Una Nixson Hopkins Explained

Una Nixson Hopkins
Other Names:Una Nixon Hopkins
Birth Date:November 17, 1869
Birth Place:Denison, Iowa
Death Date:September 8, 1956
Death Place:Los Angeles, California
Occupation:Art director in silent films, writer, designer
Children:George James Hopkins

Una Nixson Hopkins (November 17, 1869 – September 8, 1956) was an American writer and designer, and an art director who worked in silent films.

Early life

Una B. Nixson was born in Denison, Iowa,[1] the daughter of William H. Nixson (or Nixon) and Mariam Hoxsie Nixson (later Amsden).

Career

Hopkins was widowed in her twenties, and lived in a Pasadena bungalow[2] built by Joseph Blick in 1899. She wrote, and did interior design, and worked as an art director in Hollywood,[3] [4] sometimes described as "the first woman art director in motion pictures".[5] "No trouble is too great for her to take," a 1908 profile explained of her interior decorating work, "and she often spends weeks hunting the shops for some shade or texture to give the needed bit of sheen or color to a room."

In 1915 Hopkins was hired as art director for the Oliver Morosco Photoplay Company.[6] Hopkins had credits on twelve silent films: The Spirit of Romance (1917), More Deadly than the Male (1919), Judy of Rogue's Harbor (1920), Nurse Marjorie (1920), Jenny Be Good (1920), Food for Scandal (1920), A Full House (1920), Burglar Proof (1920), Oh, Lady, Lady (1920), Her First Elopement (1920), Ducks and Drakes (1921), and The Wise Virgin (1924). Several of the films she worked on are now considered lost; two were directed by William Desmond Taylor.[7] After her film career ended, she continued supporting her son, George James Hopkins, in his film work.[8]

Selected publications

The Los Angeles Herald described Hopkins in 1910 as "one of the successful women writers of the West," adding that she was helping to promote Southern California to Eastern audiences.[9] She published a novel, A Winter Romance in Poppy Land (1911).[10] She also contributed short stories and articles on interior design to magazines, especially Ladies' Home Journal,[11] [12] House Beautiful, The Craftsman, and Country Life in America. "Hopkins seemed especially interested in the problems that single working women faced in obtaining suitable housing," noted architectural historian Leland M. Roth.[13] She was a member of the Southern California Press Club.[14]

Fiction

Non-fiction

Personal life

Una Nixson married George J. Hopkins; he died in 1896, at age 30, the same year their only son, his namesake, was born. Her son, George James Hopkins, was an Oscar-winning set designer and interior decorator. Una Hopkins died in Los Angeles in 1956, aged 86 years.

