West was a poor student and dropped out of high school, but later studied at Tufts University (on forged transcripts) and Boston University where he eventually received a degree. After a short period visiting Paris, he returned to America, changed his name to West from Weinstein, and began a series of odd jobs which included night manager of an hotel, the experiences of which he would later use extensively in his works. In 1931, he published his first novel,The Dream Life of Balso Snell, which was not successful. He worked as a journalist for a number of magazines before producing Miss Lonely Hearts in 1933. The novel was critically acclaimed and later made into a film, but the book sales were poor. That year he went to Hollywood to work on the screenplay and in 1935, moved to Hollywood permanently. West worked on numerous screenplays while continuing to produce his novels, the most successful of which was The Day of the Locust (1939), one of the best novels written about Hollywood. West married Eileen McKenney in early 1940, but in December of that year, returning from a trip to Mexico, they were both killed in an automobile accident. Eileen's sister, Ruth, would later publish My Sister Eileen. In addition to numerous screenplays and some short stories, West's other novel was A Cool Million (1934). He also collaborated with S. J. Perleman on the play Even Stephen in 1934 and with Joseph Schrank on Good Hunting in 1938. |
