The Shocking Miss Pilgrim: A Writer in Early Hollywood [Hardcover]

Frederica Sagor Maas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 10, 1999

" Freddie Maas's revealing memoir offers a unique perspective on the film industry and Hollywood culture in their early days and illuminates the plight of Hollywood writers working within the studio system. An ambitious twenty-three-year-old, Maas moved to Hollywood and launched her own writing career by drafting a screenplay of the bestselling novel The Plastic Age for ""It"" girl Clara Bow. On the basis of that script, she landed a staff position at powerhouse MGM studios. In the years to come, she worked with and befriended numerous actors and directors, including Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Eric von Stroheim, as well as such writers and producers as Thomas Mann and Louis B. Mayer. As a professional screenwriter, Fredderica quickly learned that scripts and story ideas were frequently rewritten and that screen credit was regularly given to the wrong person. Studio executives wanted well-worn plots, but it was the writer's job to develop the innovative situations and scintillating dialogue that would bring to picture to life. For over twenty years, Freddie and her friends struggled to survive in this incredibly competitive environment. Through it all, Freddie remained a passionate, outspoken woman in an industry run by powerful men, and her provocative, nonconformist ways brought her success, failure, wisdom, and a wealth of stories, opinions, and insight into a fascinating period in screen history.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Frederica Sagor Maas's life encompasses nearly the entire 20th century (she was born in early July 1900), and during the early years of the Hollywood film industry, she was as fierce a competitor for success as any man. Miss Sagor, still a student at Columbia College, was hired by Universal Pictures as an assistant story editor in 1920, when the job basically entailed attending Broadway plays and determining whether the studio should buy the film rights. Because her boss was an alcoholic, she soon found herself in complete charge of the story department. But she wanted to write screenplays herself, so she went to Hollywood and landed a job adapting a novel called The Plastic Age, which Preferred Pictures had acquired as a perfect vehicle for the "It Girl," Clara Bow.

In The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, Frederica--who met and married filmmaker Ernest Maas in 1927--shows how, despite her screenwriting abilities, her career in motion pictures was stymied by her outspoken disagreements with studio bosses, and how many of those around her gave into debauchery. (At one party, she reports, "undressed, tousled men chased naked women, shrieking with laughter. Included in this orgy was Ray Long, Mr. Hearst's representative; Harry Rapf, my own producer; and even the immaculate Irving Thalberg--all drunk, drunk, drunk.") Her memoir's prose has a charming tone, perfectly matching her Jazz Age exploits, which take up the bulk of the story. She also discusses the decline of the Maas's careers, which they finally abandoned after the Second World War, but not before writing a musical (called The Shocking Miss Pilgrim) for Betty Grable. The best passages concern Frederica's adventures in a young industry that was still discovering itself, such as her part in the creation of a motion picture legend: newly arrived actress Lucille LeSueur came up to her one day and said, "I like the way you dress. You dress like a lady. I need that. I want to be dressed right. Smart. I figured you could help." One shopping expedition later, and Joan Crawford was taking her first steps toward stardom. --Ron Hogan

From Publishers Weekly

"This is a story that will make you angry," warns Brownlow, a noted film historian. Maas, a screenwriter during the 1920s, '30s and '40s, delivers on that promise. In 1920, she answered a New York Times classified ad from Universal Pictures, becoming, at age 23, Universal's N.Y.C. story editor. In 1925, she arrived in Hollywood, turned down a screen test and instead scripted a Clara Bow vehicle, The Plastic Age. Installed in the MGM writers' bungalow, she tackled a rewrite of Dance Madness (1926) but proved so "ignorant of studio politics" that she was labeled a "troublemaker" by producer Harry Rapf. After her 1927 marriage to script writer and producer Ernest Maas, the couple survived the coming of sound films, the Depression and various earthquakes, but dry scripting spells and the constant theft of their ideas, stories and credits led them to quit the business. In 1950 she "bid farewell, without tears, to the Hollywood screen industry that had so entangled and entrapped me in its web of promises." Maas trashes Hollywood legends, recalling Louis B. Mayer as "a very fearful, insecure man"; Clara Bow dancing nude on a tabletop; Jeanne Eagels squatting to urinate in the midst of a film set; and Marion Davies commenting on her affair with Hearst: "I'm a slave, that's what. A toy poodle." In this memorable tell-all, rise-and-fall memoir, Maas brings the gimlet hindsight of Julia Phillips's You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again to early Hollywood, and the results are thoroughly captivating. Photos. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky; 1st edition (June 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813121221
• ISBN-13: 978-0813121222
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A forgotten era..., April 8, 2000

