Keene Thompson
Encyclopedia
Keene Thompson was a story
, scenario and screenwriter
who worked in the film industry
from 1920 to 1937.
, but his first writing work was a screenplay for Fairbanks. His last was scripting the Jack Benny
musical Artists and Models.
Some of his early silent film
work was for the Christie Film Company
, but his later screenwriting was associated primarily with Paramount Pictures
where he became a general story advisor. At Paramount he was known for his work with Adolphe Menjou
, and had written scripts and special materials for such stars as Raymond Griffith
, Gary Cooper
and Clara Bow
, such as Clarence G. Badger
's Paths to Paradise
, Victor Fleming
's The Virginian
, and Frank Tuttle
's True to the Navy
.
Fighting Caravans
(1931), a story of the caravans of wagon trains that supplied freight to the pre-cival war old west before the completion of the trans-continental railways, was his adaption of a Zane Grey
novel of the same name. His work Man Against Woman for Irving Cummings
was called a "forceful drama" and an "entertaining film". During the later part of his carer Thompson specialized in comedies. The more notable of these included Leo McCarey
's Six of a Kind
(1934) which used the top Paramount actors of the time, including Charlie Ruggles, Mary Boland
, George Burns
, W.C. Fields, Gracie Allen
, Alison Skipworth
. The 1945 Frank R. Strayer
comedy film
Mama Loves Papa
was based upon his screenplay for the 1933 Norman Z. McLeod
film of the same name
.
Keene became ill in June 1937, just after completing the script for the Jack Benny
musical comedy Artists and Models. On July 11, 1937, he died of lobar pneumonia
. His body is interred in the Great Mausoleum, Columbarium of the Graces at Forest Lawn Memorial Park
, in Glendale, CA
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
, scenario and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
who worked in the film industry
Film industry
The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...
from 1920 to 1937.
Career
Thompson had a small acting role in the 1917 Douglas Fairbanks Sr. film Reaching for the MoonReaching for the Moon
"Reaching for the Moon" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1930 musical film of the same name.In 1930, United Artists prepared this original music film written by Irving Berlin with his music and lyrics...
, but his first writing work was a screenplay for Fairbanks. His last was scripting the Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
musical Artists and Models.
Some of his early silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
work was for the Christie Film Company
Christie Film Company
Christie Film Company was an American pioneer motion picture company founded in Hollywood, California by Al Christie and Charles Christie, two brothers from London, Ontario, Canada....
, but his later screenwriting was associated primarily with Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
where he became a general story advisor. At Paramount he was known for his work with Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Jean Menjou was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies, appearing in such films as The Sheik, A Woman of Paris, Morocco, and A Star is Born...
, and had written scripts and special materials for such stars as Raymond Griffith
Raymond Griffith
Raymond Griffith was one of the great silent movie comedians.Griffith was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He lost his voice at an early age, causing him to speak for the rest of his life in a hoarse whisper...
, Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
and Clara Bow
Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...
, such as Clarence G. Badger
Clarence G. Badger
Clarence G. Badger was an American film director of feature films in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. His most noteworthy films include It, starring Clara Bow, more than a dozen features and shorts starring Will Rogers, and two features starring Raymond Griffith, Paths to Paradise and Hands...
's Paths to Paradise
Paths to Paradise
Paths to Paradise is a 1925 silent comedy directed by Clarence Badger, produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film is based on a 1914 play, The Heart of a Thief, by Paul Armstrong and stars Raymond Griffith and Betty Compson. The film was lost for many decades...
, Victor Fleming
Victor Fleming
Victor Lonzo Fleming was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were The Wizard of Oz , and Gone with the Wind , for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director.-Life and career:Fleming was born in La Canada, California, the son of Elizabeth Evaleen ...
's The Virginian
The Virginian (1929 film)
The Virginian is a 1929 western movie starring Gary Cooper as the Virginian and Walter Huston as the villainous Trampas. The early sound film was directed by Victor Fleming....
, and Frank Tuttle
Frank Tuttle
Frank Tuttle was a Hollywood film director and writer who directed films from 1922 to 1959 ....
's True to the Navy
True to the Navy
True to the Navy is a 1930 Romantic Comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle for Paramount Pictures. The film stars Clara Bow as a counter girl at a San Diego drugstore with a predilection for sailors. Eventually she sets her sights on Bull's Eye McCoy , a stiff-necked gunners mate.-Cast:*Clara...
.
Fighting Caravans
Fighting Caravans
Fighting Caravans is a lavish 1931 western film starring Gary Cooper and Lili Damita. The movie was directed by Otto Brower and David Burton. Although the film is billed as being based on the novel of the same name by Zane Grey, the stories have little in common. The film was actually written by...
