Charles Mergendahl

Charles Mergendahl (February 23, 1919 – April 27, 1959) was an American writer, best known for his salacious 1958 novel The Bramble Bush (1958) and its 1960 film adaptation. He also contributed original scripts and adaptations to various American television anthology series throughout the 1950s.

Charles Mergendahl
BornCharles Henry Mergendahl, Jr.
(1919-02-23)February 23, 1919
Lynn, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedApril 27, 1959(1959-04-27) (aged 40)
Glen Cove, New York, U.S.[1]
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • screenwriter
EducationPhillips Exeter Academy, Bowdoin College, Harvard University, Boston University[2]
Notable worksThe Bramble Bush
Relatives
  • Alice (née Brockway)
  • Charles Henry Mergendahl
(parents)
Military career
Service/branchUnited States Naval Reserve
Years of service1942–1945
RankLieutenant
Battles/warsBattle of Tarawa
AwardsBronze Star[3]

Biography

Early life and career

Charles H. Mergendahl, Jr. was born in 1919 in Lynn, Massachusetts, the first of five children born to Charles Henry Mergendahl and Alice Brockway—the former a math instructor at Classical High School, the latter an English teacher at Worcester High School of Commerce.[4][5] Charles Jr. attended Newton High School and Phillips Exeter Academy, graduating in 1937.[2][6] He received his B.A. from Bowdoin College, graduating in 1941,[7] and his M.A. from Boston University.[2]

Throughout high school and college, Mergendahl had been involved in theater;[8][9] in 1941, his play, My Last Duchess (a blank-verse dramatization of Robert Browning's much-anthologized poem), was awarded 1st prize in Bowdoin College's annual one-act play competition[10] and his next play prompted the Boston Globe to write:

Mr. Mergendahl shows promise. He has a clever manner of writing lines that bring out what is really inside of his characters. He also has the ability to create a tense situations and to draw characters in contrast. Less commendable, however, is his way of looking at the world as though everyone in it is in the wrong profession and unhappy.[11]

Although an extended tour of duty in World War II necessarily brought his direct participation in theatre to an end, it does not appear to have adversely affected Mergendahl's productivity. In 1945, United Press reported that "during eight major engagements," Mergendahl had, by his own account, "written four novels, eight plays, and thirty short stories."[12]

He was awarded a Bronze Star decoration for his military service in leading the first wave of Marines onto the beach during the Battle of Tarawa in the Pacific War.

During the filming of his most famous novel, which was being reprinted to coincide with the release, Mergendahl died of brain trauma following an accidental fall at his home. He was only 40 years old; leaving behind a teenage daughter whose mother (his wife) had predeceased him.[13]

Works

Drama
  • The Twig (1940)[14]
  • My Last Duchess (1941)[10]
  • Me and Harry (1941)[11]
  • Watch for the Morning (1941)[15]
    Christmas Fantasy
    Park Bench
    Standing Room Only

Novels
  • Don't Wait Up for Spring (1944)
  • His Days are as Grass (1946)[16]
  • This Spring of Love (1948)[17]
  • It's Only Temporary (1951)[18]
  • With Kisses Four (1954)[19]
  • The Bramble Bush (novel, 1958)
  • The Lonely Ones—aka The Girl Cage—and Tiger by the Tail (1959, both published posthumously)

Television

Film

References
  1. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/167633922/charles-henry-mergendahl : accessed 10 January 2022), memorial page for Charles Henry Mergendahl Jr. (23 Feb 1919–27 Apr 1959), Find a Grave Memorial ID 167633922, citing Newton Cemetery, Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA; Maintained by Charles Baker (contributor 47201082) .
  2. "Novelist Charles Merghendahl, 40". Newsday. April 30, 1959. p. 136.
  3. "Charles Mergendahl Dies, Bay Street TV Editor, Author". The Boston Globe. April 30, 1959. p. 26.
  4. "Lynn Classical High School Instructor Weds Teacher of Worcester H.S. of Commerce". The Boston Globe. July 2, 1916. p. 4.
  5. "Newton Teacher Feted". The Boston Globe. p. 11.
  6. "Phillips Exeter Diplomas Awarded". The Boston Globe. June 29, 1937. p. 4.
  7. "Candidates for Degrees Today at Bowdoin". The Bangor Daily News. June 21, 1941. p. 13.
  8. "Greater Boston News and Personal Paragraphs". The Boston Globe. February 15, 1934. p. 10.
  9. "Melodrama Like Movie at Newtonville Show". The Boston Globe. p. 10.
  10. "Vance Bourjaily Places Second in Annual Play Competition at Bowdoin". The Bangor Daily News. March 7, 1941. p. 13.
  11. "Artists' Theatre: 'Me and Harry'". The Boston Globe. August 26, 1941. p. 23.
  12. "Battle Dangers Inspire Writer". The Danville Morning News. May 14, 1945. p. 1.
  13. Charles Mergendahl Dead at 40; Novelist Wrote 'Bramble Bush'I -'epectal. to The New York Times, New York Times, 30 April 1959: 31.
  14. "Bowdoin Dramatists to Give Newton Man's Play in Home City". The Boston Globe. November 18, 1940. p. 4.
  15. "The Stage: New England Repertory Company". The Boston Globe. December 17, 1941. p. 19.
  16. Jackson, Katherine Gauss (1946). "Books in Brief: Fiction". Harper's Magazine. Vol. 193.
  17. "Charles Mergendahl, author of wartime romance". The Hartford Courant. June 20, 1948. p. 43.
  18. Litten,. Frederic Nelson (February 4, 1951). "Ah, Life in Suburbia, or O, the Futility of It All". Chicago Sunday Tribune. Pt. 4, pg. 6
  19. Boucher, Anthony (May 16, 1954). "Criminals at Large". The New York Times. p. BR25.

Further reading

Articles

Books
  • "Secret Recipe"; Hubin, Allen, ed. (1971). Best of the Best Detective Stories, 25th Anniversary Collection. New York: E.P. Dutton and Company. pp. 203–211. ISBN 0525064508.
  • "Do It Yourself"; Lore, Elana, ed. (1983). Alfred Hitchcock's A Choice of Evils. New York: The Dial Press. pp. 87–92. ISBN 9781555044749.
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