Rob Wagner moved to Santa Barbara from Detroit in 1906. He settled in Los Angeles about 1909. His first scenario for a film, "The Artist's Sons," was produced by Selig Studios in 1911. Between 1915 and 1918 he wrote a series of articles on the film industry for the Saturday Evening Post. Wagner was Charlie Chaplin's publicity man and confidant for many years. He was a director of Will Rogers film shorts. He was founder, editor and publisher of Rob Wagner's Script, a literary magazine for the film community. The magazine was published from 1929 to 1949.
Rob Wagners documentary film, "Our Wonderful Schools" , won a bronze medal at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition fair in San Francisco.
A committed Socialist, Rob Wagner served as an editor of the Los Angeles-based The Western Comrade magazine from 1913-1914 and contributor to many leftist publications. He was also active in Upton Sinclairs campaign for Califormia governor in 1934. During World War I he was called before a federal grand jury on suspicion of sedition for his outspoken support of Socialist and Bolshevik activists.
The subject of the book "Hollywood Bohemia: The Roots of Progressive Politics in Rob Wagners Script.".
While accompanying Charlie Chaplin on a Liberty Bond tour in April 1918, the U.S. Justice Department and War Department kept Wagner under 24-hour surveillance as a suspected German agent because of his alleged pro-German statements and activities as a militant Socialist.
Cousin of actor Henry Travers (1874-1965).
Cousin of actor Max Wagner , cinematographer Blake Wagner , screenwriter Jack Wagner and cameraman Robert H. Wagner.
