Virginia Van Upp

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Virginia Van Upp
Born (1902-01-13)January 13, 1902
Chicago, Illinois, US
Died March 25, 1970(1970-03-25) (aged 68)
Los Angeles, California US
Occupation Film producer
Screenwriter

Virginia Van Upp (January 13, 1902 – March 25, 1970)[1] was an American film producer and screenwriter.

Early life

Vann Upp was born in Chicago, the daughter of Harry Van Upp and his wife Helen Van Upp who was an editor and title writer for Thomas H. Ince[2] led Van Upp to make several silent films as a child actress.

She soon worked her way up in the film industry becoming a script writer, film editor, script reader, casting director and agent.

Career

Her first screenplay credit was for Paramount Pictures' The Pursuit of Happiness in 1934. She began prolifically writing and rewriting screenplays throughout the 1930s for that studio until 1943.

Queen of Columbia

Ever on the lookout for talent, Columbia Pictures' Harry Cohn hired her from Paramount to do the screenplay of Cover Girl after several other writers failed to make a satisfying screenplay. Cover Girl was designed as a massive Technicolor blockbuster for Columbia's Rita Hayworth. Cohn surrounded his star with the best talent available such as costume designers Travis Banton and Gwen Wakeling who had extensive experience in big budget 20th Century Fox films.[3] Cohn was initially reluctant to have Gene Kelly from MGM as Hayworth's co-star until he was convinced that Kelly and his assistant Stanley Donen would, for no extra fee do the choreography for the film. Van Upp not only fashioned a successful screenplay from the discarded drafts but most important of all gained the confidence of Rita Hayworth becoming a friend and a mediator between her and the studio, even going as far to supervise Rita's costumes and rewriting her own screenplay for Hayworth's new persona.

Seeing the impressive results, Cohn made Van Upp an associate and later a full producer at the studio. Not only did Cohn recognise the importance of appealing to the large female audiences whose men were away at the war, but Van Upp's massive experience in the film industry at all levels made her a rarity; someone who understood and welcomed the diversity of opinion and pressures from the studio to complete a successful film as opposed to most screenwriters who resented studio interference with their work.[4]

Van Upp was only one of three female producers in Hollywood at the time along with Universal’s Joan Harrison who was associated with Alfred Hitchcock, and Harriett Parsons the daughter of influential gossip columnist Louella Parsons. The January 7, 1945 issue of The New York Times wrote about Virginia's rise stating-

"Miss Van Upp's new berth is considered to be the most important position yet for a woman at a major studio. She will have the overall supervision and preparation and actual filming of twelve to fourteen top budget pictures to be made by Columbia during the year. Working under her will be several associate producers, all men.”[5]

As a producer, some of her work was often uncredited, such as salvaging Orson Welles vehicle for his wife Rita Hayworth, the expensive The Lady from Shanghai.[6]

Perhaps Van Upp's most famous production was the 1946 film Gilda that she co-wrote[7] and carefully supervised.

After The Guilt of Janet Ames with Rosalind Russell, Van Upp left Columbia to spend time with her family. Harry Cohn rewarded her with a job of inspecting the Latin American market where she visited 14 Central and South American countries.[8] During this visit Van Upp announced she would produce films based on the Spanish writer Dr Gines de La Torre's Christ the Man and Tolvanera in 1949[9] that never came to fruitation. It was also announced that Virginia would produce a property on the life of Rudolph Valentino for Edward Small that Small filmed several years later without her.[10]

She returned to Columbia to work on Rita Hayworth's comeback film Affair in Trinidad that reunited her with her Gilda co-star Glenn Ford.

A projected film at Republic Pictures was cancelled due to an illness and she reportedly made films for the US Army in West Germany.[11]

Personal life

Virginia Van Upp was married twice, her second husband being production manager Ralph W. Nelson[12] who she divorced in 1949. They had one daughter.

References

  1. ↑ Variety Obituary April 15, 1970
  2. ↑ p.59 Francke, Lizzie Script Girls: Women Screenwriters in Hollywood British Film Institute 1994
  3. ↑ p.91 Finler, Joel Waldo The Hollywood Story Wallflower Press 2003
  4. ↑ p.67 Dick, Bernard F The Merchant Prince of Poverty Row: Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures University Press of Kentucky 05/10/1993
  5. ↑ p. 147 Biesen, Sheri Chinen Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir JHU Press, 12/10/2005
  6. ↑ p. 227 Kaplan, E. Ann Women in film noir British Film Institute, 1998
  7. ↑ p.236 McLean, Adrienne L. Being Rita Hayworth: Labor, Identity, and Hollywood Stardom Rutgers University Press, April 23, 2004
  8. ↑ p. 4 The Lima NewsOctober 22, 1949
  9. ↑ Newsweek Volume 34 1949
  10. ↑ The Milwaukee Sentinel – December 17, 1948
  11. ↑ http://www.filmdirectorssite.com/virginia-van-upp
  12. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0625682/

External links

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