Charles Goddard

Charles William Goddard was an American journalist, playwright, author, and screenwriter, born in Portland, Maine, on November 26, 1879, and died in Miami, Florida, on January 11, 1951. He wrote across several forms, but he is especially associated with early 20th-century popular entertainment.

Goddard became widely known for Broadway plays he co-wrote with Paul Dickey, and several of those stage successes were adapted for the screen. He is often remembered above all for writing The Perils of Pauline, the hugely influential silent serial starring Pearl White, which helped define the episode-by-episode suspense that kept audiences coming back.

For audiobook listeners, Goddard is an interesting figure because his career sits at the meeting point of theater, novels, and early cinema. Books connected to his stage and screen work, including The Ghost Breaker and The Perils of Pauline, show how quickly stories were being reshaped across new media in his era.