Zelda Sears

• Name — Zelda Sears • Birth Name — Zelda Paldi • Born — 21 January 1873 • Birthplace — Brockway Township, Michigan, U.S. • Died — 19 February 1935 • Place of death — Hollywood, California, U.S. • Occupation — Actress, writer • Years Active — 1924-1934 • Spouse — Herbert E. Sears (1892–1895) Louis C. Wiswell (1918–1935)

She was born as Zelda Paldi near Brockway Township, St. Clair County, Michigan, into a multi-lingual family that spoke French, Italian and English. Her father, Justin Lewis Paldi, was a first-generation Italian immigrant engineer and horse breeder, and her mother Roxa Tyler was of English heritage. Her entry into the job market at age 12 was borne out of a family financial crisis. Merchant L.A. Sherman conducted an essay contest for his store's opening day, with Sears submitting the winning entry and being rewarded with a position as cash runner for the sales staff. In the evening hours, she educated herself on secretarial skills. She was eventually promoted to the position of sales clerk. When she expressed an interest in writing, Sherman transferred her as a reporter on his newspaper the Port Huron Daily Times. In June 1889, at age 16, she made her acting debut as alternating roles in a Port Huron production of Esther at the City Opera House. Setting her sights on a newspaper career, she journeyed to Detroit, Michigan, with no luck finding a job, and then ventured to Chicago, Illinois. While rooming at the Chicago YWCA, and waiting for her big break in the newspaper business, she worked for Longnecker and Company painting flowers on boxes. She earned extra money by selling her original greeting card verses.

In 1892, she married actor Herbert E. Sears, and would continue to use his name professionally after the dissolution of their marriage three years later. She got her foot in the door of the Chicago Herald newspaper by contributing to its humor column. When her father died, Sears began reading the numerous play scripts in his extensive personal library, adding to her already considerable interest in the profession. Actress Sarah Bernhardt performed in at Chicago's Daly Theater in 1894, and Sears initially set out to secure an interview with the star for the Herald. She ended up being hired as an extra in the production, changing the course of her professional life. Later continuing with a local acting stock company, and honing her craft with Hart Conway's American Conservatory of Acting, she eventually relocated to New York. Producer A.L. Erlanger offered her a small role as one of the ballerinas, a skill she had to learn on the job, in the 1896 production of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Casino Theatre. She spent the next few years expanding her skills with traveling stock companies. • Illustration — Scene from Anne Caldwell's The Nest Egg with Zelda Sears at the Park Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts, ca.1911 As she continued to pursue acting roles, Sears operated her own public stenography/typewriting service in New York, near the Empire Theatre on Broadway. Her clients were theatre people, playwrights. She soon developed into a proficient script doctor, with an eye towards becoming a playwright herself. It was during her 1900 performance as the jealous murderess La Colombe in Wine and Women at the Boston Theatre, that she met her future collaborator, playwright Clyde Fitch. He offered her a part in his new play Lover's Lane. While continuing her professional relationship with Fitch, including as his script doctor, she took a full-time job with theatrical producer Henry Wilson Savage. The company's vice president Louis C. Wiswell would eventually become her second husband. Under Fitch's influence, performing in seven plays written by him, she began to develop the stage persona she would become most identified with, a spinster wise in years but eternally yearning for marriage. Journalist Ada Patterson would later proclaim Sears "The Greatest of Stage Old Maids". She began writing for films at the request of Cecil B. DeMille and MGM in the early 1920s, and continued to do so for more than a decade.

On August 6, 1918, Sears married her long-time friend Louis C. Wiswell. She died at age 62 in her Hollywood home in 1935, from undisclosed causes. She was survived by Wiswell, and a sister, Marie Paldi.

