“You might say that I know life only as it’s found in books, but if you did I should interpose that I have always chosen only those books which show life as it is. So I haven’t seen a distorted picture of life. My own existence has been restricted, in a way – yet I have really seen the whole panorama of existence through a window!” — Anita Loos
Source: Julian Johnson (1917)
“The most brilliant young woman in the world.” — D.W. Griffith
Source: Julian Johnson (1917)
“Well, I was brought up on the stage. My father was a writer as well as an actor and producer, so I had exceptional training. From when very young, a mere child, I took my work on the stage very seriously, making the most of every part, no matter how small. I studied technique until I had absorbed it, as one might say. That’s where so many people make a mistake. They may have wonderful ideas and all that, but to write photoplays without some knowledge of construction and technique is like an engineer trying to run a train without an engine. It simply can’t be done.” — Anita Loos
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
“Indeed I do remember the first scenario I wrote, because I sold it to Mr. Griffith. Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore played the leads. At that time, I was in Los Angeles, and I wrote plays for two years before I had seen the inside of a studio. I’m not saying that I sold them all, but selling the first one encouraged me to continue, for I reasoned that what had been done could be done again. I was with Mr. Griffith five years, then the turning point in my career came, and I began working with Mr. Emerson.” — Anita Loos
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
“One person can’t successfully write a play anymore than one person can act it. When I began my playwriting, I had the best of training, and I had ideas, and suppose I was unusually successful. My plays were called good in the reading, but they didn’t get over in a big way when they were screened.” — Anita Loos
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
“I was looking for plays – fairly desperate because I could find nothing that suited me. I saw some of Miss Loos’ work and said, ‘There’s the thing I want’….You must admit that Miss Loos is a wonder at titles. She is rather young to be called a mother, but I call her the mother of comedy titles.” — John Emerson
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
“The titles are to the screenplay what the spoken word is to the stage play, but either one must have action and sustained interest to put it over. Of course, in comedy-dramas, the titles are very important.” — Anita Loos
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
Photo: With her husband and collaborator, John Emerson in 1917.
“One always dislikes giving up associations that are pleasant. But Mr. Fairbanks decided to get away from satirical comedies and try a new type of play. We do our best work in satirical comedies. That’s our specialty, so naturally we ventured forth to pastures new.” — Anita Loos
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
Photo: With Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and John Emerson.
“[California is] so dusty you have to change your clothes three times a day, and then you’re never clean.” — Anita Loos
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
Photo: With Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in 1917.
“We expect to provide a series of photoplay dramas for release by Paramount, known as the John Emerson and Anita Loos Productions. These plays will carry out the idea, ‘The play’s the thing.’ The play will be the feature. We will choose a good cast, but there will be no stars at enormous salaries. Too much money is spent on stars and too little on the production of the picture. So many of the plays written for the big stars don’t suit them. Too many managers and directors think and say, ‘It doesn’t matter so much about the play; he or she will get it over.’ That’s a mistake. Intelligent people don’t care about the star – it’s the play itself they care about….We are glad of the chance to try it out, backed by an organization that will give the proper artistic attention to the needs of our productions. Our plays will not be stage plays or novels adapted to the screen, but strictly individual, high-class satirical comedy. And now er shall do our best to demonstrate ‘The play’s the thing.'” — John Emerson
Source: Lillian Montanye (1918)
Photo: With John Emerson, circa 1917.
