What Makes Sammy Run? by Budd Schulberg was first published in 1941. Set in the mid to late 1930s, it follows the rise of the ruthless and clever Sammy Glick through Hollywood. Schulberg was himself a screenwriter, and was the son of a powerful Hollywood producer. Written as an analysis of the power-hungry nature of many Hollywood executives, Schulberg faced a significant amount of pushback against the novel both before and after it was published. Though Schulberg himself was Jewish, many accused him of antisemitism due to the ruthless Sammy being Jewish. Schulberg argued against this criticism, citing the fact that the majority of his characters (and the majority of Sammy’s victims) were also Jewish, and that Sammy was not a one note caricature, but a complex psychological study.

This study guide uses the 1941 Random House edition.

Content Warning: This book contains instances of sexist, racist, and ableist language and attitudes typical to the period. There are also discussions of antisemitism and the rise of fascism in the lead up to World War II.

Plot Summary

The novel’s narrator, Al Manheim, is working as a Broadway reviewer at a New York newspaper when Sammy Glick is hired as the new copy clerk. Al immediately notices that Sammy is always “running,” and that he treats life like a race. As Al gets to know Sammy better, he realizes just how ruthless Sammy is, as Sammy takes advantage of a mistake Al makes to get himself ahead in the paper, damaging Al’s professional reputation in the process.

Eventually, through various machinations, Sammy is able to secure a job as the radio column writer for the paper. This leads a young man, Julian Blumberg, to bring a script he has written to Sammy to ask for his advice on how to get it on the radio. Sammy takes the script and sells it to a Hollywood agent under his own name, launching his career as a screenwriter. Al also ends up in Hollywood, having himself been offered a job as a screenwriter. Upon his arrival, he sees that Sammy has continued his relentless race to the top and that he has already entrenched himself in the height of Hollywood society.

Through Sammy, Al meets another screenwriter named Kit Sargent. Kit has Al’s humanitarian instinct combined with Sammy’s skill at political maneuvering. She and Al become friends, and together they witness Sammy’s many schemes, such as securing a lucrative deal by inventing a movie on the spot out of pieces of others’ works. Sammy continues to act without regard for the lives of others. He abandoned his girlfriend in New York, and makes no provision for the real writer of his movie, Julian Blumberg, until he needs a ghostwriter again.

When Julian’s first screenplay premieres, it has only Sammy’s name on it. Julian turns to Al for help, and Al is horrified by how Sammy has strung Julian along. He vows to help him. Sammy ignores Al’s entreaties, and it is only by appealing to Kit for help that Al is able to help Julian Blumberg get out from under Sammy.

Kit is very involved in the running of the new Screen Writers Guild, a union meant to protect writers from exploitation by the studios. Both Al and Sammy join, though Al can’t understand why Sammy would join as he doesn’t care about others. During this time, Kit and Al grow closer, and Al realizes he is falling in love with her. Sammy continues his rise through Hollywood, getting success by stealing others’ work and relentlessly cultivating his own public image. Kit gets Al a job at the same studio she and Sammy work for, writing a political movie under the artistic guidance of producer Sidney Fineman, whom Al greatly admires.

As tensions come to a head with the Screen Writers Guild, Sammy becomes a part of a coalition of highly paid writers that sinks the Guild’s ability to be recognized by the studios. In the aftermath, all writers are asked to submit their resignation from the Guild. Al, horrified by Sammy’s actions, is unable to bring himself to sign his resignation and is subsequently fired. Kit and Julian also refuse to resign. Al is barred from working for the studios and must return to New York. Before he leaves, he and Kit admit their feelings for one another, but acknowledge that their relationship will not work with Al in New York.

In New York, Al returns to his newspaper work, but he can’t shake his fascination with Sammy’s nature. He travels to the Lower East Side neighborhood where Sammy grew up, Rivington Street, where he learns from Sammy’s brother, former teacher, and former classmate, of the poverty and privations Sammy dealt with. He realizes that Sammy’s childhood has had a significant role in developing his egocentric worldview. Sammy himself returns to New York for a business meeting. He has been made a producer, and he offers to hire Al to write for him. Al is both a talented writer and relatively unknown—an ideal combination from Sammy’s point of view, since it will therefore be easy to take credit for his work. Desperate to return to Hollywood and Kit, Al agrees.

Back in Hollywood, Sammy continues to orchestrate his rise through the ranks, now having his sights set on Sidney Fineman’s job as head of the studio. He plans to influence the shareholders’ opinion when they come to visit the studio. At the party he throws for them, he meets the head shareholder’s daughter, Laurette Harrington. He immediately falls in love with her, finding her wealth, beauty, and social status irresistible. Within a few months, Laurette and Sammy are engaged, and Sammy has Fineman’s job.

Al and Kit attend Sammy and Laurette’s wedding, leaving early to avoid the spectacle. While driving down the coast afterward, they stop at an amusement park. While riding the rollercoaster, Kit agrees to marry Al. Later that evening while having a drink together at Kit’s home, Sammy calls and asks Al to come over. When Al arrives, he finds out that Laurette cheated on Sammy at the reception and, when Sammy confronted her about it, said that she sees the marriage as purely a business arrangement. Though Sammy is crushed, he quickly recovers, refusing to leave the marriage due to its business value, instead sending his assistant to pick up a sex worker for him. Al leaves, realizing that the punishment Sammy faces for his behavior is a life alone.