Harriet Parsons
{{short description|American filmmaker}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Louella Parsons and her daughter Harriet Parsons, 1959.jpg
| caption = Louella Parsons and her daughter Harriet Parsons, 1959
| name = Harriet Parsons
| birth_name = Harriet Oettinger Parsons
| birth_date = 1906
| birth_place = Burlington, Iowa, US
| death_date = {{death year and age|1983|1906}}
| death_place = Santa Monica, California, US
| education = Wellesley College
| occupation = Film producer, actress, and director
| spouse = {{marriage|King Kennedy|1939|1946|end=divorced}}
| children = 1
| mother = Louella Oettinger
}}
Harriet Oettinger Parsons (1906 – 1983) was an American film producer, actress, director, and magazine writer; one of the few female producers in the United States at the time. Her mother was famed gossip columnist Louella Parsons.
Biography
= Beginnings =
Harriet Oettinger Parsons was born in 1906 in Burlington, Iowa,{{Cite book |last=Commire |first=Anne |title=Women in world history: a biographical encyclopedia |last2=Klezmer |first2=Deborah |publisher=Yorkin Publications |year=1999 |isbn=9781414412672}} the daughter of Louella Parsons and Harry Martin.{{cite news |title=Harriet Parsons Will Wed Actor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105300945/harriet-parsons/ |access-date=July 9, 2022 |work=Dixon Evening Telegraph |date=March 24, 1931 |page=3|via = Newspapers.com}}
She appeared as "Baby Parsons" in several movies, which included The Magic Wand (1912), written by her mother. Harriet attended Wellesley College, graduating in 1928.{{cite book |last1=Roper |first1=Virginia Bruce |last2=Dyson |first2=Helen |title=The Wellesley Legenda |date=1928 |publisher=Senior class of Wellesley College |location=Boston |page=81 |url=https://archive.org/details/wellesleylegenda1928bost/page/80/ |access-date=17 May 2023}}
= Writing =
She began working as writer for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer in 1928 but left after a year to become a columnist and associate editor for Photoplay as well as writing for other magazines such as Liberty.{{cite magazine|magazine=Daily Variety|page=8|title=Obituaries|date=January 4, 1983}} She left to write for Hearst's International News Service and Universal Service in 1931 and worked there until 1933, when she went to work for Columbia Pictures as a producer. She wrote for The Los Angeles Examiner from 1935 through 1943; had a syndicated column for Hearst from 1938–1940 (Hollywood in Review); and had her own weekly radio show on NBC in 1938, Hollywood Highlights.{{Cite news |last=Upi |date=1983-01-04 |title=Harriet Parsons, Film Maker; Daughter of Louella Parsons |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/04/arts/harriet-parsons-film-maker-daughter-of-louella-parsons.html |access-date=2024-01-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
= Producer career =
In 1933, she began working for Columbia Pictures producing their Screen Snapshots documentary shorts and in 1940 she moved to Republic Pictures, directing and producing a series of documentary shorts called Meet the Stars, in which she commented on the goings-on of Hollywood A-listers.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/171389620/?terms=%22harriet%2Bparsons%22|title=Harriet Parsons' Work Praised|date=January 6, 1941|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=January 16, 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/490357063/?terms=%22harriet%2Bparsons%22|title=Newspaperwoman Gets New Contract|date=September 25, 1934|work=The Hackensack Record|access-date=January 16, 2019}} She produced her first feature film, Joan of Ozark, in 1942 and was then hired by RKO as a feature film producer in 1943.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/458349449/?terms=%22harriet%2Bparsons%22%2B%22king%2Bkennedy%22|title=Zanuck and RKO Will Share Maureen O'Hara's Contract|last=Parsons|first=Louella|date=April 22, 1941|work=The San Francisco Examiner|access-date=January 16, 2019}} When Howard Hughes took over, Parsons was one of the only producers he kept on.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o4mTCwAAQBAJ&q=harriet+parsons+producer&pg=PA174|title=Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures|last=Jewell|first=Richard B.|year=2016|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0520964242|language=en}} She worked at RKO for 12 years, although the experience was a frustrating one: The studio often reassigned stories she'd chosen to other producers.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/firstladyofholly00barb|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/firstladyofholly00barb/page/345 345]|quote=harriet parsons daughter evelyn.|title=The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons |last=Barbas|first=Samantha|year=2016|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0520249851|language=en}} She was one of only three female producers active in the United States from 1943 to 1955 (the others being Virginia Van Upp and Joan Harrison),{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZNODwAAQBAJ&q=%22harriet+parsons%22&pg=PA263|title=Nobody's Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood|last=Smyth|first=J. E.|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0190840839|language=en}} and in 1953 was the sole woman member of the Screen Producer's Guild.{{Cite web |title=Parsons, Harriet (1906–1983) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/parsons-harriet-1906-1983 |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}} Parsons bought a home in the Deep Well neighborhood of Palm Springs, California in 1955.{{cite book|last1=Meeks|first1=Eric G.|title=The Best Guide Ever to Palm Springs Celebrity Homes|date=2014|orig-year=2012|publisher=Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe|isbn=978-1479328598|pages=247–48, 250}} From 1956 to 1957 she worked for 20th Century Fox Television. She also co-produced Benn Levy's play Rape of the Belt on Broadway in November 1960.{{IBDB name|id=22163}}
= Personal life =
In 1931, she and actor Edward Woods announced their engagement; it was broken off by 1932.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/415193606/?terms=%22harriet%2Bparsons%22%2B%22edward%2Bwoods%22|title=Reviewing 1931 in Filmdom|date=January 3, 1932|work=The New York Daily News|access-date=January 16, 2019}} She married actor and playwright King Kennedy in September 1939; the couple separated in 1944.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/366707161/?terms=%22harriet%2Bparsons%22%2B%22king%2Bkennedy%22|title=Louella Parsons' Daughter Marries|date=September 29, 1929|work=The Austin American-Statesman|access-date=January 16, 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380711829/?terms=%22harriet%2Bparsons%22%2B%22king%2Bkennedy%22|title=Film Producer and Writer Separated|last=Hopper|first=Hedda|date=August 8, 1944|work=The Los Angeles Times|access-date=January 16, 2019}} Parsons sued him for divorce in March 1945, citing cruelty.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/147442752/?terms=%22harriet%2Bparsons%22%2B%22king%2Bkennedy%22|title=Harriet Parsons Sues for Divorce|date=March 13, 1945|work=The Pittsburgh Press|access-date=January 16, 2019}} Parsons' marriage was a classic "cover" for her lesbianism and she and King hardly ever lived together, and by the 1950s she was living with publicist Lynn Bowers.Mann, William J. Behind the Scenes: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood 1910-1969. New York: Viking, 2001. pp. 195.
Parsons adopted a daughter, Evelyn Farney, who became a dancer.
She was a co-founder (with her mother) of the Hollywood Women's Press Club and was a director and member of the entertainment committee member of the Hollywood Canteen during World War II.
= Death =
Parsons died in 1983 at the age of 76 after suffering from cancer for two years. She was interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California.{{Citation needed |date=November 2021}}
Selected filmography
- Joan of Ozark (1942)
- The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
- Night Song (1947)
- I Remember Mama (1948)
- Never a Dull Moment (1950)
- Clash by Night (1952)
- Susan Slept Here (1954)
References
{{Reflist}}
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Category:American film producers
Category:American people of German-Jewish descent
Category:American women film producers
Category:People from Palm Springs, California
Category:20th-century American women