George Simon Kaufman

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George Simon Kaufman

George Simon Kaufman , mostly George S. Kaufman , (born November 16, 1889 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , † June 2, 1961 in New York City , New York ) was an American playwright and screenwriter .

Life

Kaufman started out as a reporter and critic for the New York Times . He also tried his hand at books for plays . In 1918 he made his Broadway debut with Someone in the House , which he wrote with Larry Evans and WC Percival . From his second play Dulcy , a piece appeared there between 1921 and 1958 (Romanoff and Juliet) every year that he had either written or produced. After his death, 16 additional pieces from his estate were performed there between 1966 and 2003.

In 1917 he married the editor and playwright Beatrice Kaufman , with whom he had a daughter in 1919. The Kaufmans were long-time members of the Algonquin Round Table , a legendary literary circle of journalists , writers and actors who met regularly at the Algonquin Hotel in New York .

George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart 1937

Kaufman almost always wrote with other authors. Only the pieces The Butter and Egg Man (1925) and the musical Hollywood Pinafore (1945) came entirely from his pen. The piece The Butter and Egg Man alone was performed 245 times.

For the Marx Brothers he wrote the pieces The Cocoanuts (1925) and Animal Crackers (1928) in collaboration with Morrie Ryskind . The music for The Cocoanuts comes from Irving Berlin . He later said that he hated the way the four improvised on stage and kept changing his lyrics. During a performance, he should say “Sorry. I have to go to the stage. I think I just heard one of my sentences there, “ Having finished a conversation.

In 1935 he went to Hollywood . Irving Thalberg had offered him $ 100,000 to leave New York City and deliver the script for the Marx Brothers film Scandal at the Opera , which he did.

In 1939 he wrote again for the Marx Brothers. Together with Morrie Ryskind, he wrote a total of two shows. For him it was, as he later said, a lesson in comedy writing . With the first, the brothers went on tour and tried it out. Every time a scene didn't go down as hoped, it was thrown out of the play and replaced with another. This was how it went on the entire tour. In the end, he and Ryskind had basically written a second piece, because almost nothing of the first was left.

Together with Morrie Ryskind and Ira Gershwin , who contributed the lyrics, he received the Pulitzer Prize for the musical Of Thee I Sing in 1931 . The music for the political satire was by George Gershwin . In 1936, the second Pulitzer Prize was added to Man lives only once ( You Can't Take It with You , 1936). He had written this piece with Moss Hart .

In addition to the two Pulitzer Prizes, he received the 1951 Tony Award for Best Director for Guys and Dolls . Since 1938 he was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

Works (selection)

  • Some One in the House (1918)
  • Dulcy (1921)
  • Merton of the Movies (1922)
  • Beggar on Horseback (1924)
  • The Butter and Egg Man (1925; Eng. The Poularde , approx. 1928)
  • The Cocoanuts (1925)
  • The Royal Family (1927)
  • Animal Crackers (1928)
  • June Moon (1929)
  • Once in a Lifetime (1930)
  • Of Thee I Sing (1931)
  • Dinner at Eight (1932; German: Eat at 8 a.m. / Dinner at 8 a.m. , 1933)
  • You Can't Take It with You (1936; Eng. You only live once , later also under the title Rejoice in Life , 1972)
  • Stage Door (1936)
  • The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939)
  • The Late George Apley (1944)
  • The Solid Gold Cadillac (1953)

Filmography (selection)

script

Literary template

Director

  • 1947: The Senator Was Indiscreet (The Senator what indiscreet)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Simkin: Article Beatrice Kaufmann, 2013. In: Spartacus Educational. Retrieved March 8, 2019 .
  2. ^ Members: George S. Kaufman. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed April 6, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Kaufman, George Simon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kaufman, George S. (other name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American playwright and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, United States
DATE OF DEATH June 2, 1961
Place of death New York City , New York, United States