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Milton Michael Raison was a prolific screenwriter, author, and poet who emigrated to the U.S. at age three with his parents, Lazarus ("Louis") and Rachel Kagan, in 1906. The family name evolved from Kagan to Raisen, then to Raison after settling in New York City. His sister Beatrice (Borkum) was born in 1909.
He graduated with honors from public school but was rebellious during his second year at Stuyvesant High School, eventually leading to his expulsion. Inspired by Jack London, Joseph Conrad, and William McFee, he pursued his passion for writing and the sea, falsifying his age to work as a mess boy on several voyages. Upon returning to New York, he took a job as a press agent for chorus girls.
At nineteen, he published an anthology of four poems titled "Sea Moods and Sea Men." Between sailing trips, he sought newspaper work and wrote book reviews and seafaring articles. His poetry appeared in the New York Herald Tribune, New York Evening Post, Vanity Fair, Scribner's, Harper's, Bookman, and The Saturday Review of Literature. His poems in Century Magazine were accompanied by etched illustrations by John Sloan.
Through the American Merchant Marine Library Association, he placed books aboard ships for crews.
Encouraged by John Farrar, he authored his sea diary "Spindrift," published in 1922 with illustrations by John Sloan. By the late 1920s, he worked as a publicity writer and agent for several Broadway producers and co-produced "Shoot The Works" with Heywood Broun in 1931. During these lean years for authors, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer invited him among other writers to develop screenplays.
He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1942 to 1944, attaining the rank of staff sergeant and writing fifteen-minute radio and film scripts aimed at boosting morale.
His radio and film scripts spanned mystery, action, drama, romance, Westerns, and thrillers genres. In television, he became a staff writer and story consultant on multiple series.
He was briefly married to Ruth W. in 1922, who accused her nineteen-year-old poet husband of indiscretion at the Hotel Claridge. He later married Dorothy Krampff in 1943, possibly during military leave; they divorced in 1949. In the early 1940s, he may have fathered two daughters—one with Dorothy and another the year before with a secretary.
His Tony Woolrich series novels achieved success, including "Nobody Loves a Dead Man" (1945), which received positive reviews in the U.S. and U.K. Other titles were "No Weeds for The Widow" (1946), "Murder In a Lighter Vein" (1947) (also published in Italy), and "The Gay Mortician." "Phantom of 42nd Street," co-authored with Jack Harvey, was adapted into a film. "Tunnel 13" (1948) was among his final novels.
In 1950, he married Geraldine Audinet and had a son, Jonathan (1950–1993), and a stepson, Patrick (born 1942). This period marked a productive phase in his television career, contributing scripts to successful series such as "The Millionaire," "Stories of the Century," "The Roy Rogers Show," and "The Adventures of Kit Carson," alongside numerous episodes for other shows.
He resided in the San Fernando Valley until life’s pressures contributed to health issues and alcohol use, leading to a divorce in 1955. During this time, he won an Emmy for an episode of "Stories of the Century." He worked with the Reece Halsey Agency for many years and remained close friends with Dorris after Reece's passing. Both men donated their collections to the University of Wyoming in Laramie.
Mike Raison continued writing television scripts into the 1960s and developed movie concepts, including "The Forgotten Front" in 1956 with Luigi Barzini, though it was not optioned by MGM.
He relocated to North Hollywood, married Johanna Rabus in 1956, and lived there until his death.
Mike Raison is remembered for his extensive television scripts and passion for storytelling. He possessed a poet’s soul and an artist’s ear and was known as a skilled cook and gentle storyteller.
