Norman Reilly Raine

Raine wrote a series of Tugboat Annie stories for The Saturday Evening Post. In a 1940 news article, it was said he based Tugboat Annie on a female tugboat owner he knew and wanted to write a story about her; however the woman was gentle and Tugboat Annie was not. He also based Tugboat Annie on Marie Dressler after he watched Anna Christie.^[3] In 1933 he wrote the screenplay for the film, in which Marie Dressler played Annie and Wallace Beery portrayed Terry, her hard-drinking husband, with whom she traded choice insults.

A 1934 news article said Raine always worked wearing a knit cap and, when he once misplaced it, wore his wife's as a substitute.^[4] In 1950, he had been collaborating with writer Guy Gilpatric before he killed himself and his wife after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.^[5] In a 1957 article, Raine mentioned that he once wrote a story about the Battle of the Little Bighorn but was rejected by a Hollywood magnate seven times to which Raine said "I'm ready to quit, it's the best I can do. What is there about it that displeases you?" and the magnate responded "I'll tell you, I hate Indians!".^[6] He also once wrote for television, three episodes in the series Schlitz Playhouse of Stars.^[7]

Subsequently, Raine wrote many other screenplays, among them The Perfect Specimen, God's Country and the Woman,^[8] The Adventures of Robin Hood,^[9] Each Dawn I Die,^[10] The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex,^[11] Mountain Justice,^[12] The Fighting 69th,^[13] Men Are Such Fools,^[14] Eagle Squadron,^[15] Ladies Courageous, We've Never Been Licked, Nob Hill, A Bell for Adano, Captain Kidd and Captains of the Clouds.^[16]

• William Freeman "Norman Reilly Raine, 76 (sic), Dead; Was Creator of Tugboat Annie", New York Times, July 29, 1971.

• Norman Reilly Raine at IMDb