A prolific writer of satirical humor, Max Shulman was born in St.Paul, Minnesota, USA, the son of a Russian immigrant house painter, and began his writing career for the college humor magazine at the University of Minnesota. His work there came to the notice of a Doubleday editor, who encouraged the student to turn his best work into a novel, "Barefoot Boy With Cheek", which became a best-seller in 1943. After graduation, Shulman served in the US Army Air Corps, during which time he wrote two more novels, "The Feather Merchants", a comic novel about military life, and "The Zebra Derby", published after the war. After returning to civilian life, Shulman became a full-time writer, turning out a large quantity of novels, short stories, stage and screenplays and television scripts over the next four decades.