Aben Kandel

Aben Kandel was a versatile playwright, screenwriter and novelist who penned a variety of material ranging from high-toned comedies to vulgar exploitation. Several of his novels have been adapted into feature films including Vaudeville (1927), Black Sun (1929) and City for Conquest (1936). He also had one of his Broadway productions Hot Money made into a feature in 1935. Kandel first broke into screenwriting while helping to adapt the play Dinner at Eight into a film along with three other noted scenarists including Herman Mankiewicz. In 1935 he wrote his own screenplays Manhattan Moon and She Gets Her Man. In the late 1950s, Kandel began penning exploitation scripts for producer Herman Cohen. Among those are two Joan Crawford horror features, Berserk! (1963) and Trog(1970).