Henry Slesar

Henry Slesar (June 12, 1927 - April 2, 2002) was an American author, playwright and copywriter. He was also known as O. H. Leslie and Jay Street. He was born as Henry Slesar in Brooklyn, New York City. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, he had two sisters Doris and Lillian. After graduating from high school, he started his career as a copywriter. Around 1955, he started to write short stories. While working as a copywriter, he publi... more

Henry Slesar (June 12, 1927 - April 2, 2002) was an American author, playwright and copywriter. He was also known as O. H. Leslie and Jay Street. He was born as Henry Slesar in Brooklyn, New York City. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, he had two sisters Doris and Lillian. After graduating from high school, he started his career as a copywriter. Around 1955, he started to write short stories. While working as a copywriter, he published hundreds of short stories, including detective fiction, science fiction, criminal stories, mysteries and thrillers on Playboy, Imaginative Tales and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Alfred Hitchcock hired him to write a number of the scenarios for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He came up with the term "coffee break," he was also the person behind McGraw-Hill's massively popular "The Man in the Chair" advertising campaign From 1957 to 1962, he wrote the Ruby Martinson series, and later worked on Rod Serling's Twilight Zone series. The... less