David Stenn

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David Stenn is an American television writer-producer, biographer, and film preservationist. His television credits range from Hill Street Blues to Boardwalk Empire . He is known for his biographies of Hollywood stars Clara Bow and Jean Harlow.

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Early life and television career

Stenn was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University. His television career began one year later, when he became the youngest writer of the landmark NBC series Hill Street Blues . He subsequently served as a writer and story editor for the anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985–86). His teleplay for the made-for-TV movie She Was Marked for Murder (1988) earned him an Edgar Award nomination from the Mystery Writers of America. Stenn also wrote the Universal feature film Cool as Ice (1991).

Subsequent television series credits include the Fox Network's 21 Jump Street (writer-producer) and Beverly Hills 90210 (writer-supervising producer and creator of the character Dylan McKay, portrayed by Luke Perry); the NBC miniseries The Secrets of Lake Success (writer-executive producer); the CBS series Central Park West (writer-co-executive producer); Showtime's The L Word (writer-co-executive producer), and the HBO period gangster drama Boardwalk Empire (writer-supervising producer, consultant).

Books

Concurrently with his early television career, Stenn wrote the biographies Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild (1988) and Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow (1993), both edited by Jacqueline Onassis at Doubleday. Widely praised for their sensitivity and depth of research, both books are considered definitive works on their subjects: Bombshell was named a New York Times "Notable Book" of the year, [1] and Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild, a best-seller, remains in print today and is considered among the most durable titles of Onassis's two-decade editorial career. [2]

Patricia Douglas and Girl 27

While researching Bombshell, Stenn stumbled across a reference to a long-buried Hollywood scandal about an underage dancer whose career and life were derailed after she was brutally raped by an M-G-M sales representative at an exhibitors' convention in 1937, then stigmatized by the studio's aggressive cover-up of the crime. His pursuit of this story turned into a decade-long research project, one notable result of which was his astonishing discovery that the victim, Patricia Douglas, was still alive. He located her and persuaded her to tell her story, which he first detailed in a 2003 article for Vanity Fair . [3] Stenn subsequently produced a documentary film on the subject, Girl 27 (2007), which incorporated footage of both the M-G-M exhibitors’ convention and of Douglas herself, who had agreed to appear on-camera for the first time shortly before her death. The film was picked up for distribution by Red Envelope Entertainment (Netflix), then Magnolia Pictures after its premiere in competition at the Sundance Film Festival.

The revelations regarding sexual misconduct by certain powerful men in the entertainment industry that received widespread media coverage beginning in late 2017 brought renewed attention to Girl 27, in recognition of its documentary evidence of the perennial existence of this systemic problem. In a New York Times op-ed piece in January 2018, Stenn made the point that "Injustice can thrive only in silence, and finally the story of Patricia Douglas and others like her now resonates in Hollywood and beyond." [4]

Film preservation

Stenn is a passionate and generous supporter of film preservation, an activity that grew out of his discovery, while researching his Clara Bow biography, that more than two-thirds of her silent films were believed to either no longer exist, or to survive only on unstable nitrate film stock. His search for Bow's lost or endangered films has resulted in the location and/or preservation of at least twenty-five titles, with Stenn personally funding the restoration of four Bow features: Parisian Love (1925), Mantrap (1926) and The Saturday Night Kid (1929) at the UCLA Film and Television Archive; and Capital Punishment (1925) at the Library of Congress. [5] Stenn has also been active in tracking down other films previously thought to have been lost, including at least one dozen short films featuring silent screen child star Baby Peggy; [6] the feature The Letter (1929), starring theatrical legend Jeanne Eagels; [7] [8] and most recently, the original twelve-reel version of director James Whale's The Road Back (1937), which had been cut by almost thirty minutes after its original release at the behest of Nazi Germany. Preserved by the Library of Congress with funds from Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation, this restored version of The Road Back premiered at the Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival) in February 2016. [9] Stenn also has served since 2009 on the Board of the Film Department at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, [10] and is also a member of the Board of Advisors of the UCLA Film and Television Archive. [11]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Bombshell</i> (1933 film) 1933 film

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<i>The Saturday Night Kid</i> 1929 film

The Saturday Night Kid is a 1929 American pre-Code romantic comedy film about two sisters and the man they both want. It stars Clara Bow, Jean Arthur, James Hall, and in her first credited speaking role, Jean Harlow. The film was based on the play Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (1926) by George Abbott and John V. A. Weaver. The movie still survives. The film was preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding by Clara Bow biographer David Stenn.

