Dwight V. Babcock

Dwight Vincent Babcock, notable for his scripting of low-budget horror movies for the major studios' B-units, began his writing career in the dime pulps. He contributed sporadically for Black Mask (edited by the legendary Joe "Cap" Shaw, who later became Babcock's agent) in the 1930s before succumbing to the allure and relative financial stability of Hollywood. Knopf Publishing released three of his mildly successful novels during the 1940s, but Babcock steadfastly rebuffed a career as a novelist. After a distinguished screen writing career mostly spent in the B-movie horror genre, Babcock took to television in earnest, hammering out scores of scripts for Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems division, which dominated the CBS programming landscape in the early 1960s. The prolific Babcock died at age 70 in 1979.