Harold MacGrath

Harold MacGrath (September 4, 1871 – October 30, 1932) was a bestselling and prolific American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He sometimes completed more than one novel per year for the mass market, covering romance, spies, mystery, and adventure.

He was the first nationally known writer to be commissioned to write original screenplays for the new film industry. In addition, he had eighteen novels and three short stories adapted as films, in some cases more than once. Three of these novels were also adapted as plays that were produced on Broadway in New York City. MacGrath traveled extensively but was always based in Syracuse, New York, where he was born and raised.

Biography
Born Harold McGrath in Syracuse, New York, he was the son of Thomas H. and Lillian Jane McGrath. As a young man, he worked as a reporter and columnist for 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.

MacGrath (as he spelled his name then) continued to write novels for the mass market about love, adventure, mystery, spies, and the like at an average rate of more than one a year. He had three more books that were among the top ten bestselling books of the year. At the same time, he published a number of short stories in such major American magazines as The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, and Red Book magazine. Several of MacGrath's novels were also serialized in these magazines. He continued to have short stories published in such venues until his death in 1932.

Writing for films
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 create an original screenplay for a short film in the Western genre, titled The Vengeance That Failed.

MacGrath's work was so popular that eighteen of his forty novels and three of his short stories were adapted as films. Some of the novels received more than one film adaptation. He also wrote the original screenplays for another four movies. His serial film The Adventures of Kathlyn (1903) featured Kathlyn Williams. While writing the screenplays for the thirteen episodes of the serial, he also wrote the related novel. It was published immediately after the December 29, 1913, premiere of the first episode of the serial. The book was available for sale in book stores during the screening of the entire thirteen episodes, capitalizing on the publicity.

Three of his books adapted for film were also adapted as Broadway plays.

The Douglas Fairbanks Production Company made a feature-length adventure film, The Mollycoddle (1920), based on MacGrath's short story of the same title. It had been published in 1913 by The Saturday Evening Post. Directed by Victor Fleming, the film featured Douglas Fairbanks, Ruth Renick, and Wallace Beery; it was distributed by the newly created company United Artists.

The young Boris Karloff, who had a few uncredited movie roles, was said to have chosen that stage name in 1920 for his first screen credit from MacGrath's novel The Drums of Jeopardy. Published by The Saturday Evening Post in January 1920, it had featured a Russian mad scientist character named Boris Karlov. MacGrath's book was adapted as a Broadway play, titled Boris Karlov (1922). Because by 1923 actor Boris Karloff was using a similar name, when the film adaptation of The Drum of Jeopardy was released, the scientist character was named Gregor Karlov.

Success
Harold MacGrath became a wealthy man because of his success as a writer. He traveled extensively internationally, but was based in Syracuse, New York. There he commissioned design and construction in 1912 of an English country-style mansion and associated landscaped gardens. These were highly regarded.

In "The Short Autobiography of a Deaf Man", an essay published in The Saturday Evening Post (23 April 1932), MacGrath wrote about having struggled early in life as a result of a hearing impairment. At a time when deaf people were often considered as lacking intellectual acuity because of difficulty in communications, MacGrath had concealed this condition from his employer and others. Harold MacGrath died at his home in Syracuse a few months after publishing this article.

Funeral
MacGrath died in 1932. His coffin was held for viewing in St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Syracuse, before a 2 p.m. funeral service on November 5, 1932. Hundreds of people came to pass by the bier. Rev. Dr. Henry H. Hadley, rector of St. Paul's, officiated at the church service.