Ernest Vajda

Hungarian-born Ernest Vajda came to films after a successful career as a novelist, usually under the nom de plume of Sidney Garrick. Among Vajda's more popular literary works was The Pirates, which was filmed in Europe as Herren der Meere (1924), and Head Waiter, which was transformed into the 1932 Leslie Howard vehicle Service for Ladies. Emigrating to America in the mid-'20s, he wrote several plays (including Children of Divorce, filmed in 1925) and musical librettos. His Hollywood scriptwriting efforts included several Ernst Lubitsch films, including The Love Parade (1929), Monte Carlo (1930), The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), and The Merry Widow (1934). Outside of his Lubitsch films, Vajda specialized in period pictures, notably The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), The Great Garrick (1937), and Marie Antoinette (1938). Inactive in films from 1941 to 1952, Ernest Vajda returned with his screenplay for Fox's The Stars and Stripes Forever, which, though entertaining, was far removed from the worldly sophistication of his earlier films.