Christopher and Emma Hart
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Moss Hart 1904 - 1961
Moss Hart
October 24, 1904
New York, New York, United States
December 20, 1961
Palm Springs, CA
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Moss Hart's History: 1904 - 1961
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10/241904October 24, 1904BirthdateNew York, New York United StatesBirthplaceADVERTISEMENT BY
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12/201961December 20, 1961Death datePalm Springs, CAHeart Attack.Cause of deathDeath locationADVERTISEMENT BY
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mm/dd/yyyyFuneral dateFerncliff Cemetery 280 Secor Rd, in Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York 10530, United StatesBurial location
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16 Memories, Stories & Photos about Moss
Amanda S. Stevenson
17.7k+ favorites
06/11/2018
Moss Hart family
Date & Place:
Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Amanda S. Stevenson
17.7k+ favorites
09/06/2017
Moss Hart's The Man Who Came to Dinner
Date & Place:
Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Amanda S. Stevenson
17.7k+ favorites
09/06/2017
Moss Hart's "You can't take it with you"
Date & Place:
Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Amanda S. Stevenson
17.7k+ favorites
09/06/2017
Moss Hart's play
Date & Place:
Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Amanda S. Stevenson
17.7k+ favorites
09/05/2017
Moss Hart autobiography
Date & Place:
Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Amanda S. Stevenson
17.7k+ favorites
09/05/2017
Moss Hart's autobiography, "ACT ONE"
Date & Place:
Not specified or unknown.
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Amanda S. Stevenson
17.7k+ favorites
09/06/2017
Moss Hart's Act One was published more than 50 years ago, but for his son, Christopher Hart, the new stage adaptation is not a belated dusting-off of material from long ago. As a producer and director, Chris Hart has had a steady relationship with his father's autobiography. "I always read something from Act One to the actors, whenever I am directing any of his plays," he told me the other day. "It helps them hear his voice before we get started, because the book captures the way he really sounded in life. And it gives the actors a sense of his affection for them - my father was a secret wannabe actor his whole life."
As proof, Chris Hart mentions that, during World War II, his father toured the South Pacific, entertaining the troops in a production of his and George S. Kaufman's play, The Man Who Came To Dinner. "My father played the lead role, Sheridan Whiteside, for six or eight months. He also did Winged Victory, a play and, later, a film, which raised more than a million dollars for the Army Air Corps."
Moss Hart's wartime experiences are not included in his autobiography, asAct One ends in 1930 with the success of his and Kaufman's play, Once in a Lifetime. Was there any thought of a second autobiography - an Act Two? "As I learned when I went through my family's letters not long ago," Chris Hart says, "it was clear to my parents" - his mother was the singer, actress, and arts philanthropist Kitty Carlisle Hart - "that the interesting part for my father was the getting there. A sequel would have been merely saying, "And then I wrote this play," or "And then I won this award." All that just isn't as stirring as the struggle to make it in the first place."
That struggle is rendered in such a polished and elegant style that I wondered how a man who didn't finish the eighth grade had learned how to write such vivid, vigorous prose. "For one thing," Chris Hart explained, "my father was an incredibly avid reader - books and newspapers were his high school and college. For another, he had a grandfather who loved Dickens. One of his parlor tricks was to read Dickens aloud for Sunday-afternoon tea. My father read and memorized huge swaths of Dickens."
Chris Hart said that, early in the process of turning Act One into the new stage adaptation, he and James Lapine, the production's writer and director, discussed whether it should be 8 or 10 hours long - like the Royal Shakespeare Company's beloved version of the Victorian novelist's Nicholas Nickleby. "In the end, however," Chris Hart said, "we realized that it was more than sufficient to evoke the book's spirit, rather than try to do every one of its wonderful stories."
That Lapine became involved with Act One evokes words of gratitude from Chris Hart. And not only owing to Lapine's professional skills. "In some ways," Hart said, "my father's relationship with Kaufman mimics Lapine's relationship with Stephen Sondheim. In both cases, my father and Lapine were both young men who began working with these great icons of the theater." (Students of Sondheim also know that his 1981 musical, Merrily We Roll Along, done with George Furth, was inspired by Kaufman and Hart's 1934 play of the same name.)
Before concluding my conversation with Chris Hart, I asked him what his mother might have thought of the new Act One. "She would be thrilled," he said. "She didn't see herself in the same league as my dad. What she called "my little career" was, she said, secondary to his. She did amazing things after he died. She was a formidable personality and talent. Both my parents were."
