Biography
One of the silent era's great practitioners of that soon-to-be redundant specialty, title writing, Marian Ainslee, like so many screenwriters, came from the field of journalism. A reportorial staff writer in both Kansas City and St. Louis, MO, Ainslee began writing titles for independent producer Louis B. Mayer, remaining with Mayer through his mergers with Metro and Goldwyn. Working closely with maverick director
Erich Von Stroheim, she later provided titles for
Foolish Wives (1922),
The Merry Widow (1925), and
Queen Kelly (1929). The latter fell victim to the sound revolution and was summarily scrapped by its producer/star
Gloria Swanson. Ainslee, however, remained with MGM for at least another decade, functioning as a script consultant on such major releases as
The Good Earth (1937) and
Carefree (1938). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide