Max Ehrlich, the son of Simon and Sarah Ehrlich, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on October 10, 1909. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Michigan in 1933. While in college he worked as a correspondent for the Albany, New York, Knickerbocker Press and Evening News. After graduating, he worked as a feature writer for the Springfield, Massachusetts, Republican and Daily News. From 1938 to 1939 he was the chief writer of the script division of WSPR in Springfield. Mr. Ehrlich worked in the script division of the American Jewish Committee from 1939 to 1941, and from 1941 to 1945 he was the assistant script director of the radio division of the American Red Cross.
Since 1945, Mr. Ehrlich has been a free-lance novelist, playwright, and television dramatist. He has written radio scripts for such series as The Big Story, The Shadow, Big Town, and Mr. and Mrs. North. He has written special shows for organizations such as the American Red Cross and the Boy's Club of America and for stars such as Edward G. Robinson, Helen Hayes, and Ralph Bellamy. He has also adapted many novels, plays, and short stories for radio. His television work includes scripts for the series Barney Blake, The Big Story, The Defenders, The Nurses, and the U.S. Steel Theatre Guild.
Mr. Ehrlich has written two plays, Man in Command and A Shred of Evidence, and five novels: The Big Eye, Spin the Glass Web, The Takers, First Train to Babylon, and Deep Is the Blue, of which Spin the Glass Web and First Train to Babylon (retitled The Naked Edge) were made into motion pictures.
Mr. Ehrlich received a Writers War Board Award in 1944 and a Huntington Hartford Foundation Fellowship in 1963 for his work. He now lives in Goodhill, Connecticut. He is married and has two daughters.
