidd, Jr.''
|[[Sam H. Harris|Cohan and Harris Theatre]]
|
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Captain Kidd, Jr.|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/captain-kidd-jr-8475|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1917
|''Mary's Ankle''
|Bijou Theatre
|
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Mary's Ankle|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/marys-ankle-8560|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1919
|''Tumble In''
|[[American Airlines Theatre|Selwyn Theatre]]
|Aunt Selina
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Tumble Inn|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/tumble-in-8853|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1920
|''[[The Girl in the Limousine (play)|The Girl in the Limousine]]''
|[[Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre|Empire Theatre]]
|Aunt Cicely
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Girl in the Limousine|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-girl-in-the-limousine-6700|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1921
|''Lady Billy''
|[[Liberty Theatre]]
|Musical based on a book by Sears; lyrics by Sears
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Lady Billy |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/lady-billy-9009 |website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426041409/http://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/lady-billy-9009 |archive-date=2018-04-26 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1923
|''The Clinging Vine''
|[[Knickerbocker Theatre (Broadway)|Knickerbocker Theatre]]
|Musical, lyrics by Sears
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Clinging Vine|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-clinging-vine-9171|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1923
|''The Magic Ring''
|Liberty Theatre
|Musical based on a book by Sears; lyrics by Sears
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Magic Ring |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-magic-ring-9277 |website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426042047/http://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-magic-ring-9277 |archive-date=2018-04-26 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1924
|''[[Lollipop (musical)|Lollipop]]''
|Knickerbocker Theatre
|Mrs. Gerrity, musical based on a book by Sears; lyrics by Sears
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Lollipop|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/lollipop-9463|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1925
|''A Lucky Break''
|[[Cort Theatre]]
|Playwright
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=A Lucky Break|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/a-lucky-break-7832|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1926
|''Rainbow Rose''
|[[Eugene O'Neill Theatre|Forrest Theatre]]
|Based on a story by Sears
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Rainbow Rose|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/rainbow-rose-10027|website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018 }}</ref>
|-
|}


==References==
== Filmography ==
*''[[Lincoln Star]]'', ''From Milkmaid To Highest Paid Playwright'', Sunday, August 13, 1922, Magazine Section, pg. 29
*''[[New York Times]]'', ''Zelda Sears Dies; Writer, Actress''. February 20, 1935, pg. 19


