Occupation Screenwriter Children Paul Gerard Smith II Role Screenwriter | Name Paul Smith Years active 1926-1955 | |
Born 14 September 1894 Omaha, Nebraska, USA Died April 4, 1968, San Diego, California, United States Spouse Mary Alice Lundgren (m. 1919–1968) Movies The General, Battling Butler, Just Around the Corner, Steel Against the Sky, You're in the Army Now Similar People William Pittenger, Clyde Bruckman, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Buster Keaton | ||
Paul Girard Smith (14 September 1894 – 4 April 1968) was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 90 films between 1926 and 1955.
Smith started writing musical revues at the age of ten. He joined the Marines for World War I and while still in Germany wrote and directed the Sixth Marine Revue in the Rhine Occupation Area. He arrived back in the States in 1919 and started writing vaudeville acts. He became so successful that he was one of the few writers to be credited on the playbill. He scripted the Ziegfeld Follies of 1924, 1925, and 1926 and was also one of the writers of Funny Face.
Smith was brought to Hollywood by Buster Keaton to work on The General and The Battling Butler. Early film credits include In Old Arizona, Mother Knows Best, and Dressed to Kill, as well as the first talkies of Harold Lloyd, Welcome Danger and Feet First. He wrote dozens of B movies for Universal Studios, Fox Film Corporation, Paramount Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures, Warner Bros., and Hal Roach Studios.
He also scripted USO shows and personal appearances for many film and radio stars entertaining overseas. After World War II he returned to film and radio scripting and also wrote and directed some early television programs on ABC, including The Gay Nineties. He returned to stage writing with Hullabaloo for the Pasadena Playhouse.
Smith was married to Mary Alice Lundgren (October 1919 - April 1968) and had four children. His son, Paul Gerard Smith II, carried on the family tradition, working in the entertainment industry after serving in the Marines during World War II.
He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and died in San Diego, California.