Eric S. Hatch (1902-1973) was kicked out of various schools, worked for Fisk & Hatch on Wall Street and found out he could write. He was The New Yorker's first sports columnist, covering steeplechase, polo and sailing. Hatch published his first novel at age 22. My Man Godfrey evolved from novella to novel to movie script between 1933 and 1936. He wrote short stories, serials and articles for Liberty, Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post, etc. In WWII, he served as a civilian in psychological warfare, equivalent rank of lieutenant colonel, and served with Patton. He then returned to the United States, broke and with a new wife, Constance deBoer Hatch, and new baby, Eric K. Hatch. He proceeded to write for early TV (Lux Video Theatre, Hallmark Hall of Fame, etc.). Feeling burned out, he moved to Haiti and the Virgin Islands. Living there from 1948 to 1950, he sought inspiration and cash, of which he found neither. In 1954, he bought a bankrupt daytime radio station in Connecticut, where he resumed writing. In the 1960s, Hatch wrote four successful novels, resumed his interest in horses and became an internationally known horse show judge. He founded a private horse-drawn artillery regiment known as the First Litchfield Artillery Regiment. Hatch also became the Connecticut state historical commissioner and was active in state politics. He died in 1973, three weeks after judging his last horse show.
