New Orleans-born Norbert Lusk (1883-1949), arrived in Hollywood having written scenarios for a dozen or so shorts in 1914-1916 when film production was still centered back east. He became editor of Picture Play magazine and wrote for the LA Times as a film critic. If you google him, you find out he was a real crank.
He wrote of the Tod Browning-Bela Lugosi Dracula,
"the story of human vampires who feast on the blood of living victims is too extreme to provide entertainment that causes word-of-mouth advertising. Plainly a freak picture, it must be accepted as a curiosity devoid of the important element of sympathy that causes the widest appeal."
Above you will find his strident condemnation of They Won't Forget, in which he argues that it's an excellent film but it never should have been made as it is offensive to southerners.
"Soft and Sharp Focus" by Norbert Lusk, editor, Picture Play (Oct 1937) 13-14.
Lusk, Norbert. “Thumbnail Review” Picture Play (Oct 1937) 56-58
He didn't seem to like much of anything, except ACTRESSES. He even wrote a book called "I Love Actresses!" (exclamation mark included in title). In a morbid postscript, he was reported missing by one of the actresses he loved--Joan Crawford. She later found him dead in his apartment in 1949!
There's an autographed photo of Lusk for sale now on eBay.
