{{Short description|Beverly Hills-based journalist and publicist in the Golden Age of Hollywood}} '''Franc Dillon''' (June 1890 - unknown) was a film journalist during the period of classical Hollywood cinema and the golden age of Hollywood. Dillon was a socialite, clubwoman, and friend of actor Harold Lloyd and his wife Mildred Davis Lloyd, helping them launch the Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals that was part of a national little theatre movement.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=York |first=Cal |date=September 1928 |title=Gossip of All the Studios |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_photoplay_1928-09_34_4/page/48/mode/2up?q=%22Beverly+Hills+Little++Theater%22 |journal=Photoplay |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=50 |via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> It became an important showcase for young actors hoping to be discovered, and for New York stage veterans who wanted to be seen in Hollywood. As a publicist and advertising executive, she negotiated with film production companies to guarantee some of the earliest product placements in films.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Campbell |first=Kay |date=7 January 1948 |title=Hollywood, More than Ever, Going for Those Ad Tie-Ups |url=https://archive.org/details/variety169-1948-01/page/n21/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 |work=Variety |pages=22}}</ref>
== Early life == She was born Franc (possibly Frances) Newman in June, 1890, in Michigan, the daughter of Florence Ada Grousbeck (1863-1951) and Frank W. "F. W." Newman (1859–1890). Some sources give her maiden name as Franc Tait, the surname of her mother's second husband, William Walter Tait (1870-1934).<ref name=":1">State of California, County of Los Angeles, Marriage License, October 14, 1914.</ref><ref>"United States Census, 1910," ''FamilySearch'' (<nowiki>https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MLBH-8WG</nowiki>: Entry for W. W. Tait and Florence A. Tait, 1910.</ref> Franc may have lowered her age by four or five years when she moved to Los Angeles, because the 1930 census shows a birth date of 1895 rather than 1890. Her marriage license says 1891, but that year is not possible if she was the blood daughter of F. W. Newman, who died in 1890.<ref name=":0">U. S. Federal Census, 1930.</ref> She had a brother, Houk Erbine Newman, and three half siblings, Florence Eleanor Tait, John David Tait, and William Walter Tait Jr.
== Journalism == She published features in a dozen of the leading movie magazines of the day, including Photoplay, Modern Screen, and Picture Play.<ref>See table.</ref> She was often in the society pages, for example in the Los Angeles Times as a frequent name in Myra Nye's "Society of Cinemaland" column, or the page "Of Interest to Women."<ref>Multiple items found on newspapers.com.</ref> Dillon's decision to write about a new talent and how to showcase that person could have an effect on how they were received. She was also a correspondent for newspapers across the country promoting Hollywood to the masses, for example publishing a two-page spread in what was then known as the Atlanta Constitution showing movie stars like Al Jolson, Ann Dvorak, and Joel McCrea engaging in farm work to show that they could relate to everyday people.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dillon |first=Franc |date=26 January 1936 |title=The Stars Come Down to Earth |url=https://archive.org/details/per_atlanta-constitution_1936-01-26_68_228/page/n57/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |pages=9}}</ref> From 1928 to 1935 she was also a Hollywood correspondent and columnist for the Brooklyn Standard-Union, later the Times-Union.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dillon |first=Franc |date=11 December 1928 |title=In the Hollywood Studios (column) |work=The Standard Union (Brooklyn, New York) |pages=15}}</ref> In 1949 she was named the editor of ''Western Family,'' a women's magazine, but by 1957 her name had dropped off of the masthead.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 23, 1949 |title=Literati, Chatter |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_variety_1949-11-23_176_11/page/24/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 |work=Variety |pages=24}}</ref>
== Publicity profession == The publicity field, along with society and gossip columns, gave women a measure of power and control in a town more conventionally run by men.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mallory |first=Mary |date=27 November 2023 |title=Hollywood Heights: Agnes O'Malley Marx, Pioneering Film Publicist |url=https://ladailymirror.com/2023/11/27/mary-mallory-hollywood-heights-agnes-omalley-marx-pioneering-film-publicist/ |website=The Daily Mirror}}</ref> With screenwriter Katherine Albert of MGM and others she led the Women's Association of Screen Publicists (WASPs), a group that formed in October 1924.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Nye |first=Myrna |date=3 June 1928 |title=Society of Cinemaland |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_los-angeles-times_los-angeles-times_1928-06-03_47/page/n37/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=33}}</ref> In 1928 Dillon was listed in ''The Film Spectator'' as working for the Charles S. Dunning publicity firm.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beaton |first=Welford |date=13 October 1928 |title=Greetings! Charles S. Dunning, Publicity: Franc N. Dillon, Associate |url=https://archive.org/details/filmspectatorvol56welf/page/44/mode/2up?q=%22franc+n.