George S. Kaufman: Difference between revisions

{{short description|American playwright, theater director and producer (1889–1961)}}

Kaufman's [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] debut was September 4, 1918, at the [[Knickerbocker Theatre (Broadway)|Knickerbocker Theatre]], with the premiere of the melodrama ''Someone in the House''.<ref>{{cite news |title= The September Line-up | url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F5071FFE3F5D147A93C7AB1783D85F4C8185F9 | date=August 25, 1918 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | access-date=November 13, 2010}} (abstract) {{subscription required}}</ref><ref name=ibdb/> He coauthored the play with Walter C. Percival, based on a magazine story written by Larry Evans.<ref>{{cite journal | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_J_NAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA370 | title= The Stage | pages=356–371 | issue= 2 | volume= LXV | journal= [[Munsey's Magazine]] |date=November 1918 | first = Matthew Jr. | last= White | access-date=October 20, 2011 | location=New York | publisher= F.A. Munsey & Co.}}</ref> The play opened on Broadway (running for only 32 performances) during [[1918 flu pandemic|that year's serious flu epidemic]], when people were being advised to avoid crowds. With "dour glee", Kaufman suggested that the best way to avoid crowds in New York City was to attend his play.<ref name="time61obit">{{cite news |url= http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,938133,00.html |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130204134038/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,938133,00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= February 4, 2013 | title= Broadway: One Man's Mede | date= June 9, 1961 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | access-date=November 13, 2010}}</ref>

Every Broadway season from 1921 through 1958 had a play written or directed by Kaufman. Since Kaufman's death in 1961,<ref name="time61obit"/> revivals of his work on Broadway were produced in the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s, the 2000s, and the 2010s.<ref name=ibdb>[http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=5827 "George S. Kaufman"]. Internet Broadway Database (ibdb.com). Retrieved November 13, 2010.</ref> Kaufman wrote only one play alone, ''[[The Butter and Egg Man]]'' in 1925.<ref>Londré, Felicia Hardison (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Jldiza39QrcC&pg=PA47 ''Words at Play:Creative Writing and Dramaturgy'']. SIU Press, {{ISBN|0-8093-2679-5}}, p. 47.</ref> With [[Marc Connelly]], he wrote ''[[Merton of the Movies (play)|Merton of the Movies]]'', ''Dulcy'', and ''[[Beggar on Horseback]]''; with [[Ring Lardner]], he wrote ''[[June Moon]]''; with [[Edna Ferber]], he wrote ''[[The Royal Family (play)|The Royal Family]]'', ''[[Dinner at Eight (play)|Dinner at Eight]]'', and ''[[Stage Door (play)|Stage Door]]''; with [[John P. Marquand]], he wrote a stage adaptation of Marquand's novel ''[[The Late George Apley]]''; and with [[Howard Teichmann]], he wrote ''[[The Solid Gold Cadillac]]''. According to his biography on PBS, "he wrote some of the American theater's most enduring comedies" with [[Moss Hart]].<ref>Larkin, Colin, ed. (2004). [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/kaufman_g.html "Stars Over Broadway: Biography, Excerpted from the Encyclopedia of Popular Music"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114071807/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/kaufman_g.html |date=November 14, 2011 }}. pbs.org. Retrieved November 13, 2010.</ref> Their work includes ''[[Once in a Lifetime (play)|Once in a Lifetime]]'' (in which he also performed), ''[[Merrily We Roll Along (play)|Merrily We Roll Along]]'', ''[[The Man Who Came to Dinner]]'', and ''[[You Can't Take It with You (play)|You Can't Take It with You]]'', which won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] in 1937.<ref name=pulitzer>[http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Drama "The Pulitzer Prizes, Drama"]. pulitzer.org. Retrieved March 6, 2011.</ref>

For a period, Kaufman lived at 158 West 58th Street in New York City. The building later was the setting for ''Stage Door''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Teichmann | first=Howard | title=George S. Kaufman; An Intimate Portrait | url=https://archive.org/details/georgeskaufmanin00teicrich | url-access=registration | location=New York | publisher=Atheneum | year=1972 | oclc=400765}}</ref> It is now the Park Savoy Hotel, and for many years was considered a [[single room occupancy]] hotel.<ref>{{cite news |author=Okane, Laurence | title=Adjunct Garages Irk City Planners; Loophole in Zoning Permits All Comers to Use Space | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/01/24/archives/adjunct-garages-irk-city-planners-loophole-in-zoning-permits-all.html | work=The New York Times | date= January 24, 1965| access-date=October 13, 2008}} (abstract) {{subscription required}}</ref>

