Florence Ryerson
| Florence Ryerson | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Florence Willard Sept. 20, 1892 Glendale, California |
| Died | June 8, 1965 (aged 72) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Nationality | United States |
| Other names | Florence Willard |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
| Occupation | screenwriter, playwright |
| Known for | film scripts |
| Spouse(s) | Harold Swayne Ryerson (1914–1927, divorced) Colin Campbell Clements (1927–1948, his death) |
| Children | Harold Swayne Ryerson, Jr. |
Florence Ryerson (September 20, 1892 – June 8, 1965) was a playwright, screenwriter, and co-author of the script for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
Florence Ryerson was born in Glendale, California. She was the daughter of Charles Dwight Willard and Mary McGregor. Charles Dwight Willard (1860-1914), journalist and political reformer, was an 1883 graduate of the University of Michigan, worked on the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Herald, and was author of The Fall of Ulysses - An Elephant Story (1912), The Herald's History of Los Angeles City (1901), and other books. In 1920 Florence and her husband, Harold Swayne Ryerson, worked in the manufacture of ladies' clothes. Florence was also a stage actress and wrote short stories for magazines.
In 1926, Florence Ryerson joined Paramount Pictures to work on silent film scripts, among them Adam and Evil and Wickedness Preferred. Later sound films she wrote include the Fu Manchu and Philo Vance series.
She was co-author of the screenplay for The Wizard of Oz, along with frequent collaborator Edgar Allan Woolf and British author Noel Langley. Both Ryerson and Woolf created the Wizard's Kansas counterpart, Professor Marvel.
In the 1930s, Florence Ryerson and second husband Colin Campbell Clements acquired the 19th century Workman Ranch in Canoga Park, in the western San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. She renamed the estate Shadow Ranch for the amount of shade provided by the numerous large Blue Gum (Eucalyptus globulus) eucalyptus trees, originally planted in the 1860s during the Workman era. They restored and expanded the historic adobe and redwood ranch house, and lived there through the 1940s. Ryerson co-wrote the 'The Wizard of Oz' screenplay while living there.
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