1919–1920: Writing for Harry Garson Coffee relocated to
Los Angeles. By the time she arrived, Garson and Young had left for New York. She was instead taken to
Louis B. Mayer Pictures, where its
namesake founder dropped her weekly salary to $30 a week. She was hired to review the studio's optioned properties and selected the appropriate titles to be adapted into films. She selected a novel titled
The Fighting Shepherdess, intended for
Anita Stewart. After eight weeks, Coffee received a call from Garson requesting her availability. Because Mayer was unavailable, she explained the situation to his assistant Benny Zeidman. She left and reported back to Garson and was given her back pay. At Garson's studio, she was hired in a position known today as a
script supervisor (also called the "continuity girl") where she read the fan mail for Clara Kimball Young, submitted original stories, made editing notes, and wrote screen title cards. There, her first work was for
Eyes of Youth (1919), in which she contributed editorial suggestions. She wrote: "I became so interested in production details that I began, on my own, to make cutting notes. For example, when the director called to the cameraman for a close-up, I would make a note of where he intended it to be used in the picture." Coffee wrote her second story for
The Forbidden Woman (1920), with Young and
Conway Tearle in the leading roles. Two days were spent filming on location in San Francisco, with the remainder shot in studio. Coffee next co-wrote the story for
Hush (1921) with
Sada Cowan. In 1920, Garson purchased the screen rights to the play
Mid-channel by
Arthur Wing Pinero. An English director had been fired due to creative differences and Garson became the new director. During filming, Garson feuded with an assistant director who did not understand his instructions. The assistant director was also fired, and Coffee was promptly hired to take his place. Her responsibility involved
script breakdown for the various departments during the production, including the actors.
1920–1923: Titling and editing jobs After
Mid-Channel (1920) was released, Garson decided to close his studio and moved to the East Coast for more financing. Sometime later,
Louis Anger hired Coffee after a friend had recommended her to write title cards and re-edit two films. She was hired at her proposed salary of $1,000 on each film. Within ten days, she had reassembled a rough cut and screened it to Anger and
Lew Cody. Both men were pleased and made further suggestions. Coffee restructured the second film and had the actors return for
iris shots, which she directed. Following this job, Coffee was approached by Sam Roark to write title cards and edit six films, starring Australian actor
Snowy Baker. The editing job was done at
Colonel Selig's Zoo. There, Coffee received a message to see
Irving Thalberg in his office at
Universal Studios. Thalberg offered to hire her on a yearly contract for $200 a week to write
film scenarios. By then, Coffee had only written original stories. Meanwhile, she received a counteroffer from
Metro Pictures, with a proposed salary of $250 a week. She informed Thalberg she had accepted Metro Pictures' offer. At Metro Pictures, Coffee spent two years working with playwright
Bayard Veiller, which she considerd as her apprenticeship as a scenarist. During her time there,
Roscoe Arbuckle had been accused of rape and
manslaughter, which indirectly caused the formation of the
Motion Production Code. By winter 1921, Coffee handed her first completed script to Veiller, with Bert Lydell intended to star. She and Veiller made further revisions, which included polishing the dialogue. However, Metro Pictures foreclosed and Veiller moved back to New York. With one year left on her contract, Coffee relocated to New York with Veiller and Lydell. In New York, she stayed there for three years. She worked as a playwright and was later paid six times her starting salary. Coffee was approached by
Max Karger, the former financial head of Metro Pictures, and was given a three-picture deal in Hollywood. Karger left on a train to Hollywood, but Coffee stayed behind. She went to the Ambassador Hotel and met
Thomas Ince. He wanted her to write a script for him, but she informed Ince that Karger had already hired her. However, Karger was found dead from a heart attack on a train. With her contract now void, Coffee signed a six-week contract with Ince and worked on a story acquired by Parker Reid. In Pasadena, she clashed with Clark Thomas, the studio production manager, whom Coffee claimed, resented her hiring. Her contract expired and her job was left unfinished. Afterwards, Irving Thalberg, now working for Mayer Pictures, hired her to write title cards for
John Stahl's
The Dangerous Age, which starred
Lewis Stone and
Florence Vidor. By 1923, Coffee wrote the scenario for
Daytime Wives and was again involved in the editing. She also wrote the first script draft for the 1926 film adaptation of
The Winning of Barbara Worth, though
Frances Marion received the film's sole writing credit.