{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
==External links==
|+ Zelda Sears film credits
{{commons category}}
! scope="col"|Year
*{{IMDb name|id=0780803}}
! scope="col"|Title
*{{IBDB name}}
! scope="col"|Role
*[https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=zelda+sears Portrait of Zelda Sears], NY Public Library Billy Rose Collection
! scope="col"|Writer
*[http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/sayre/id/9084/rec/1 1913 portrait] (University of Washington, Sayre Collection)
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |Notes
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | {{abbr|Ref(s)|Reference(s)}}
|-
!scope="row"|1920
|''The Truth''
|Mrs. Crespigny
|
|Silent film
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Truth |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/18023?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog| access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1921
|''[[The Highest Bidder]]''
|Mrs. Steese
|
|Silent film
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Highest Bidder |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/9736?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1924
|''[[Cornered (1924 film)|Cornered]]''
|
|
|Silent film based on the 1920 play ''Cornered'' by Dodson Mitchell and Zelda Sears
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Cornered |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/3439?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1926
|''[[The Clinging Vine]]''
|
|
|Silent film based on the play ''The Clinging Vine'' by Zelda Sears
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Clinging Vine |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/3346?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Clinging Vine – Broadway Musical |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-clinging-vine-9171 |website=IBDB |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1926
|''[[Corporal Kate]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Silent film co-written with [[Marion Orth]]
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Corporal Kate |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/3440?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1926
|''[[The Cruise of the Jasper B]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Silent film adaptation by Sears and [[Tay Garnett]] of the 1916 novel ''The Cruise of the Jasper B'' by [[Don Marquis]]
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Cruise of the Jasper B |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/3519?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1927
| ''[[The Night Bride]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Silent film adaptation
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Night Bride |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/10965?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog| access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1927
| ''[[No Control (1927 film)|No Control]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Silent film
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web|title=No Control |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/10990?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1927
|''[[Rubber Tires]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Silent film adaptation by Sears and Tay Garnett
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web|title=Rubber Tires |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/11809?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1927
|''[[The Rush Hour]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Silent film adaptation by Sears of March 1923 short story "The Azure Shore" by Frederic Hatton and Fanny Hatton in Harper's Bazaar
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web|title=The Rush Hour |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/11821?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018
}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1927
| ''[[The Wise Wife]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Silent film adaptation by Sears and Tay Garnett of the 1928 [[Arthur Somers Roche]] novel of the same name
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Wise Wife |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/13382?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1929
|''[[Devil-May-Care]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Dialogue
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Devil-May-Care |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/3731?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1930
|''[[The Divorcee]]''
|Hannah
|align="center"| X
|[[Film treatment]]
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Divorcee |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/3776?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1930
|''[[The Bishop Murder Case (film)|The Bishop Murder Case]]''
|Mrs. Otto [Miss] Drukker
|
|
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Bishop Murder Case |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/24005?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1930
|''[[Road to Paradise (film)|Road to Paradise]]''
|
|
|Sound remake of the 1924 silent film ''Cornered'', both of which are based on the1920 play ''Cornered'' by Dodson Mitchell and Zelda Sears
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Road to Paradise |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/11732?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1931
|''[[Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise)]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Dialogue
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/4756?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1931
|''[[Politics (1931 film)|Politics]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Story, with [[Malcolm Stuart Boylan]]
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Politics |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/6943?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1931
|''[[Daybreak (1931 film)|Daybreak]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Continuity
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Daybreak |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7309?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1931
|''[[Reducing (film)|Reducing]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Continuity
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Reducing |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7429?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1931
|''[[Inspiration (1931 film)|Inspiration]]''
|Pauline
|
|
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Inspiration |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7307?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1932
|''[[New Morals for Old]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Dialogue
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=New Morals for Old |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/6163?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1932
|''[[Emma (1932 film)|Emma]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Dialogue
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Emma |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7805?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1932
|''[[Prosperity (film)|Prosperity]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Screenplay, with Eve Greene
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Prosperity |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7806?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1933
|''[[Broadway to Hollywood (film)|Broadway to Hollywood]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Sears and [[Harlan Thompson]] were brought in as [[Script doctor]]s
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Broadway to Hollywood |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7409?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1933
|''[[Tugboat Annie]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|With Eve Green, adaptation of "Tugboat Annie " short stories by Norman Reilly Raine in The Saturday Evening Post
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Tugboat Annie |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/4866?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1933
|''[[Beauty for Sale]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|With Eve Greene, screenplay
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Beauty For Sale |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7286?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1933
|''[[Day of Reckoning (1933 film)|Day of Reckoning]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|With Eve Greene, screenplay
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Day of Reckoning |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7348?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1934
|''[[The Cat and the Fiddle (film)|The Cat and the Fiddle]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|Sears and Eve Greene were brought in as script doctors
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=The Cat and the Fiddle |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7080?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1936
|''[[His Brother's Wife]]''
|
|
|Sears and Eve Greene originally slated as writers, but are not credited in the final product
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=His Brother's Wife |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7669?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1934
|''[[Operator 13]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|With Eve Greene and Harvey Thew, screenplay
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Operator 13 |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/2218?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1934
|''[[Sadie McKee]]''
|Mrs. Craney
|
|
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=Sadie McKee |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7064?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1934
|''[[This Side of Heaven]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|With Eve Greene, adaptation of the 1932 novel ''It Happened One Day'' by Marjorie Bartholomew Paradis
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=This Side of Heaven |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7235?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1934
|''[[A Wicked Woman]]''
|Gram Teague
|align="center"| X
|With Florence Ryerson, screenplay
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=A Wicked Woman |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/4003?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
!scope="row"|1934
|''[[You Can't Buy Everything]]''
|
|align="center"| X
|With Eve Greene, adaptation
|align="center"|<ref>{{cite web |title=You Can't Buy Everything |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/7207?cxt=filmography |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=July 16, 2018}}</ref>
|-
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Sourcing==
* {{cite book |last1=Briscoe |first1=Johnson |title=The actors' birthday book: First -third series. An authoritative insight into the lives of the men and women of the stage born between January first and December thirty-first |date=1908 |publisher=Moffat, Yard and Company|url=https://archive.org/details/actorsbirthdayb00brisgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/actorsbirthdayb00brisgoog/page/n39 34] |quote=Zelda Sears -wikipedia. }}
* {{cite book |last1=Marra |first1=Kim |editor1-last=Maufort |editor1-first=Marc |title=Staging Difference: Cultural Pluralism in American Theatre and Drama, 1995 |date=1995 |publisher=Peter Lang |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8204-2732-4 |pages=75–84 |chapter-url=https://www.questia.com/read/9911059/staging-difference-cultural-pluralism-in-american |chapter=Marginal Experience/Mainstream Vision in the Theatrical Career of Zelda [Paldi] Sears |access-date=2018-07-16 |archive-date=2018-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716223851/https://www.questia.com/read/9911059/staging-difference-cultural-pluralism-in-american |url-status=dead }}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0780803|name=Zelda Sears}}
* {{IBDB name|id=9240|name=Zelda Sears}}
* [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=zelda+sears Portrait of Zelda Sears], NY Public Library Billy Rose Collection
* [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/sayre/id/9084/rec/1 1913 portrait] (University of Washington, Sayre Collection)


