In Remembrance: Jay Presson Allen

     Jay Presson Allen, the screenwriter responsible for the screen adaptations of the novel Marnie for director Alfred Hitchcock and the musical Cabaret, has passed away on May 1, 2006. She was 84.

     Born on March 3, 1922 in Fort Worth, Texas, Allen moved to New York City and performed on radio and in cabarets before turning to writing. Inj 1948 she published the novel Spring Riot. In 1963 her comedic play The First Wife was turned in to the film Wives And Lovers with Janet Leigh and Van Johnson.

     Though still a relative unknown – her play The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie adapted from Muriel Sparks’ novel wasn’t to open in London for another two years – she was picked by Hitchcock to adapt Winston Graham’s novel Marnie to the screen. The two worked closely on the script an Allen would later state that Hitchcock taught her more about screenwriting than she would learn over the rest of her career. In addition to her scripting duties, Allen also suggested to Hitchcock casting an old friend of hers, Louise Latham, in the role of Marnie’s mother.

     Hitchcock enjoyed their collaboration and soon set Allen to work on adapting the play Mary Rose, a project he had been trying to get made for some time. Unfortunately, Hitchcock’s studio, Universal, passed on the project.

     Allen’s next screen work was adapting her play The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie for the 1969 film. Allen would specialize in adapting other works into films, working on such films as Travels With My Aunt (1972) from the Graham Greene novel and the comedy 40 Carats (1973) from Pierre Barillet’s play. She also worked on the screenplay for Funny Lady (1975) and did uncredited work on A Star Is Born (1976).

     In 1972, Allen received an Academy Award nomination for her adaptation of the musical Cabaret for the big screen. She shared a second nomination with director Sidney Lumet for the director’s 1981 film Prince Of The City.

     In addition to her film work, Allen also created the 1988 television series Hothouse. Her last film was 1982’s Deathtrap, based on the Ira Levin play.