 |  |  |  |  |  |
The Crusading Chemist is a 132 page screenplay by Amanda Read that took two years to complete. It is written as a historical drama for the screen which overall covers time periods from 1863 to 1926. It also features the settings spanning from Indiana, Washington, D.C., Colorado, France and Germany. NEWS: Amanda Read is currently revising the script for representation. ~ ~ ~ A STORY OF A FORGOTTEN HERO As many of you probably well know, much of the food that is manufactured, sold and consumed in our country is adulterated and leeched of the essential nutrients that our ancestors used to have access to. That is why there is such a strong emphasis on taking vitamins and finding organic whole foods in our modern day and age. But where did that ridiculous controversy start in the first place? Why isn't everything at the store natural and wholesome like it should be? Why should we even have to worry about it? Just a little over one hundred years ago, American citizens were outraged over such products. Back then additives, preservatives, bleached flour, etc. were freak practices of careless businessmen that were fast becoming vogue. Harvey Wiley, once just a farmer boy from Indiana (the 6th of 7 children as a matter of fact!) and eventually early 20th century America's most famous chemist, decided that something must be done about it. {Allow me to lapse into present tense here, as drama goes} His crusade for a law banning such practices (known as the Pure Food and Drug Law) is opposed only by two main forces that are deeply personified in two actual historical characters: Walter Williams, a fiercely antagonistic businessmen that is ambitious to have a profitable industry no matter what practice - and is later sorely penitent - and Solicitor McCabe, a suave young lawyer ambitious to become the most powerful legal official in the USDA that has grudgingly observed Harvey's success. McCabe influences the well-meaning but wavering Secretary of Agriculture (the Scottish-born James Wilson) to appoint opposing scientists to counteract the enforcement of the Pure Food and Drug Law in one of the most misunderstood and ignored crimes in American government. A STORY OF SCIENCE AND POLITICS As I began doing research on the historical setting, I realized that this story (though perhaps boring at first glance) is a goldmine of poignant themes. One of my favorite elements that I chose to elaborate on is that of science. The protagonist (Harvey Wiley) lives through the most shocking era of change in scientific history. One thing that struck me most about the era of the late 19th century and early 20th century is that it became somewhat of a "second Renaissance" - a time of "enlightenment" amongst scientists, businessmen and politicians that steered the modern world towards humanism. The script illustrates the faulty thinking that comes as a result of putting too much trust in science and politics - and what happens when our leaders allow elitism to have its way. A STORY OF AN UNUSUAL ROMANCE Well, romance is almost stereotypical in every genre of film, but this history happened to have a very unusual sort of spin on that theme. Harvey Wiley composed a humorous chemistry poem about his "Ideal Woman" while in a laboratory at Harvard University when he was around 30 years old. However, he soon became so absorbed in his work and research that for many years he didn't even consider marriage an option in his busy life. In fact, he didn't even meet his "Ideal Woman" until he was 54 years old - and she was 33 years younger! Miss Anna Kelton briefly did secretarial work in the Bureau of Chemistry and then took a position at the Library of Congress. Harvey and Anna barely saw each other during the tumultuous decade of the Pure Food and Drug Law's passage, but they had impacted each other's lives greatly and both had passion for the cause. When Harvey was 66 years old he proposed to her and she accepted. They married a year later and eventually had two sons. PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER The bulk of the literary work in a screenplay is dialogue. For this script, I was blessed to be provided with loads of transcripts, Congressional records and writings by direct witnesses as to what these people actually said and did. Some of my favorite scenes took place straight out of Harvey Wiley's autobiography and New York Times archives! Of course, there are many scenes that I had to edit or invent dialogue for and quite a few scenes that I had to completely fabricate. To find out more, read the Treatment. |