What Makes Sammy Run? (1941) is a novel by
Budd Schulberg inspired by the life of his father, early Hollywood mogul
B. P. Schulberg. It is a
rags to riches story chronicling the rise and fall of Sammy Glick, a Jewish boy born in New York's
Lower East Side who, very early in his life, makes up his mind to escape the
ghetto and climb the ladder of success by deception and betrayal. It was later made into a long-running
Broadway musical.