Joseph Jackson (screenwriter) explained

Joseph Jackson
Birth Name:	Joseph Ashurst Jackson
Birth Date:	8 June 1894
Birth Place:	Winchester, Kentucky, US
Death Place:	Laguna Beach, California, US
Yearsactive:	1927 - 1932
Spouse:
Children:	1

Joseph Ashurst Jackson (June 8, 1894 – May 26, 1932) was an American screenwriter, playwright and publicist who was nominated for the now dead category of Best Story at the 4th Academy Awards. He was nominated alongside Lucien Hubbard. They were nominated for Smart Money.^[1]

He had over 50 screenplay credits from 1927 to 1932.

Early life and career

One of three children born to Frank Hoard Jackson and Florence Prewitt,^[2] Jackson was a graduate of both Kentucky Wesleyan College and Columbia University School of Journalism. He served in the United States Navy during World War I, after which he briefly served as assistant drama editor at the New York World and publicist for Goldwyn Pictures before moving to Los Angeles and Warner Brothers.^[3]

In 1923, Jackson was elected president of the Wampas, organization of the publicity and advertising men. In October 1924, he was hired as the personal representative of Rudolph Valentino,^{[4] [5] [6] [7]} in which capacity he served for roughly one year,^{[8] [9]} at which point he left to pursue his writing career in earnest. In the fall of 1925, Jackson authored one-act dramatic vehicles for Frank Keenan, Ethel Grey Terry, and Francis X. Bushman.^[10] Soon he began writing for film and for the next five years turned out screen plays for Warner Brothers First National Pictures. He wrote the script and dialogue for The Singing Fool (1928), The Terror (1928), My Man (1928), Tenderloin (1928), Those Who Dance (1930), Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931), Smart Money (1931) and scores of others.^[11]

Personal life

Jackson married twice. On February 19, 1921, he married stage and aspiring screen actress Marjorie Manning; within eight months, Manning had fallen ill and, roughly eight months later, she died from that undisclosed illness on June 4, 1922.^{[12] [13]} On April 27, 1927, actress Ethel Shannon and Jackson were wed at the Wilshire Boulevard Congregational Church in Los Angeles.^[14]

Death

On May 26, 1932, Jackson, accompanied by actor Robert Armstrong and screenwriter Arthur Caesar, was swimming well offshore at Laguna Beach. When the trio encountered a group of barely submerged rocks about 100 feet out, all but Jackson turned back. Braving both the rocks and what would later be erroneously described as a "terrific rip tide,"^[15] Jackson was approximately 200 feet from the shore when he realized he was in trouble and called back for help. After his companions again failed to surpass the 100-foot mark, an 18-year-old bystander did finally succeed in reaching him, but by then it was too late. Attempts to revive the unconscious screenwriter proved futile, and Jackson was pronounced dead, due to a combination of drowning and heart attack.^[16]

Jackson was survived by his wife Ethel and one son, Ronald Shannon Jackson.^[17]

Selected filmography

• Her Big Night (1926)^{[18] [19] [20]}
• Afraid to Love (1927)
• Husbands for Rent (1927)
• If I Were Single (1927)
• The Barker (1928)
• Beware of Bachelors (1928)
• Beware of Married Men (1928)
• Caught in the Fog (1928)
• The Death Ship (1928) (short film)
• Five and Ten Cent Annie (1928)
• Land of the Silver Fox (1928)
• The Little Snob (1928)
• A Man of Peace (1928) (short film)
• The Midnight Taxi (1928)
• My Man (1928)
• Powder My Back (1928)
• The Singing Fool (1928)
• State Street Sadie (1928)
• Tenderloin (1928)
• The Terror (1928)
• Women They Talk About (1928)
• Ask Dad (1929)
• Conquest (1929)
• The Greyhound Limited (1929)
• Hardboiled Rose (1929)
• In the Headlines (1929)
• Is Everybody Happy? (1929)
• No Defense (1929)
• The Redeeming Sin (1929)
• Say It with Songs (1929)
• Second Choice (1929)
• Be Yourself! (1930)
• Dancing Sweeties (1930)
• Maybe It's Love (1930)
• Mammy (1930)
• Man to Man (1930)
• The Man from Blankley's (1930)
• Oh Sailor Behave (1930)
• The Second Floor Mystery (1930)
• Those Who Dance (1930)
• Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931)
• God's Gift to Women (1931)
• Safe in Hell (1931)
• Smart Money (1931)
• Beauty and the Boss (1932)
• The Dark Horse (1932)
• High Pressure (1932)
• The Mouthpiece (1932)
• One Way Passage (1932)

