Ewart Adamson

Biography

Ewart Adamson (1881-1945), born in Dundee, Scotland, went to sea at the age of 14. He fought in the Canadian army during WWI, and was promoted through the ranks from private to major during his tour of duty in France and Belgium. Prior to his arrival in Hollywood, in 1930, Adamson spent five years as a tin-mine manager in Perak, Malaya, where the inspiration for what later became the 1944 Republic serial Haunted Harbor (1944) came when he and several associates discussed several ways of salting a mine. A discussion only, by bored men, but a 1943 novel, "Haunted Harbor", came from it. Settling in Hollywood in 1930, Adamson became a prolific screenwriter and, in addition to writing over 145 shorts, also provided stories and screenplays for features for Warner Bros., RKO, Chesterfield and Grand National, among others. In the 1940s he wrote four features for Republic and films for PRC and Monogram. His novel (using his "nom de plume" of Dayle Douglas) was published by Mystery House of New York on June 12, 1943, and was sold to Republic Pictures on December 6, 1943. Retaining the novel's title, Republic produced it as a serial shot between April 14 and May 18, 1944.