{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:American writers of Italian descent]]
[[Category:American writers of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Disease-related deaths in California]]
[[Category:People from St. Clair County, Michigan]]
[[Category:People from St. Clair County, Michigan]]
[[Category:Vaudeville performers]]
[[Category:Vaudeville performers]]
[[Category:American women screenwriters]]
[[Category:American women screenwriters]]
[[Category:Writers from Michigan]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Michigan]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American women dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]]
[[Category:Actresses of Italian descent]]

Latest revision as of 01:01, 23 January 2024

Zelda Sears
Born
Zelda Paldi

(1873-01-21)January 21, 1873
Brockway Township, Michigan, U.S.
DiedFebruary 19, 1935(1935-02-19) (aged 62)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress, writer
Years active1924-1934
Spouse(s)Herbert E. Sears (1892–1895)
Louis C. Wiswell (1918–1935)
Signature

Zelda Sears (née Paldi; January 21, 1873 – February 19, 1935) was an American actress, screenwriter, novelist and businesswoman.

Early life and background[edit]

She was born as Zelda Paldi near Brockway Township, St. Clair County, Michigan, into a multi-lingual family that spoke French, Italian and English. Her father, Justin Lewis Paldi, was a first-generation Italian immigrant engineer and horse breeder, and her mother Roxa Tyler was of English heritage.[1][2][3]

Her entry into the job market at age 12 was borne out of a family financial crisis.[4] Merchant L.A. Sherman conducted an essay contest for his store's opening day, with Sears submitting the winning entry and being rewarded with a position as cash runner for the sales staff. In the evening hours, she educated herself on secretarial skills.[4] She was eventually promoted to the position of sales clerk. When she expressed an interest in writing, Sherman transferred her as a reporter on his newspaper the Port Huron Daily Times.[5]

In June 1889, at age 16, she made her acting debut as alternating roles in a Port Huron production of Esther at the City Opera House. Setting her sights on a newspaper career, she journeyed to Detroit, Michigan, with no luck finding a job, and then ventured to Chicago, Illinois.[5] While rooming at the Chicago YWCA, and waiting for her big break in the newspaper business, she worked for Longnecker and Company painting flowers on boxes. She earned extra money by selling her original greeting card verses.[6][7]

Acting and writing careers[edit]

In 1892, she married actor Herbert E. Sears, and would continue to use his name professionally after the dissolution of their marriage three years later.[4] She got her foot in the door of the Chicago Herald newspaper by contributing to its humor column. When her father died, Sears began reading the numerous play scripts in his extensive personal library, adding to her already considerable interest in the profession.[8] Actress Sarah Bernhardt performed in at Chicago's Daly Theater in 1894,[9] and Sears initially set out to secure an interview with the star for the Herald. She ended up being hired as an extra in the production, changing the course of her professional life.[4] Later continuing with a local acting stock company, and honing her craft with Hart Conway's American Conservatory of Acting, she eventually relocated to New York. Producer A.L. Erlanger offered her a small role as one of the ballerinas, a skill she had to learn on the job, in the 1896 production of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Casino Theatre.[10] She spent the next few years expanding her skills with traveling stock companies.[11]

Scene from Anne Caldwell's The Nest Egg with Zelda Sears at the Park Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts, ca.1911

