Have you ever asked, “Wonder why I haven’t heard of this guy before?” That was my thought when learning of the accomplishments of Winchester native Joe Jackson. He was a noted author, playwright, Hollywood screenwriter and publicist, and Academy Award nominee. Called one of filmdom’s greatest scenario and dialogue writers, “with a longer list of full-length talking pictures to his credit than any other writer.” Locally it was said that Jackson was one of the most successful men ever to leave this city. So what was his story?
Joseph Ashurst “Joe” Jackson (1894−1932) was the son of Winchester merchant, Frank H. Jackson, and a great-great-grandson of Revolutionary soldier and Clark County pioneer, Josiah Jackson. Joe grew up on Lexington Avenue and graduated from Hickman Street School and Kentucky Wesleyan College. At age eighteen, while still in college, he was a frequent correspondent to Winchester and Lexington newspapers. Upon graduation Jackson was employed as business manager, editorial writer, and news editor for The Winchester Sun. In 1914 he enrolled in the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York. He took his degree in 1916 and accepted a position with the New York World newspaper as sports editor and drama critic. Jackson served in naval intelligence during World War I then, after his discharge, returned to the New York paper.
In 1920 Jackson moved to Los Angeles to become the lead press agent for Goldwyn Studios (forerunner of MGM) during the silent film era. He soon began turning up everywhere. He wrote and produced successful one-act plays, was elected president of the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers, was hired as the personal secretary and publicist for Rudolph Valentino, and married film actress Marjorie Manning.
Jackson’s career really took off after the introduction of talking pictures by Warner Brothers in 1927. Over the next six years he turned out over fifty screenplays for movies, mostly for Warner Brothers. He wrote the script and dialogue for Al Jolson’s “The Singing Fool” and “Mammy.” In the latter, Jackson worked in his hometown, as Jolson declared, “Winchester! Home! Mammy! Oh Boy,” as he found himself back home with his mother after six months on the road.
Jackson also wrote films for many stars of the period, including William Powell, Joan Blondell, W. C. Fields, John Barrymore, Myrna Loy and Joan Bennett. His “Smart Money” in 1931, starring James Cagney and Edgar G. Robinson, was nominated for the Best Story at the 4th Academy Awards. Many of his films (and some of his plays) came to the Leeds Theatre in Winchester. The movie ads always mentioned that Jackson was “a hometown boy” or “Winchester’s own son.”
After Jackson’s first wife passed away, he married movie star Ethel Shannon. They had one son, Ronald Shannon Jackson. The couple returned to Winchester every two years for visits with his parents, and on each occasion he was treated as a guest of honor by the community. On one of these trips (1929), he joined friends Robert Strode, Boswell Hodgkin and Malcolm Royce on a tour of the West. On the 7,000-mile journey, they took in Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite and other National Parks.
Jackson also kept up his creative writing by turning out numerous articles for newspapers and magazines such as Variety, Photoplay, and others. And he was often written about himself. A humous sketch appeared in the New York Morning Telegraph:
“He has been referred to as the world’s handsomest press agent. He acquired some fame when he spent three days in a Los Angeles jail for speeding. He owns an overcoat cut from the blanket of Tom Mix’s horse. The garment is known in Hollywood as ‘Joseph’s coat of many colors.’ His plaited trousers and his dazzling neckwear are known from coast to coast. And they do say he’s a panic as an after-dinner speaker.”
Jackson’s career was cut short when he drowned in a tragic accident in May 1932. He and two of his fellow writers had gone swimming at Laguna Beach, south of Los Angeles. When they encountered strong currents, his friends were able to make it back to the beach, but the undertow carried Jackson about 200 yards from shore. While struggling, he apparently suffered a heart attack and drowned. His wife and friends witnessed the tragedy from the beach. He was only 38 years old and at the peak of a brilliant career. His is buried in Forest Lawn near Los Angeles.
