author
Martin Brown
1884–1936
A Canadian-born stage writer who moved from performing to playwriting, he helped shape Broadway in the 1910s and 1920s before his work reached Hollywood. His plays and screen credits connect the worlds of theater, musicals, and early sound film.
1 Audiobook
Cobra
by Martin Brown, Russell Holman
About the author
Born in Montreal and later active in the United States, Martin Brown was a playwright, screenwriter, and actor whose career bridged the stage and early film. Reliable theater and film references agree that he worked as a performer before becoming known for his writing, and Broadway records show credits as a performer, writer, and lyricist.
Brown wrote a string of Broadway works in the 1910s and 1920s, including The Exciters, The Lady, Cobra, and Paris. Film databases also connect him with screen work on titles such as The Virtuous Sin, The Secret of Madame Blanche, and Java Head, showing how his theatrical career carried over into Hollywood.
Sources reviewed during this search disagree on his birth year, listing either 1884 or 1885, but they agree that he died in New York on February 13, 1936. What stands out most is the range of his career: he was part of the lively Broadway world as a performer and then built a reputation as a writer whose stories continued on screen.