As she continued to pursue acting roles, Sears operated her own public stenography/typewriting service in New York, near the Empire Theatre on Broadway. Her clients were theatre people, playwrights. She soon developed into a proficient script doctor, with an eye towards becoming a playwright herself.[7] It was during her 1900 performance as the jealous murderess La Colombe in Wine and Women at the Boston Theatre, that she met her future collaborator, playwright Clyde Fitch.[12] He offered her a part in his new play Lover's Lane. While continuing her professional relationship with Fitch, including as his script doctor, she took a full-time job with theatrical producer Henry Wilson Savage. The company's vice president Louis C. Wiswell would eventually become her second husband.[13] Under Fitch's influence, performing in seven plays written by him, she began to develop the stage persona she would become most identified with, a spinster wise in years but eternally yearning for marriage. Journalist Ada Patterson would later proclaim Sears "The Greatest of Stage Old Maids".[14]

She began writing for films at the request of Cecil B. DeMille and MGM in the early 1920s, and continued to do so for more than a decade.[15][16]

Death[edit]

On August 6, 1918, Sears married her long-time friend Louis C. Wiswell.[17] She died at age 62 in her Hollywood home in 1935, from undisclosed causes. She was survived by Wiswell, and a sister, Marie Paldi.[18]

Stage[edit]

Partial listing:

Broadway credits of Zelda Sears
Year Title Theatre Notes Ref(s)
1889 Esther City Opera House (Port Huron) As Azila [5]
1889 La Dame aux Camélias Daily Theater (Chicago) Extra [9]
1896 Jack and the Beanstalk Casino Theatre As a ballerina [10]
1900 Woman and Wine The Boston Theatre As La Colombe. Written by Arthur Shirley and Benjamin Landeck [12]
1901 Lover's Lane Manhattan Theatre Written and staged by Clyde Fitch [19]
1903 Glad of It Savoy Theatre Written and staged by Clyde Fitch [20]
1904 The Coronet of the Duchess Garrick Theatre Written and staged by Clyde Fitch [21]
1905 Cousin Billy Criterion Theatre Written and directed by Clyde Fitch [22]
1907 The Truth Criterion Theatre, Lyceum Theatre Written and staged by Clyde Fitch. Sears played Mrs. Crespigny, reprised her performance in a 1914 production, and assumed the role again when the drama was adapted as a 1920 film of the same title. [23]
1908 Nearly a Hero Casino Theatre Mrs. Doolittle [24]
1908 Girls Daly's Theatre As Lucille Purcelle; written and staged by Clyde Fitch [25]
1909 The Blue Mouse Lyric Theatre
Maxine Elliott's Theatre 		Replacement performer; written and staged by Clyde Fitch [26]
1909 Girls Hackett Theatre Revival, reprised her role as Lucille Purcelle [27]
1910 The Girl He Couldn't Leave Behind Garrick Theatre [28]
1910 Keeping Up Appearances Collier's Comedy Theatre [29]
1910 The Nest Egg Bijou Theatre Lead role as Hetty Gandy [30]
1914 The Truth Little Theatre Reprise performance as Mrs. Crespigny [31]
1915 The Show Shop Hudson Theatre [32]
1916 Fast and Grow Fat Globe Theatre [33]
1917 Captain Kidd, Jr. Cohan and Harris Theatre [34]
1917 Mary's Ankle Bijou Theatre [35]
1919 Tumble In Selwyn Theatre Aunt Selina [36]
1920 The Girl in the Limousine Empire Theatre Aunt Cicely [37]
1921 Lady Billy Liberty Theatre Musical based on a book by Sears; lyrics by Sears [38]
1923 The Clinging Vine Knickerbocker Theatre Musical, lyrics by Sears [39]
1923 The Magic Ring Liberty Theatre Musical based on a book by Sears; lyrics by Sears [40]
1924 Lollipop Knickerbocker Theatre Mrs. Gerrity, musical based on a book by Sears; lyrics by Sears [41]
1925 A Lucky Break Cort Theatre Playwright [42]
1926 Rainbow Rose Forrest Theatre Based on a story by Sears [43]

Filmography[edit]

