Harry Charles Witwer (March 11, 1890 – August 9, 1929), more commonly known as H. C. Witwer, was an American short-story author. Some 60 comedy

film short A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s were based on his works, most from the mid-1920s to 1930, the year after Witwer's death.

Biography

Witwer was born on March 11, 1890, in

Athens, Pennsylvania Athens is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and is located south of the New York state line on the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers. The population was 3,749 in 1900 and 3,796 ...

, and briefly attended Saint Joseph's College in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He worked in odd jobs—errand boy for a butcher, prize fighter manager, and a

soda jerk Soda jerk (or soda jerker) is an American term used to refer to a person—typically a young man—who would operate the soda fountain in a restaurant, preparing and serving carbonated drink, soda drinks and ice cream sodas. The drinks were made ...

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

—for a time before starting to write for newspapers, counting the ''St. Cloud (Florida) Tribune'' and New York City newspapers ''

Brooklyn Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

'', the ''

New York American :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 ...

'', the '' New York Mail'', and ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' as employers. In 1912, he married Zada "Sadie" Schagrin of

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

. His first recorded film contribution at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

(IMDB) was writing

intertitle In films and videos, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (hence, ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred ...

s for the 1916

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

''Where D'Ye Get That Stuff?''. In 1917—during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

—he was sent to France by ''

Collier's } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

'' magazine as a

war correspondent A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war, war zone. War correspondence stands as one of journalism's most important and impactful forms. War correspondents operate in the most conflict-ridden parts of the wor ...

. He also wrote for ''

McClure's ''McClure's'' or ''McClure's Magazine'' (1893–1929) was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with having started the tradition of muckraking journalism (investigative journ ...

'' in this time period. By the early 1920s, Witwer's works were starting to be filmed, with nearly 30 film credits recorded by the IMDB by 1925. In May 1925, his income was reportedly more than that of

Ring Lardner Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (March 6, 1885 – September 25, 1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries—Ernest Hemingway, Virginia W ...

. Witwer is credited with producing ten shorts beginning in 1925, but he was most active as a writer, receiving writing credits for 30 more short films after 1925. In the mid-1920s, Witwer collaborated on two newspaper

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

s. In 1924, he began the strip ''Samson and Delia'' with Tim Early and Paul Robinson, which ran for two years. In 1925, he created ''Switchboard Sally'' with

Wesley Morse Wesley Morse was an American comic artist and advertising illustrator. History Born Wesley Cherry Morse in Chicago in 1897, the son of Charles and Fanny Cherry (1870–1946), Wesley Morse eventually settled in New York City. In 1918, Morse joi ...

. Witwer relocated to California in 1926 to regain his health, which he apparently did, remaining in good health until he fell ill in May 1929.

Harold Lloyd lawsuit

Witwer sued

Harold Lloyd Harold Clayton Lloyd Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many Silent film, silent comedy films.Obituary ''Variety'', March 10, 1971, page 55. One of the most influent ...

in April 1929 for $2,300,000 over Lloyd's 1925 film '' The Freshman'', claiming that it was "pirated" from Witwer's short story "The Emancipation of Rodney", first published in 1915. By the time Witwer died from

liver failure Liver failure is the inability of the liver to perform its normal synthetic and metabolic functions as part of normal physiology. Two forms are recognised, acute and chronic (cirrhosis). Recently, a third form of liver failure known as acute- ...

in Los Angeles, on August 9, 1929, the lawsuit had not been settled. Witwer's widow pursued the lawsuit and won a judgement against Lloyd in November 1930. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals overturned the ruling and Witwer's widow received nothing.

Legacy

Most notable during his lifetime for his baseball and boxing stories, Witwer wrote some 400 stories and articles for magazines and some 125

film treatment A film treatment (or simply treatment) is a piece of prose, typically the step between scene cards (index cards) and the first draft of a screenplay for a motion picture, television program, or radio play. It is generally longer and more detailed ...

s throughout his career. In a 1999 review of an anthology of

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

short stories, which included Witwer's "The Chickasha Bone Crusher", reviewer Sybil S. Steinberg praised the "near-forgotten" Witwer, calling him one of "America's wittiest idiomatic stylists".

Books

* ''From Baseball to Boches'' (1918) * ''Alex the Great'' (1919) * ''Arthur William Brown'' (1919) * ''A Smile a Minute'' (1919) * ''Best College Humor'' (1920), introduction * ''Kid Scanlan'' (1920) * ''The Leather Pushers'' (1921) * ''The Rubyiat of a Freshman'' (1921) * ''There's No Base Like Home'' (1923) * ''Fighting Back'' (1924) * ''Love and Learn: The Story of a Telephone Girl Who Loved Not Too Well But Wisely'' (1924) * ''Bill Grimm's Progress'' (1926) * ''Roughly Speaking'' (1926) * ''The Classics in Slang'' (1927) * ''Yes Man's Land'' (1929)

Notes

External links

* * * * *
Sample panel
from Witwer's comic strip ''Switchboard Sally''

from Witwer's comic strip ''Samson and Delia'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Witwer, H. C. 1890 births 1929 deaths American male screenwriters Film producers from Pennsylvania American magazine cartoonists American comics writers American comics artists American comic strip cartoonists American humorists American sportswriters People from Bradford County, Pennsylvania American male short story writers American war correspondents Saint Joseph's University alumni 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers Screenwriters from Pennsylvania 20th-century American screenwriters