Knowing History and Writing for the “It Girl” Launched The Screenwriting Career of Ethel Doherty

Many of today’s screenwriters have come from the world of education so it could be said they are following the path laid out by Ethel Doherty in the 1920s and 30s. Born in Los Angeles in 1899 Doherty and the film industry grew up together. Her parents moved back and forth between Los Angeles and Arizona, so Doherty majored in history and graduated from Arizona State Normal School with plans to be a high school teacher.

Back in Los Angeles she spent two summers at the University of Southern California (USC) and a third one at University of California. Her interest in the film industry meshed with Louise Long, a friend she met at USC, but like many aspiring screenwriters, even today, they needed to pay their bills so both women became high school teachers by day and collaborated on screenplays by night.

Finding it hard to sell to the industry from the outside the women trained as stenographers in order to apply for jobs inside the studio system. Paramount provided their first jobs as secretaries. When they learned about the higher-paying work of film editors – and that editing was called “the last rewrite” – they moved into that profession.

Doherty’s historical knowledge became known and she was assigned to adapt a controversial novel by Zane Grey - The Vanishing American (1925). The story dealt with a Navajo tribe being mistreated by a federal agent and when the Great War breaks out they debate if enlisting will lead to better treatment – or be supporting a government that mistreats them.

Clearly, the subject of such a global war captivated audiences as Doherty’s next assignment was Behind the Front (1926) which told the story of two young recruits and their exploits before, during, and after boot camp. From war stories she turned to flirty romance by adapting Sinclair Lewis’ novel Mantrap (1926) as a vehicle for the "It Girl" Clara Bow and adapted the German play Jennys Bummel into Stranded in Paris.

Doherty and Long had their first shared credit joining Nunnally Johnson on Rough House Rosie (1926). In 1927 Doherty wrote Hula for Bow, this time placing her underdog female character in Hawaii where she yet again meets a higher class male suitor.

While collaborating with Long on Figures Don’t Lie in 1927 Doherty also continued collaborating with many male writers of great renown.  She wrote Honeymoon Hate with Herman J. Mankiewicz who went on to write Citizen Kane. Even with male co-writers Doherty never lost her focus on female empowerment.  In this case a couple buys a gold mine and swaps jobs with the man doing housekeeping and the woman running the mine.  Rare and fun.

Doherty completed 3 more films in 1928 and 3 in 1929.  Perhaps the stock market crash had an effect on her career as she only completed one film in 1931, one in 1933 and 2 in 1935.  Her final credit returned to her start as she adapted another Zane Grey novel, Rocky Mountain Mystery (1935).  After that she and Long began writing short stories for the magazine market and co-authored the historical novel Seeds of Time in 1938. It told a multi-generational  story of pioneers in Nebraska. 

Neither woman ever married. They lived together in Laguna Beach until Long’s death in 1966.  Doherty passed away in 1974. The typescript with printer's marks, and uncorrected galleys for Seeds of Time can be found in the Dartmouth Libraries Archives and Manuscripts department.

If you’d like to learn more about the history of women of women in screenwriting, and about the craft of screenwriting while earning your MFA from your own home, our low residency Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting is currently accepting applications: https://stephens.edu/program/master-of-fine-arts-in-tv-screenwriting/