SJ Perelman

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Sidney Joseph Perelman (birth name: Simeon Joseph Perelman ; born February 1, 1904 in Brooklyn , † October 17, 1979 in New York City ) was an American humorist , writer and screenwriter who worked on the screenplay for the film In 80 Days World (1956) won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay , the New York Film Critics Circle Award (NYFCC Award) for Best Screenplay, and the Writers Guild of America Award (WGA Award) for Best American Comedy.

Life

After attending school, Perelman studied at Brown University in Rhode Island and after graduating in 1925 he worked for various magazines . In 1929 he published his first book, Dawn Ginsbergh's Revenge , with which he had national success. In the same year he married the author Laura Weinstein , a sister of the writer Nathanael West , and was married to her until her death on April 10, 1970.

Two years later he went to Hollywood and began writing scripts and templates for the local film industry , such as for the Marx Brothers . In the course of his career he created the templates for 17 films and television series . His publications were often first published in advance in The New Yorker magazine after 1931 and thus contributed to his fame. Together with Ogden Nash and the composer Kurt Weill he created the musical One Touch of Venus , which premiered on October 7, 1943 at the Imperial Theater .

His books are characterized by their linguistic dexterity and sophistication. His best known works include Crazy Like A Fox (1944), Westward Ha! or, Around the World in 80 Clichés (1948), The Swiss Family Perelman (1950) and The Road to Miltown, or, Under the Spreading Atrophy (1957).

He had his greatest success as a screenwriter with the screenplay for the film Around the World in 80 Days (1956) based on the novel Journey around the Earth in 80 Days by Jules Verne , which the directors Michael Anderson and John Farrow with David Niven , Cantinflas and Shirley MacLaine in the lead roles staged. For this he won with James Poe and director Farrow in 1957 the Oscar for the best adapted screenplay and the WGA Award for the best American comedy as well as the NYFCC Award for the best screenplay. In 1958 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

A first collection of his best stories appeared in 1958 under the title The Most of SJ Perelman .

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Background literature

  • Dorothy Herrmann: SJ Perelman. A Life , 1986

Web links and sources

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Members: SJ Perelman. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed April 19, 2019 .