Samuel and Bella Spewack were historians, reporters, novelists, screenwriters, social philanthropists, and dramatists. Their works crossed genres, altered literary expectations, and on occasion mapped out new areas in American literature by combining elements of their disparate interests into a single work. They were never afraid to branch out in new directions, nor were critical responses as important to them as the conviction of the worth of an idea. This characteristic held true for both, even before they married and began collaborating. Particularly in the field of drama, the Spewacks pushed accepted limits by including protofeminist themes and mixing styles within the same piece, as well as including simultaneously realistic and cynical portraits of many of their characters.

Bella Cohen was born on 25 March 1899 in the Transylvania region of what is now Romania to Adolph Loebel and Fanny Cohen Loebel. Two weeks after Bella's birth, her father abandoned the...