Further reading

• Dougherty, Henry E. (August 22, 1921). "Studio Life Basis of Dramatic Play" Los Angeles Evening Express. p. 21
• Jackson, Joseph A. (January 10, 1923). "Sawing a Lady". The Los Angeles Times. p. 18
• "Wampanian Joyfest Held". Los Angeles Sunday Times. February 25, 1923. p. 23
• Jackson, Joseph. "Valentino Close-Up Shows Qualities Eluding Camera". The Eagle (United Artists Pressbook). January 1925.
• Jackson, Joseph (February 8, 1925). "Rudolph Valentino Once Slept in Central Park; Hocked His Clothes and Walked Five Miles for a Job—Became a Dancer at Maxim's - The Biography of a Favorite Star of the Screen". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 64
• Ryan, Don (February 25, 1925). "Improving It". Los Angeles Record. p. 1
• Jackson, Joe (June 7, 1925). "Rudy to Play Russian Hero – Question: Will He Bring Slav Into Romantic Prominence He Gave Latins". The Tacoma Washington Ledger. June 7, 1925. p. 58
• Gerhard, George (June 6, 1925). "The Screen: Now Natacha Picks 'Em". The Owensboro Messenger. p. 13
• "Star Gazing With the Press Critic". The Evansville Press. September 1, 1925. p. 2
• "Desert Movies". New York Daily News. November 26, 1925. p. 25
• Jackson, Joe (January 1926). "I Wouldn't Wish It On a Dog". Photoplay. pp. 31, 108–109
• "Vaudeville: Bryant Washburn in Jackson Sketch". Variety. January 13, 1926. p. 8

Notes and References

1. Web site: The 4th Academy Awards (1931) Nominees and Winners . March 22, 2014. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AMPAS.
2. "California Marriages, 1850-1945", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:H9Z4-72PZ : 24 March 2020), Joseph Ashurst Jackson, 1921.
3. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13273249/joseph-s-jackson-death/ "Heroic Youth Battles Rip Tide at Beach"
4. Fowler, L.B. (October 24, 1924). "In Review: For Children; Sid Returning; Joe Jackson; Other News Notes". Los Angeles Daily News. p. 19. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
5. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/95674831/lexington-herald-leader/ "Winchester: With Valentino"
6. https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=95672297 "The News Reel: We Hear 'Cobra' Won't Be a Snake Picture"
7. https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=95779507 "Jackson and Valentino"
8. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1505683906 "Joe Jackson Free Agent"
9. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/95673497/lexington-herald-leader/ "Joe Jackson Said 'Sheik' Always Kept Himself In Good Condition"
10. https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedir02moti/page/n51/mode/2up?q=%22rudolph+valentino%22+%22joseph+jackson%22 "Wampas Doin's"
11. The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California)27 May 1932, Fri. Page 19 & 20
12. https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=94999300 "Film Beauty Weds Publicity Manager"
13. https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=95001840 "Wife of Cinema Publicity Man Passes Away"
14. Los Angeles Times, Apr. 11, 1927, "She Trades Fame For Home --- Ethel Shannon Quits Films to Marry," p. 2A
15. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13273249/joseph-s-jackson-death/ "Heroic Youth Battles Rip Tide at Beach"
16. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/95066097/los-angeles-evening-citizen-news/ "Joe Jackson's Passing Stuns Film Capital; Hollywood Mourns Tragedy Marking End of Writer in Laguna Surf"
17. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/95075615/los-angeles-evening-post-record/ "Wife Watches Film Writer Husband Die; Joe Jackson, Pioneer Author in Hollywood, Drowns in Laguna"
18. https://archive.org/details/filmmercury1926100merc/page/n19/mode/2up?q=%22her+big+night%22+%22joseph+jackson%22+laplante "Melville Brown is Titling Production"
19. https://archive.org/details/filmmercury1926100merc/page/n45/mode/2up?q=%22rudolph+valentino%22+%22joseph+jackson%22 "Joseph Jackson Titled 'Her Big Night'"
20. https://archive.org/details/universalweekly100movi_4/page/n25/mode/2up?q=%22her+big+night%22+laplante "Empire Puts Over 'Her Big Night' in a Big Way"