Flavin, Martin, 1883-1967

Martin Archer Flavin, author and playwright. Flavin wrote short stories, novels, screenplays, essays, and several plays that were produced on Broadway. Flavin won the Pulitzer Prize in 1943 for his novel, Journey in the Dark. The Martin Flavin Papers contain manuscripts, plays, memoirs, travel journals, essays, novels, short stories, correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, and scrapbooks. These papers document Flavin's writing career, family, and personal life.

Martin Archer Flavin was born in San Francisco on November 2, 1883. Flavin was married three times and had three children from his first two marriages. He attended the University of Chicago from 1903-1905 where he was active in student theatre as well as the Sigma Chi Fraternity. For a short time he served in the United States Army in field artillery. He was a business man for a period of twelve years, beginning as an office boy and working himself up to the vice presidency of a wallpaper company, but left in 1929 to fully devote his life to writing.

As a playwright, Flavin had numerous plays appear on Broadway between 1923 and 1937. His play, "Children of the Moon" (1923) was praised by critics and saw nearly 100 performances. In 1929 he had three plays on Broadway simultaneously, including "Broken Dishes" which featured the debut of Bette Davis. After several plays failed on Broadway, Flavin concentrated on writing screenplays. He was a script writer for MGM from 1930-1934 and several of his plays were adapted for movies. The first cinema version of his play "The Criminal Code" starring Walter Huston and Boris Karloff was nominated for an Oscar in 1931 for Best Writing, Adaptation.

Flavin completed his first novel, Mr. Little-John, in 1940. In 1943 Flavin won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Journey in the Dark, which also won a $10,000 Harper Prize. Flavin also wrote numerous short stories and essays, many of which were published in popular magazines. Flavin was a member of the Players Club, the Dutch Treat Club, and the Old Capital Club.

Martin Flavin died in Carmel, California on December 28, 1967.