Humphrey Cobb
{{Short description|American novelist (1899–1944)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Humphrey Cobb
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1899|09|05}}
| birth_place = Siena, Kingdom of Italy
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1944|04|25|1899|09|05}}
| death_place = New York, USA
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = writer
screenwriter
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works = Paths of Glory (1935)
}}
Humphrey Cobb (September 5, 1899 – April 25, 1944) was an Italian-born, Canadian-American screenwriter and novelist. He is known for writing the novel Paths of Glory (1935),The phrase 'paths of glory' is a quotation from Thomas Gray's Elegy (1751): 'The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, // And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, // Awaits alike the inevitable hour. // The paths of glory lead but to the grave.' which was made into an acclaimed 1957 anti-war film Paths of Glory by Stanley Kubrick. Cobb was also the lead screenwriter on the 1937 film San Quentin, starring Humphrey Bogart.
Early life and military service
File:Casa guidi 12.24.1908.JPG
Humphrey Cobb was born in Siena, Italy. He was the son of American parents, Arthur Cobb, an artist, and his wife Alice Littell Cobb, a physician. Cobb's parents sent him to school in England for his primary education and at age 13 he returned to the United States to continue his schooling.{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/09/22/archives/a-talk-with-the-author-of-paths-of-glory-humphrey-gobb-tells-of.html |title=A Talk With the Author of "Paths of Glory"; Humphrey Gobb |date=September 22, 1940}}
In 1916, after being expelled from high school at age 17, Cobb relocated to Montreal, Canada to enlist in the Canadian Army a year before the United States entered World War I. He served for three years during the conflict, including duty on the front lines at the Battle of Amiens in France in 1918.
Writer
Following the war, Cobb worked a variety of jobs. He worked in the stock trade, merchant marine, publishing, advertising, and the US Office of War Information writing overseas propaganda.{{cite book|last=Cobb |first=Humphrey|title=Paths of Glory |year=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books|location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-1431-0611-1}} He wrote Paths of Glory while working at the Young & Rubicam advertising agency in New York.{{cite news |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-05-05-bk-2040-story.html |title=Wanted: The Real Jim Thompson |date=May 5, 1991}} The story is about three French soldiers who are court martialed and executed to save senior commanders from shame.{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/12/26/archives/screen-shameful-incident-of-war-paths-of-glory-has-premiere-at.html |title=Screen: Shameful Incident of War; 'Paths of Glory' Has Premiere at Victoria |author=Bosley Crowther |date=December 26, 1957}} The book was based on the Souain corporals affair, an actual event in WWI when the French Army shot four men for cowardice as an example to others.{{cite book|first=Nicolas |last=Offenstadt|title= Les Fusillés de la Grande Guerre et la mémoire collective|publisher= Odile Jacob|year= 1999|page= 61}}
Cobb wrote a second less well received novel, None But the Brave, which was serialized in Collier's Weekly in 1938. From 1935 to 1940 he was employed as a screenwriter where he was credited as a co-writer of San Quentin (1937).
Personal life
Death
Cobb died of coronary thrombosis at his home in Port Washington, New York on April 25, 1944. At the time of his death, he was an advertising copywriter for the New York firm of Kenyon & Eckhardt.{{cite news|title=Humphrey Cobb, 44. War Story Author |newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 26, 1944 |page=19}}
Notes
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External links
- [https://archive.today/20130115092744/http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=cobb&s2=humphrey&s3=&Sect4=AND&l=20&Sect1=IMAGE&Sect2=THESOFF&Sect5=CEF6PEN&Sect6=HITOFF&d=CEF6&p=1&u=http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/02010602_e.html&r=1&f=G Cobb's enlistment forms]
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Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:American expatriates in Italy
Category:Canadian Army personnel
Category:American male novelists
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:20th-century American screenwriters