Mary C. McCall Jr.

In this brilliantly written book, Smyth restores Mary C. McCall Jr. to a male-dominated history of film from which she is glaringly absent. With encyclopedic knowledge and lively and engaging prose, Smyth crafts a thoroughgoing portrait of McCall's life and oeuvre, documenting the challenges that women screenwriters and union leaders faced before the backlash of the 1950s ended so many of their careers. -- Carol Stabile, author of The Broadcast 41: Women and the Anti-Communist Blacklist
In this engaging and meticulously researched biography, J. E. Smyth recognizes Mary McCall as a key figure during Hollywood’s classical era, rising through the ranks to become one of the most successful—and highest paid—writers in the business. She was also a pioneering labor leader and a headstrong, fiercely independent woman in a male-dominated industry. Mary C. McCall Jr. provides an compelling inside look at the filmmaking machinery during Hollywood’s heyday, and at the political forces that exerted continual pressure to regulate (both literally and figuratively) Hollywood’s depiction of American life. -- Thomas Schatz, author of The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era
Nearly legendary in her own time and largely forgotten in ours, Hollywood screenwriter/power player Mary C. McCall Jr. is long overdue for the significant biography J. E. Smyth has impressively provided. Impeccably researched and vividly written, this is a necessary and essential book. -- Kenneth Turan, author of Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg: The Whole Equation
Though McCall is likely unfamiliar to most readers, her wit and swagger will grab their attention . . . Smyth makes a strong case that McCall’s contributions to the film industry have been unjustly overlooked. It’s a commanding reconsideration of a largely forgotten Hollywood power player. * Publishers Weekly *
Accessible and well-researched . . . Smyth deftly spotlights a sardonically witty woman and film pioneer whose contributions are little known. Film students and biography readers will be delighted. * Library Journal, starred review *
Smyth’s essential biography restores McCall to her rightful place as a trailblazer in the annals of Hollywood history. * Booklist *
A deeply researched account of not only the remarkable life of an early Hollywood screenwriter and organizer, but of Hollywood itself before and after unionization, a story of particular interest today amid the film industry’s current upheavals over technological change and declining working conditions. * Jacobin *
Smyth's fiery, page-turning biography tells the story of a true original. * Sight and Sound *
[A] thoroughly researched and well-written book. -- Tom Stempel * Script *
Smyth does a service to the field of Hollywood history - as well as labor history and U.S. women's history - with this biography...restoring McCall to her rightful place. * Cineaste *
Smyth’s point that McCall’s reputational oblivion is thoroughly undeserved is unassailable, and she is to be highly commended for writing an excellent biography. * Film & History *