Paul Yawitz

• Born: Feb 15, 1900 in St. Louis, Missouri
• Died: Jun 10, 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Occupation: Writer
• Active: '30s-'40s
• Major Genres: Crime, Comedy
• Career Highlights: Confessions of Boston Blackie, I Love a Bandleader, Alias Boston Blackie
• First Major Screen Credit: Breakfast for Two (1937)

Biography

A former New York press agent, Paul Yawitz turned to screenwriting in the mid-'30s. From 1937 to 1938, Yawitz worked at RKO, collaborating on such budget-minded comedies as Joe Penner's Go Chase Yourself (1938) and Lucille Ball's The Affairs of Annabel (1938), the latter film featuring Jack Oakie as a bombastic press agent (art imitates life?). At Columbia in the 1940s, Yawitz penned several of the studio's Boston Blackie entries. Paul Yawitz's last-known screen assignment was the 1957 Willis O'Brien fantasy effort The Black Scorpion (1957). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide