Ida

Ida Lupino was a trail-blazer.Not only was she one of the most vibrant Hollywood actresses of the 1940s and 1950s, starring in such film classics as THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT, HIGH SIERRA, THE SEA WOLF, LADIES IN RETIREMENT, ROAD HOUSE, LUST FOR GOLD and THE BIG KNIFE, but she was also only the second woman to become a member of the Director's Guild.As an independent writer-producer-director, her bold films dealt with subjects that the major Hollywood studios were afraid to tackle: out-of-wedlock mothers, polio and rape. Her 1953 directorial effort, THE HITCH-HIKER, is a benchmark of the film noir genre. Ida's personal life was not easy. The daughter of a British theatrical family that stretched back generations, she moved to Hollywood while still in her teens, languishing in mediocre films until she garnered the role of a mad woman of the streets in director William Wellman's THE LIGHT THAT FAILED. She was also married three times: to actor Louis Hayward, producer Collier Young and the longest, certainly the stormiest union of them all, to actor Howard Duff.Michael B. Druxman's one-woman play, IDA: THE LAST LUPINO, joins Ida in 1983 when she is living alone in her decaying Brentwood home as a virtual hermit, lamenting the break-up of her marriage with Duff. IDA: THE LAST LUPINO is a vivid, often witty, portrait of a woman who conquered a man's world.
About the Author: Michael B. Druxman is a veteran Hollywood screenwriter whose credits include CHEYENNE WARRIOR with Kelly Preston; DILLINGER AND CAPONE starring Martin Sheen and F. Murray Abraham; and THE DOORWAY with Roy Scheider, which he also directed. He is also a prolific playwright, his one-person play, JOLSON, having had numerous productions around the country. Other produced stage credits include one-person plays about Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Spencer Tracy and Orson Welles. Additionally, Mr. Druxman is the author of thirteen other published books, including several nonfiction works about Hollywood, its movies, and the people who make them (e.g., BASIL RATHBONE: His Life and His Films, MAKE IT AGAIN, SAM: A Survey of Movie Remakes, ONE GOOD FILM DESERVES ANOTHER: A Survey of Movie Sequels, MERV [Griffin] and THE MUSICAL: From Broadway to Hollywood). He has written three novels, NOBODY DROWNS IN MINERAL LAKE, SHADOW WATCHER and MURDER IN BABYLON, plus the humorous revisionist history, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: From the Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker, and FAMILY SECRET, a non-fiction book co-authored with Warren Hull, which reveals the true facts behind the 1947 murder of mobster "Bugsy" Siegel in Beverly Hills. An acknowledged Hollywood historian, he has also written television documentaries and has been interviewed for various retrospective featurettes that have accompanied DVD releases of classic films (e.g. THE MALTESE FALCON, etc.). Mr. Druxman is a former Hollywood publicist of 35 years experience who has represented many film and television stars, as well as noted directors, producers and composers. One of his Academy Award campaigns is often mentioned in books dealing with Oscar's history. He has taught various dramatic writing and film appreciation courses in an adult university and is the author of How to Write a Story...Any Story: THE ART OF STORYTELLING, which has been used as a text in several colleges. A native of Seattle who graduated from Garfield High School and the University of Washington, Mr. Druxman moved with his wife, Sandy, from Los Angeles to Austin, TX in 2009. His two memoirs, MY FORTY-FIVE YEARS IN HOLLYWOOD AND HOW I ESCAPED ALIVE and LIFE, LIBERTY & THE PURSUIT OF HOLLYWOOD, are published by Bear Manor Media.