Samson Raphaelson was born in the Jewish community of New York City's Lower East Side. When he was five his father, cap manufacturer Ralph Raphaelson, received a business offer that required relocating in Denver. The senior Raphaelson's parents agreed to give him the necessary money for the venture on the condition that he and his wife, Anna Marks Raphaelson, leave behind Samson for them to raise. The young Samson was separated from his parents until about the age of thirteen, when, tired of his old-fashioned upbringing, he decided to live with his parents and brothers and sisters who were by then residing in Chicago. After graduating from a Chicago high school and working for a year in a mail-order house, Raphaelson began to write short stories. He decided to learn his craft by taking a bachelor's degree, and entered the Lewis Institute in Chicago, later transferring to the...