Earl Derr Biggers

Author Code: AEDB

Educated at Harvard University, Biggers had always been interested in writing and after graduation in 1907, he took a job with the Cleveland Plain Dealer. In 1908, he moved to the Boston Traveler as a humour columnist. He then became their drama critic, but his reviews were often so scathing that by 1912, when the paper was taken over, he was fired. In 1913, he published his first novel, Seven Key to Baldpate, which was very successful and gave him a national audience. The dramatic rights to the book were sold to George M. Cohan who produced a successful Broadway play. In 1914, Biggers followed with Love Insurance, another success which made it to Broadway. Agony Column followed in 1916 and again was a huge success. In 1919, Biggers visited Hawaii where a newspaper article appeared concerning the work of Chinese detectives Chang Apana and Lee Fook in Honolulu. They would form the basis for his character of Charlie Chan in subsequent novels. In 1925, he published the first of the Chan novels, The House Without a Key, and it was a phenomenal success. The second novel, The Chinese Parrot, appeared in 1926 and continued the success. Both novels were made into silent movies at the time. The Saturday Evening Post paid Biggers $25,000 for the third story, Behind That Curtain, in 1928 and Fox Film Corp. purchased the film rights. Biggers was hugely successful financially and was able to ride out the stock market collapse of 1929, by continuing to produce Charlie Chan novels. In 1929, The Black Camel, appeared followed by Charlie Chan Carries On (1930) and Keeper of the Keys (1932). Biggers died of a heart attack in 1933 at the age of 48. His other works included Inside the Lines (1915), a collaboration with Robert Welles Ricthie and Fifty Candles (1926).