Paul Gerard Smith
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Paul Gerard Smith (born September 14, 1894, in Omaha, Nebraska - died April 4, 1968 in San Diego, California) was a writer and contributor to the Vaudeville tradition. Smith started writing musical revues at the age of ten. He joined the Marines for World War I and while still in Germany wrote and directed the Sixth Marine Revue in the Rhine Occupation Area. He arrived back in the States in 1919 and started writing vaudeville acts. He became so successful that he was one of the few writers to be credited on the playbill. He scripted the Ziegfield Follies of 1924, 1925, and 1926 and was also one of the writers of Funny Face. Smith was brought to Hollywood by Buster Keaton to work on The General and The Battling Butler. Early film credits include In Old Arizona, Mother Knows Best, and Dressed To Kill, as well as the first talkies of Harold Lloyd, Welcome Danger and Feet First. He wrote dozens of B-movies for Universal Studios, Fox West Coast, Paramount Pictures, RKO Pictures, Warner Bros., and Roach Studios. He also scripted USO shows and personal appearances for many film and radio stars entertaining overseas. After World War II he returned to film and radio scripting and also wrote and directed some early television programs on ABC, including The Gay Nineties. He returned to stage writing with Hullabaloo for the Pasadena Playhouse. Smith was married to Mary Alice Lundgren (October 1919 - April 1968) and had four children.
His son, Paul Gerard Smith II, carried on the family tradition, working in the entertainment industry after serving in the Marines during World War II.