(1931), a story of the caravans of wagon trains that supplied freight to the pre-cival war old west before the completion of the trans-continental railways, was his adaption of a Zane Grey
Zane Grey
Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the Old West. Riders of the Purple Sage was his bestselling book. In addition to the success of his printed works, they later had second lives and continuing influence...
novel of the same name. His work Man Against Woman for Irving Cummings
Irving Cummings
Irving Cummings , born Irving Camisky in New York City, New York was an American movie actor, director, producer and writer....
was called a "forceful drama" and an "entertaining film". During the later part of his carer Thompson specialized in comedies. The more notable of these included Leo McCarey
Leo McCarey
Thomas Leo McCarey was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. During his lifetime he was involved in nearly 200 movies, especially comedies...
's Six of a Kind
Six of a Kind
Six of a Kind is a 1934 comedy film directed by Leo McCarey. It is a whimsical and often absurd Road movie about three couples who decide to share their expenses on a trip to Hollywood.-Cast:*Charles Ruggles*Mary Boland*George Burns*Gracie Allen...
(1934) which used the top Paramount actors of the time, including Charlie Ruggles, Mary Boland
Mary Boland
-Career:Born Marie Anne Boland in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of William Boland, an actor, and his wife Mary Cecilia Hatton. She had an older sister named Sara....
, George Burns
George Burns
George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
, W.C. Fields, Gracie Allen
Gracie Allen
Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen , known as Gracie Allen, was an American comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns...
, Alison Skipworth
Alison Skipworth
Alison Skipworth was an English stage and screen actress. She was born Alison Mary Elliott Margaret Groom in London....
. The 1945 Frank R. Strayer
Frank R. Strayer
Frank R. Strayer was an actor, film writer, director and producer. He was active from the mid-1920s until the early 1950s.-Biography:...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
Mama Loves Papa
Mama Loves Papa (1945 film)
Mama Loves Papa is a 1945 American black-and-white comedy film directed by Frank R. Strayer, and written by Monte Brice, with a story by Keene Thompson and a screenplay by Charles E. Roberts, as a loose remake of the 1933 film of the same name written by Douglas MacLean...
was based upon his screenplay for the 1933 Norman Z. McLeod
Norman Z. McLeod
Norman Zenos McLeod was an American film director, cartoonist and writer...
film of the same name
Mama Loves Papa (1933 film)
Mama Loves Papa is a 1933 American black-and-white comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod, with a story by Nunnally Johnson and Douglas MacLean, and a screenplay by MacLean, Keene Thompson and Arthur Kober...
.
Keene became ill in June 1937, just after completing the script for the Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
musical comedy Artists and Models. On July 11, 1937, he died of lobar pneumonia
Lobar pneumonia
Lobar pneumonia is a form of pneumonia that affects a large and continuous area of the lobe of a lung.It is one of the two anatomic classifications of pneumonia .- Symptoms :...
. His body is interred in the Great Mausoleum, Columbarium of the Graces at Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California. It is the original location of Forest Lawn, a chain of cemeteries in Southern California. The land was formerly part of Providencia Ranch.-History:...
, in Glendale, CA
Silent films
- The Inferior Sex (1920)
- Silk Stockings (1920)
- Hoodooed (1920)
- Teasing the Soil (1920)
- Beating Cheaters (1920)
- Kissed in a Harem (1920)
- Good Morning, Nurse (1920)
- Why Cooks Go Cuckoo (1920)
- Oh, Brother! (1921)
- Prepared to Die (1923)
- Let's Go (1923)
- Going South (1923)
- Danger Ahead (1923)
- The Godmothers (1923)
- Easy Pickin's (1924)
- High Gear (1924)
- Border Women (1924)
- Cornfed (1924)
- A Regular Fellow (1925)
- Paths to ParadisePaths to ParadisePaths to Paradise is a 1925 silent comedy directed by Clarence Badger, produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film is based on a 1914 play, The Heart of a Thief, by Paul Armstrong and stars Raymond Griffith and Betty Compson. The film was lost for many decades...
(1925) - The Night Club (1925)
- Why Hesitate? (1925)
- A Rarin' Romeo (1925)
- Love Goofy (1925)
- Great Guns (1925)
- French Pastry (1925)
- Going Crooked (1926)
- The Daffy Dill (1926)
- Now We're in the AirNow We're in the AirNow We're in the Air is a silent film starring the unofficial late-1920s comedy team of Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton, and Louise Brooks. The movie was directed by Frank R...
(1927) - The Rough RidersThe Rough RidersThe Rough Riders is a silent film, released by Paramount Pictures, and starring Charles Farrell, Mary Astor and Noah Beery. This fictional account of Theodore Roosevelt's military unit in Cuba was directed by Victor Fleming.-Cast:...
