Edmond Seward

Edmond Seward
Born	September 26, 1906 Xenia, Ohio, United States
Died	February 12, 1954(1954-02-12) (aged 47) Los Angeles, California, United States
Alma mater	Northwestern University
Occupation	Screenwriter

Edmond Seward (26 September 1906 – 12 February 1954) was a Hollywood screenwriter who had originally attended Northwestern University and worked as a journalist, before doing some writing for Disney.^[1]

During the mid-1930s he was brought out to Australia by director Ken G. Hall, to write movies and train Australian screenwriters for Cinesound Productions.^[2][3]

"We hired him at one hundred pounds a week as a writer and he laughed at it, but he said he would like a trip to the South Seas, and he came for one hundred pounds a week and brought his wife", said Hall. "He didn't know all that much as it turned out."^[4]

Seward ended up writing two films for Cinesound, Thoroughbred (1936) and Orphan of the Wilderness (1936), as well as adapting Thoroughbred into a novel.^[5] He soon returned to Hollywood, with Hall claiming the writer "had not been a bell-ringing success".^[6] Hall thought Seward may have been responsible for plagiarising the end of Thoroughbred from the Frank Capra film, Broadway Bill (1934).^[7]

Seward later worked for Screen Gems and wrote a number of scripts for The Bowery Boys.

Selected filmography

• Walls of Gold (1933)
• Fashions of 1934 (1934) (uncredited)
• Thoroughbred (1936)
• Orphan of the Wilderness (1936)
• The Devil Is Driving (1937) – uncredited
• The Duke Comes Back (1937)
• Gulliver's Travels (1939)
• There's Something About a Soldier (1943) – short
• The Disillusioned Bluebird (1944) – short
• Mutt 'n' Bones (1944) – short
• As the Fly Flies (1944) – short
• In Fast Company (1946)
• Bowery Bombshell (1946)
• Spook Busters (1946)
• Hard Boiled Mahoney (1946)
• News Hounds (1947)
• Bowery Buckaroos (1947)
• Angels' Alley (1948)
• Jinx Money (1948)
• Smugglers' Cove (1948)
• Trouble Makers (1948)
• Fighting Fools (1949)
• Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) – additional dialogue

References

1. Michael Barrier, 'A Day in the Life: Disney, 1931' at Michaelbarrier.com – includes a photo of Seward
2. "AUSTRALIAN FILMS". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 15 June 1935. p. 19. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
3. "FILM PRODUCTION". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 20 June 1935. p. 7. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
4. Philip Taylor, 'Ken G. Hall', Cinema Papers January 1974 p 84
5. "BOOK REVIEWS". The Examiner. Launceston, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 18 April 1936. p. 3 Edition: DAILY, Section: SPECIAL SATURDAY SECTION. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
6. Ken G. Hall, Directed by Ken G. Hall, Lansdowne Press, 1977 p 116
7. Ken G. Hall, Directed by Ken G. Hall, Lansdowne Press, 1977 p 108

External links

• Edmond Seward at IMDb