Clarence Budington Kelland

Born in Portland, Michigan, in 1881, Clarence Budington Kelland built an unusually varied early career before fiction took over. He studied law at night, earned a law degree from Detroit College of Law, worked at the Detroit News, and later edited The American Boy.

Kelland became one of the best-known magazine writers of the early 20th century, publishing novels and large numbers of short stories over several decades. He was especially associated with The Saturday Evening Post and The American Magazine, and he created popular recurring characters including Scattergood Baines and Mark Tidd. Several of his stories and novels were adapted for film, including Opera Hat, the basis for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.

Remembered as a prolific, versatile professional writer, Kelland once described himself with dry humor as "the best second-rate writer in America." He died in 1964 in Arizona, leaving behind a body of work that captures the pace, humor, and everyday appeal of American popular fiction in its magazine heyday.