Arnold Perl, the son of Louis and Ida Perl, was born in New York City on April 14, 1914. He received degrees from the College of the City of New York in 1934 and New York University Law School in 1936. Perl married Nancy Reals Perl; they were the parents of three daughters.
In 1952 Perl adapted and co-produced The World of Sholom Aleichem. His associate in this production company, Rachel Productions, was Howard Da Silva, who also directed the play. Later they joined with Sanford Friedman and Myron Weinberg to form Banner Productions. This company operated Carnegie Hall Playhouse during the late 1950's, simultaneously staging several productions in an attempt to develop that off-Broadway theater as a theatrical center. The first production of Banner Productions was Tevya and His Daughters, also adapted by Perl from the stories of Sholom Aleichem.
Perl's work appeared in Best One Act Plays of 1955 and Best One Act Plays of 1959, and in Best TV Plays of 1950 and Best TV Plays of 1951. While working as the executive producer of East Side, West Side in 1963-1964 he wrote “Who Do You Kill?.” The script was nominated for the Peabody Award and for an Emmy Award, and it received a congressional citation from Senator Jacob Javits and the Capital Press Club Award as the outstanding television contribution to inter-racial understanding in 1964. Perl also wrote radio scripts for The Eternal Light, Big Story, and for CBS documentaries,and television scripts for Naked City, The Nurses, and Eleventh Hour. In 1964 he produced the pilot for The Reporters.
