Elizabeth Pickett — Biographical Sketch (1927) 🇺🇸

Elizabeth Pickett, short subject director, scenario and title writer, took a peculiar course to the screen as a profession. She went via the American Red Cross in Washington, D. C. to Hollywood. A graduate of Wellesley College with the class of 1918, and with an A. B. degree in liberal arts, she took up work as historian with the Red Cross in Washington. She wrote The History of Red Cross Nursing and The Primer of the American Red Cross.

While engaged in that work Miss Pickett became interested in the propaganda pictures the Red Cross was making, and was transferred at National headquarters to that bureau of the relief organization. Her first experience was in the making of a one-reel picture entitled “In Florence Nightingale’s Footsteps,” which was designed to attract women into service as war nurses.

It was a comparatively low hurdle from the Red Cross Bureau of Motion Pictures to the William Fox lot, and since she took the jump Miss Pickett has had more than her share of success. There have been few women who have been considered competent enough all-around to direct pictures and write scenario and titles.

The short subject field requires a wide variety of knowledge and a keen sense of humor. Miss Pickett has both. She has directed, edited and titled over fifty of the Fox Varieties, and between times she has made other contributions to the screen. Among these she adapted and titled “Kentucky Pride,” “Wings of the Storm,” and “The Monkey Talks.” She also wrote “Wolf Fangs” and “Navajo.”

Though Miss Pickett has had little leisure time since her graduation from Wellesley College she has managed to crowd into her life some thrilling incidents. Not the least of these was a narrow escape from a bed of quicksand. She also boasts of having been driven out of Indian villages and of having been arrested in Virginia for shooting on Sunday. Her favorite recreation now is riding horseback. She spends much of her time when in New York at the Town Hall Club, of which she is a member.

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Elizabeth Pickett

Directed, Titled and Edited Over Fifty Fox Varieties

Original Stories

• Wolf Fangs
• Navajo

Adapted and Titled

• Wings of the Storm
• The Monkey Talks

Titled and Edited

• Kentucky Pride
• Marriage License
• The Shamrock Handicap
• Whispering Sage
• Exploring the Amazon

Fox Film Corporation

Collection: Motion Picture News, October 1927 (Booking Guide and Studio Directory)