While ''The Cocoanuts'' was being developed in Atlantic City, Irving Berlin was hugely enthusiastic about including the song "[[Always (1925 song)|Always]]", which he had written as a wedding present for his bride.{{efn|1=Both Kaufman and Marx describe the song as having been written expressly for the show,<ref name="Kaufman site">{{Cite web |url=http://www.georgeskaufman.com/play-catalogue/16-play-catalogue/critics-choice/80-the-cocoanuts-1925.html |title=The Cocoanuts (1925) |last1=Schneider |first1=Anne Kaufman |last2=Maslon |first2=Laurence |author-link2=Laurence Maslon |year=2013 |website=George S. Kaufman website |access-date=May 17, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://thelifeandtimesofhollywood.com/irving-berlins-always-that-groucho-complained-was-for-the-marx-brothers-play-the-cocoanuts/ |title=Irving Berlin's 'Always' That Groucho Complained was for the Marx Brothers play 'The Cocoanuts.' |date=June 29, 2017 |website=The Life and Times of Hollywood |access-date=May 17, 2019 |archive-date=May 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517164818/https://thelifeandtimesofhollywood.com/irving-berlins-always-that-groucho-complained-was-for-the-marx-brothers-play-the-cocoanuts/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> but it had been registered with the [[National Music Publishers Association|Music Publishers' Protective Association]] in May 1925, before Berlin started working on ''The Cocoanuts''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ArxJGmmIQR8C&pg=PA228 |title=The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin |last1=Kimball |first1=Robert |last2=Emmet |first2=Linda |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |year=2005 |isbn=9781557836816 |pages=228}}</ref> "Always" was eventually restored to the score in a 1996 revival.<ref name="Kaufman site"/>}} Kaufman was less enthusiastic, and refused to rework the libretto to include this number. The song ultimately became a huge hit for Berlin, recorded by many popular performers. According to Laurence Bergreen, "Kaufman's lack of enthusiasm caused Irving to lose confidence in the song, and 'Always' was deleted from the score of ''The Cocoanuts'' – though not from its creator's memory.&nbsp;... Kaufman, a confirmed misogynist, had had no use for the song in ''The Cocoanuts'', but his disapproval did not deter Berlin from saving it for a more important occasion."<ref>Bergreen, Laurence (1996). ''As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin'', Da Capo Press, {{ISBN|0-306-80675-4}}, pp. 249, 264.</ref> ''The Cocoanuts'' would remain Irving Berlin's only Broadway musical – until his last one, ''[[Mr. President (musical)|Mr. President]]'' – that did not include at least one eventual hit song.

Called "Public Lover Number One", he "dated someseveral of the most beautifulprominent womenactresses on Broadway".<ref name=wallace174>Wallace 2008, p. 174.</ref> Kaufman found himself in the center of a scandal in 1936 when, in the midst of a child custody suit, the former husband of actress [[Mary Astor]] threatened to publish one of Astor's diaries purportedly containing extremely explicit details of an affair between Kaufman and the actress.<ref name=wallace174/> The diary was eventually destroyed by the court, unread, in 1952, but details of the supposed contents were published in ''[[Confidential (magazine)|Confidential]]'' magazine, ''[[Hollywood Babylon]]'' by [[Kenneth Anger]] (both always have been considered unreliable sources)<ref>[https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2007/08/confidential--1.html ''Los Angeles Times'' piece about unreliability of ''Confidential'' magazine]</ref><ref>[http://thepurplediaries.com/2017/03/29/kenneth-angers-hollywood-babylon-fiction-verses-fact/ RS explains unreliability of Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon]</ref> and in various other questionable publications. Some of the sexually explicit portions of Mary Astor’sAstor's writing about Kaufman were reprinted in ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine in 2012 and ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' magazine in 2016.<ref name=NYmag>{{cite journal|title=Mary Astor Blushes When Her Filthy Diary Leaks|journal=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|date=April 9, 2012|page=44|url=http://nymag.com/news/features/scandals/mary-astor-2012-4|access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/09/inside-the-trial-of-actress-mary-astor-hollywoods-juiciest-sex-scandal|title=Inside the Trial of Actress Mary Astor, Old Hollywood's Juiciest Sex Scandal|last=Sorel|first=Edward|author-link=Edward Sorel|journal=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=October 2016 |access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref> Kaufman had an affair with actress [[Natalie Schafer]] during the 1940s.<ref>{{cite news |last=Brozan |first=Nadine |date=February 13, 1995 |title=Chronicle |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/13/nyregion/chronicle-058495.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 14, 2018 }}</ref>

*[http://arcat.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=678/ George S. Kaufman Papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.istoday/20131210040651/http://arcat.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=678/ |date=December 10, 2013 }} at the [[Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research]]

[[Category:ContractAmerican contract bridge writers]]