Clinton H. Stagg


Clinton Holland Stagg was an American screenwriter, journalist, and author.

Career as an author

Stagg created the fictional sleuth Thornley Colton, known as Problemist, the genre's first blind detective living in New York City in the early 20th century. The independently wealthy Colton relies on his intelligence and superb senses, honed due to his blindness, and takes only the most difficult cases for the sheer pleasure of solving mysteries, often clashing with the NYPD along the way.
The Problemist series includes 8 short stories and the novel Silver Sandals. The short stories were published in Thornley Colton, Blind Reader of Hearts Stagg also authored the novel High Speed
Stagg was employed by a newspaper in Newark, New Jersey, wrote numerous short stories and magazine articles, and later became a screenwriter of 'photoplays' during Hollywood's early era.

Career as a screenwriter

In Hollywood, Stagg was employed by the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation and the Thanhouser Company.
Stagg's filmography includes:
1916 A Gutter Magdalene
1916 The Carriage of Death
1916 The Race
1916 The Fifth Ace
1916 The Whispered Word
1916 The Reunion
1916 The Spirit of the Game
1916 The Knotted Cord
1916 The Burglars' Picnic
1916 In the Name of the Law
Two of Stagg's works, the novel High Speed and his short story "Teeth", were dramatized after his death in the films High Speed and the Tom Mix vehicle Teeth.

Death

Stagg was killed along with his friend, writer Malcolm Strong, when the automobile he was driving overturned on a rural road in Santa Monica, California, near Los Angeles. According to The [New York Times] of May 5, 1916: "The loss of a front tire caused the accident. The automobile ran into a pole and overturned, pinning Strong and Stagg under it." Stagg's friend, Thanhouser director George Foster Platt, was hospitalized after the wreck, but survived.