Lamar Trotti Jefferson

Background

Lamar Jefferson Trotti was born on October 18, 1900, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Education

Trotti graduated from the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, and from the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism (ABJ) in 1921.

Career

Trotti began his career in his native Atlanta, Georgia. He worked as a city editor for the Atlanta Georgian for three years in the early 1920s before being lured to New York to take a job as a publicist for the Motion Picture Association of America. Trotti spent six years doing public relations work, including editing and publishing a professional magazine for newly released movies. During his spare time, he took short-story courses at Columbia University.

When his associate Jason Joy was transferred to Hollywood, Trotti was invited to come along. When Joy became head of the story department at Fox a year later, Trotti followed and settled into a twenty-year tenure as a screenwriter. Trotti hit his stride as a film writer in 1939, when three of his most famous screenplays were released: The Story of Alexander Graham Bell, Young Mr. Lincoln, and Drums Along the Mohawk.

During World War II, Trotti supported the American war effort with films such as To the Shores of Tripoli (1942), Thunder Birds (1942), The Immortal Sergeant (1943), and Guadalcanal Diary (1943). He was contributing to There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954) at the time of his death.

Achievements

• Lamar Trotti is best remembered for his contributions to American cinema. Troth’s most commonly known films include the screenplays of Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), and Stars and Stripes Forever (1952).
  
  As his list of films attests, Trotti managed to make himself known as a serious and prolific screenwriter, and in the opinion of William Wellman, he was 'one of the best.' His most notable achievement was his recreation of America’s past in a diverse assortment of films.

Works

More photos

• book

  • In Old Chicago

    (Based on a story by Niven Busch, this lavish period piece...)

    1937
  • Darryl F. Zanuck's Wilson in Technicolor
  • Young Mr. Lincoln: Original story and screenplay 1939
  • Alexander Graham Bell 1938
  • The ox-bow incident: Screenplay 1943

Views

Although he worked in many genres, Trotti exhibited a distinct affinity for historical Americana. When he was given the freedom to do so, he concerned himself with moralistic tales set in old or rural America.

Connections

Trotti was married. He had a son, Lamar, Jr. and a daughter.

Son:

Lamar Trotti, Jr.

11 December 1932 - 10 August 1950

Wife:

Louise Hall Trotti

29 January 1906 - 7 April 1983

References

• Henry Koster by Irene Kahn Atkins (1987-09-01)