Octavus Roy Cohen

Octavus Roy Cohen (1891–1959) was an early 20th-century American writer specializing in ethnic comedies. His dialect comedy stories about African Americans gained popularity after being published in the ''Saturday Evening Post'' and were adapted into a series of short films by Al Christie featuring actors Charles Olden, Spencer Williams Jr., Evelyn Preer, and Edward Thompson. His portrayals drew criticism from the likes of W. E. B. Du Bois, who complained about "the monstrosities he has created".

Biography

Early life

Cohen was born on June 26, 1891, in Charleston, South Carolina, to Octavus and Rebecca Cohen (née Ottolengui). He pronounced his first name ''oc-tav'us, a'' as in ''have''. Through his mother, he was the cousin of Rodrigues Ottolengui, who also wrote crime fiction.

He received his secondary education at the Porter Military Academy, now the Porter-Gaud School, and graduated in 1908. He went on to Clemson College (later renamed Clemson University) and graduated in 1911 with a degree in engineering.

Career

Between 1910 and 1912, he worked in the editorial departments of the ''Birmingham Ledger'', the ''Charleston News and Courier'', the '' Bayonne Times'', and the '' Newark Morning Star''.

He became popular as a result of his stories printed in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' which were about African-Americans.Honey, Maureen. “Images of Women in the Saturday Evening Post, 1931–1936,”.''Journal of Popular Culture''; Bowling Green, Ohio Vol. 10, Iss. 2, (Fall 1976): (p.352) In 1913, he was admitted to the South Carolina bar and practiced law in Charleston for two years. Between 1917 and his death, he published 56 books, works that included humorous and detective novels, plays, and collections of short stories. He also composed successful Broadway plays and radio, film, and television scripts.

As a mark of his success, on March 20, 1923, Cohen bought the "Redin-Cohen" house, a Tudor Revival-style home in Birmingham, Alabama. He was known to host local writers and journalists to discuss fiction writing while in Birmingham.

He moved from Birmingham to Harlem, New York, in the late 1930s and then to Los Angeles to pursue a film career.

Personal life and death

He married Inez Lopez in October 1914 in Bessemer, Alabama. They had one son, Octavus Roy Cohen, Jr.

His wife died in 1953. He died of a stroke on January 6, 1959, in Los Angeles and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Works

His most notable creation was "Florian Slappey", a fictional black detective who appeared both in print (in the ''Saturday Evening Post'') and in a series of short films in the 1920s, These were "ethnic comedies" following the bumbling investigations of Slappey and his travels from Birmingham, Alabama, to Harlem, New York. They were later assembled into a stage play, "Come Seven", with Slappey played by Earle Foxe, which ran for 72 performances. A second detective stage play, "The Crimson Alibi" , featured a white detective, David Carroll.

He wrote:

* ''Polished Ebony'' (1919)
* ''Gray Dusk'' (1920)
* ''Come Seven'' (1920)
* ''Highly Colored'' (1921)
* ''Midnight'' (1922)

Cohen wrote several novels about detective David Carroll. One of these novels, ''The Crimson Alibi'', was adapted for the stage by George Broadhurst. Cohen's character of Jim Hanvey, "a sort of backwoods Nero Wolfe", "one of the earliest private eyes", appeared in two films; '' Curtain at Eight'' (1933), based on his novel ''The Backstage Mystery'', and ''Jim Hanvey, Detective'' (1937), based on his original story. "Hanvey made most of his appearances in short stories in ''The Saturday Evening Post'', where much of... Cohen's other work was also published... Cohen created a few other detectives... one of the first black private eyes, Florian Slappey, although they're more famous now for their unflattering portrayal of blacks than their historical significance."

Jim Hanvey books by Cohen:''Crime Fiction, 1749-1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography'' by Allen J. Hubin, Garland, 1984,
* ''Jim Hanvey, Detective'' (1923, short stories)
* ''Detours'' (1927, short stories, one featuring Hanvey)
* ''The May Day Mystery'' (1929)
* ''The Backstage Mystery'' (also published as ''Curtain at Eight'') (1930)
* ''Star of Earth'' (1932)
* ''Scrambled Yeggs'' (1934, short stories)

Films

*''The Lady Fare'' is a 1929 American comedy film adapted from a Cohen story.

Cohen was scriptwriter (or co-scriptwriter with Alfred A. Cohen) for six known films:

*'' The Eyes of Mystery'' (1918) directed by Tod Browning
*'' Melancholy Dame'' (1929) directed by Arvid Gillstrom, Florian Slappey played by Charles Olden
*''Hot Biscuits''
*''The Widow's Bite''
*''Oft in the Silly Night''
*'' Music Hath Harms'' (1929) directed by Walter Graham, Florian Slappey played by Harry Tracy
*''The Framing of the Shrew'' (1929) directed by Arvid Gillstrom, Florian Slappey played by Charles Olden
*''False Witness'' (1935) directed by Edward Buzzell
*'' They Met in a Taxi'' (1936) directed by Alfred E. Green

References

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External links

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Information about Jim Hanvey from a website devoted to detective fiction, accessed July 18, 2021
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Octavus Roy
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American novelists
1891 births
1959 deaths
American humorists
American male novelists
American short story writers
American mystery writers
American comedy writers
American screenwriters
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Clemson University alumni
Novelists from South Carolina