The House Without a Key by Earl Derr Biggers: Illustrated Edition

Earl Derr Biggers was born in 1884 in Warren, Ohio. He graduated from Harvard University in 1907 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After college, Biggers went to work at The Boston Traveler, where he wrote a humorous column, and then reviews, until 1911. By that time he had finished his first novel, "Seven Keys To Baldpate," migrated to New York with his first novel and also his first comedy, "If You're Only Human" and began writing plays.

Biggers wrote magazine articles, stories, novels and plays, including a war play, "Inside The Lines," which ran 500 nights in London in 1915 and 1916. He published two more novels during the 1910s, Love Insurance in 1914 and The Agony Column in 1916, but his main activity was focused on humor writing, particularly in magazines and short stories. In 1919, Biggers decided to quit playwriting and go to California to write for motion pictures.

His reputation spread among the public with his most famous creation, Charlie Chan. He developed the character of Charlie Chan for his novel "The House Without A Key" in 1925. He wrote six Charlie Chan novels, all moderately popular. All were adapted to the cinema, except for "Keeper Of The Keys". The Charlie Chan movies were one of the most successful screen series in history, with over 40 movies based on the character. There were also numerous Chan radio adaptations and comic strips, as well as attempts to bring the character to television.

Earl Biggers died in Pasadena, California, in April of 1933 at the age of 48, from a heart attack.

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