page_title: Emilie Johnson
section_title: 1923
hierarchical_section_title: Emilie Johnson / Hollywood decade / 1923
caption_attribution_description: English: Newspaper ad for Emory Johnson's - The Mailman
context_page_description: Emilie Johnson was a Swedish-American author, scenarioist and movie producer. She was the mother of American actor, director, producer, and writer Emory Johnson. In 1912 he dropped out of college and embarked upon his new career in the movie business. Emory started working for Essanay Studios as an assistant camera operator.
  In 1913, Emilie and her husband moved from San Francisco, California to Essanay company bungalows in Niles, California to support her son. In 1915, she started writing stories for the screen.
  In the 1920s, Emilie Johnson and her son became famous as the only mother-son directing/writing team in Hollywood. She wrote all of the stories and screenplays her son used for his successful career in directing melodramas. The Johnson team continued producing melodramas until the late twenties. By the early thirties, their string of successes had ended. Emilie died in Los Angeles, California in 1941. She was living with her son at the time of her death.
context_section_description: The third film in the FBO contract was The West~Bound Limited. Emilie wrote both the story and screenplay. The story is about railroad engineer Bill Buckley who narrowly avoids injuring the daughter of the president of the company by stopping his speeding train just in the nick of time. Various misfortunes ensue, Bill's son saves the daughter, and everybody lives happily ever after.
  The fourth film in the FBO contract was The Mailman. Emilie wrote both the story and the screenplay. The film provides an excellent example of melodrama and displays Emilie's flair for this genre.
  This story unfolds as veteran postman Bob Morley (played by Ralph Lewis) and his son Johnnie (played by Johnnie Walker) are both honored for their years of service.  Johnnie receives a promotion to work on a postal service ship, the Enterprise, which carries registered postal mail. A robbery occurs one night on the ship. The robbers kill a postal officer, which Johnnie witnesses. The perpetrators throw him, the only witness, overboard into the sea.
  Johnnie is recovered by a yacht that happens to be in the area.  In a twist of fate, the vessel is a rum-runner and happens to be involved in the robbery of the Enterprise. Johnnie alerts the Pacific fleet.  The entire fleet pursues the rum-running yacht with ten dreadnoughts. The warships destroy the 90-foot yacht.  Johnnie is saved from the destruction, only to face trial for killing a government postal officer during the robbery. His father desperately contacts everyone he knows, pleading to save his son. As the court is about to sentenced Johnnie to hang for the shooting, the real perpetrator confesses, and all ends well.
  In September, Emilie and Emory signed a new contract with FBO. The contract was for 2½ years. Emory Johnson agreed to make eight attractions for FBO, including the four he had completed already. FBO agreed to invest upwards of two and one-half million dollars (equivalent to $37,514,648 in 2019) in the forthcoming productions. Another part of the signed contract stipulated: "The contract also provides that Emory Johnson's mother, Mrs. Emilie Johnson, shall prepare all of the stories and write all the scripts for the Johnson attractions in addition to assisting her son in filming the productions."
caption: Newspaper ad
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