|
stories. Born of Jewish parents in Charleston, S.C., he graduated from Clemson College in 1911. He worked as a newspaperman before being admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1913. He was married the following year and had one son. In 1915 he abandoned the law to write fiction. A regular contributor to The Saturday Evening Post and other popular magazines for many years, Cohen is chiefly noted for his Negro dialect fiction. Two of his well-known characters are unusual detec- ives. Florian Slappey, known as the Beau Brummell of Birmingham, Ala., is a tall, slender, immaculately dressed sport described as "a sepia gentleman." He knows (and is known by) everybody in his home- town. He then sets out to conquer New York's Harlem. His humorous adventures are told in Flo- rian Slappey Goes Abroad (1928) and Florian Slap- pey (1938). James H. (Jim) Hanvey, who is white, is a private detective who has more friends in the underworld than in legitimate circles. Gargantuan, with several chins and short fat legs that cause him to waddle when he walks, he spends most of his time sitting with his shoes off and resting. His chief exercise is fondling a gold toothpick that hangs from a chain across his chest. He befriends criminals who have gone straight but is "the terror of crooks from coast to coast" when on a case. The stories about the gross and uncouth, if amiable, detective are found in Jim Hanvey, Detective (1923), "Free and Easy" in Detours (1927), and Scrambled Yeggs (1934). Cohen was also the author of The Crimson Alibi (1919), a popular mystery novel and a success on the New York stage. Play and Film In 1920, Cohen's play Come Seven, starring Earle Foxe as Slappey, ran for seventy-two performances on Broadway. Cohen's country detective, Jim Hanvey, was fea- tured in one film: Jim Hanvey, Detective, Republic, 1937. Guy Kibbee, Tom Brown, Lucie Kaye, Edward Brophy. Directed by Phil Rosen. Hanvey cuts short a hunting trip to investigate the theft of an emerald necklace that was actually hidden by a young reporter friend as a publicity stunt; but before long the gems are really stolen. (from Steinbrunner & Penzler, Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, NY, McGraw Hill, 1976) |
