Aben Kandel (August 15, 1897 – January 28, 1993) was an American screenwriter, novelist, and boxer. He was screenwriter on such classicB movies asI Was A Teenage Werewolf,Joan Crawford's final movieTrog, and one ofLeonard Nimoy's first starring vehicles,Kid Monk Baroni. He is the father of poetLenore Kandel and screenwriterStephen Kandel.

Born inBerlad,Romania, Kandel came to the United States as a child and was educated atNew York University and its law school. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I and later enlisted in theUnited States Coast and Geodetic Survey.^[1]

He began writing novels in 1927 and wrote two hit playsHot Money (1931) that was filmed asHigh Pressure (1932) andHot Money (1936), and translated a German playDie Wunderbar by Geza Herczeg andKarl Farkas together withIrving Caesar where the pair added their own songs calling atThe Wonder Bar that was acquired byAl Jolson andfilmed in 1934.^[2] One of Kandel's unpublished short storiesSo, You Won't Sing, Eh? was filmed asSing and Like It (1934). Kandel began writing Hollywood stories and screenplays withManhattan Moon (1935). His novelCity for Conquest (1936), based on some of his experiences as a boxer was made into aJames Cagneyfeature in 1940.

Kandel began writing for American television in 1950 whilst continuing to write screenplays and novels.

In 1957 he began writing several lurid screenplays for producerHerman Cohen, for whom he had writtenKid Monk Baroni. Cohen and Kandel collaborated on such classic films such asI Was a Teenage Werewolf,I Was a Teenage Frankenstein,Blood of Dracula (all 1957),How to Make a Monster (1958),Horrors of the Black Museum andThe Headless Ghost (both 1959),Konga (1961),Black Zoo, (1963),Berserk! (1967, that he also co-produced),Trog (1970), andCraze (1974). As Kandel was involved in writing prestigious film scripts for major film studies such asMGM andWarner Bros. he used pseudonyms such as Ralph Thornton and Kenneth Langtry.^[3]

Kandel had two children, a son,Stephen and daughter,Lenore. He died of heart failure at theMotion Picture and Television Hospital in 1993, at age 95.^[4]

• Vaudeville (1927)
• Black Sun (1929)
• Ex-Baby (1930)
• Rabbi Burns (1931)
• City of Conquest (1936)

• N.Y. Times obituary: "Aben Kandel, Screenwriter, 96"
• Aben Kandel atIMDb

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