Allan Dwan, Silent Movie Director

Allan Dwan, born in Toronto, Canada, April 3, 1885 was another contempory of Mary Pickford. "Joseph Aloysious" Dwan moved with his family to the US when he was eleven. He attended the University of Notre Dame, studying engineering. He went to work for a lighting company in Chicago, and it was there that he developed an interest in the brand new motion picture business.

When Essanay Studio (Spoor and Anderson) offered Dwan a chance to come on board as a scriptwriter, he jumped at it. In 1911, he began working in Hollywood. A number of movie companies had relocated to the west coast in order to take advantage of a 360 days of sunshine per year.

Allan Dwan directed both Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks in a number of their early pictures. He directed Pickford in A Girl of Yesterday in 1915, the film that made Mary the first actress ever to fly in a plane in a movie.

In 1922, Dwan directed Robin Hood, starring Douglas Fairbanks. In an interview the year before Allan Dwan died, he said of Fairbanks that the actor was athletic, "but not always smart." Once while Dwan was directing, Fairbanks insisted on leaping off a balcony onto a horse. Dwan told him that the idea was insanity. But Fairbanks did the leap -- and ended up in the hospital.

 Dwan admired Douglas Fairbanks Sr. According to the famed director, unlike Faribanks's son Doug Jr., who had a reputation as a ladies' man, Doug Sr. was "devoted to Mary." Well, for a few years anyway.

Allan Dwan died in Los Angeles in 1981, at the age of 96.

Acceptance!

Life is good. My confidence has been renewed.

I knew--and I told the people closest to me that this would happen--somewhere, someday, someone would take a chance with this story.

The writing life is a series of ups and downs, and right now mine is on a high. Ivy lives! It's all happening very quickly. Within three days of his request for the complete manuscript, the editorial director telephoned to say he'd like to do my book. In the spring of 2010!

And as soon as the contract discussion was out of the way, he needed material about my book for the publisher's spring catalogue, which was almost ready to go to the printer. Could I come up with a 150-word blurb for the back cover, a 50-word biography and some ideas about what I envisioned for the cover of the book? The following morning would be perfect. Of course, I could do it!

I loved writing this novel like no other. In the early days it seemed to write itself. Ivy Chalmers, my main character, has lived in my head since 2007 when I first began to scribble my way towards a new story. I just let Ivy (and Charlie) go where they wanted, until I finally had to rein them in. When I began to see the direction the story was taking, I ditched some scenes, rearranged and rewrote others, tightened the story and tried to reinforce the theme. Then it was time to test the waters.

The story is set in Toronto and rural Ontario, and it takes place during the Great Depression. Ivy lives with her mother, Frannie, who dreams of becoming a famous actress. The two read fairy tales and engage in games of "make believe" to get them through the hard times. When Ivy is 12, Frannie decides to take off for New York City to make a name for herself on the stage. She sends Ivy to live with her grandmother, someone she has never even met. In spite of the grandmother's conviction the Frannie has abandoned her, Ivy is confident that her mother will return. Frannie's games of "let's pretend" have not prepared Ivy for life with her no-nonsense grandmother.

The book is called Growing Up Ivy. I hope you will watch for it. It is to be available in the spring of 2010.