Gilbert W. (Gilbert Wolf) Gabriel

Born in Brooklyn in 1890, Gilbert Wolf Gabriel grew up in New York, studied at Peekskill Military Academy and Polytechnic Preparatory School, and graduated from Williams College in 1912. He began his career as a reporter for the Evening Sun, later serving as its music critic and then its drama critic, before writing for the New York American and contributing criticism, articles, and stories to magazines including Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Town and Country, Harper's Bazaar, and Collier's.

Gabriel was known not just as a critic but as a versatile writer. Sources describe him as a drama critic, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. His books included The Seven-Branched Candlestick, Jiminy, Great Fortune, Love from London, and I Thee Wed; he also published some children's books under the pen name Gilly Bear.

During both world wars he served in the U.S. Army; in World War II he spent time in Alaska and later worked in London in publications work. After the war he became drama critic for Theatre Arts and later joined Cue. Archival collections at the New York Public Library and Williams College preserve his drafts, correspondence, and photographs, a reminder of how fully he was woven into American literary and theater life in the first half of the twentieth century.