Preston Sturges an Introduction

 For the podcast 

An Introduction with a debt to Wikipedia

Born Edmund Preston Biden in Chicago on August the 29th 1898 to Mary Estell Dempsy Biden and Edmund C. Biden a traveling salesmen. When Preston was three his mother left his father and traveled to Europe to pursue a singing career ending up in Isadora Duncan's famous dance company. Preston would spend time throughout his childhood in Europe becoming a committed Francophile. His mother would remarry to the stockbroker Solomon Sturges who would adopt young Edmund. His mother would have an affair with famed oculist Alister Crowley and would be involved is his esoteric cult known as Thelma and apparently help him in some of his writings. 

In 1916 Preston's step father would get him a job as a 'runner' in his brokerage firm, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 and trained in Texas, and while he never saw combat he did get published for the first time, in the camp newspaper. He would return to New York after his discharge, marry for the first time, and get a job in retail management from his mothers new husband. He would pursue writing and a little acting on the side for around a decade.

In the late 1920's Sturges had two big hits on Broadway in short order, 'The Guinee Pig' and 'Strictly Dishonorable', these would attract the attention of Hollywood. He would work for brief stints at Universal, MGM and Columbia studios. In 1933 he sold his screenplay for 'The Power and the Glory' to Fox which was made into a successful vehicle for Spencer Tracy. Fox producer Jesse Lasky called it "the most prefect script I've ever seen" and made no changes to it. Sturges was paid $17,500 for the script and 7% of the profits on a film that made over one million dollars. 

At a time when screenwriters usually worked in teams Preston was a proudly solitary author. Ending up at Paramount and unhappy with the way many of his scripts turned out on film, Preston agreed to sell the studio his script for 'The Great McGinty' for one dollar if he could direct it. Released in 1940 the film was a hit, earned Sturges an Oscar for best screenplay and convinced Paramount to let him direct his future projects. Billy Wilder a similarly dissatisfied screen writer at the same studio would use Sturges example to force his way into directing. 

The war years saw a renaissance for Sturges with a series of critical and commercial hits, and multiple awards and nominations, including in 1944 becoming the first screenwriter to earn two nominations in the field in a single year for 'Hail the Conquering Hero' and 'The Miracle at Morgan's Creeks'. In addition to the titles already mentioned other Sturges classics from this time include 'The Lady Eve', 'The Palm Beach Story', 'Sullivan's Travels' and 'Christmas in July' 

In this era Sturges took the screwball comedy format of the 1930s to another level, writing dialogue that, heard today, is often surprisingly naturalistic, mature, and ahead of its time, despite the farcical situations. It is not uncommon for a Sturges character to deliver an exquisitely turned phrase and take an elaborate pratfall within the same scene.

Robert Zemeckis, Woody Allen and the Coen brothers have all cited Sturges as an influence. 

Sturges liked to push boundaries on what you could put on screen which caused problems with both his bosses at Paramount and the Breen Office, enforcers of the then observed Hollywood production code which put strict limits on what could and could not be said and shown on film. 

Sturges left Paramount at the end of 1944 to go independent, and though financially backed by his friend Howard Hughes whose RKO Studios would release his films, tastes had changed and while he would continue to make movies throughout the rest of the 1940's only one of them would be considered on par with his war years work,1948's Unfaithfully Yours, which would be remade in the 1980's with Dudley Moore. 

Sturges would return to Broadway for a time, finding no great success there and facing tax issues he would movie to France. He would direct one film there, 'The French, They Are a Funny Race' in 1955. Bob Hope, who had worked with Sturges on the 1939 film 'Never Say Die' would give him a bit part in his 1958 film 'Paris Holiday' which was filmed in France. The following year Sturges would pass away from a heart attack at famed Algonquin Hotel while visiting New York to work on his autobiography, which would not be published until 31 years after his death. He was 60 years old. 

Sturges was married four times, his wife at the time of his death Anne Margert Nagel was 29 years younger them him and interestingly a lawyer, she died in 2006. Sturges had three children including a son named Tom Sturges who as a record executive (Chrysalis Records) starting in the 1980's signed such acts at Mariah Cary and Smashing Pumpkins. His granddaughter Shannon Sturges is a TV actress who has principally done guest work since the 1990's on shows ranging from Doggie Howser to The Mentalist. 

While not as remembered as his similar contemporary Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges was a super talented man who deserves rediscovery.