Charles Samuels
Charles Samuels (September 15, 1902 in Brooklyn, New York – April 27, 1982 in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico) was a U.S. journalist, author and novelist best known for his biographies of celebrities, He penned as-told-to autobiographies for Buster Keaton (My Wonderful World of Slapstick) and Ethel Waters (His Eye is on the Sparrow) which was a best seller. Among his other books were Magnificent Rube: The Life and Gaudy Times of Tex Rickard, and The King: A Biography of Clark Gable.
His book with Boris Morros, My Ten Years as a Counterspy was made into the film, Man on a String (1960), starring Ernest Borgnine. The title of another, The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, about Evelyn Nesbit, was used in the 1955 movie. He was the recipient of the Edgar Allan Poe award (now called the Edgar Award) in 1957 with Night Fell on Georgia (written with his wife Louise Samuels).
Samuels, who wrote thousands of magazine and newspaper articles, also helped write the newspaper columns of Ben Hecht and Billy Rose.
He lived mostly in New York City and its suburbs (Hastings-on-Hudson, Nyack, New York and Grand View NY) and retired in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Samuels's son is writer Robert C. Samuels and his grandson is photographer Charlie Samuels.
Works
- Writings by the author
- The Frantic Young Man (novel), Coward, 1929.
- A Rather Simple Fellow (novel), Coward, 1931.
- The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, Gold Medal, 1953.
- The Girl in the House of Hate' (with Louise Samuels), Gold Medal, 1953.
- Death Was the Bridegroom, Gold Medal, 1953.
- Night Fell on Georgia (with L. Samuels, Dell, 1956.
- The Magnificent Rube: The Life and Gaudy Times of Tex Rickard (biography), McGraw, 1957.
- The King: The Biography of Clark Gable, Coward, 1962 (published in England as The King of Hollywood: The Story of Clark Gable, Allen & Unwin, 1962).
- Only in New York, (photographs by Jan Yoors) Simon & Schuster, 1965.
- Once upon a Stage: The Merry World of Vaudeville (with L. Samuels), Dodd, 1974.
- As-told-to biographies
- His Eye Is on the Sparrow (with Ethel Waters), Doubleday, 1951, published with a new preface by Donald Bogle, Da Capo Press( New York City), 1992.
- Lady on the Beach (with Norah Berg), Prentice-Hall, 1952.
- Hockshop (with William R. and Florence K. Simpson), Random House, 1954.
- My Ten Years as a Counterspy (with Boris Morros), Viking, 1959.
- My Wonderful World of Slapstick (with Buster Keaton), Doubleday, 1960, published with a new introduction by Dwight Macdonald and a new filmography compiled by Raymond Rohauer, Da Capo Press, 1982.
- How to Catch 5,000 Thieves (with Gerard Luisi), Macmillan, 1962.
Quote
Samuels never graduated from high school or lost his Brooklyn accent. "I never wanted to be anything but a writer, have talent for nothing else except fast, furious, and occasionally witty conversation. I wouldn't trade my memories for anyone's," he told an interviewer.
