Charles Tazewell was born in 1900 in
Des Moines, Iowa, and began acting while still in high school.
Theater In 1923, he had a small part in the
Theatre Guild's
Peer Gynt at the
Garrick Theatre. In 1924, he appeared in the Guild's production of
Ernst Toller's
Man and the Masses. Later that year, he was in
Sidney Howard's
They Knew What They Wanted. The play premiered on November 24, 1924, and closed in October 1925, after 192 performances. He followed this the following year with Howard's
Lucky Sam McCarver. In 1931, he wrote the book for the short-lived musical
Sugar Hill.
Writing During the 30s, Tazewell wrote scripts for radio programs, including
Downbeat on Murder for the
Columbia Workshop. It was broadcast on
CBS on June 6, 1937. An experimental series, in Tazewell's play, voices changed into musical notes. He also worked in television, scripting special material for
Tennessee Ernie Ford. Tazewell is perhaps best known for the classic Christmas story
The Littlest Angel. In 1939 he wrote an unproduced radio script, which was published in book form in 1945 and became one of the best-selling children's books of all time. It was republished multiple times, and at the time of his death in 1972
The Littlest Angel was in its 38th printing. It was adapted several times for film and radio, most notably as a musical TV drama for the
Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1969. The heartwarming tale, written in just three days, is about a small boy's adjustment to being an angel in heaven and his gift to the holy infant. The beloved and enduring Christmas story has been reprinted countless times and translated into many languages. He wrote other children's books including
The Small One, which
The Walt Disney Company adapted into the
animated short of the same name in 1978, six years after his death. His book
The Littlest Snowman was also adapted into a film as a segment of
Christmas Fairy Tale (12 minutes). Previously, a shorter adaptation narrated by
Bob Keeshan had been annually shown on the CBS children's daytime television show
Captain Kangaroo.
The Littlest Snowman won the Thomas A. Edison Prize for the best children's story of 1956. They lived in Los Angeles before later moving to
Chesterfield, New Hampshire. Tazewell was a founder of the Brattleboro Little Theater in nearby
Brattleboro, Vermont. His grave can be found at Lindenwood Cemetery,
Stoneham, Massachusetts. ==Works==