1924: Career at MGM In the spring of 1924, Coffee collaborated with Thalberg, his assistant
Paul Bern,
Bess Meredyth, and director
Fred Niblo on a script adaptation of
Captain Applejack. In April of the same year, Metro Studios (then owned by
Loews Theatres), Goldwyn Studios, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures merged to form a conglomerate studio known as
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Relocated in
Culver City, Thalberg employed as many as 108 screenwriters so he would not have to borrow them from a rival studio. After the merger, Thalberg requested Coffee's opinion on the script for
The Great Divide (1925). She recommended
Norma Shearer for the lead female role, but Thalberg disagreed stating: "Impossible. No one would believe that she would allow herself to be raped, in any circumstances. She looks too well able to take care of herself."
Alice Terry was cast instead. In 1924, Coffee married William J. Cowen. When she returned from her honeymoon, Coffee wrote a story outline titled
Stepmother and submitted it to
Harry Rapf. He liked the story, though he was reluctant to pay her the $5,000 salary she requested. The next day, Mayer called her into his studio office. There, he harshly scolded her to accept a $2,500 salary or "get the hell out of the studio." Coffee declined to take a lower salary, in which Mayer called her a "cold, selfish, mercenary, unscrupulous woman." Offended, she packed her belongings and left the studio lot.
1924–1928: Working for Cecil B. DeMille During her honeymoon, Coffee learned that Paramount Pictures had acquired the screen rights to
Ferenc Molnár's 1920 play
The Swan, with
Dimitri Buchowetzki to direct.
The Swan (1925) went into production at Paramount with
Clare Eames as Alexandra, but she was deemed too mature for the role after a few days of filming. She was replaced by
Frances Howard, who later became the second wife of producer
Samuel Goldwyn. Months after she left MGM, Coffee was asked by
Fox Film Corporation to write the script for
East Lynne (1925). She wrote: "It was a terribly old-fashioned story but I was so glad to be at work again that I took it." By December 1924, Coffee had heard discussions of a
potential film remake of
Graustark (1915). She wrote a treatment and sold it to
First National Pictures for $1,500 (). During filming, DeMille Pictures Corp. asked Coffee to attend a story conference, which concerned ''Hell's Highroad'' (1925) starring
Leatrice Joy which was to begin shooting. By this point, Coffee had been discontented with "rescue jobs," but nevertheless arrived at the studio. Inside the conference room, she was greeted by several individuals including
Cecil B. DeMille and his screenwriting collaborator
Jeanie MacPherson. At DeMille Pictures Corp., Coffee became friends with actress
Leatrice Joy and later became a godmother to her child. She wrote two original scripts for Joy, one of them was
For Alimony Only (1926). DeMille asked Coffee to adapt
Konrad Bercovici's novel
The Volga Boatman into a treatment. Bercovici had written an outline, but he left the production because of personal issues. As was typical, DeMille shot his films in continuity after they screened the
dailies that had been filmed on the previous day. For DeMille's next film, he considered a film about
Judas Iscariot titled
Thirty Pieces of Silver. He decided instead to film
The King of Kings (1927), and asked Coffee to write the scenario. However, she declined because she felt
H. B. Warner (at the time, 50 years old) was miscast as
Jesus; Jeanie Macpherson was selected instead. By 1926, Coffee became pregnant with her first child. She notified DeMille and he allowed her to work from home. There,
Samuel Goldwyn called her, having received DeMille's permission, and requested Coffee's input on
The Night of Love (1927), which was set to star
Ronald Colman and
Vilma Bánky. Goldwyn arrived at her residence and explained the film's opening act. Coffee suggested he incorporate the medieval practice
droit du seigneur into the script to strengthen the characters' motivations. With DeMille's extended permission, Coffee rewrote the scenario with director
George Fitzmaurice in less than three weeks. After she had given birth, Coffee and her husband attended a performance of the 1926 play
Chicago. Coffee deeply admired the play and alerted DeMille, who was editing
The King of Kings, about it. Within a year, DeMille produced a
film adaptation of the play. In 1927,
Warner Bros. released
The Jazz Singer and within two years, Hollywood had transitioned into
sound films. DeMille closed his studio and signed a co-production deal with MGM. On the studio lot, Louis B. Mayer exclaimed to Coffee: "So you had to come home!"
1929–1937: Return to MGM With DeMille at MGM, Coffee's contract was renegotiated with a new 30-day mutual closing notice. Her first screenplay with dialogue was the 1929 film
The Bishop Murder Case. She noted: "I liked the assignment and found that I loved writing dialogue, and from that day on no ever wrote one word of dialogue for me." Coffee took another maternity leave and gave birth to a son. Back at MGM, she wrote the
script adaptation of the 1930 novel
Mothers Cry. Shortly after, Universal Pictures hired Coffee to write a script for John Stahl. Unhappy with her assignment, DeMille asked her to rewrite the script for
The Squaw Man (1931).