By 

L. Alper (Englewood CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Shocking Miss Pilgrim: A Writer in Early Hollywood (Hardcover)

It's hard to believe the world described by Frederica Sagor Maas in her memoir "The Shocking Miss Pilgrim" existed within the lifetimes of people alive today. So many of those who were once household names are now forgotten, so many of the places changed irrevocably.

Yet many of Ms. Maas' experiences & views will come as quite a surprise to the younger generation who tend to think they invented sex, drugs & partying. It's a revelation to hear a woman born in 1900, talking about herself at 20 state "I considered sex something natural like eating or getting dressed. Once it was over, it was over."

For a lifelong LA resident (now in exile) like myself, the greatest pleasure of this book was reading about what life was like in the entertainment capital at the beginning of it's reign. Now decrepit apartment houses described when they were desirable addresses; crowded urban corridors that were once sylvan wildlife areas! What surprises lurk here for those who know LA well!

For the general reader, the memoir moves along well, with Ms. Maas' tart comments always enlivening the recollections. The writing style is sparse & not especially descriptive as you would expect from someone who got her start writing scenarios for silent film. I did feel the book could benefit from some fleshing out; entire decades pass in a few paragraphs, the section describing the making of the film the book is entitled after is only a few pages long, & there were many experiences mentioned that would have benefitted from more description. But I guess at nearly 100 the past must often seem a film at fast forward & Ms. Maas' memory is to be commended!

This book is a valuable addition to the memoirs from the Golden Age of Film. It is especially valuable because it's from someone who was not viewing the industry from the heights but rather from the trenches. I salute Frederica Sagor Maas for having the honesty & clear-sightedness to produce this autobiography & for living the life she has led.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shocking Revelations, August 9, 2008

By 

Charles Bradley (Acton , MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Shocking Miss Pilgrim: A Writer in Early Hollywood (Hardcover)

"The Shocking Miss Pilgrim" is an entertaining and informative read for film buffs,
history fans, and many others. After I heard Hersey Felder sing "Back Bay Polka" in
the musical review "Gershwin Alone", I traced the song to the Betty Grable movie
with the same title as this book. At the time of the movie's release, George
Gershwin had been dead almost two decades. Supposedly, the songs were previously unpublished Gershwin material. Maas claims some were written
by studio composers.

There are many episodes of early Hollywood, featuring nice people and some of the
really rottens. Many ring true, and some smell false. Maas outlived most of the
people she describes as evil or weak, so they can not complain or sue.

It is not literature, and it is not history, but it provides some interesting
scenes that might be of interest to historians, or to gossips. Some reviewers
have labeled the author "left-wing". There are a few scattered political comments
and a few concentrated pages, but conservatives need not fear an attack on their
beliefs. Maas is after specific Hollywood powers.

The dust jacket cover photo is striking. Serious photographers might want to
learn about the other work of the photographer.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hollywood at its best...and worst from one of its first, October 23, 1999

By 

Jennifer Conway ([e-mail]) (East Coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shocking Miss Pilgrim: A Writer in Early Hollywood (Hardcover)

Extraordinary story from many angles: that of a bright, young female writer in the Twenties who could have risen to the top of her profession and should have, were it not for the jealous men who got in her way. That of a woman who was there when Hollywood was still a dirt road and saw it all. That of an emancipated woman who celebrates her independence in every sense of the word. That of a brilliant screenwriting couple permanently scarred by the McCarthy Witchhunts. I would have wished for more on her (and Ernest's) life after Hollywood. Did they stay in touch with Hollywood friends? How did their lives change? Reminds me a bit of today's crop of downsized millions forced to rechart their lives and who face the formidable barrier of age discrimination. Wonderful book! And by a near-centenarian, yet! What a salute to life after 50!!