Casey Robinson was a versatile screenwriter, able to change genres and style at will. He was an ideal choice for adapting literary works to the screen, retaining the essential flavor of the originals while creating good dramatic scenes. Robinson seemed able to work and write in any genre: comedy, melodrama, adventure, mystery, Western.

Robinson was born Kenneth C. Robinson in Logan, Utah. He attended Cornell University before working as a newspaper reporter on the New York World. His original intention had been to study law, but he switched to English in college. In addition to his newspaper work, Robinson taught English in high school in Brigham City, Utah. In 1927 he visited a friend in Hollywood who was writing subtitles for The Patent Leather Kid and was offered a job as an assistant for $100 a week, which was more than he was paid as a teacher. Robinson took the...