Gertrude Purcell

Born in Manhattan to Cornelius and Frances Purcell, Gertrude graduated from Hunter College and then took extension courses at Columbia University, where she met Leila Taylor, a journalism student. Right out of college, the two managed to get their script for Voltaire, a three-act comedy, to director Arthur Hopkins, who agreed to direct and produce it on Broadway.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26582844/new_york_herald/|title=Clipped From New York Herald|work=New York Herald|access-date=2018-12-28}} At the time, this made them the youngest playwrights to have a play on Broadway. Purcell also played a few parts on the stage during this time period.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26582836/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/|title=Clipped From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=2018-12-28}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/63923077/?terms=%22gertrude+purcell%22+%22manhattan%22|title=25 Mar 1922, Page 1 - The News Reporter at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2018-12-28}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/411317749/?terms=%22gertrude+purcell%22+%22manhattan%22|title=13 Jun 1926, 85 - Daily News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2018-12-28}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/471532836/?terms=%22gertrude+purcell%22|title=7 Aug 1921, 42 - New York Herald at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2018-12-28}}

By the early 1930, she had begun writing and adapting screenplays under contract at Paramount Pictures, and by 1931, she had moved to Los Angeles.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380633738/?terms=%22gertrude+purcell%22|title=13 Sep 1931, 50 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2018-12-28}} One of her first screenplays was the Dorothy Arzner–directed Honor Among Lovers, a Paramount film starring Claudette Colbert and Fredric March.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/417086779/?terms=%22gertrude+purcell%22|title=13 Apr 1931, 3 - Chippewa Herald-Telegram at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2018-12-28}}

Purcell—who was described by a friend as a "masculine, funny, and hard-drinking woman"{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=06m7si6MeAcC&q=%22gertrude+purcell%22+screenwriter&pg=PA146|title=American Night: The Literary Left in the Era of the Cold War|last=Wald|first=Alan M.|date=2012-10-15|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=9780807837344|language=en}}—worked as a freelancer for much of her career, penning scripts for most of the major studios. Her biggest Hollywood credits include The Invisible Woman, The Lady and the Mob, and Destry Rides Again. Purcell and screenwriter Edmund Hartman were supposed to write Babes on Broadway at MGM, but producer Arthur Freed fired the pair in order to assign the project to Freddy Finklehoffe.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tpvLqPoVnR8C&q=gertrude+purcell&pg=PA22|title=Bound and Gagged in Hollywood: Edmund L. Hartmann, Screenwriter and Producer|last=McCaffrey|first=Donald W.|date=2006|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810857292|language=en}}

She appears to have married writer-producer Islin Auster, who was 10 years her junior, in secret in Tijuana in 1932, but by 1940, they no longer appear to have been living together.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26592444/evening_courier/|title=Clipped From Evening Courier|work=Evening Courier|access-date=2018-12-28}}

During the McCarthy era, Purcell was noted as an "important" informer and a "cooperative witness" alongside industry insiders like Elia Kazan.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_HvC3WaGZF3UC|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_HvC3WaGZF3UC/page/n470 457]|quote=gertrude purcell screenwriter.|title=The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community, 1930-1960|last1=Ceplair|first1=Larry|last2=Englund|first2=Steven|date=1983|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520048867|language=en}} She testified before the House Committee on Un-American Activities{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iNMJAAAAIAAJ&q=gertrude+purcell&pg=PA811|title=Hearings|last=Activities|first=United States Congress House Committee on Un-American|date=1953|language=en}} that she had been a member of the Communist Party from 1939 to 1942 but that she had quit after becoming disenchanted with its policies.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26582906/the_los_angeles_times/|title=Clipped From The Los Angeles Times|work=The Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-12-28}} "I was fed up with thought control, lack of spirit and initiative," she said at the time.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/156378614/?terms=%22gertrude+purcell%22|title=9 Apr 1953, Page 5 - Albuquerque Journal at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2018-12-28}}

Purcell attempted suicide in the wake of her testimony, but her landlord found her in her Hollywood apartment on North Grace Street and had her transported to the hospital. "I have been out of work for a year, and I wanted to end it all," she told the police.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26582915/the_los_angeles_times/|title=Clipped From The Los Angeles Times|work=The Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-12-28}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26582911/the_bakersfield_californian/|title=Clipped From The Bakersfield Californian|work=The Bakersfield Californian|access-date=2018-12-28}} She would never work in Hollywood again, but she would live another decade. Purcell died May 1, 1963, in Los Angeles. Her final resting place is unknown.

• Three Little Girls (1930)
• Fancy Lady (1930)
• Luckee Girl (1928)
• The Madcap (1927)
• Just Fancy (1927)
• Listen Dearie (1926)
• The Eternal Masculine (1925)
• Tangletoes (1925)
• Stella Dallas (1924)
• Voltaire (1923)

• Winter Wonderland (1946)
• Madame Pimpernel (1945)
• Reckless Age (1944)
• Follow the Boys (1944)
• Ice-Capades Revue (1942)
• In California (1942)
• The Murder Ring (1941)
• False Witness (1940) (adaptation)
• The Invisible Woman (1940)
• One Night in the Tropics (1940)
• A Little Bit of Heaven (1940)
• Destry Rides Again (1939)
• The Lady and the Mob (1939)
• Mother Carey's Chickens (1938)
• Hitting a New High (1937)
• Music for Madame (1937)
• Super-Sleuth (1937)
• Make Way for a Lady (1936)
• The Witness Chair (1936)
• If You Could Only Cook (1935)
• The Girl Friend (1935)
• She Was a Lady (1934)
• The Great Schnozzle (1934)
• Cocktail Hour (1933)
• Child of Manhattan (1933)
• No More Orchids (1932)
• Vanity Street (1932)
• The Night Mayor (1932)
• The Girl Habit (1931)
• Honor Among Lovers (1931)
• The Royal Family of Broadway (1930)
• Follow the Leader (1930)
• The Sap from Syracuse (1930)

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Category:1895 births

Category:1963 deaths

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights

Category:American women screenwriters

Category:Hunter College alumni

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:20th-century American screenwriters