A screenwriter’s death threat
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July 18, 1919: Two sheriff’s deputies arrested an aspiring screenwriter, Clement d’Art, after he allegedly sent a letter to the assistant manager of the Thomas H. Ince studio requesting $20,000 for the screenplay “Jumping Jacks,” which the studio had rejected. In the letter, the deputies said, D’Art told C.W. Thomas that he would kill him if the money wasn’t delivered in 24 hours.
D’Art also reportedly said in the letter that after killing Thomas, he would kill himself “in order that his death and that of a man prominent in the motion-picture world would result in copyright laws which would protect scenario writers,” The Times said.
D’Art was deemed insane and taken to County Hospital’s psychopathic ward, The Times said.
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