Viña Delmar
Encyclopedia
Viña Delmar was a twenteth century American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

, and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

. With the editorial assistance of her husband, Eugene, she wrote or adapted about twenty plays which were produced as films during her lifetime—a career that lasted from 1929 to 1956. She was nominated for an Academy Award for 1937 for her screen adaptation of the Arthur Richman
Arthur Richman
Arthur Richman was an American baseball writer at a New York City newspaper who become a sports executive, working in the front office of both the New York Mets and New York Yankees.-Biography:...

 play, "The Awful Truth
The Awful Truth
The Awful Truth is a 1937 screwball comedy film starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. The plot concerns the machinations of a soon-to-be-divorced couple, played by Dunne and Grant, who go to great lengths to try to ruin each other's romantic escapades...

".

Early life

Viña Delmar was born Alvina Croter on January 29, 1903 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, the daughter of Ike ("Charlie Hoey") and Jennie A. Guerin Croter. Her grandfather, Simon Croter, was a tailor and merchant in New York City's Lower East Side. Simon once owned a store on 10 Baxter Street in what is now Chinatown in New York City. Her grandfather was a German speaking Polish Jew from the city of Dobrzyn
Dobrzyn
The terms Dobrzyń and Dobrin may refer to:* Order of Dobrzyń, military order* Golub-Dobrzyń, town in Poland* Dobrzyń nad Wisłą, town in Poland* Dobrzyń, Masovian Voivodeship...

. Her father, grandparents, an uncle (Charles Croter), and an aunt (Rose Croter Silberger) are buried in Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents Ike and Jennie were known as "Charlie Hoey" (or "Chas Hoey") and "Julie Powell" and were stars in the Vaudeville and Yiddish theaters in New York City as well as other parts of the United States. Her parents were known as "the team of Hoey and Lee".

Writing career

According to one obituary, Delmar was a "young woman [who] wrote a series of novels that scandalized the country, making them not only best-sellers but giving her entree to Hollywood".

Her first major work was a 1928 novel titled Bad Girl, a cautionary tale about premarital sex
Premarital sex
Premarital sex is sexual activity, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex, practiced by persons who are unmarried. Although it has always been practiced, in the West it has increased in prevalence since the mid-1950s...

 and pregnancy
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...

, which was adapted for both stage and screen. The book was the fifth best-selling work for that year. Bad Girl was considered so scandalous at first that it was even initially banned by booksellers in Boston.

In 1929, she published Loose Ladies, a series of fictional portraits of modern American city women, and the novel Kept Woman.

Delmar was married to Albert Otto Zimmerman who changed his name in July 1929 to Eugene Delmar. They resided in Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale is a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the northern suburbs of New York City. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several villages...

 from 1928 until their home was sold in 1940. They remained married until his death in 1956. The couple had one son, Gray, who was born in 1924 and killed in an automobile racing accident in 1966. After the death of her husband, Delmar ceased to be productive as a writer.

Viña Delmar died January 19, 1990 in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

.

Filmography

  • 1929 Dance Hall (story)
  • 1930 Playing Around (story "Sheba" as Vina Delmar)
  • 1930 A Soldier's Plaything (story)
  • 1931 Bad Girl (novel and play)
  • 1932 Marido y mujer (novel and play)
  • 1932 Uptown New York (based on a story)
  • 1933 The Woman Accused (Liberty Magazine serial chapter)
  • 1933 Pick-up (story)
  • 1933 Chance at Heaven (story "A Chance at Heaven" as Vina Delmar)
  • 1934 Sadie McKee
    Sadie McKee
    Sadie McKee is a 1934 motion picture, directed by Clarence Brown, and starring Joan Crawford, Gene Raymond, Franchot Tone and Edward Arnold. In the film, Crawford plays the title character—a young working girl suffering through three troubled relationships on her road to prosperity.-Synopsis:Sadie...

    (story "Pretty Sadie McKee" as Vina Delmar)
  • 1935 Hands Across the Table
    Hands Across the Table
    Hands Across the Table is a 1935 American romantic screwball comedy film released by Paramount Pictures. It stars Carole Lombard as a manicurist looking for a rich husband and Fred MacMurray as a poor playboy, with Ralph Bellamy as a wealthy but handicapped ex-pilot...

    (story "Bracelets")
  • 1935 Bad Boy (story as Vina Delmar)
  • 1936 King of Burlesque
    King of Burlesque
    King of Burlesque is a 1936 musical film about a former burlesque producer played by Warner Baxter who moves into a legitimate theatre does very well, until he marries a socialite...

    (story as Vina Delmar)
  • 1937 Make Way for Tomorrow
    Make Way for Tomorrow
    Make Way for Tomorrow is a 1937 American drama film directed by Leo McCarey. The plot concerns an elderly couple who are forced to separate when they lose their house and none of their five children will take both parents in....

    (screenplay)
  • 1937 The Awful Truth
    The Awful Truth
    The Awful Truth is a 1937 screwball comedy film starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. The plot concerns the machinations of a soon-to-be-divorced couple, played by Dunne and Grant, who go to great lengths to try to ruin each other's romantic escapades...

  • 1940 Manhattan Heartbeat (play as Vina Delmar)
  • 1942 The Great Man's Lady
    The Great Man's Lady
    The Great Man's Lady is a 1942 American western film directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea. The film is based on the short story "The Human Side" by Viña Delmar.-Plot:...

    (short story)
  • 1947 Cynthia (play)
  • 1954 About Mrs. Leslie
    About Mrs. Leslie
    About Mrs. Leslie is a drama film directed by Daniel Mann and starring Shirley Booth and Robert Ryan. It was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 1955.-Storyline:Mrs...

    (novel)
  • 1955 Make Way for Tomorrow (story and original screenplay for Lux Video Theatre TV series)
  • 1956 Hands Across the Table (story for Lux Video Theatre TV series)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK