Alfred A. Cohn — Biographical Sketch (1927) 🇺🇸

Editorial departments of newspaper offices throughout the country have graduated many brilliant writers who subsequently made names for themselves in the motion picture industry. Some of them have become title writers, others scenarists, and still others successful directors.

Alfred A. Cohn is a scenario writer and a good one, as a list of his contributions to the screen will show. He was also a good newspaper man before his advent to Hollywood. He got his start early in a newspaper office in Freeport, Ill., and he went right through the mill. That is, he served in every editorial capacity there is in a newspaper office. He started at the early age of fifteen years, and he was one of the roving type of reporters and editors who worked in many different parts of the country.

Cohn got his first touch of motion picture work as associate editor of Photoplay Magazine in 1915, and then during the war period he served as publicity director for Mary Pickford. It was a comparatively short step from writing publicity to writing scenarios, and he made the hurdle easily.

As he had wandered about the newspaper offices so he wandered about the studios. He worked for many companies, among them M-G-M, First National, P. D. C., Universal and Warner Bros. Among his scenarios are many that have clicked merrily at the box-offices of thousands of theatres. Some of these that might be mentioned are: “Friendly Enemies,” “His People,” “The Cohens and the Kellys,” “Frisco Sally Levy,” The Cat and the Canary, “The Midnight Kiss,” “The Jazz Singer,” The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris, “The Gorilla,” “We Americans,” and “The Last Warning.” He is now specializing on the characterization comedy and mystery type of stories.

Cohn is interested in everything that has to do with writing, and has done much for the organization of writers in Hollywood. He was one of the founders of the Writers’ Club in Hollywood, and for several years was a director of the Screen Writers’ Guild of the Authors League of America.

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Alfred A. Cohn

Free Lance Writer of Originals, Adaptations, Continuities, Titles.

1927–1928 Releases

• The Cat and the Canary (Universal) Adaptation and continuity.
• The Jazz Singer (Warners) Adaptation and continuity.
• The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris (Universal) Original continuity.
• The Gorilla (Small-First National) Continuity (in collaboration).
• We Americans (Universal) Adaptation and continuity.
• The Last Warning (Universal) Adaptation and continuity.

The Writers Club, Office

Hollywood, Cal. 5617 Hollywood Blvd.

Telephone HE 7264. (Residence)

Collection: Motion Picture News, October 1927 (Booking Guide and Studio Directory)