John Emerson
director, producer, writer
- Birth name:
- Clifton Paden
- Born:
- 1874-05-29, Sandusky, Ohio, USA
- Died:
- 1956-03-07, Pasadena, California, USA
- Professions:
- director, producer, writer
Biography
A restless midwesterner who saw stories in every street-corner grin, John Emerson first drew breath on 29 May 1874 in Sandusky, Ohio. Within three decades he had traded Lake Erie breezes for klieg lights, carving a niche as both nimble scenarist and sharp-eyed director. His fingerprints are on the 1917 Douglas Fairbanks romp Reaching for the Moon, the frothy 1918 service comedy Come on In, and—though he stayed off-screen—the Oscar-nominated 1936 disaster epic San Francisco. Along the way he wed Anita Loos, the whip-smart novelist who could match him gag for gag. Emerson’s final curtain fell on 7 March 1956 in Pasadena, California, closing a life scripted as briskly as the pictures he once shepherded.
