Irwin Shawwas an American playwright, screenwriter and novelist who was also a highly regarded short story author. He was born Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff in 1913 in the South Bronx, New York City, to Russian-Jewish immigrants. His younger brother,David Shaw, became a noted Hollywood producer. Shortly after Irwin’s birth, the Shamforoffs moved to Brooklyn, and Shaw changed his surname upon entering college. He spent most of his youth in Brooklyn, where he graduated from Brooklyn College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1934. Shaw began screenwriting in 1935 at the age of 21, and he scripted for several radio shows, including Dick Tracy, The Gumps and Studio One. He recaptured this period of his life in his short story “Main Currents of American Life,” about a hack radio writer grinding out one script after another while calculating the number of words equal to the rent money. In 1936, Shaw’s first play, Bury the Dead, was produced.
