Dore Schary Interview (February 12, 1980)

Persons Appearing: Dore Schary, Schary is promoting his autobiography, Heyday. Discusses his writing career, MGM, his family's Kosher catering business "For Special Occasions," and his desired to write a book about his family and growing up. [Schary died two months later.]
Isadore "Dore" Schary (August 31, 1905 - July 7, 1980) was an American playwright, director, and producer for the stage and a prolific screenwriter and producer of motion pictures. He directed just one feature film, Act One, the film biography of his friend, playwright and theater director Moss Hart. He became head of production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and replaced Louis B. Mayer as president of the studio in 1951.[2][3]
Schary was born to a Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey.[4][5] Schary's father ran a catering business called the Schary Manor. Dore attended Central High School for a year but dropped out to sell haberdashery and buy china. When he finally returned to school, he completed his three remaining years of classwork in one year, graduating in 1923.[6]
Schary worked as a journalist, did publicity for a lecture tour by Rear Adm. Richard E. Byrd, and was an assistant drama coach at the Young Men's Hebrew Association in Newark. The head coach was Moss Hart.[7]
Career[edit source]
Theatre[edit source]
Schary worked in theatre as an actor and writer. In 1927 he got a bit part on Broadway in a play with Paul Muni. Then he worked with Hart at a summer resort in the Catskill Mountains, where they wrote, produced, and directed skits and plays.
Schary appeared on Broadway in The Last Mile with Spencer Tracy. He wrote a play which was read by film producer Walter Wanger, who wired his New York office: "Hire Dore Schary. She writes with a lot of vigor - for a woman." Wanger subsequently hired Schary as a $ 100-a-week film writer.[8] Schary moved to Hollywood, but his option with Wanger was dropped after three months. In his autobiography Heyday (1979), Schary also credits theatrical agent Frieda Fishbein in getting him to Hollywood, by introducing him to Harry Cohn, "the Maharajah of Columbia".[9]
Early films[edit source]
Schary's early writing credits include He Couldn't Take It (1933) for Monogram, and Fury of the Jungle (1933) and Fog (1933) at Columbia.
Schary worked on Let's Talk It Over (1934) for Universal, The Most Precious Thing in Life (1934) at Columbia, and Young and Beautiful (1934) at Universal. Other work for Universal included Storm Over the Andes (1935), Chinatown Squad (1935), and (uncredited) The Raven (1935).
At Warners, Schary wrote Murder in the Clouds (1934) and Red Hot Tires (1935). He did some uncredited work on Paramount's Mississippi (1935), and wrote for Republic's Racing Luck (1935).
Schary went to Fox for Silk Hat Kid (1935), Your Uncle Dudley (1935) and Song and Dance Man (1936). He was briefly under contract at MGM for a few months in 1936.[10]
At Paramount he did Timothy's Quest (1936), Mind Your Own Business (1936), Her Master's Voice (1936), Outcast (1937), and The Girl from Scotland Yard (1937). He did Ladies in Distress (1937) at Republic.
Schary's play Too Many Heroes ran on Broadway for 16 performances in the fall of 1937.
Work at MGM[edit source]
At MGM he worked on two Spencer Tracy films, Big City (1937) and Boys Town (1938). Schary earned Oscar nominations on the latter for Best Screenplay and Best Story, winning for Best Story.
Schary went on to write Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940), Young Tom Edison (1940) with Mickey Rooney and Edison, the Man (1940) with Tracy. He also worked on Married Bachelor (1941). For Republic, Schary wrote Behind the News (1940).
MGM promoted Schary to producer of their "B" pictures unit. Schary began with Joe Smith, American (1942), based on Schary's own story, which became a solid hit. Kid Glove Killer (1942), the directorial debut for Fred Zinnemann, was also profitable.
Journey for Margaret (1942) was a big success, making a star of Margaret O'Brien. Bataan (1943) made a profit of over one million dollars. Lassie Come Home (1943) with Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor had a profit of over two million.[11]
Vanguard Films[edit source]
Schary accepted an offer to go to work for David O. Selznick's Vanguard Films as head of the production. He produced I'll Be Seeing You (1944), The Spiral Staircase (1946), Till the End of Time (1946), The Farmer's Daughter (1947) with Loretta Young, and The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) with Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple. All films were considered critical and commercial successes.
Head of Production at RKO[edit source]
Schary's Vanguard films were released through RKO, which offered him the job as head of the production. Although he still had eleven months left on his Vanguard contract they let him go and Schary signed a five-year deal with RKO in January 1947.[12][13]

[@fatbowe]

His name was used by Lucy Arnaz on I Love Lucy...didn't know who that was😅...