Cosmo Hamilton (29 April 1870 – 14 October 1942), born Henry Charles[1] Hamilton Gibbs, was an English playwright and novelist. He was the brother of writers Arthur Hamilton Gibbs, Francis William Hamilton Gibbs, Helen Katherine Hamilton Gibbs and Sir Philip Gibbs.
Hamilton was born in Norwood. He took his mother's maiden name when he began to write. Hamilton was married twice: first to Beryl Faber, née Crossley Smith, who died in 1912. (She was the sister of actor C. Aubrey Smith.) Hamilton then married Julia Bolton, the former wife of playwright Guy Bolton.[citation needed]
His London musicals include The Catch of the Season (1904), The Belle of Mayfair (1906), The Beauty of Bath (1906). During the First World War Hamilton was a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Air Service. He later wrote a number of Broadway shows and many screenplays, and his novels were the basis for several films.[2]
In her April 1922 theater column, Dorothy Parker's review of Hamilton's Broadway play Danger remarked on the salacious content of Hamilton's plays: "There can longer be any doubt that it was from Cosmo Hamilton that the cosmic urge derived its name. Not even his own press agent could claim for Mr. Hamilton that it was he who conceived the notion of sex, but certainly he has given most of his life to capitalizing the idea. It has often been observed that if there were no such thing as sex, everything would be a lot better off. But then we must remember before we agree with the statement that were there no such thing, Mr. Hamilton would have nothing to write about."[3]
Hamilton died, aged 72, in Guildford, England.[4]
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Hamilton wrote dozens of novels, averaging a novel per year most of his adult life. His novels include:
Hamilton's Broadway productions include:
