Herman Cohen

Novelist turned occasional screenwriter from the 1930s on. Kandel had enjoyed some success with his novels "Vaudeville" (1927), "Black Sun" (1929) and "City for Conquest" (1936, the source for the fine 1940 James Cagney film) before penning such enjoyable cinematic corn as "Thunder in the City" (1937), "Rio" (1939) and "What's Buzzin' Cousin?" (1943). Kandel ventured into more sober territory with the biographical tribute to football coach Frank Cavanaugh in "The Iron Major" (1943) and as co-author (with Robert Rossen) of the potent screenplay adaptation of "They Won't Forget" (1937), Mervyn LeRoy's blazing indictment of lynching and mob violence. He later displayed a predilection for horror in collaboration with schlockmeister producer Herman Cohen with "Horrors of the Black Museum" (1959), "Black Zoo" (1963) and two of Joan Crawford's last films, "Berserk!" (1967) and "Trog" (1970).