Elsie Janis had written a draft, but DeMille felt it lacked structure. Back at MGM, DeMille then raised her salary to $1,000 a week (). Sometime later, DeMille was hospitalized for an appendix operation; he later left MGM and joined
Paramount Pictures. By New Year's Day 1931, Coffee had to decline an offer from Samuel Goldwyn as she decided to stay at MGM, though Thalberg slashed her weekly salary in half. Thalberg assigned her to adapt the 1920 play
The Mirage into a vehicle for
Joan Crawford. Retitled
Possessed (1931),
Clarence Brown directed the film. Coffee reunited with Bayard Veiller on the 1932 crime film
Night Court. After this, the two rewrote
Carey Wilson's script for
Arsène Lupin (1932). Despite her objections, Wilson's writing credit was retained. In 1928, actor
John Gilbert had written an original story for a proposed silent film. Four years later, Thalberg revived the project as a sound film, and assigned Coffee to write the script, with
Monta Bell to direct. The film was titled
Downstairs (1932). Sometime later, Coffee left MGM after several loan-out requests from competing studios had been turned down by Thalberg and
Samuel Marx, MGM's head of screenwriting department. According to Coffee's account, she sent a letter listing potential film adaptations, including a remake of
Camille with
Greta Garbo on Thalberg's office. She then phoned DeMille about her salary cuts. DeMille recommended she hire a talent agent, in which Coffee hired Phil Berg. At Paramount Pictures, Berg brokered a three-picture deal for Coffee with her salary at $1,000 a week; her first project was rewriting the script for
Torch Singer (1933), which starred
Claudette Colbert. When her deal expired, Coffee returned to Fox Film Corporation to adapt
All Men Are Enemies (1934), which had been based on the novel by
Richard Aldington. Berg signed Coffee to another tenureship at MGM on a year's contract. There, she adapted the 1933 novel
Vanessa by
Hugh Walpole into a
screenplay. The script was submitted for approval by the
Production Code Administration (PCA), then headed by
Joseph Breen. He objected to the characters' sexual immorality, which had to be rewritten for approval. Coffee then adapted
Evelyn Prentice (1934), which starred
William Powell and
Myrna Loy. By 1935, her contract had expired, but MGM gave her a two-year extension. Coffee took a
leave of absence and toured Europe. When she returned, she learned that
David O. Selznick was leaving MGM and wanted to buy out Coffee's contract, which MGM refused. In 1937, Coffee approached
Eddie Mannix about her assignments. Mannix gave her
The Rage of Paris script, which was set to star
Jean Harlow. However, Harlow died on June 7, 1937 and the project was shelved. Coffee's extended contract expired and she signed with Warner Bros, though she returned to MGM after several intervals.
1938–1943: Warner Bros. At Warner Bros, Coffee held a studio office, though she frequently wrote from home. She subsequently co-wrote the script for
Four Daughters (1938) with
Julius J. Epstein, adapted from the 1937 story "Sister Act" by
Fannie Hurst. At the
1939 Academy Awards, Coffee and Epstein were nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Despite their joint screenplay credit, Coffee stated she had never met Epstein.
1939–1973: Playwright and author In 1939, Coffee co-wrote the play
Family Portrait: A Play in Three Acts with her husband William J. Cowen. The play detailed the life of Jesus through the eyes of his immediate family. It opened at the
Morosco Theatre, and starred
Judith Anderson as
Mary, mother of Jesus. In his theatre review,
Brooks Atkinson of
The New York Times praised Anderson's performance but felt "the inadequacy of the writing is something to mourn." The play was performed at the
Strand Theatre in the
West End, in February 1948. In 1955, Coffee published the novel
Weep No More. It was retitled in the United States as
Another Time, Another Place. In an interview with the
Los Angeles Times, Coffee stated she wrote the novel to "try and show that a woman can be a career woman with lots of brains and have no sense." The novel was adapted into a
1958 film with the American title, starring
Lana Turner. Decades later, she reflected negatively on the film, stating, "It stunk. It was just dreadful." In 1959, at the behest of her husband, Coffee and her family relocated to England where she enrolled her children at the
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. In 1973, Coffee published her memoir
Storyline. The book focused on her career during the last ten years of the silent film era (1919–1929) and her career as an in-demand
script doctor for MGM. While she praised those years, Coffee quoted
Samuel Hoffenstein on their reflection the Hollywood
studio system: "They pick your brains, break your heart, ruin your digestion—and what do you get for it? Nothing but a lousy fortune!" ==Personal life==