Wikipedia

Dalton S. Reymond

Dalton Shaffer Reymond (October 11, 1896 – January 23, 1978) was an American screenwriter, author, and college professor. He is perhaps best remembered as a screenwriter for the controversial Disney live-action feature film Song of the South (1946).[1][2][3][4][5]

Early life and education edit

Reymond was born on October 11, 1896, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[6][7]

Career edit

Reymond worked as a theater and film studies professor at Louisiana State University,[8] and later served as Dean of the College of Music.[9] While there, he directed a production of Carmen which starred Frances Greer.[6]

In the late 1930s, Reymond moved to Hollywood where he worked as a set designer, technical advisor, and dialect coach for various films depicting the American South.[6][10][11][12][13] Reymond was a member of the Writers Guild of America.[14]

In June 1944, Walt Disney Studios hired Reymond to write the screenplay of Song of the South because of his "knowledge of Southern traditions."[15] Reymond delivered a 51-page outline of the screenplay on May 15, 1944.[16]

The Hays Office reviewed Reymond's outline of Song of the South, and demanded that some terminology, such as characters referring to Remus as an "old darkie" be removed from Reymond's treatment.[17] Reymond's depiction of African Americans in the original treatment of the screenplay was considered controversial at the time and caused multiple crew members and potential actors to pull out of involvement.[18][19][20][21]

In the 1945 film Saratoga Trunk, Reymond was the vocal and singing coach to Ingrid Bergman.[9]

In 1948, Reymond's first novel, "Earthbound," was published by Ziff Davis.[22] The story depicted the Mississippi Delta of the 1880s.[23]

Death edit

Reymond died on January 23, 1978, in Camarillo, California.[6][7]

Filmography edit

Works edit

  • Reymond, Dalton S. Earthbound. United Kingdom: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, 1948.

References edit

  1. ^ Beck, Jerry (2005). The Animated Movie Guide. Chicago Review Press. p. 260. ISBN 978-1-556-52683-1 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Hischak, Thomas S. (2018-04-20). 100 Greatest American and British Animated Films. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-0569-6.
  3. ^ Eagan, Daniel (2011-11-24). America's Film Legacy, 2009-2010: A Viewer's Guide to the 50 Landmark Movies Added To The National Film Registry in 2009-10. A&C Black. ISBN 978-1-4411-5869-7.
  4. ^ Smith, Jessie (2010-12-17). Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture [4 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-35797-8.
  5. ^ Beeler, Karin; Beeler, Stan (2014-11-28). Children's Film in the Digital Age: Essays on Audience, Adaptation and Consumer Culture. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-7596-4.
  6. ^ a b c d "Dalton S. Reymond". IMDb. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  7. ^ a b Kaser, James A. (2014-07-29). The New Orleans of Fiction: A Research Guide. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-9204-0.
  8. ^ The Louisiana State University Alumni News. 1948.
  9. ^ a b Institute, American Film (1997). Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20964-0.
  10. ^ Stern, Julia A. (2022-01-19). Bette Davis Black and White. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-81386-8.
  11. ^ Jackson, Kathy Merlock; West, Mark I. (2014-11-28). Walt Disney, from Reader to Storyteller: Essays on the Literary Inspirations. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-7232-1.
  12. ^ Reid, John Howard (2005-03-23). Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Support Program. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-4116-2909-7.
  13. ^ Reid, John Howard (2006-06-01). Success in the Cinema MoneyMaking Movies. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-84728-088-6.
  14. ^ The Screen Writer. Screen Writers Guild, Incorporated. 1946.
  15. ^ Arnold, Gordon B. (2016-11-28). Animation and the American Imagination: A Brief History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-4408-3360-1.
  16. ^ Barrier, Michael (2008-04-07). The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25619-4.
  17. ^ J. P. Telotte (2010) Song of the South, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 27:5, 392-394, doi:10.1080/10509208.2010.494566
  18. ^ "How Disney tried and failed to remove Song of the South from history". SYFY Official Site. 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  19. ^ Barrier, Michael. The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney. 1st ed., University of California Press, 2007. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppcjs. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023.
  20. ^ Jackson, Kathy Merlock; West, Mark I. (2014-12-03). Walt Disney, from Reader to Storyteller: Essays on the Literary Inspirations. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-1824-1.
  21. ^ Sperb, Jason. "One. Conditions of Possibility: The Disney Studios, Postwar “Thermidor,” and the Ambivalent Origins of Song of the South". Disney's Most Notorious Film: Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South, New York, USA: University of Texas Press, 2012, pp. 37-61. doi:10.7560/739741-004
  22. ^ Reymond, Dalton S. (1948). Earthbound. Ziff-Davis Publishing Company.
  23. ^ The Publishers' Circular and Booksellers' Record. Publishers' Circular. 1948.
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