Partial listing: Broadway credits of Zelda Sears • Year — Title — Theatre — Notes — Ref(s) Reference(s) • 1889 — Esther — City Opera House (Port Huron) — As Azila • 1889 — La Dame aux Camélias — Daily Theater (Chicago) — Extra • 1896 — Jack and the Beanstalk — Casino Theatre — As a ballerina • 1900 — Woman and Wine — The Boston Theatre — As La Colombe. Written by Arthur Shirley and Benjamin Landeck • 1901 — Lover's Lane — Manhattan Theatre — Written and staged by Clyde Fitch • 1903 — Glad of It — Savoy Theatre — Written and staged by Clyde Fitch • 1904 — The Coronet of the Duchess — Garrick Theatre — Written and staged by Clyde Fitch • 1905 — Cousin Billy — Criterion Theatre — Written and directed by Clyde Fitch • 1907 — The Truth — Criterion Theatre, Lyceum Theatre — Written and staged by Clyde Fitch. Sears played Mrs. Crespigny, reprised her performance in a 1914 production, and assumed the role again when the drama was adapted as a 1920 film of the same title. • 1908 — Nearly a Hero — Casino Theatre — Mrs. Doolittle • 1908 — Girls — Daly's Theatre — As Lucille Purcelle; written and staged by Clyde Fitch • 1909 — The Blue Mouse — Lyric Theatre Maxine Elliott's Theatre — Replacement performer; written and staged by Clyde Fitch • 1909 — Girls — Hackett Theatre — Revival, reprised her role as Lucille Purcelle • 1910 — The Girl He Couldn't Leave Behind — Garrick Theatre • 1910 — Keeping Up Appearances — Collier's Comedy Theatre • 1910 — The Nest Egg — Bijou Theatre — Lead role as Hetty Gandy • 1914 — The Truth — Little Theatre — Reprise performance as Mrs. Crespigny • 1915 — The Show Shop — Hudson Theatre • 1916 — Fast and Grow Fat — Globe Theatre • 1917 — Captain Kidd, Jr. — Cohan and Harris Theatre • 1917 — Mary's Ankle — Bijou Theatre • 1919 — Tumble In — Selwyn Theatre — Aunt Selina • 1920 — The Girl in the Limousine — Empire Theatre — Aunt Cicely • 1921 — Lady Billy — Liberty Theatre — Musical based on a book by Sears; lyrics by Sears • 1923 — The Clinging Vine — Knickerbocker Theatre — Musical, lyrics by Sears • 1923 — The Magic Ring — Liberty Theatre — Musical based on a book by Sears; lyrics by Sears • 1924 — Lollipop — Knickerbocker Theatre — Mrs. Gerrity, musical based on a book by Sears; lyrics by Sears • 1925 — A Lucky Break — Cort Theatre — Playwright • 1926 — Rainbow Rose — Forrest Theatre — Based on a story by Sears

Zelda Sears film credits • Year — Title — Role — Writer — Notes — Ref(s) Reference(s) • 1920 — The Truth — Mrs. Crespigny — Silent film • 1921 — The Highest Bidder — Mrs. Steese — Silent film • 1924 — Cornered — Silent film based on the 1920 play Cornered by Dodson Mitchell and Zelda Sears • 1926 — The Clinging Vine — Silent film based on the play The Clinging Vine by Zelda Sears • 1926 — Corporal Kate — X — Silent film co-written with Marion Orth • 1926 — The Cruise of the Jasper B — X — Silent film adaptation by Sears and Tay Garnett of the 1916 novel The Cruise of the Jasper B by Don Marquis • 1927 — The Night Bride — X — Silent film adaptation • 1927 — No Control — X — Silent film • 1927 — Rubber Tires — X — Silent film adaptation by Sears and Tay Garnett • 1927 — The Rush Hour — X — Silent film adaptation by Sears of March 1923 short story "The Azure Shore" by Frederic Hatton and Fanny Hatton in Harper's Bazaar • 1927 — The Wise Wife — X — Silent film adaptation by Sears and Tay Garnett of the 1928 Arthur Somers Roche novel of the same name • 1929 — Devil-May-Care — X — Dialogue • 1930 — The Divorcee — Hannah — X — Film treatment • 1930 — The Bishop Murder Case — Mrs. Otto [Miss] Drukker • 1930 — Road to Paradise — Sound remake of the 1924 silent film Cornered, both of which are based on the1920 play Cornered by Dodson Mitchell and Zelda Sears • 1931 — Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) — X — Dialogue • 1931 — Politics — X — Story, with Malcolm Stuart Boylan • 1931 — Daybreak — X — Continuity • 1931 — Reducing — X — Continuity • 1931 — Inspiration — Pauline • 1932 — New Morals for Old — X — Dialogue • 1932 — Emma — X — Dialogue • 1932 — Prosperity — X — Screenplay, with Eve Greene • 1933 — Broadway to Hollywood — X — Sears and Harlan Thompson were brought in as Script doctors • 1933 — Tugboat Annie — X — With Eve Green, adaptation of "Tugboat Annie " short stories by Norman Reilly Raine in The Saturday Evening Post • 1933 — Beauty for Sale — X — With Eve Greene, screenplay • 1933 — Day of Reckoning — X — With Eve Greene, screenplay • 1934 — The Cat and the Fiddle — X — Sears and Eve Greene were brought in as script doctors • 1936 — His Brother's Wife — Sears and Eve Greene originally slated as writers, but are not credited in the final product • 1934 — Operator 13 — X — With Eve Greene and Harvey Thew, screenplay • 1934 — Sadie McKee — Mrs. Craney • 1934 — This Side of Heaven — X — With Eve Greene, adaptation of the 1932 novel It Happened One Day by Marjorie Bartholomew Paradis • 1934 — A Wicked Woman — Gram Teague — X — With Florence Ryerson, screenplay • 1934 — You Can't Buy Everything — X — With Eve Greene, adaptation

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