Harry Hervey

Harry Hervey (November 5, 1900 – August 12, 1951) was one of the most highly sought screenplay writers of the first half of the 20th century, praised by critics of literature, stage and screen.

Early life

Harry Hervey was born on November 5, 1900, in Beaumont, Texas, the son of Harry Clay and Jane Louise Hervey. His father managed small hotels, and therefore the family traveled a lot: Mobile, Tallahassee, Pensacola.

In 1916 Hervey entered Sewannee Military Academy in Tennessee for three years and did the last year of high school at the Georgia Military Academy in Atlanta.

Career

Harry Hervey, at the age of 16, sold an adventurous story to a magazine. He continued to publish more stories to the pulp fiction magazine, Black Mask. After school, Hervey became a reporter for the Atlanta Constitution. He then was a clerk for the Texas Oil Company. His first novel was Caravans By Night, A Romance of India (1922). In 1923 he worked as cruise director, travelling around Asia. Before leaving, Hervey visited his mother, who was managing the DeSoto Hotel, and met Carleton A. Hildreth. They remained together for almost thirty years, until Hervey's death in 1951. In 1925 he undertook a literary expedition to Indochina for Cosmopolitan Book Corporation and McCall's Magazine, accompanied by Hildreth. They searched the lost Khmer city in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

After the trip to Indochina, Hervey moved to Savannah and lived at the DeSoto Hotel with his mother and Hildreth. In 1926 they moved to Charleston, at 89 East Bay St., one of the Rainbow Row Houses. From 1926 to 1932, they spent the summers in New York City and the winters in Charleston or Savannah.