+dillon%22 |journal=The Film Spectator |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=45 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Sometimes she hosted events that might now be called publicity stunts, such as having a 1928 peanut-shelling party at her home where the WASPs worked their way through 300 pounds of them to benefit charity.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kingsley |first=Grace |date=28 July 1928 |title=Women Publicists Now Shell Peanuts |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_los-angeles-times_los-angeles-times_1928-07-28_47/page/n21/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=7}}</ref> Later, in the late 1930s and 1940s she worked for the J. Walter Thompson advertising company as part of a noted all-woman team headed by Maxine Smith.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 December 1943 |title=From the Production Centres... in Hollywood |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_variety_variety_1943-12-22_153_2/page/32/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 |work=Variety |pages=32}}</ref>
== Clubwoman == Women in Hollywood also formed clubs which gave them collective strength. One of Dillon's earliest clubs was a branch of the Soroptimists, formed in 1922 when the international organization was just a year old.<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 April 1922 |title=Women in Business Form Club |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_los-angeles-times_the-los-angeles-times_1922-04-16_41/page/n11/mode/2up?q=%22franc+n.+dillon%22 |work=The Los Angeles Sunday Times |pages=1}}</ref> In 1927 she was listed in Film Year Book as vice president of the WASPs, with Elizabeth Riordan as president.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Film Year Book 1927 |publisher=John W. Alicoate |year=1927 |editor-last=Kann |editor-first=Maurice |pages=845}}</ref> She was founding president of the Screen Women's Press Club (SWPC), beginning in 1930.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 December 1930 |title=Club Elects Franc Dillon |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/filmdailyyearboo00film_2/page/664/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 |title=The 1932 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures |date=1932 |publisher=The Film Daily |others=Media History Digital Library |editor-last=Alicote |editor-first=Jack |edition=14th annual |location=New York |pages=664}}</ref> They often met in the Munchers Club, a café on the Fox movie studio lot.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Nye |first=Myrna |date=22 March 1931 |title=Society of Cinemaland |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_los-angeles-times_los-angeles-times_1931-03-22_50/page/n51/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=13 November 1929 |title=Hollywood Chatter |url=https://archive.org/details/variety97-1929-11/page/n79/mode/2up?q=munchers |work=Variety |pages=8 |quote=Munchers Club, Fox Studio, is featuring 'sunnyside up' eggs.}}</ref> SWPC should not be confused with the Hollywood Women's Press Club founded in 1928 by Louella Parsons and Myra Nye, although the groups overlapped and were sometimes considered functionally the same.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Braitman |first=Jacqueline R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FQECEAAAQBAJ&dq=los+angeles+times+%22franc+dillon%22+obituary&pg=PT276 |title=She Damn Near Ran the Studio: The Extraordinary Lives of Ida R. Koverman |date=19 October 2020 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-4968-3037-1 |pages=25}}</ref> She was also chair of the Publicity Club, which met at the Nickodell on Argyle, a famous old Hollywood restaurant.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 August 1948 |title=Publicity Club Installs Today |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_los-angeles-times_los-angeles-times_1948-08-02_67/page/n19/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Nickodell {{!}} Old L.A. Restaurants |url=https://oldlarestaurants.com/nickodell/ |access-date=2024-03-26 |website=oldlarestaurants.com}}</ref>
== Personal life == On October 24, 1914 she married silent film actor Edward Dillon, known as Mary Pickford's first leading man, who also directed for D. W. Griffith for nine years.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news |date=July 12, 1933 |title=Edward Dillon |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/07/12/archives/edward-dillon-j-first-leading-man-for-mary-pick-ford-in-biograph.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=May 1, 2022 |work=The New York Times |page=17}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Actor John T. Dillon was her brother-in-law. It is unknown when the marriage ended, but in the 1930 census Franc Dillon is listed as divorced at age 35, with her mother living in her home.<ref name=":0" /> Edward Dillon died of a sudden heart attack in 1933, and news reports said she went to his funeral.<ref name="nytobit" /> In the 1940 census she is listed as widowed rather than divorced.<ref>U. S. Federal Census, 1940.</ref>
She was quite small in stature, for ''The Clubwoman'' yearbook of 1928 described a style show, with many women in costume, where "Little Franc Dillon in bell hop attire was flying about seating folk."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Edwards |first=Alice Mavor |date=July 1928 |title=The Soroptimist Club of Los Angeles |url=https://archive.org/details/clubwoman18cali/page/n343/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 |journal=The Clubwoman |volume=XVIII |issue=1 |pages=31 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Similarly, society columnist Lucille Leimert called her a "pint-sized Hollywood career girl."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leimert |first=Lucille |date=2 February 1947 |title=Confidentially |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/165677538 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=C3|id={{ProQuest|165677538}} }}</ref>