<i>Girl 27</i> 2007 American film

Girl 27 is a 2007 documentary film by writer/director David Stenn about the 1937 rape of dancer and occasional movie extra Patricia Douglas (1917–2003) at a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer exhibitors' convention, the front-page news stories that followed, and the studio's subsequent cover-up of the crime. Also covered in the film are a similar assault on singer Eloise Spann and her subsequent suicide, and the better-known scandal involving actress Loretta Young and her "adopted" daughter Judy Lewis, the product of her date rape by Clark Gable during the production of The Call of the Wild.

<i>Rough House Rosie</i> 1927 film

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clara Bow filmography</span>

Clara Bow (1905–1965) was a 16-year-old living in the New York City borough of Brooklyn when she won the 1921 nationwide "Fame and Fortune Contest" advertised in Motion Picture Magazine. After submitting their autobiography with a completed entry form clipped from the magazine, finalists were given multiple screen tests. As the winner, she was cast in a small role in the silent era film Beyond the Rainbow. Although her part was eventually edited out, the contest inspired her to pursue an acting career. She relocated to Los Angeles and in 1923 signed with producer B.P. Schulberg. Over the next seven years, she would make more than 40 silent-era films, the majority of them under contract to Paramount Pictures. Her 1927 starring role in It, about an attractive and charismatic young woman, led the public to label Bow the "It girl".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Harlow filmography</span>

Jean Harlow was an American actress who made her uncredited debut in two 1928 films: Honor Bound for Fox Film; and Moran of the Marines for Paramount Pictures. While waiting for a friend at the studio in 1928, she was discovered by studio executives who gave her letters of introduction to casting agencies, where she was offered the two small roles that subsequently launched her film career. During the initial two years of her career, Harlow appeared uncredited in 16 films, including several Hal Roach productions developed for Laurel and Hardy. Her first speaking role was a bit part in the 1929 American pre-Code romantic comedy The Saturday Night Kid, starring Clara Bow and Jean Arthur. The film has since been preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

Merrill G. White was an American film editor and screenwriter. He also co-directed the 1957 film Ghost Diver and was an associate producer on Courage of Black Beauty (1957). During the 1930s he worked in Britain, including on several films made by Herbert Wilcox. For his editing of The Brave One, White received a Best Film Editing nomination for the 29th Academy Awards.

<i>The Adventurous Sex</i> 1925 film

The Adventurous Sex is a lost 1925 American silent drama film that was directed by Charles Giblyn and starred Clara Bow, Herbert Rawlinson, and Earle Williams. The Howard Estabrook production was shot in studios in New York City and on location at Niagara Falls.

Below are a list of works related to the history of Hollywood, California.

References

  1. ↑ New York Times (Book Review section), December 5, 1993.
  2. ↑ Lawrence, Greg. Jackie as Editor: The Literary Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2011, pp.164-166
  3. ↑ Stenn, David (April 1, 2003). "It Happened One Night... at MGM". Vanity Fair. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  4. ↑ Stenn, David (2018-01-05). "Opinion | The Systematic Crushing of a #MeToo Pioneer". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  5. ↑ "The 'It' Girl." The New Yorker, May 29, 2000, p.106.
  6. ↑ "Baby Peggy: Hollywood's Tiny Titan | UCLA Film & Television Archive". www.cinema.ucla.edu. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  7. ↑ "The Eagels Has Landed". Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2016-02-04.
  8. ↑ "The Letter DVD". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-02-04.
  9. ↑ "Berlin 2016: Classics strand includes James Whale's 'The Road Back'".
  10. ↑ "David Stenn from the MoMA Film Committee, actress Jodie Foster and".
  11. ↑ "Archive Board of Advisors | UCLA Film & Television Archive".
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