author
Wells Hastings
1879–1923
A Yale-educated writer with a flair for wit and mystery, he moved from college humor and fiction into silent-film writing in the early 1920s. His work bridges the worlds of magazines, novels, and early Hollywood screen stories.
1 Audiobook
The Professor's Mystery
by Wells Hastings, Brian Hooker
About the author
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Wells Hastings was an American writer best remembered for fiction, humor, and silent-film writing. Reliable sources agree that he was born on June 24, 1878, studied at Yale, and later built a career that touched both publishing and the movie industry.
His literary work included the mystery novel The Professor's Mystery, written with Brian Hooker and published in 1911. He was also associated with college humor through Yale Fun, and his writing appeared in collections such as The Best American Humorous Short Stories, which helps show the range of his voice—from light comic writing to more plot-driven fiction.
In the last part of his career, Hastings wrote for silent films, with credits including Turning the Tables (1919), Mary Ellen Comes to Town (1920), Romance (1920), The Ghost in the Garret (1921), and The Sleep Walker (1922). He died in Los Angeles, California, on May 9, 1923, leaving behind a compact but interesting body of work from a moment when American storytelling was expanding from print into film.