Jay Presson Allen

Jay Presson Allen was an American screenwriter, playwright, stage director, television producer and novelist. Known for her withering wit and sometimes-off-color wisecracks, she was one of the few women making a living as a screenwriter at a time when women were a rarity in the profession. "You write to please yourself," she said, "The only office where there’s no superior is the office of the scribe." Born as Jacqueline Presson in San Angelo, Texas, she was "never particularly fond of her given name", and decided to use her first initial when writing. According to the Dictionary of... Literary Biography the more elaborate form, Jay, is the work of a Social Security Clerk. The only child of a department store manager, she would spend every Saturday and Sunday in the movie house, from one o’clock until somebody dragged her out at seven. From that time on movies became very important to her, and Allen knew she wouldn't be staying in West Texas. Allen attended Miss Hockaday’s School for Young Ladies in Dallas for a couple of years, but came away with, in her words, as "having had no education to speak of.
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