Harold Norling Swanson (August 28, 1899 – May 31, 1991) was a

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwrit ...

who represented Frank Buck, F. Scott Fitzgerald and many other well-known American writers. He was a member of the Cliff Dwellers Club and was one of the founding members of the Tavern Club in Chicago.

Career

Swanson graduated from Grinnell College, class of 1922. He began his career as a writer
Corn; moods from Mid-America, by Harold Norling Swanson.
but achieved more success as the editor, for eight years during the 1920s, of '' College Humor'', a Chicago-based monthly magazine. In 1931, he moved to Hollywood, where he received a few minor story credits and then spent a period as an associate producer at

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

, with eight films to his credit, including two Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, '' Hips, Hips, Hooray!'' and ''Kentucky Kernels''. In 1934, Swanson opened his eponymous agency on Sunset Boulevard. He began representing adventurer-writer Frank Buck in 1935, soon after Buck's appearance in '' Fang and Claw'', the documentary film based on his book of the same name. Swanson's efforts led to Buck's first appearance in a dramatic role, in the 15-chapter serial ''

Jungle Menace ''Jungle Menace'' (1937) is the first serial (film), serial released by Columbia Pictures. Based on the success of Republic Pictures's 1936 serial ''Darkest Africa'', starring real-life animal trainer Clyde Beatty, Columbia made this exotic j ...

'', released by Columbia Pictures in 1937. The Swanson Agency was unique at that time in its exclusive focus on the sale of motion picture (and later television and radio) rights to literary properties, as well as representation of the writers (including screenwriters) themselves. His dominance in this area is illustrated by the fact that by 1939 his client list reportedly included 80 of the 110 writers then working for

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. At one time or another, he represented F. Scott Fitzgerald,

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, Frank Gruber, Paul Gallico, Charles Bennett,

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, Philip Wylie and

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. Among the many books he sold to the Hollywood studios were '' The Postman Always Rings Twice'', '' The Big Sleep'', '' Old Yeller'', '' Butterfield 8'' and ''

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''.

Final years

Swanson published an autobiography, ''Sprinkled with Ruby Dust'', in 1989.Swanson, H.N. ''Sprinkled with Ruby Dust''. Warner Books; 1st Edition, December 1989 He worked in his agency until shortly before his death from a stroke. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

References

External links

"H.N. Swanson, the Agent Who Made Gatsby 'Great,' Is a Past Master of the Hollywood Deal"
''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'', January 8, 1990
Obituary
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', June 3, 1991 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swanson, H. N. 1899 births 1991 deaths Literary agents People from Centerville, Iowa American male screenwriters American magazine editors Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) American male non-fiction writers Screenwriters from Iowa Film producers from Iowa 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters