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Backdrop from a project of Mary C. McCall, Jr.
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Mary C. McCall, Jr.

1904 - 1986 (age 81) • Writing

Mary C. McCall, Jr. (April 4, 1904, New York, New York – April 3, 1986, Los Angeles, California) was a writer best known for her screenwriting. She was the first woman president of the Writers Guild of America, serving from 1942–44 and 1951-52. Born in 1904, McCall was a graduate of Vassar College and Trinity College, Dublin. She began writing advertising copy and fiction after graduation. McCall got into the film industry when Warner Bros. hired her to help with the screenplay of the film Scarlet Dawn (1932), based on her novel Revolt. Among her screen credits are the 1935 film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, starring James Cagney as Puck, The Fighting Sullivans, and Mr. Belvedere Goes to College. She also wrote or co-wrote eight of the ten films in the Maisie series. In the late 1930s, she was one of the founders of the Screen Writers Guild. In the 1950s and 1960s, she branched out into television, being credited with four episodes of The Millionaire and one each of Sea Hunt, I Dream of Jeannie, and Gilligan's Island, among others. A number of her stories were published in such magazines as Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Collier's, and The Saturday Evening Post from the 1930s to the 1950s. McCall was one of many who clashed with the conservative Motion Picture Alliance. On July 27, 1954, she had to defend herself in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee against reports that she was a communist sympathizer. She was completely exonerated by the separate California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities of the General Research Committee in its report to the California Senate. Mary C. McCall, Jr. died of "complications of cancer" at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital, one day shy of her 82nd birthday. She was survived by two sons and two daughters. She was the first recipient of the Writers Guild's Valentine Davies Award in 1962. In 1985, she also received the Guild's Edmund J. North Award.

Known For

I Dream of Jeannie

78%

Writer

1965

Gilligan's Island

74%

Writer

1964

A Midsummer Night's Dream

64%

Screenplay

1935

A Slight Case of Murder

64%

Additional Writing

1938

The Fighting Sullivans

63%

Writer

1944

Sea Hunt

67%

Writer

1958

The Woman in Red

60%

Writer

1935

Craig's Wife

65%

Screenplay

1936

I Dream of Jeannie

78%

Writer

1965

Gilligan's Island

74%

Writer

1964

Juke Box Rhythm

77%

Screenplay

1959

Sea Hunt

67%

Writer

1958

Slim Carter

80%

Story

1957

The Millionaire

58%

Writer

1955

Ride the Man Down

77%

Screenplay

1952

Thunderbirds

60%

Screenplay

1952

Dancing in the Dark

60%

Screenplay

1949

Mr. Belvedere Goes to College

73%

Writer

1949

Ford Theatre

80%

Writer

1948

Keep Your Powder Dry

61%

Screenplay

1945

Maisie Goes to Reno

66%

Screenplay

1944

Reward Unlimited

75%

Writer

1944

The Fighting Sullivans

63%

Writer

1944

Swing Shift Maisie

68%

Writer

1943

Panama Hattie

57%

Story

1942

Maisie Gets Her Man

67%

Screenplay

1942

On the Sunny Side

70%

Story

1942

Kathleen

60%

Screenplay

1941

Ringside Maisie

56%

Screenplay

1941

Maisie Was a Lady

70%

Screenplay

1941

Gold Rush Maisie

68%

Screenplay

1940

Congo Maisie

44%

Writer

1940

Maisie

48%

Screenplay

1939

Dramatic School

65%

Screenplay

1938

Breaking the Ice

61%

Screenplay

1938

A Slight Case of Murder

64%

Additional Writing

1938

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