Ursula Parrott Double Feature
Ursula Parrott (1899–1957) was a prolific author, Hollywood screenwriter and headline-grabber during her colorful, unconventional life, which also included piloting for the Civilian Air Corps during World War II, co-founding a weekly rural Connecticut newspaper, four marriages and a fortune won and lost. During her lifetime, Parrott saw nine of her novels and stories — famous for their frank attitude toward sex, marriage and divorce and attentive to women's working lives in Depression-era New York City — adapted into Hollywood films, with a 10th following her death in 1957.
This year, McNally Editions will republish the most celebrated of Parrott's 20 bestsellers, the 1929 novel "Ex-Wife," the basis for the 1930 film THE DIVORCEE, for which Norma Shearer won the Oscar® for Best Actress.
Marsha Gordon's critical biography "Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life and Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott" will be released this month by the University of California Press. Copies of her book will be available on site for sale and signing.
THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW (1934) in 35mm
Feeling neglected by his wife and stifled by his crowded house with five grown children, businessman Joseph White (Frank Morgan) reconnects with a former secretary, Alice Vail (Binnie Barnes), who has moved to Europe and become a successful businesswoman. Reunited by chance, the smitten Joseph is now tempted to pursue an affair with Alice. Less well-known than Douglas Sirk's 1956 adaptation of the same Ursula Parrott novel, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, this 1934 gem features beautiful and moving performances from leads Morgan and Barnes, as well as Lois Wilson (MISS LULU BETT) as Joseph's wife Sophie. Look for a young, pre-stardom Robert Taylor (who was married to Stanwyck from 1939 to 1952) as the eldest and most petulant of the White children. DIR Edward Sloman; SCR William Hurlbut, from the novel by Ursula Parrott; PROD Carl Laemmle Jr. U.S.,1934, b&w, 86 min. NOT RATED
Followed by:
THE DIVORCEE (1930)
Norma Shearer won the Best Actress Oscar® for this scandalous pre-Code drama, playing a recently divorced society wife who, heartbroken by her cheating husband (Chester Morris), discovers she has no shortage of admirers once back on the dating scene. DIR/PROD Robert Z. Leonard; SCR John Meehan, Zelda Sears, Nick Grinde, from the novel "Ex-Wife" by Ursula Parrott. U.S., 1930, b&w, 84 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Run Time: 180 Minutes
Opening Date: Sunday, April 30, 2023
Genre: Romance drama
