Postcard History

New York, New York                    September 22, 2006

Mary Orr died at her Manhattan apartment today. She was 95 years old.

***

Mary Caswell Orr, if you knew her or remember her, you are among the most knowledgeable film and/or literary enthusiasts living in America. Mary Orr was one of Hollywood’s truly enigmatic personalities. She was born in New York on December 21, 1910, to Chester Orr and his wife Jessica. About 1925 the family moved to a quite substantial home in Canton, Ohio, where her father took the job as the president and general manager of the Union Metal Manufacturing Company. Union Metal was a manufacturer of ornamental street lampposts.

After the family moved to Ohio Mary completed her education there and later enrolled in Syracuse University where she studied writing and dramatic arts. There could be dozens of works unpublished, but the Literary World’s 1967 list of her books includes thirty titles. (Twenty of which are still in print.) Twenty-six of the titles are hers exclusively, but she shares authorship with others on four titles, one of whom was her husband Reginald Denham, with whom she wrote, Wallflower: Comedy in Three Acts.

The first of her published works was a short story: The Wisdom of Eve. It appeared in the May 1946 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The tale gleaned an immediate audience that wanted “more” and Orr obliged.

In those post-war years, Americans had tired of bad news and as life returned to a norm that pleased many, America still clamored for ‘something’ new. In 1949, Orr wrote a radio adaptation of The Wisdom of Eve that aired on NBC, and that led to the movie being made.

The short story was only nine pages, so it was necessary to edit and add to the script to create a full-length movie.  All About Eve became a 1950 award winning drama directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. As stated the story and radio drama The Wisdom of Eve were written by Mary Orr, but she received no on screen credit because she had sold the story to Twentieth Century Fox for $5,000.

The film stars Bette Davis as Margo Channing, a highly regarded but aging Broadway star, and Anne Baxter as Eve Harrington, an ambitious young fan who maneuvers herself into Channing’s life, ultimately threatening Channing’s career and her personal relationships.

Among the film’s co-stars were George Sanders, Thelma Ritter, and Marilyn Monroe.

All About Eve held its world premiere in New York City on October 13, 1950. Highly praised by critics at the time of its release, it received a record 14 Academy Award nominations. Among the six awards that it won, there were the Best Picture Award, Best Director Award, and Best Adapted Screenplay Award.

As a perpetual favorite and being among the greatest films ever, in 1990, the film was one of 25 films selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. The film is also among the AFI’s list of the one-hundred best films.