Biography: Harold MacGrath
Harold MacGrath, both in 1871, is one of the foremost American novelists and screenwriters of the 19th and 20th centuries. After his first novel, Arms and the Woman, achieved prominence in the late 19th century, his popularity and renown began to skyrocket, as he released more novels and short stories in major publications, while many of his novels were adapted into films. He would even write directly for the movies, writing many short films and feature-length pictures, some adapted from his own material. However, it was not until 1932, less than a year before his death, that his article "A Short Autobiography of a Deaf Man" would be published, revealing that he had spent his entire life dealing with substantial hearing loss. To that end, Harold MacGrath is very unique in the canon of deaf literature; his prolific and well-regarded works were very popular, and he managed to become one of the first publicly deaf authors in American history. Though he was only revealed to have hearing loss late in his life, the fact that he rose to such prominence proves MacGrath to be an incredibly important figure in the realm of deaf literature.
MacGrath, son of a Civil War veteran, was educated in Syracuse in public school, and soon moved to Chicago to report for the Evening Mail in 1891 (Derby and White, p. 480). After developing his writing skills in the world of journalism, he released his first book, Arms and the Woman, in 1899. He followed these up with many other prominent novels in the following decade, including The Puppet Crown (1901), The Grey Cloak (1903), The Man on the Box (1904), and more. He even wrote short stories and operettas, demonstrating a range and versatility not seen in many authors. McGrath's style is somewhat lighthearted, not touching on richly complex theme, but instead offering entertaining serials and spy stories in his fiction. Nonetheless, his writing was celebrated as being incredibly imaginative; "As a story-teller, he can hold a reader's attention with a rapid succession of episodes depicting scenes and people of that wonderful land of nowhere as well as any young literary man in America" (Derby and White, p. 480).
One of his most famous works is The Man on the Box, a piece of American romantic humor that follows Robert Warburton, a discharged army officer, who opts to play a prank on his sister. After this goes awry, and he accidentally picks up the wrong woman, he is led on a merry chase led by the villainous Count Karloff, a spy for the Russians. The result is a fantastically droll and entertaining novel, full of humor and extremely literate. Like many of his works, The Man on the Box is a lighthearted spy novel, which is very fluffy and does not put on pretentions of art or social commentary; however, it provides Edwardian, stately fish-out-of-water humor and excitement. MacGrath's style is never challenging, but clean, and this led to immense popularity for this book in particular. The book became one of the most widely circulated books of the 20th century. Its success even led to the production of a silent film in 1914, directed by Cecil B. DeMille (Gregory & Hartley, 1991).
MacGrath later wrote an article for The Saturday Evening Post called "The Short Autobiography of a Deaf Man," released on April 23, 1932. In it, he revealed that he suffered from a hearing impairment, one which he had had since childhood. At that time, deaf people were instantly thought of as being less intelligent than those with perfect hearing, and so he worked carefully to hide this image from others, including his employers and publishers. This article, along with MacGrath's success, helped to prove to many that deaf people or the hard of hearing are capable of tremendous literary acuity and intelligence, and helped to break down these misconceptions (MacGrath, 1932). Considering his success, and his wealth, MacGrath can be considered one of the most successful authors to have been known to be deaf in his life.
In the overall canon of deaf authors, MacGrath stands out as an incredible American success. Though he fought against many obstacles, he managed to make himself successful and wealthy as a result of his prolific and entertaining works. It is incredible he managed to hide his deafness for so long, though one can argue that he should not have had to disguise his hearing impairment, and that it should not have had an impact on his success. However, despite his choice to hide his deafness, MacGrath managed to achieve heights of popularity never before seen, constantly releasing new works and working frequently with the then-burgeoning motion picture industry to become one of the earliest prominent screenwriters. To that end, MacGrath is an incredible inspiration to deaf authors everywhere, demonstrating the heights of success to which a deaf author can reach.
References
Derby, G., & White, J.T. (1910). The national cyclopedia of American biography 14. J.T. White
and Company.
Gregory, S., & Hartley, H. (1991) Constructing deafness. Continuum International Publishing
Group.
MacGrath, H. (1904). The man on the box. Grosset & Dunlap.
MacGrath, H. (1932 April 23). The short autobiography of a deaf man. Saturday Evening Post.
