Dalton S. Reymond
{{short description|American screenwriter (1896–1978)}}
Dalton Shaffer Reymond (October 11, 1896 – January 23, 1978) was an American screenwriter, author, and college professor. He is perhaps best remembered as a screenwriter for the controversial Disney live-action feature film Song of the South (1946).{{cite book |last=Beck |first=Jerry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fTI1yeZd-tkC |title=The Animated Movie Guide |publisher=Chicago Review Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-556-52683-1 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=fTI1yeZd-tkC&pg=PA260 260] |via=Google Books}}{{Cite book |last=Hischak |first=Thomas S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YtJKDwAAQBAJ&dq=Dalton+S.+Reymond&pg=PA298 |title=100 Greatest American and British Animated Films |date=2018-04-20 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-0569-6 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Eagan |first=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4GNRD_icEmkC&dq=Dalton+S.+Reymond&pg=PA56 |title=America's Film Legacy, 2009-2010: A Viewer's Guide to the 50 Landmark Movies Added To The National Film Registry in 2009-10 |date=2011-11-24 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4411-5869-7 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Jessie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10rEGSIItjgC&dq=Dalton+S.+Reymond&pg=PA1564 |title=Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture [4 volumes] |date=2010-12-17 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-35797-8 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Beeler |first1=Karin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S1uQBQAAQBAJ&dq=Dalton+Reymond&pg=PA160 |title=Children's Film in the Digital Age: Essays on Audience, Adaptation and Consumer Culture |last2=Beeler |first2=Stan |date=2014-11-28 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7596-4 |language=en}}
Early life and education
Reymond was born on October 11, 1896, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.{{Cite web |title=Dalton S. Reymond |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0721468/ |access-date=2023-02-07 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last=Kaser |first=James A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVYtBAAAQBAJ&dq=Dalton+S.+Reymond&pg=PA292 |title=The New Orleans of Fiction: A Research Guide |date=2014-07-29 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-9204-0 |language=en}}
Career
Reymond worked as a theater and film studies professor at Louisiana State University,{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbjmAAAAMAAJ&q=Dalton+S.+Reymond |title=The Louisiana State University Alumni News |date=1948 |language=en}} and later served as Dean of the College of Music.{{Cite book |last=Institute |first=American Film |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bsoUXGZSxZcC&dq=Dalton+S.+Reymond&pg=PA881 |title=Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960 |date=1997 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-20964-0 |language=en}} While there, he directed a production of Carmen which starred Frances Greer.
In the late 1930s, Reymond moved to Hollywood where he worked as a set designer, technical advisor, and dialect coach for various films depicting the American South.{{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Julia A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vn9AEAAAQBAJ&dq=Dalton+S.+Reymond&pg=PA213 |title=Bette Davis Black and White |date=2022-01-19 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-81386-8 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=Kathy Merlock |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hfm2BQAAQBAJ&dq=Dalton+S.+Reymond&pg=PA65 |title=Walt Disney, from Reader to Storyteller: Essays on the Literary Inspirations |last2=West |first2=Mark I. |date=2014-11-28 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7232-1 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Reid |first=John Howard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtZ22A3HL5AC&dq=Dalton+S.+Reymond&pg=PA84 |title=Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Support Program |date=2005-03-23 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1-4116-2909-7 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Reid |first=John Howard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7YBg4w-6pvcC&dq=Dalton+S.+Reymond&pg=PA184 |title=Success in the Cinema MoneyMaking Movies |date=2006-06-01 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1-84728-088-6 |language=en}} Reymond was a member of the Writers Guild of America.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TEY5AQAAIAAJ&q=Dalton+S.+Reymond |title=The Screen Writer |date=1946 |publisher=Screen Writers Guild, Incorporated |language=en}}
In June 1944, Walt Disney Studios hired Reymond to write the screenplay of Song of the South because of his "knowledge of Southern traditions."{{Cite book |last=Arnold |first=Gordon B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3P58DQAAQBAJ&dq=Dalton+S.+Reymond&pg=PA126 |title=Animation and the American Imagination: A Brief History |date=2016-11-28 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-3360-1 |language=en}} Reymond delivered a 51-page outline of the screenplay on May 15, 1944.{{Cite book |last=Barrier |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w7IwDwAAQBAJ&dq=Dalton+S.+Reymond&pg=PA193 |title=The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney |date=2008-04-07 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-25619-4 |language=en}}
The Hays Office reviewed Reymond's outline of Song of the South, and demanded that some terminology, such as characters referring to Remus as an "old darkie" be removed from Reymond's treatment.J. P. Telotte (2010) Song of the South, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 27:5, 392-394, {{doi|10.1080/10509208.2010.494566}} Reymond's depiction of African Americans in the original treatment of the screenplay was considered controversial at the time and caused multiple crew members and potential actors to pull out of involvement.{{Cite web |date=2020-10-11 |title=How Disney tried and failed to remove Song of the South from history |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/how-disney-tried-and-failed-to-remove-song-of-the-south-from-history |access-date=2023-02-07 |website=SYFY Official Site |language=en-US}}Barrier, Michael. The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney. 1st ed., University of California Press, 2007. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppcjs. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023.{{Cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=Kathy Merlock |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GJe2BQAAQBAJ&dq=Dalton+Reymond&pg=PA62 |title=Walt Disney, from Reader to Storyteller: Essays on the Literary Inspirations |last2=West |first2=Mark I. |date=2014-12-03 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-1824-1 |language=en}}Sperb, Jason. "One. Conditions of Possibility: The Disney Studios, Postwar “Thermidor,” and the Ambivalent Origins of Song of the South". Disney's Most Notorious Film: Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South, New York, USA: University of Texas Press, 2012, pp. 37-61. {{doi|10.7560/739741-004}}
In the 1945 film Saratoga Trunk, Reymond was the vocal and singing coach to Ingrid Bergman.
In 1948, Reymond's first novel, "Earthbound," was published by Ziff Davis.{{Cite book |last=Reymond |first=Dalton S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxQaAQAAMAAJ |title=Earthbound |date=1948 |publisher=Ziff-Davis Publishing Company |language=en}} The story depicted the Mississippi Delta of the 1880s.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9FAdAQAAMAAJ&q=Dalton+S.+Reymond |title=The Publishers' Circular and Booksellers' Record |date=1948 |publisher=Publishers' Circular |language=en}}
Death
Reymond died on January 23, 1978, in Camarillo, California.
Filmography
- They Won't Forget (technical supervisor) – 1937
- Jezebel (speech supervisor) – 1938
- The Toy Wife (advisor; uncredited) – 1938
- The Little Foxes (technical advisor) – 1941
- Saratoga Trunk (technical advisor) – 1945
- Song of the South (screenwriter) – 1946
Works
- Reymond, Dalton S. Earthbound. United Kingdom: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, 1948.
References
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Category:American male screenwriters
Category:American male dramatists and playwrights
Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:20th-century American male writers