Jean Scott Rogers (18 January 1908–2000) was a British writer and film and television screenwriter perhaps best known for her film Corridors of Blood (1958) and for her work for the Children's Film Foundation.[1]
Biography
editJean Scott Rogers was born in Hornsey in London in 1908, the daughter of Grace Brown Rogers (née Blair) and Norman Cumming Rogers, a physician and surgeon.[2][3] Privately educated in London and Paris, she was the committee secretary for the Royal Society of Arts Exhibition of British Industry at Burlington House (1934–35). In April 1939 she was the stage manager for the pageant 'Music for the People' held at the Royal Albert Hall in London.[4] Rogers was appointed to the war-time staff of the Royal Society of Arts as acting assistant secretary in 1940. In 1943 she was the acting secretary and acting assistant editor of the RSA Journal but resigned in 1947 in order to join the Rank Organisation as a producer's personal assistant, working on Trottie True (1949) among others. She resigned from Rank in 1957 to work as a freelance film and ITV scriptwriter until 1964. She was the administrator of the campaign to launch the Theatre Museum (1965-1977) and in 1985 published a history of the process by which the museum was set up.[5] Among her films are: One Way Out (original story, 1955); Corridors of Blood (1962), starring Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee; The Flood (1963);[6] Valley of the Kings (1964)[7] and Jackals in the Desert (1964),[8] the latter three for the Children's Film Foundation.[1]
Her writing for television includes three episodes of Family Solicitor (1961); Journey of a Lifetime (1961), and 70 episodes of Emergency – Ward 10 (1957 - 1964).[9]
Books by Jean Scott Rogers include Stage by Stage: The Making of the Theatre Museum, Her Majesty's Stationery Office (1985) ISBN 978-0112904199; Cobden and His Kate: The Story of a Marriage, Historical Publications Ltd (1990) ISBN 978-0948667114; and In Search of St Paul, A. Barker, London (1964), the latter based on the ABC series of the same name and the writing of which necessitated Rogers joining the film crew on location.
Her papers from 1921 to 1956 are held by The Women's Library at the London School of Economics.[10][11] Rogers was an acquaintance and correspondent with the Australian writer Patrick White and her collection of 96 letters from him are held by the National Library of Australia.[12]
Jean Scott Rogers died aged 92 in 2000 at Ipswich in Suffolk.[13]
References
edit- ^ a b Rogers's Profile on the British Film Institute database
- ^ Jean Scott Rogers in the 1911 England Census - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
- ^ Profile for Norman Cumming Rogers - The University of Glasgow Story - University of Glasgow website
- ^ Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, 'Music for the People', The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1132/
- ^ Jean Scott Rogers, Stage by Stage: The Making of the Theatre Museum, Her Majesty's Stationery Office (1985) pgs 71-72 ISBN 978-0112904199
- ^ The Flood - Children's Film and Television Foundation
- ^ Robert Shail, The Children's Film Foundation: History and Legacy, British Film Institute/Palgrave (2016) - Google Books pg 170
- ^ Valley of the Kings - Children's Film and Television Foundation
- ^ Jill Nelmes and Jule Selbo (editors), Women Screenwriters: An International Guide, Palgrave MacMillan (2015) - Google Books pg 603
- ^ Papers of Jean Scott Rogers - The National Archives
- ^ Major Accessions to Repositories in 2002 Relating to Women's History - Women's History Review, Volume 13, Number 4, 2004
- ^ Papers of Jean Scott Rogers (1931-1988) - National Library of Australia Catalogue
- ^ Jean Scott Rogers in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 - Ancestry.com (subscription required)