Zelda Sears film credits
Year Title Role Writer Notes Ref(s)
1920 The Truth Mrs. Crespigny Silent film [44]
1921 The Highest Bidder Mrs. Steese Silent film [45]
1924 Cornered Silent film based on the 1920 play Cornered by Dodson Mitchell and Zelda Sears [46]
1926 The Clinging Vine Silent film based on the play The Clinging Vine by Zelda Sears [47][48]
1926 Corporal Kate X Silent film co-written with Marion Orth [49]
1926 The Cruise of the Jasper B X Silent film adaptation by Sears and Tay Garnett of the 1916 novel The Cruise of the Jasper B by Don Marquis [50]
1927 The Night Bride X Silent film adaptation [51]
1927 No Control X Silent film [52]
1927 Rubber Tires X Silent film adaptation by Sears and Tay Garnett [53]
1927 The Rush Hour X Silent film adaptation by Sears of March 1923 short story "The Azure Shore" by Frederic Hatton and Fanny Hatton in Harper's Bazaar [54]
1927 The Wise Wife X Silent film adaptation by Sears and Tay Garnett of the 1928 Arthur Somers Roche novel of the same name [55]
1929 Devil-May-Care X Dialogue [56]
1930 The Divorcee Hannah X Film treatment [57]
1930 The Bishop Murder Case Mrs. Otto [Miss] Drukker [58]
1930 Road to Paradise Sound remake of the 1924 silent film Cornered, both of which are based on the1920 play Cornered by Dodson Mitchell and Zelda Sears [59]
1931 Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) X Dialogue [60]
1931 Politics X Story, with Malcolm Stuart Boylan [61]
1931 Daybreak X Continuity [62]
1931 Reducing X Continuity [63]
1931 Inspiration Pauline [64]
1932 New Morals for Old X Dialogue [65]
1932 Emma X Dialogue [66]
1932 Prosperity X Screenplay, with Eve Greene [67]
1933 Broadway to Hollywood X Sears and Harlan Thompson were brought in as Script doctors [68]
1933 Tugboat Annie X With Eve Green, adaptation of "Tugboat Annie " short stories by Norman Reilly Raine in The Saturday Evening Post [69]
1933 Beauty for Sale X With Eve Greene, screenplay [70]
1933 Day of Reckoning X With Eve Greene, screenplay [71]
1934 The Cat and the Fiddle X Sears and Eve Greene were brought in as script doctors [72]
1936 His Brother's Wife Sears and Eve Greene originally slated as writers, but are not credited in the final product [73]
1934 Operator 13 X With Eve Greene and Harvey Thew, screenplay [74]
1934 Sadie McKee Mrs. Craney [75]
1934 This Side of Heaven X With Eve Greene, adaptation of the 1932 novel It Happened One Day by Marjorie Bartholomew Paradis [76]
1934 A Wicked Woman Gram Teague X With Florence Ryerson, screenplay [77]
1934 You Can't Buy Everything X With Eve Greene, adaptation [78]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "She Is A Star". The Daily Herald at Newspapers.com. April 16, 1906. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2018-07-16. Retrieved July 16, 2018.Free access icon
  2. ^ "Paldi vs. Paldi". The Times Herald at Newspapers.com. January 13, 1891. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2018-07-16. Retrieved July 16, 2018.Free access icon
  3. ^ Marra 1995, p. 77.
  4. ^ a b c d Marra 1995, p. 78.
  5. ^ a b c "Miss Zelda Paldi Wins Additional Honors as a Star of the Footlights". The Times Herald at Newspapers.com. June 4, 1914. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2018-07-16. Retrieved July 16, 2018.Free access icon
  6. ^ Griffin, Mary (June 3, 1928). "Was Zelda Sears Born Under A Lucky Star? – She Thinks So!". Detroit Free Press at Newspapers.com. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2018-07-16. Retrieved July 16, 2018.Free access icon
  7. ^ a b Griffin, Mary (June 3, 1928). "Was Zelda Sears Born Under A Lucky Star (cont. from p.1)". Detroit Free Press at Newspapers.com. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2018-07-16. Retrieved July 16, 2018.Free access icon
  8. ^ Patterson, Ada (August 13, 1922). "From Milkmaid To Highest Paid Playwright". The Nebraska State Journal at Newspapers.com. p. 25. Retrieved July 16, 2018.Free access icon
  9. ^ a b "Bernhardt – La Dame aux Camélias". Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com. July 1, 1894. p. 9. Archived from the original on 2018-07-16. Retrieved July 16, 2018.Free access icon
  10. ^ a b Marra 1995, p. 78-79.
  11. ^ Briscoe 1908, p. 34.
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  32. ^ "The Show Shop". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  33. ^ "Fast and Grow Fat". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
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  74. ^ "Operator 13". AFI Catalog. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  75. ^ "Sadie McKee". AFI Catalog. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
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Sourcing[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zelda Sears.
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