Harry Behn

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Harry Behn
Behn, c. 1970
Born	(1898-09-24)September 24, 1898 McCabe, Arizona, United States
Died	September 6, 1973(1973-09-06) (aged 74) Seville, Spain
Alma mater	Harvard University
Spouse	Alice Lawrence ​ (m. 1905)​
Children	3

Harry Behn (September 24, 1898 – September 6, 1973) was an American former screenwriter.

He was involved in writing scenes and continuities for a number of screenplays, including the war film The Big Parade in 1925, and Hell's Angels. He graduated from Harvard University in 1922. Behn retired from screenwriting in the 1930s; he worked as a creative writing professor at the University of Arizona from 1938 to 1947 and co-founded the University of Arizona Press; he would later move to Connecticut and transition to children's literature. He died in Seville in 1973 during a trip.^[1][2] His son, Peter Behn was cast as young Thumper in the film Bambi.^[3]

Filmography[edit]

• The Big Parade (1925)
• Proud Flesh (1925), with Agnes Christine Johnson
• La Bohème (1926), with Ray Doyle
• The Crowd (1928), with King Vidor and John V.A. Weaver
• The Racket (1928), with Del Andrews
• Frozen River (1929)
• Sin Sister (1929), with Andrew Bennison
• Hell's Angels (1930), with Howard Estabrook
• Secret of the Chateau (1934), with Richard Thorpe

Bibliography[edit]

• Siesta (poetry), Golden Bough, 1937
• All Kinds of Time, Harcourt, 1950.
• Rhymes of the Times, under the pen name Jim Hill, published privately, 1950.
• Windy Morning, Harcourt, 1953.
• The House beyond the Meadow, Pantheon, 1955.
• The Wizard in the Well, Harcourt, 1956.
• Chinese Proverbs from Olden Times, Peter Pauper, 1956.
• (Translator and illustrator) Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies, Peter Pauper, 1957.
• The Painted Cave, Harcourt, 1957.
• Timmy's Search, Seabury, 1958.
• The Two Uncles of Pablo, Harcourt, 1959.

• (Translator) 300 Classic Haiku, Peter Pauper, 1962.
• (Translator, along with Peter Beilenson) Haiku Harvest: Japanese haiku. Series IV, Peter Pauper, 1962.
• The Faraway Lurs, World Publishing, 1963.
• (Translator) Cricket Songs: Japanese haiku, Harcourt, 1964.
• Omen of the Birds, World Publishing, 1964.
• The Golden Hive, Harcourt, 1957–1966.
• Chrysalis: Concerning Children and Poetry, Harcourt, 1949–1968.
• What a Beautiful Noise, World Publishing, 1970.
• (Translator) More Cricket Songs: Japanese haiku, Harcourt, 1971.
• Crickets and Bullfrogs and Whispers of Thunder: Poems and Pictures, edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Harcourt, 1949–1984.
• Trees: A Poem, illustrated by James Endicott, H. Holt (New York, NY), 1992.
• Halloween, illustrated by Greg Couch, North-South (New York, NY), 2003.
• The kite (Missing date).

Behn's translations of haiku provided the texts for two works by Norman Dinerstein:

• Cricket Songs for unison children's chorus and piano (1967)^[4]
• Frogs for SATB chorus (1977)^[5]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Book Poems: Poems from National Children's Book Week 1959–1998, page 26. Children's Book Council, 1998.
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2003.
Rememberings, by Alice Lawrence Behn Goebel, edited by Pamela Behn Adam. Published privately, 1983[?].
St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th ed. St. James Press, 1999.
HARRY BEHN DEAD; AN EARLY SCENARIST (obituary on page 38 of the New York Times, Monday, September 10, 1973)

External links[edit]

• Guide to the Harry Behn papers at the University of Oregon