author
Thompson Buchanan
1877–1937
A busy early-20th-century American writer who moved easily from newspaper work to novels, Broadway plays, silent films, and radio. Best remembered for the stage hit A Woman's Way, he built a career around storytelling in whatever form reached the widest audience.
1 Audiobook
Making People Happy
by Thompson Buchanan
About the author
Born in New York City on June 21, 1877, Thompson Buchanan worked first as a journalist, including newspaper jobs in Louisville and New York. While reporting, he began writing fiction, then shifted into the theater, where his 1909 play A Woman's Way became his first major success.
Buchanan went on to write novels, plays, and screen material during a period when American entertainment was rapidly changing. He began writing for films in 1916 and also produced radio sketches, making him one of those adaptable professional writers who followed new media as they emerged.
He died in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 15, 1937. Although he is not widely read today, his career gives a vivid picture of a working writer in the early 1900s, moving between journalism, popular fiction, stage drama, and the young film industry.