Joseph Moncure March
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joseph Moncure March (July 27, 1899 New York City - February 14, 1977 Los Angeles, California) was an American poet and essayist, best known for his long narrative poems The Wild Party and The Set-Up. After serving in World War I and graduating from Amherst College (where he was a protégé of Robert Frost), March was managing editor of The New Yorker in 1925, and helped create the magazine's "Talk of the Town" front section. He left the magazine, and wrote the first of his two important long Jazz Age narrative poems, The Wild Party. Due to its risqué content, this violent story of a vaudeville dancer who throws a booze and sex-filled party could not find a publisher until 1928. Once published, however, the poem was a great success despite being banned in Boston. March followed with The Set-Up, a poem about a black boxer who had just been released from prison. In 1929, March moved to Hollywood to provide additional dialogue for the film Journey's End and, more famously, to turn the silent version of Howard Hughes' classic Hell's Angels into a talkie — a rewrite that brought the phrase "Excuse me while I put on something more comfortable" into the American lexicon. March stayed with Hughes' Caddo Pictures studio for several years, temporarily running the office, overseeing the release of Hell's Angels, and getting into legal trouble after an attempt to steal the script for rival Warner Bros.' flying picture The Dawn Patrol. March worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood until 1940, under contract to MGM and Paramount and later as a freelancer for Republic Pictures and other studios; he wrote at least 19 produced scripts in his Hollywood career. His most prominent late script is probably the left-leaning John Wayne curio Three Faces West, a knockoff of The Grapes of Wrath that ends with a faceoff between Okies and Nazis. With his third wife, Peggy Prior (a Pathé screenwriter) and her two children, March returned to the East Coast in 1940. During World War II, he worked at a shipbuilding plant in Groton, Connecticut, and wrote features (mostly acid assessments of the movie business) for the New York Times Magazine. In later years, he wrote documentaries for the State Department and industrial films for Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Monsanto Company, American Airlines, and others. Several films starring industrial films icon Thelma "Tad" Tadlock, including Design for Dreaming (1956) and A Touch of Magic (1961) were made from Mar his rhyming scripts. March died in 1977.
Known for
WritingBirthday
July 27, 1899Deathday
February 14, 1977Gender
MaleKnown Movie Credits
22Place of birth
Los Angeles, California, USA![](/assets/default-profile-icon.jpg)
Cast credits
Crew credits
![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/uxE5LZP0RClXKsAqtrHQPiNLHzf.jpg)
The Set-Up
Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/vQpqUiQbJvSf15lUUNYWUIydUM1.jpg)
Hoopla
Screenplay![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/gjooqZ2V1VoNvvo4pxFGuCBqseO.jpg)
Let 'em Have It
Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/4NrqvwViDRaK5im4sfs3c8RikVP.jpg)
Her Jungle Love
Screenplay![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/lphIos91JFnwxGcyLXduPJPaMhU.jpg)
Jennie Gerhardt
Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/xiBzU5yB4zOAA0bvclPM4xZJOu.jpg)
Three Faces West
Screenplay![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/hQd2suMyXRJNoY9O77iDTNSmZWX.jpg)
Wagons Westward
Screenplay![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/oqVX2ZNt7Ll8Z860mNyFvEodEH0.jpg)
And Sudden Death
Screenplay![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/5vgRsmaAxqjsOqSko9EQk8leBr2.jpg)
Lone Star Raiders
Screenplay![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/aLVLhR685I7WFgijomjlmI7iQ7H.jpg)
Journey's End
Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/sFDLF2btxB2iQGy8A0ZyWl8BMzx.jpg)
Madame Butterfly
Screenplay![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/3R2EB7s559zvsRb7NnBMQMGVLGy.jpg)
Woman Doctor
Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/n25t2Gsohuisvyj9JsHrjBtakdq.jpg)
Two Alone
Screenplay![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/m5sho5PHCVBIsL7tfqRZb5MMiko.jpg)
A Touch of Magic
Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/zT6kOXNDNCqjorWeyPH3wi7GXuV.jpg)
Jealousy
Screenplay![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/pFjGM7B7PpVDcCeQXJOoUNYjfnk.jpg)
Forgotten Girls
Screenplay![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/vt6zF55B9WLzYENs6cuXy8J5o1X.jpg)
Hell's Angels
Story, Dialogue![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/7VMuAmnjost7sfnBUqfx8AALQK8.jpg)
The Wild Party
Novel![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/8o8idGzykNZCBnJJiMJUclbyTnO.jpg)
Flirting with Fate
Screenplay![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/dNN5MiVDKg0zUV54h18dLeNtbwG.jpg)
Hideaway Girl
Writer![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/ItvxwGzzA3WZgb3MBRzO8zNRRJ.jpg)
Hot Saturday
Adaptation