Notes and References

  1. News: 1908-04-08 . Denison Girl's Success . 2 . The Denison Review . 2022-03-16 . Newspapers.com.
  2. Hopkins . Una Nixson . January 1906 . The California Bungalow . The Pacific Monthly . 15 . 51–57.
  3. News: 1920-06-23 . Features of Movie Land . 3 . The Indiana Gazette . 2022-03-16 . Newspapers.com.
  4. News: 1919-08-10 . Woman Sues Dentist . 17 . The Los Angeles Times . 2022-03-16 . Newspapers.com.
  5. News: 1922-11-16 . 'The White Flower' Brings Friends to Mrs. B. D. Chilson . 5 . Hawaii Herald . 2022-03-16 . Newspapers.com.
  6. News: Morosco Photoplay Brevities. August 24, 1915. The Photoplayers Weekly. April 14, 2022. 21. Internet Archive.
  7. News: Lynn . Kenneth S. . 1990-06-10 . DEATH OF A DIRECTOR . en-US . Washington Post . 2022-03-16 . 0190-8286.
  8. News: Barnes . Eleanor . 1933-12-25 . At Belasco and Hillstreet . 8 . Daily News . 2022-03-16 . Newspapers.com.
  9. News: December 15, 1910 . Romanticism of Golden State Wins East's Gold, Writer Says . 4 . Los Angeles Herald . March 16, 2022 . NewspaperArchive.com.
  10. Book: Hopkins, Una Nixson . A winter romance in poppy land . 1911 . R. G. Badger . Boston.
  11. Web site: Broadwell . Liz . 2016-08-17 . "A Glimpse of the Garden at Sunshine Cottage": Una Nixson Hopkins' Model Neighbors . 2022-03-16 . Special Collections Cataloging at Penn . en.
  12. Web site: Stories, Listed by Author . 2022-03-16 . The Fiction Mags Index.
  13. Roth . Leland M. . 1991 . Getting the Houses to the People: Edward Bok, the Ladies' Home Journal, and the Ideal House . Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture . 4 . 187–196 . 10.2307/3514234. 3514234 .
  14. News: 1908-02-10 . Press Club Luncheon . 9 . Los Angeles Evening Express . 2022-03-16 . Newspapers.com.
  15. News: Hopkins . Una Nixson . 1904-11-27 . Johnny's Cookies . 72 . The Los Angeles Times . 2022-03-16 . Newspapers.com.
  16. News: 1906-06-28 . The Chafing Dish . 5 . The Denison Review . 2022-03-16 . Newspapers.com.
  17. News: The Inter Ocean (Chicago, Illinois). 23 Jul 1893. 13. John Brown's Family — The Man of Harper's Ferry Fame —His Sons and Daughter. Visit to Their Homes in Pasadena. California. One Who Has Suffered Intensely and Lived Above the Petty Annoyances of Life. Una B.. Nixson. Una Nixson Hopkins. newspapers.com.
  18. Hopkins . Una Nixson . March 1904 . A House Facing West . House Beautiful . 15 . 226–229.
  19. Hopkins . Una Nixson . March 1904 . Small Houses and their Decoration . House Beautiful . 15 . 269–272.
  20. Book: The Book of a Hundred Houses: A Collection of Pictures, Plans and Suggestions for Householders . 1906 . Duffield . en.
  21. Hopkins . Una Nixson . June 1907 . The House of Fine Detail . The Craftsman . 12 . 329–334.
  22. Hopkins . Una Nixson . October 1909 . A Home Built About its Trees . Country Life in America . 16 . 603–604.
  23. Hopkins . Una Nixson . April 1910 . A Family Clubhouse . Good Housekeeping . 50 . 501–504.
  24. Hopkins, Una Nixon. "A Bedroom With a Sleeping Porch." Ladies Home Journal, (May 1, 1911): 42.
  25. Hopkins . Una Nixson . December 1912 . A Semi-Detached Bungalow Development in California . Country Life in America . 23 . 84–85.
  26. Hopkins, Una Nixson. "A Picturesque Court of 30 Bungalows: A Community Idea for Women" The Ladies’ Home Journal 30 (April 1913): 99.
  27. Hopkins . Una Nixson . March 1913 . What Three Women Did With Their Home . Ladies' Home Journal . 30 . 29.
  28. Hopkins . Una Nixson . May 1913 . The Young Folks' First Bungalow . Ladies' Home Journal . 30 . 39.
  29. Hopkins . Una Nixson . February 1913 . A Home and Bookbindery in One . Country Life in America . 23 . 71–72.
  30. Hopkins . Una Nixson . June 1913 . How You Can Live Outdoors and New Ideas in Children's Playhouses . Ladies' Home Journal . 30 . 70, 72.
  31. September 1914 . Some Phases of Domestic Architecture in the Southwest . The International Studio . 53 . 170–175.
  32. Northend, Mary H., and Una Nixson Hopkins. "The Joys of Girls’ Camps." Ladies Home Journal (1915): 33.
  33. Hopkins . Una Nixson . April 1915 . Pasadena, California, in Mid Winter . Harper's Bazaar . 50 . 46–47.

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