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Florence Ryerson was an American playwright, screenwriter, and short story author, best known as the co-writer of the 1939 fantasy film "The Wizard of Oz."
Born Florence Willard in Glendale, California, in 1892, she was the daughter of journalist Charles Dwight Willard (1860-1914) and Mary McGregor. Charles worked for the "Los Angeles Times" and "Los Angeles Herald" and authored several books, including a history of Los Angeles.
Ryerson attended Stanford University and Radcliffe College. She married Harold Swayne Ryerson, who was involved in women's clothing manufacturing.
Between 1915 and 1927, she focused on writing short stories, publishing over 30 in magazines such as "The American Magazine," "Ladies' Home Journal," "Munsey's Magazine," and "Woman's World." In 1926, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer hired her as a screenwriter. She began with silent films and transitioned to sound films, contributing to popular series like those featuring Fu Manchu and Philo Vance.
Together with her second husband, Colin Clements, Ryerson co-authored the novels "This Awful Age" (1930) and "Mild Oats" (1933), among the earliest novels portraying the lives of teenage girls. They adapted these novels into the play "June Mad" (1939) and the film "Her First Beau."
Ryerson and Clements purchased the Workman Ranch in the San Fernando Valley, renaming it Shadow Ranch after the shade provided by its eucalyptus trees. They restored and expanded the 19th-century adobe house, which became their main residence throughout the late 1930s and the 1940s.
In 1939, Ryerson co-wrote the screenplay for "The Wizard of Oz," adapting L. Frank Baum's children's novel. She is credited with creating the character Professor Marvel, the Kansas counterpart to the Wizard.
The writing team of Ryerson and Clements produced several Broadway plays during the 1940s until Clements' death in 1948. Ryerson retired to Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, in 1951, continuing to write plays performed by the local high school.
Florence Ryerson passed away from heart failure in Mexico City in 1965 at the age of 72. Her former home, Shadow Ranch, was designated a Historic-Cultural Monument in 1962 and remains standing.
