Sarah Y. Mason – Women Film Pioneers Project

By

Victoria Sturtevant

Sarah Yasser Mason shared the Academy Award with her husband Victor Heerman for the 1933 screenplay little WomenIn light of this accomplishment, it is shocking to see how little information about Meson is available to researchers today, She appears to have left no papers, and most of the extant manuscripts and correspondence relating to her are among the Heerman papers in the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,

Sara Y. Mason and Zasu Pitts.

Born in Pima, Arizona, Sarah Y. Mason began working in films in 1918 when she joined the company of a location shoot for a Douglas Fairbanks film. ArizonaIn the first years of her career in Hollywood, Mason wrote short comedies for such notable figures as Fatty Arbuckle, Lewis Fadenza, and especially Zasu Pitts, with whom she became very close, In 1920, he was hired by Owen Moore to work on the scenario with director Heerman poor simpAnd they got married the same year.

Like many married screenwriters who collaborated with their spouses, the historical record of Mason’s work during this period of her life has been somewhat subordinated to that of her husband. It is therefore difficult at this stage to distinguish one author from another, for example, with Mrs. George Randolph Chester and her husband. But the difference between the pairs is significant because while the Chesters were always employed as a team and received double credit, Mason appears to have been eclipsed by her husband. Tracing his contributions is a problem complicated by the fact that an unpublished interview with Heerman conducted by Anthony Slide in the 1970s is one of the only extended examinations of Mason’s work available. In this interview, Heerman further obscured Mason’s authorship by taking credit for creative work even on motion pictures where he was not credited with his wife. Heerman says of his trip: “I went to Cleveland, and my wife was with me, because she was going to Europe. When I went, she wouldn’t work, she couldn’t work, because I mean I had set up practically everything while she was at MGM—she had been at MGM for some or three years” (48).

Sarah Y. Mason at work with children. Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick Library.

lantern slide, held in trust (1920), Sarah Y. Mason (W). Courtesy of the Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery, W. Ward Marsh Collection.

Heerman’s claims regarding Mason’s role in their collaborative screenwriting sessions vary. In some cases, he describes her as a valued companion, while at other times he relegates her to a virtually secretarial role. At one point he claims “I told him what to write” (54). In the early 1930s, when Heerman was feuding with some prominent people in the industry and having trouble finding work, he claimed that producers would hire Mason, knowing that they were also getting Heerman’s work. There is a notable gap in Mason’s career from 1923 to 1925, for which there is no obvious explanation. It could be that her association with her husband got her name when he was doing well professionally and she got her name when she burned some bridges. Most of Heerman’s memories of their collaboration are from the early sound years. Close examination of their working relationship in the silent era would be an important starting point for a critical history that distinguishes Mason’s work from that of her husband.

Sara Y. at the typewriter. With Mason, Dick Rawson, Alan Dwan, tied in morocco (1918). Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick Library.

Heerman is more generous when he describes Mason’s collaborations with writers other than himself. She claims that she often gave inappropriate credit to another writer as a collaborator on the screenplay, as she did with George O’Neill on the screenplay. fantastic passion (1935) Again, in Slides, Heerman claims that O’Neill had nothing to do with the final script: “But Sarah was always generous with other people’s work. She did that several times. But that was all right. The things I didn’t work on, if she wanted to share it with somebody else, that was all right. She’d say, “I can’t put your name, and I like this person.” And that would be it” (60). Indeed, Mason’s lack of concern with laying claim to his artistic work has left contemporary researchers with a vague road map of his professional and artistic achievements.

Sara Y. Mason and baby Katherine Heerman. Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick Library.

This lack of information is particularly regrettable in light of the fact that Mason was clearly a talented writer who worked with some of the most important artists in the industry. Mason’s grandson, John Koenig, described his grandmother in an interview in 2003 as an avid reader who had memorized all of Shakespeare’s sonnets. While Heerman was certainly an enthusiastic individual, Koenig paints an image of Mason as an eccentric man who wrote for the love of writing. Because she spent more time “in her own mind”, Koenig speculated that she was someone “who didn’t run for credit.” As a result, scholars have yet to adequately understand the true nature of Mason’s contributions to the films she was involved in writing.

Sara Y. Mason pictures.