Harold MacGrath
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Harold MacGrath (September 4, 1871 - October 30, 1932) was a bestselling American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.
Also known occasionally as Harold McGrath, he was born in Syracuse, New York. As a young man, he worked as a reporter and columnist on the Syracuse Herald newspaper until the late 1890s when he published his first novel, a romance titled "Arms and the Woman." According to the New York Times, his next book, "The Puppet Crown," was the No.7 bestselling book in the United States for all of 1901. From that point on, MacGrath never looked back, writing novels for the mass market about love, adventure, mystery, spies, and the like at an average rate of more than one a year. He would have three more of his books that were among the top ten bestselling books of the year. At the same time, he penned a number of short stories for major American magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, and Red Book magazine. Several of MacGrath's novels were serialized in these magazines and contributing to them was something he would continue to do until his death in 1932.
In 1912, Harold MacGrath became one of the first nationally-known authors to write directly for the movies when he was hired by the American Film Company to do the screenplay for a short film in the Western genre titled "The Vengeance That Failed." MacGrath had eighteen of his forty novels and three of his short stories made into films plus he wrote the story for another four motion pictures. And, three of his books were also made into Broadway plays. One of the many films made from MacGrath's writings was the 1913 serial The Adventures of Kathlyn starring Kathlyn Williams. While writing the thirteen episodes he simultaneously wrote the book that was published immediately after the December 29, 1913 premiere of the first episode of the serial so as to be in book stores during the screening of the entire thirteen episodes.
Among MacGrath's short stories made into film was the 1920 Douglas Fairbanks Production Company's feature-length adventure film The Mollycoddle based on MacGrath's short story with the same title that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in 1913. Directed by Victor Fleming, it starred Fairbanks, Ruth Renick, and Wallace Beery and was distributed through the newly created United Artists. It is said that during this same time, a young Boris Karloff, who previously had a few uncredited film roles, chose his stage name for his first screen credit in 1920 from the MacGrath novel "The Drums of Jeopardy" which had also been published by The Saturday Evening Post in January of that year and which featured a Russian mad scientist character named "Boris Karlov." The name "Boris Karlov" was used from MacGrath's book for the 1922 Broadway play, but by 1923 with actor Boris Karloff using the similar sounding variation, the film version renamed the character as "Gregor Karlov."
Harold MacGrath's success made him a very wealthy man and although he traveled the world extensively, Syracuse, New York was his home and it was there in 1912 that he built an English country-style mansion renowned for its landscaped gardens. In an article in the April 23, 1932 issue of The Saturday Evening Post written under the title "The Short Autobiography of a Deaf Man," MacGrath told the public how he had struggled early in life as a result of a hearing impairment. At a time in history when deaf people were almost automatically considered as lacking intellectual acuity, he had hid this from his employer and others. Harold MacGrath died at his home in Syracuse a few months after the article was published.
Bibliography (and year made into film):
- Arms and the Woman (1899)
- The Puppet Crown (1901) - (1915 film)
- The Grey Cloak (1903)
- The Man on the Box (1904) - (1906 Broadway play & 1925 film)
- Hearts & Masks (1905) - (1914 film & 1915 Broadway play titled Three of Hearts)
- The Princess Elopes (1905)
- Half a Rogue (1906) - (1916 film)
- The Best Man (1907)
- The Lure of the Mask (1908)
- The Enchanted Hat (1908)
- The Goose Girl (1909) - (1915 film)
- A Splendid Hazard (1910) - (1920 film)
- The Carpet From Bagdad (1911) - (1915 film)
- The Place of Honeymoons (1912) - (1920 film)
- Deuces Wild (1913)
- Parrot and Company (1913) - (1921 film titled Not Guilty)
- Pidgin Island (1914) - (1916 film)
- The Adventures of Kathlyn (1914) - (1913 film serial & 1916 feature-length film)
- The Million Dollar Mystery (1915) - (1914 & 1927 film)
- The Voice in the Fog (1915) - (1915 film)
- The Luck of the Irish (1917) - (1920 film)
- The Girl In His House (1918) - (1918 film)
- The Private Wire To Washington (1919)
- The Yellow Typhoon (1919) - (1920 film)
- The Drums of Jeopardy (1920) - (1922 Broadway play & 1923 film)
- The Man With Three Names (1920)
- The Pagan Madonna (1921)
- The Ragged Edge (1922) - (1923 film)
- Captain Wardlaw's Kitbags (1923)
- The World Outside (1923)
- The Green Stone (1924)
- The Cellini Plaque (1925)
- The Retreat From Utopia (1926)
- The Sporting Spinster (1926)
- We all Live Through It (1927)
- The Changing Road (1928)
- The Wolves of Chaos (1929)
- The Blue Rajah Murder (1930)
- The Green Complex (1930)
- The Other Passport (1931)
Other film writings:
- The Vengeance That Failed (1912)
- Madam Who (1918) (story)
- The Mollycoddle (1920) (story)
- Pleasures of the Rich (1926) (based on his story The Wrong Coat)
- Womanpower (1926) (based on his story You Can't Always Tell)
- Bitter Apples (1927) (story)
- Danger Street (1928) (based on his story The Beautiful Bullet)
Short stories (not including those made into films):
- A Night's Enchantment (1904)
- No Cinderella (1904)
- Two Candidates (1904)
- The Mollycoddle (1913)
- The Millionaire Burglar (1917)
- The Bach Chaconne (1932)
Serialized stories (not including those made into films):
- The Changing Road (1927)
- Impromptu (1929)
