Blossoms in the Dust

Screenwriter Anita Loos (Red-Headed Woman (1932), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953) was not so well-schooled in social issue films and initially didn't see enough drama in Blossoms to make an interesting film. But after many tortured attempts to craft a storyline out of Edna Gladney's life story, the morning she planned to admit defeat, Loos says "I woke up to find that a complete story line had been worked out by my subconscious mind during sleep." (from Kiss Hollywood Goodbye by Anita Loos). Loos decided to pivot the story on Edna's belief that even a great orphanage was no match for the loving care of a real home. Loos created the character of a little crippled boy Tony (Pat Barker) who evokes a deep love in Edna, despite his inevitable adoption by another. The brilliance of the Loos screenplay is that it involves the audience on a deep emotional level with Edna's struggle to sponsor the boy without becoming too attached to him in the process.