In 1931 she showed a one-year-old white, black, and tan wire fox terrier with the show name Sidlaw Bandit Queen.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_american-kennel-club-stud-book-register_1931-07-01_48_7 |title=Stud Book Register |date=1 July 1931 |publisher=American Kennel Club |volume=48 |pages=32 |language= |issue=7}}</ref>
Her date of death is not yet known. The most recent reference for her is in the ''Los Angeles Times,'' 15 June 1954, when she would have been 60.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 June 1954 |title=Home Unit to Install |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/166654091/sem-2 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=B2}}</ref>
== Partial list of feature articles (in progress) == {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Publication !Title !Notes |- |1925 |Not listed |[https://archive.org/details/tommixheavilyill0000mixp/page/302/mode/2up?q=%22Tom+Mix%27s+Fight+for+Thomasina%22 Tom Mix's Fight for Thomasina] |Tom Mix |- |1932-03 |Photoplay |[https://archive.org/details/sim_photoplay_1932-03_41_4/page/44/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 A Gallant Mother] |Mae Marsh |- |1932-09 |Movie Classic |[https://archive.org/details/Movie-Classic-1932-09-Vol-3-No-1/page/22/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Is Marlene Dietrich Being Frightened Away from America?] |Marlene Dietrich |- |1932-09 |Motion Picture |[https://archive.org/details/motionpicture44moti/page/n157/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Harold Lloyd's Wife--The World's Champion Housekeeper] |Mildred Davis Lloyd |- |1932-10 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1932-10-Vol-4-No-5/page/74/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Watching Out For the Babies] |Dorothy Jordan, Loretta Young, etc. |- |1932-11 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1932-11-Vol-4-No-6/page/64/mode/2up?q=%22andy+clyde%22 Exposing Andy Clyde] |Andy Clyde |- |1933-04 |New Movie |[https://archive.org/details/The-New-Movie-1933-05-Vol-7-No-5/page/34/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Intimate Facts About Marlene's Wardrobe] |Marlene Dietrich |- |1934-01 |New Movie |[https://archive.org/details/The-New-Movie-1934-01-Vol-9-No-1/page/40/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Youth Looks Ahead] |Loretta Young |- |1934-01 |New Movie |[https://archive.org/details/newmoviemagazin09weir/page/n69/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Advance News of New Films in the Making] |Elizabeth Young, et al |- |1934-05 |Motion Picture |[https://archive.org/details/motionpicture47moti/page/n295/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Hollywood is Ruining Me As an Actress] |Gloria Stuart |- |1934-06 |Movie Mirror |[https://archive.org/details/moviemirrorvol5252unse/page/n7/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Marion Davies: Angel of Mercy] |Marion Davies |- |1934-10 |Movie Classic |[https://archive.org/details/Movie-Classic-1934-10-Vol-7-No-2/page/32/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 George Brent Is On His Own Now, and Likes It!] |George Brent |- |1934-11 |Movie Classic |[https://archive.org/details/Movie-Classic-1934-11-Vol-7-No-3/page/62/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Hollywood's Big Surprise] |Ketti Gallian |- |1935-02 |Screenland |[https://archive.org/details/Screenland-1935-02-Vol-30-No-4/page/n15/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 George Brent's Future] |George Brent |- |1935-02 |Picture Play |[https://archive.org/details/pictureplay4143stre/page/n85/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Gay Spender No More] |Reginald Denny |- |1935-02 |Motion Picture |[https://archive.org/details/motionpicture49moti/page/n43/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 A Miracle is Filmed] |Robert E. Cornish |- |1935-02 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/modernscreen9101unse/page/n233/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 I Chaperone the Crowd] |Hollywood's younger set |- |1935-03 |Picture Play |[https://archive.org/details/pictureplay4143stre/page/n167/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Who Is This Man?] |Samuel Hinds |- |1935-05 |Picture Play |[https://archive.org/details/pictureplay4143stre/page/n329/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 A Wife the Sun Shines On] |Verree Teasdale |- |1935-07 |Picture Play |[https://archive.org/details/pictureplay4143stre/page/n329/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 The Sweetest Story Ever Told] |Wedding of chorus girl and boy |- |1935-07 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1935-07-Vol-11-No-2/page/34/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 How Are Joel and Frances Getting Along?] |Joel McCrea and Frances Dee |- |1935-09 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/modernscreen9101unse/page/n947/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 How Can You Help Liking Her?] |Edna May Oliver |- |1935-10 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1935-10-Vol-11-No-5/page/34/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Star Worrier] |Bette Davis |- |1935-11 |Picture Play |[https://archive.org/details/pictureplay4143stre/page/n849/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Dashing