H. C. (Harry Charles) Witwer

Born in Athens, Pennsylvania, on March 11, 1890, Harry Charles Witwer worked a string of jobs before breaking into journalism and fiction. He wrote for newspapers including the Brooklyn Eagle, the New York American, the New York Mail, and The Sun, and later reported from France during World War I for Collier's.

Witwer became especially known for funny, slangy stories about boxing and baseball. Over the course of his career he wrote roughly 400 stories and articles, and his work proved highly adaptable for the screen: many comedy shorts in the 1920s were based on his writing. He also collaborated on comic strips, including Samson and Delia and Switchboard Sally.

In 1926 he moved to California, reportedly for his health, and continued working in film as well as prose. He died in Los Angeles on August 9, 1929, at just 39 years old. Though he is less widely remembered now, his reputation for sharp, energetic comic writing has lasted well beyond his era.