Samuel Merwin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Samuel Merwin

Samuel Merwin ; and Samuel Mervin (* 6. October 1874 in Evanston , Illinois ; † 17th October 1936 in New York City , New York ) was an American journalist , writer and screenwriter .

Life

Samuel Merwin was born the son of the local postmaster. He attended Evanston High School, which he left without a degree, since Merwin already worked as a student journalist and neglected the school. He continued his education in Detroit and returned to study at Northwestern University in his hometown.

He began his professional career with the Evanston Index , a local newspaper in his hometown. At the same time he worked as a correspondent for the Chicago Evening Post . His first book, published in 1899, "The Short Line War," Merwin wrote with his childhood friend Henry Kitchell Webster (1875-1932).

The novel describes an entrepreneur's struggle for ownership of a railway line. The second book by the team of authors was the first commercial success: "Calumet K" (1901). This novel is also about the business world and offers a critical insight into the behavior of companies and their owners at the turn of the 20th century. This and another book created in this collaboration, "Comrade John" (1907), appeared under the pseudonym Merwin-Webster .

From 1905 to 1911 Merwin worked as editor and co-editor of Success magazine , an American business magazine . In 1907 the magazine sent him to China to investigate the opium trade there. Merwin described his research in his book "Drugging a Nation" (1908).

In the 1910s, Merwin became a successful novelist and writer of short stories and screenplays for silent films . Among his most successful works are "Anthony the Absolute" (1914) and the historical novel "Silk" (1923), German: "The Silk Road" (1951).

Private

Samuel Merwin was a brother of the film director Bannister Merwin (1873-1922). Samuel married Edna Earl Fleshiem in 1901. The couple had three sons, Samuel, Banister and John. Only Samuel (1910-1996) survived the father and was named Sam Merwin jr. to a successful mystery and science fiction writer.

He was an early supporter of the women's rights movement . Merwin was a nephew of Frances Willard (1839-1898), a social reformer , suffragette, and founder of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union .

Samuel Merwin died of a stroke on October 17, 1936, aged 62, while eating at the New York Players Club .

Works (selection)

Filmography

  • 1915: Comrade John
  • 1917: The Trufflers
  • 1917: The Door Between
  • 1920: Crooked Streets
  • 1921: The Passionate Pilgrim
  • 1921: Hush Money
  • 1928: Jazzland

literature

  • Edd Applegate: American naturalistic and realistic novelists . Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport 2002, pp. 275-277.
  • Robert Cortes Holliday: A chat about Samuel Merwin . Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis 1921.

Web links

Commons : Samuel Merwin  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
Wikisource: Samuel Merwin  - Sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ VR Reeling: Evanston - it's land and it's people . Fort Dearborn Chapter, Evanston 1928, p. 442.
  2. ↑ a b E. C. Applegate
  3. ^ RD Sheppard, HB Hurd (Ed.): History of Northwestern University and Evanston . Munsell Publishing Company, Chicago 1906, p. 211
  4. ↑ a b c d R. C. Holliday
  5. ^ Stanley Kunitz, Howard Haycraft (Ed.): Twentieth century authors . Volume 2, H. W. Wilson Company, New York 1973, p. 950
  6. ↑ "Samuel Merwin, noveslist, 62, dead, author of many short stories and books succumbs to apoplexy at club", The New York Times , October 18, 1936
personal data
SURNAME Merwin, Samuel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mervin, Samuel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American journalist, writer and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH October 6, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Evanston , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH October 17, 1936
Place of death New York City , New York