Adventurer] |Ray Milland |- |1935-12 |Picture Play |[https://archive.org/details/pictureplay4143stre/page/n849/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Destiny Beckoned, She Followed] |Olivia de Havilland |- |1935-12 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1935-12-Vol-12-No-1/page/26/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Shirley Temple. Saver of Lives.] |Shirley Temple |- |1936-01 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1936-01-Vol-12-No-2/page/42/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Little Man, What Next?] |Freddie Bartholemew |- |1936-02 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1936-02-Vol-12-No-3/page/n45/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Tom's Rules for Sidestepping Trouble] |Tom Brown |- |1936-03 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1936-03-Vol-12-No-4/page/n49/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 He's a Travellin' Man] |George O'Brien |- |1936-05 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1936-05-Vol-12-No-6?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Sentimental Roughneck] |George Raft |- |1936-07 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1936-07-Vol-13-No-2?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Not Subject to Change] |Luise Rainer |- |1936-08 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1936-08-Vol-13-No-3/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Tumbling to the Top] |Joe E. Brown |- |1936-09 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1936-09-Vol-13-No-4/page/n3/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 On the Set With Romeo and Juliet] |Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard |- |1936-10 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1936-10-Vol-13-No-5/page/n51/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Her Guiding Stars] |Merle Oberon |- |1936-10 |Radio Stars |[https://archive.org/details/Radio-Stars-1936-10-Vol-9-No-1/page/46/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 At Home With One Man's Family] |One Man's Family (radio show) |- |1936-12 |Screenland |[https://archive.org/details/Screenland-1936-12-Vol-34-No-2/page/60/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Black Sheep Stander] |Lionel Stander |- |1936-12 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1936-12-Vol-14-No-1/page/60/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Freedom's a Flop!] |Tom Brown |- |1936-12 |Radio Stars |[https://archive.org/details/Radio-Stars-1936-12-Vol-9-No-3/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 He's Got Plenty of Umphhh!] |Smith Ballew |- |1937-02 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1937-02-Vol-14-No-3/page/n3/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 When He's Wrong, He's Right!] |Melvyn Douglas |- |1937-05 |Radio Stars |[https://archive.org/details/Radio-Stars-1937-05-Vol-10-No-2/page/n3/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Francia of the Rancho] |Francia White |- |1937-07 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1937-07-Vol-15-No-2/page/46/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Highlighting Gene] |Gene Raymond |- |1937-09 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1937-09-Vol-15-No-4/page/n27/mode/2up?q=%22taking+it+easy%22 She's Taking it Easy] |Claudette Colbert |- |1937-10 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1937-10-Vol-15-No-5/page/n41/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Public Cowboy No. 1] |Gene Autrey |- |1938-03 |Picture Play |[https://archive.org/details/pictureplay3739stre/page/n153/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 He Didn't Wait for Luck] |Patric Knowles |- |1938-03 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1938-03-Vol-16-No-4/page/38/mode/2up?q=%22it%27s+fun+to+be+broke%22 It's Fun to be Broke!] |Beverly Roberts |- |1938-04 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1938-04-Vol-16-No-5/page/n43/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Bob Speaks Up] |Robert Kent |- |1938-05 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1938-05-Vol-16-No-6/page/n3/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 That Thing Called Temperament] |Herbert Marshall |- |1938-09 |Modern Screen |[https://archive.org/details/Modern-Screen-1938-09-Vol-17-No-4/page/8/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 She's Not Afraid] |Gloria Dickson |- |1939-02 |Hollywood |[https://archive.org/details/hollywood28fawc/page/n61/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Women Worry Men (as explained by George Brent)] |George Brent |- |1939-06 |Hollywood |[https://archive.org/details/hollywood28fawc/page/n343/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Being Broke Helps] |Dennis O'Keefe |- |1939-09 |Hollywood |[https://archive.org/details/hollywood28fawc/page/n587/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Cagney Changes His Mind] |James Cagney |- |1940-08 |Motion Picture |[https://archive.org/details/motionpicture60fawc/page/n7/mode/2up?q=%22franc+dillon%22 Still Pulling Them In] |Jeffrey Lynn |- |1941-04 |Screen Life |[https://archive.org/details/problemlikemaria0000wolf/page/254/mode/2up?q=dillon Trouble at Home] |Mary Martin |}
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, Franc}} Category:1891 births Category:Date of death unknown Category:20th-century American women journalists Category:20th-century American journalists Category:20th-century American women writers Category:American gossip columnists Category:American women columnists Category:Los Angeles Times people Category:Journalists from Michigan