Jack Wagner (Author)

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Jackson Wagner (born May 20, 1891 in Los Angeles , California , † July 13, 1963 ) was an American author , screenwriter , cameraman and filmmaker who won an Oscar in 1946 for the drama A Medal for Benny together with John Steinbeck was nominated.

Life

Jack Wagner was already one of the authors of the silent film era, so he was, so to speak, a pioneer in writing scripts for actors of this decade and later also for talkies. He was one of four brothers who were all in the film business. His parents were William and Edith Wagner. William Wagner was employed by a railway company in Mexico . Jack and his brothers Blake, Bob and Max grew up in Torreón in the Mexican state of Coahuila . During the Mexican Revolution , William Wagner was attacked and fatally wounded by rebels while defending his platoon, whereupon Edith Wagner returned to California with her sons. While Max Wagner moved to Salinas with his mother , Jack, Blake and Bob found work in film in Los Angeles. Max also joined his brothers in 1924.

After a while, Jack and Blake met David Wark Griffith , to whom they worked in various positions, for example as a set painter or camera assistant. Jack Wagner left Griffith after a while and worked for Mack Sennett as a camera assistant and gag writer. He subsequently worked with Chester Conklin , Ben Turpin , Charley Chase , Slim Summerville , Edgar Kennedy and many others. He was also known for his specialty of hectic chase scenes , which were an indispensable part of the slapstick comedies of the Keystone Kops produced by Mack Sennett .

When World War I broke out, Jack Wagner and his brother Blake joined the United States Army . They were assigned to the Signal Corps , which also made films. Jack Wagner filmed during the battles of the Marne , St. Mihiel and Maas-Argonne . After the war he moved to Hollywood , where he worked first at Mack Sennett and later at Hal Roach . Here he was involved in a number of short films before he teamed up with Harry Langdon , Frank Capra , William A. Seiter , Allan Dwan and other directors and worked for feature films in 1924 . During this time he wrote the script for the adventure film The Sea Beast with John Barrymore with Rupert Hughes . His brother Bob was one of the film's cameramen.

Like many silent film authors, Wagner also had difficulties with the transition from silent to sound film, which had an impact on his work. In 1934 he co-wrote the Oscar-winning short film La Cucaracha by Lloyd Corrigan. Wagner wrote additional scenes for the romantic drama The Little Minister (1934) with Katharine Hepburn in the lead role. Wagner also worked on the script for the 1936 musical comedy Dancing Pirate , again directed by Corrigan, which was Oscar-nominated. In most of his work from the 1930s and 1940s, he was not mentioned in the credits, although he also contributed gags to the films of Mae West and Lupe Vélez .

At the time of the Second World War , Wagner came up with an idea for a new film about a young man who is expelled by the citizens of his small hometown, joins the army and dies in a battle. Now that he's a war hero, those same citizens pretend they've always valued him. After he had put the story on paper, various studio bosses turned it down. Wagner then decided to ask his long-time friend John Steinbeck to write a script with him and use his influence so that the film could still be made. In 1946 , Wagner and John Steinbeck received an Oscar nomination in the “Best Original Story ” category for the same film produced by Paramount Pictures , the drama A Medal for Benny with Dorothy Lamour , Arturo de Córdova and J. Carrol Naish in the leading roles. Naish was also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category. However, the Oscar for Best Original Story went to Charles G. Booth and the spy film The House on 92nd Street by Henry Hathaway .

Since Wagner spoke fluent Spanish, some time after the publication of A Medal for Benny he went to Mexico and produced the mystery dramas La Otra (1946) with Dolores del Río and La diosa arrodillada (1947) with María Félix . He and his friend John Steinbeck wrote the screenplay for the dramatic adventure story Mexican Romance , as well as for the 1947 drama The Pearl . In 1954, Buzz Kulik took on an episode of the television series Lux Video Theater entitled "A Medal for Benny" back to a work by the Wagner / Steinbeck team.

Jack Wagner died of heart failure in Los Angeles in 1963 at the age of 72 . He was divorced from his wife Mabel Toots Herriman at the time of his death.

Filmography (selection)

(as a screenwriter, unless otherwise stated)

  • 1915: The Hunt (short film; comedic structure)
  • 1915: A Submarine Pirate (short film; comedic structure)
  • 1919: Taming the West (short film; assistant director)
  • 1920: This Way Out (short film; assistant director)
  • 1921: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ( The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ; camera)
  • 1922: Ashes (comedic composition)
  • 1923: Dulcy (assistant director)
  • 1924: Romeo and Juliet (short film; assistant director)
  • 1924: The Reel Virginian (short film)
  • 1925: The Sea Squawk (short form; title)
  • 1925: The Teaser
  • 1926: The Sea Beast
  • 1927: The Life of Riley (gag writer)
  • 1927: What a beautiful woman desires ( The American Beauty ; comedic structure)
  • 1927: What Every Girl Should Know
  • 1928: Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath (Gagschreiber)
  • 1928: Lady Be Good
  • 1929: Warning, Harold, Warning! (Welcome Danger; gag writer)
  • 1929: Broadway Blues (short film, comedic composition)
  • 1929: They Shall Not Pass Out
  • 1930: Entre platos y notas (director)
  • 1930: Cupido Chauffeur (author and director)
  • 1930: Clancy in Wall Street
  • 1932: Sea Soldier's Sweeties (short film)
  • 1933: Strings (short film)
  • 1934: La Cucaracha (short film)
  • 1934: The Little Minister
  • 1935: Another Face (adaptation)
  • 1935: His last command (Annapolis Farewell)
  • 1936: The Little Lord ( Little Lord Fauntleroy ; special effects)
  • 1936: King of Burlesque
  • 1936: Dancing pirate (Dancing Pirate)
  • 1940: Little Men
  • 1945: A Medal for Benny
  • 1946: The Other ( La Otra ; producer)
  • 1947: La diosa arrodillada (producer)
  • 1947: Mexican Romance (La perla)
  • 1947: The Pearl
  • 1954: Lux Video Theater - A Medal for Benny (TV series)

Award

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jack Wagner (1891-1963) at worldcat.org (English)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Jack Wagner in the IMDb - Internet Movie Database (English)
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g The Wagner Boys: Jack Wagner at hollywoodoblivion.com (English), accessed on February 15, 2016.
  4. ↑ The 18th Academy Awards | 1946 at oscars.org (English)
personal data
SURNAME Wagner, Jack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wagner, Jackson (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author, screenwriter, cameraman, and filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California , United States
DATE OF DEATH July 13, 1963
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States