Mark Hanna died on this day, October 16th, 23 years ago. He was never famous, but he scripted several famous films. For example, he co-wrote 1957’s “Not of This Earth” and “The Amazing Colossal Man.” Furthermore, Hanna wrote the cult classic Attack of the 50-Foot Woman (AoTFFW)!
Before writing AoTFFW, Mark Hanna played bit parts in several films. In 1954’s Southwest Passage, Hanna played a camel driver called Hi Jolly. Hanna’s parents were born in Lebanon, but immigrated to the U.S. before his birth. Accordingly, Hanna spoke Arabic and had familial ties to the Middle East. Presumably, that background helped him win the role of Hi Jolly.
Otherwise, Mark Hanna was just like his fellow Americans whose families had been in the U.S. for generations. He read every Horatio Alger story and the U.S. Navy drafted him during World War II. Tragically, he lost his brother during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
It is important to remember the contributions made by immigrants and their children. When I think of AoTFFW I recall a quintessentially American giantess film written by the son of immigrants and directed by an immigrant Nathan Juran, a.k.a. Nathan Hertz.
Details about Hanna’s life were taken from his autobiography, “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman at Schwab’s Drugstore.” It offers an interesting perspective on mid-20th century Hollywood, but unfortunately only provides minimal insight into AoTFFW.
Drive-in theater owner Barney Woolner hired Hanna to write a story about a giant woman. Hanna did that in a single day. Woolner wrote another check for the screenplay which Hanna completed one week later. So, AoTFFW was a job for Hanna, not a passion project. Still, while it was not his intent, Hanna popularized sexy giantesses and for that he should be more well-known. By the way, I would love it if anyone could find and share the script for the sequel he wrote!
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