Norman Reilly Raine

Raine was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He began writing in 1912, when he was 17, with a job as a reporter on The Buffalo Morning Express. He stayed two years and left for service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I. He was discharged as a captain in the Royal Air Force. After the war he joined MacLean's Magazine in Toronto and became assistant editor. In 1924, in one of his articles, he commented at about rum-running, saying "It is openly asserted by the rum runners that Canadian banks finance or help to carry, by credit and other methods, some of the larger deals put over by the trade" which The Montreal Gazette called an "outstanding statement".{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19241218&id=0HwuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2osFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3439,2340900&hl=en|title=The Booze Belt|date=December 18, 1924|newspaper=The Montreal Gazette|access-date=June 6, 2015}} He died in Woodland Hills, California.

Raine tried the Broadway stage in 1933. With Frank Butler as collaborator, he wrote Hangman's Whip, a jungle melodrama in which two well-known Hollywood actors, Montagu Love and Barton MacLane, played leading roles. It later became the 1933 film White Woman with Carole Lombard and Charles Laughton.

Raine wrote a series of Tugboat Annie stories for The Saturday Evening Post. In a 1940 news article, it was said he based Tugboat Annie on a female tugboat owner he knew and wanted to write a story about her; however the woman was gentle and Tugboat Annie was not. He also based Tugboat Annie on Marie Dressler after he watched Anna Christie.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1873&dat=19400322&id=I3IoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EscEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4520,5900568&hl=en|title=Washington Gossip|date=March 22, 1940|newspaper=Daytona Beach Morning Journal|access-date=June 6, 2015}} In 1933 he wrote the screenplay for the film, in which Marie Dressler played Annie and Wallace Beery portrayed Terry, her hard-drinking husband, with whom she traded choice insults.

A 1934 news article said Raine always worked wearing a knit cap and, when he once misplaced it, wore his wife's as a substitute.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19340405&id=ES8uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3NUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3898,3276155&hl=en|title=New York Day By Day|date=April 5, 1934|newspaper=The Miami News|access-date=June 6, 2015}} In 1950, he had been collaborating with writer Guy Gilpatric before he killed himself and his wife after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19500708&id=VggNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OWoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1198,1605897&hl=en|title=Writer Kills Cancer-Ridden Wife and Self|date=July 8, 1950|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|access-date=June 6, 2015}} In a 1957 article, Raine mentioned that he once wrote a story about the Battle of the Little Bighorn but was rejected by a Hollywood magnate seven times to which Raine said "I'm ready to quit, it's the best I can do. What is there about it that displeases you?" and the magnate responded "I'll tell you, I hate Indians!".{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19571001&id=pAorAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B5oFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1601,64195&hl=en|title=Try and Stop Me - Bennett Cerf|date=October 1, 1957|newspaper=Reading Eagle|access-date=June 6, 2015}} He also once wrote for television, three episodes in the series Schlitz Playhouse of Stars.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1913&dat=19580321&id=1HEgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RGcFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7212,2099360&hl=en|title=Television|date=March 21, 1958|publisher=Lewiston Evening Journal|access-date=June 6, 2015}}

Subsequently, Raine wrote many other screenplays, among them The Perfect Specimen, God's Country and the Woman,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19360901&id=ZwFQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lVUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4315,4626801&hl=en|title=Theater Gossip|date=September 1, 1936|newspaper=The Evening Independent|access-date=June 6, 2015}} The Adventures of Robin Hood,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19380603&id=wr00AAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZKgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5470,326510&hl=en|title=Robin Hood Film Here - Errol Flynn Plays Legendary Hero in Palace Picture|date=June 3, 1938|newspaper=The Montreal Gazette|access-date=June 6, 2015}} Each Dawn I Die,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19390728&id=vlBQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FQ4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7013,4539205&hl=en|title=George Raft and James Cagney, Co-Star in 'Each Dawn I Die'|date=July 28, 1939|newspaper=The Milwaukee Sentinel|access-date=June 6, 2015}} The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1392&dat=19400524&id=uPAmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QSUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2597,726485&hl=en|title=The Private Lives Of Elizabeth and Essex Sunday at Gorge|date=May 24, 1940|publisher=Mt. Adams Sun|access-date=June 6, 2015}} Mountain Justice,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19370415&id=aQ1QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NFUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2912,2761604&hl=en|title=Theater Gossip|date=April 15, 1937|newspaper=The Evening Independent|access-date=June 6, 2015}} The Fighting 69th,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19400211&id=vVcsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2soEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6792,3723342&hl=en|title=The Fighting 69th|date=February 11, 1940|newspaper=Spartanburg Herald-Journal|access-date=June 6, 2015}} Men Are Such Fools,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19380904&id=JFQsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6coEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4200,386486&hl=en|title=State Schedules 'Men Are Such Fools'|date=September 4, 1938|newspaper=Spartanburg Herald-Journal|access-date=June 6, 2015}} Eagle Squadron,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1913&dat=19421031&id=gPNGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=p_MMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3638,2476625&hl=en|title=Strand Films|date=October 31, 1942|publisher=Lewiston Evening Journal|access-date=June 6, 2015}} Ladies Courageous, We've Never Been Licked, Nob Hill, A Bell for Adano, Captain Kidd and Captains of the Clouds.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19410709&id=I79RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C1UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4874,3877182&hl=en|title=Theater Gossip|date=July 9, 1941|newspaper=The Evening Independent|access-date=June 6, 2015}}

{{Reflist}}

• William Freeman [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9804E1DA1238EF34BC4151DFB166838A669EDE "Norman Reilly Raine, 76 (sic), Dead; Was Creator of Tugboat Annie"], New York Times, July 29, 1971.

• {{IMDb name|0706993|Norman Reilly Raine}}

{{AcademyAwardBestAdaptedScreenplay 1928-1940}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Raine, Norman Reilly}}

Category:American male screenwriters

Category:Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners

Category:1894 births

Category:1971 deaths

Category:Writers from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Category:Screenwriters from Pennsylvania

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:20th-century American screenwriters