(1927) - Wedding Bill$ (1927)
- Someone to Love (1928)
- His Private Life (1928)
- Tillie's Punctured RomanceTillie's Punctured Romance (1928 film)Tillie's Punctured Romance is a 1928 circus comedy starring W. C. Fields as a ringmaster and Louise Fazenda as a runaway. Written by Monte Brice and Keene Thompson and directed by A. Edward Sutherland, this movie has nothing to do with the revered 1914 Charles Chaplin film aside from sharing the...
(1928) - Feel My PulseFeel My PulseFeel My Pulse is a 1928 silent film about a wealthy hypochondriac, played by Bebe Daniels, who inherits a sanatorium and finds love and adventure...
(1928) - The Wolf SongThe Wolf SongThe Wolf Song, also known as Wolf Song, is a 1929 silent film with a synchronized score and sound effects directed by Victor Fleming and starring Gary Cooper and Lupe Vélez. This Pre-Code film is notable for showing full frontal nudity...
(1929)
Sound films
- Acquitted (1929)
- The VirginianThe Virginian (1929 film)The Virginian is a 1929 western movie starring Gary Cooper as the Virginian and Walter Huston as the villainous Trampas. The early sound film was directed by Victor Fleming....
(1929) - True to the NavyTrue to the NavyTrue to the Navy is a 1930 Romantic Comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle for Paramount Pictures. The film stars Clara Bow as a counter girl at a San Diego drugstore with a predilection for sailors. Eventually she sets her sights on Bull's Eye McCoy , a stiff-necked gunners mate.-Cast:*Clara...
(1930) - Only the Brave (1930)
- Fighting CaravansFighting CaravansFighting Caravans is a lavish 1931 western film starring Gary Cooper and Lili Damita. The movie was directed by Otto Brower and David Burton. Although the film is billed as being based on the novel of the same name by Zane Grey, the stories have little in common. The film was actually written by...
(1931) - Love Among the Millionaires (1930)
- Palmy DaysPalmy DaysPalmy Days is a 1931 musical comedy written by Eddie Cantor, Morrie Ryskind, and David Freedman, directed by A. Edward Sutherland, and choreographed by Busby Berkeley...
(1931) - Caught (1931)
- The Sin Ship (1931)
- June Moon (1931)
- No More OrchidsNo More OrchidsNo More Orchids is a 1932 drama film starring Carole Lombard and Lyle Talbot as mismatched lovers, based on the novel of the same name by Grace Perkins.-Plot:...
(1932) - Man Against Woman (1932)
- The Last Man (1932)
- War Correspondent (1932)
- Mama Loves PapaMama Loves Papa (1933 film)Mama Loves Papa is a 1933 American black-and-white comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod, with a story by Nunnally Johnson and Douglas MacLean, and a screenplay by MacLean, Keene Thompson and Arthur Kober...
(1933) - The Cheyenne Kid (1933)
- Air Hostess (1933)
- Springtime for HenrySpringtime for HenrySpringtime for Henery is a 1934 American comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Otto Kruger, Nancy Carroll and Nigel Bruce. It was based on a play of the same name by Benn W. Levy which enjoyed an eight month run on Broadway.-Plot:...
(1934) - Many Happy Returns (1934)
- Six of a KindSix of a KindSix of a Kind is a 1934 comedy film directed by Leo McCarey. It is a whimsical and often absurd Road movie about three couples who decide to share their expenses on a trip to Hollywood.-Cast:*Charles Ruggles*Mary Boland*George Burns*Gracie Allen...
(1934) - Paris in SpringParis in SpringParis in Spring is a 1935 black and white musical comedy film directed by Lewis Milestone for Paramount Pictures.It is based on a play by Dwight Taylor, with a screen play by Samuel Hoffenstein and Franz Schulz.-Plot:...
(1935) - Love in Bloom (1935)
- Wives Never KnowWives Never KnowWives Never Know is a 1936 American black-and-white comedy film directed by Elliott Nugent. Written by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan, Edwin Justus Mayer and Keene Thompson, the film stars Charles Ruggles, Mary Boland, and Adolphe Menjou, and was produced by Adolph Zukor for Paramount...
(1936) - Artists and Models (1937)
- Mama Loves PapaMama Loves Papa (1945 film)Mama Loves Papa is a 1945 American black-and-white comedy film directed by Frank R. Strayer, and written by Monte Brice, with a story by Keene Thompson and a screenplay by Charles E. Roberts, as a loose remake of the 1933 film of the same name written by Douglas MacLean...
(1945) (story)
External links
- Keene Thompson at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Keene Thompson at the Allmovie