Irving Shulman

Irving Shulman (May 21, 1913 – March 23, 1995) was an American author and screenwriter whose works were adapted into movies. His books included The Amboy Dukes, Cry Tough, The Square Trap, and Platinum High School, all of which were adapted into movies.

Shulman wrote the early film treatment for Rebel Without a Cause. Stewart Stern did the screenplay based on the story concepts of Shulman and director Nicholas Ray. Later, Shulman used his treatment as the basis for his 1956 novel Children of the Dark.

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa and earning a master's degree from Columbia University, he served in the Army during World War II. He subsequently spent most of the war in Washington, D.C., working for the War Department's troop education program, where he wrote for Army Talk.

Published in 1947, The Amboy Dukes examined the grim, and sometimes short, lives of teenage street criminals in Brooklyn during World War II; notably, its primary characters were described as being Jewish. It sold five million copies and led to his being hired as a screenwriter by Warner Bros.

Selected Bibliography The Amboy Dukes (1947) Cry Tough (1949) The Big Brokers (1951) The Square Trap (1953) Good Deeds Must Be Punished (1956) Children of the Dark (1956) The Velvet Knife (1959) Platinum High School (1960) West Side Story (novelization) (1961) The Roots of Fury (1961) The Notorious Landlady (1962 film) [novelization] Harlow: An Intimate Biography(1964) Valentino (1967) The Devil's Knee (1973)