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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Dalya Alberge

Credit at last for female screenwriter airbrushed from Hollywood history

On the set of Craig's Wife (1936), left to right: film editor Viola Lawrence, star Rosalind Russell, screenwriter McCall and director Dorothy Arzner.
On the set of Craig's Wife (1936), from left: film editor Viola Lawrence, star Rosalind Russell, screenwriter McCall and director Dorothy Arzner. Photograph: private collection

To screenwriters in the 1950s, she was a major power player, fighting for pay rises and striking rights. To the Hollywood studio heads, she was “the meanest bitch in town”.

Now, a new book aims to restore Mary C McCall Jr’s reputation as one of the film industry’s most important figures, a trailblazer who was airbrushed from history after getting on the wrong side of movie moguls.

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