2013 Essays

Bess Meredyth

Sturtevant, Victoria

Bess Meredyth is mentioned in nearly every account of women screenwriters of the silent era, but very few details about her work seem to make it into print. The richest source for information about this extremely prominent screenwriter is Eighty Odd Years in Hollywood, the autobiography of Meredyth’s son, John Meredyth Lucas. This text, too, however, leaves large gaps in detail and in the chronology of the author’s mother’s career, and the son reflects: “It, unfortunately, never seemed important that I learn Mother’s early history. She never wrote it, only mentioned a few disconnected anecdotes. I never asked. By the time the questions were formed, the answers had died” (19).