Brendan Lemon is the American theater critic for the Financial Times and the editor of lemonwade.com
As proof, Chris Hart mentions that, during World War II, his father toured the South Pacific, entertaining the troops in a production of his and George S. Kaufman's play, The Man Who Came To Dinner. "My father played the lead role, Sheridan Whiteside, for six or eight months. He also did Winged Victory, a play and, later, a film, which raised more than a million dollars for the Army Air Corps."
Moss Hart's wartime experiences are not included in his autobiography, asAct One ends in 1930 with the success of his and Kaufman's play, Once in a Lifetime. Was there any thought of a second autobiography - an Act Two? "As I learned when I went through my family's letters not long ago," Chris Hart says, "it was clear to my parents" - his mother was the singer, actress, and arts philanthropist Kitty Carlisle Hart - "that the interesting part for my father was the getting there. A sequel would have been merely saying, "And then I wrote this play," or "And then I won this award." All that just isn't as stirring as the struggle to make it in the first place."
That struggle is rendered in such a polished and elegant style that I wondered how a man who didn't finish the eighth grade had learned how to write such vivid, vigorous prose. "For one thing," Chris Hart explained, "my father was an incredibly avid reader - books and newspapers were his high school and college. For another, he had a grandfather who loved Dickens. One of his parlor tricks was to read Dickens aloud for Sunday-afternoon tea. My father read and memorized huge swaths of Dickens."
Chris Hart said that, early in the process of turning Act One into the new stage adaptation, he and James Lapine, the production's writer and director, discussed whether it should be 8 or 10 hours long - like the Royal Shakespeare Company's beloved version of the Victorian novelist's Nicholas Nickleby. "In the end, however," Chris Hart said, "we realized that it was more than sufficient to evoke the book's spirit, rather than try to do every one of its wonderful stories."
That Lapine became involved with Act One evokes words of gratitude from Chris Hart. And not only owing to Lapine's professional skills. "In some ways," Hart said, "my father's relationship with Kaufman mimics Lapine's relationship with Stephen Sondheim. In both cases, my father and Lapine were both young men who began working with these great icons of the theater." (Students of Sondheim also know that his 1981 musical, Merrily We Roll Along, done with George Furth, was inspired by Kaufman and Hart's 1934 play of the same name.)
Before concluding my conversation with Chris Hart, I asked him what his mother might have thought of the new Act One. "She would be thrilled," he said. "She didn't see herself in the same league as my dad. What she called "my little career" was, she said, secondary to his. She did amazing things after he died. She was a formidable personality and talent. Both my parents were."
Brendan Lemon is the American theater critic for the Financial Times and the editor of lemonwade.com
Amanda S. Stevenson
17.7k+ favorites
09/05/2017
Moss Hart and George Kaufman
Date & Place:
Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Amanda S. Stevenson
17.7k+ favorites
09/05/2017
Moss Hart and George Kaufman
Date & Place:
Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Amanda S. Stevenson
17.7k+ favorites
09/06/2017
The Man Who Came to Dinner
First edition (1939)
Written by George S. Kaufman
Moss Hart
Date premiered October 16, 1939
Place premiered Music Box Theatre
New York City
Original language English
Genre Comedy
The Man Who Came to Dinner is a comedy in three acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It debuted on October 16, 1939, at the Music Box Theatre in New York City, where it ran until 1941, closing after 739 performances. It then enjoyed a number of New York and London revivals. The first London production was staged at The Savoy Theatre starring Robert Morley and Coral Browne. In 1990, Browne stated in a televised biographical interview, broadcast on UK Channel 4 (entitled Caviar to the General), that she bought the rights to the play, borrowing money from her dentist to do so. When she died, her will revealed that she had received royalties for all future productions and adaptations.[1]
The song "What Am I To Do" was written by Cole Porter specifically for the play.
Synopsis
Monty Woolley created the role of Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner
The play is set in the small town of Mesalia, Ohio in the weeks leading to Christmas in the late 1930s. The exposition reveals that the famously outlandish New York City radio wit Sheridan Whiteside ('Sherry' to his friends) is invited to dine at the house of the well-to-do factory owner Ernest W. Stanley and his family. But before Whiteside can enter the house, he slips on a patch of ice outside the Stanleys' front door and injures his hip. Confined to the Stanleys' home, Whiteside is looked after by several professionals: Dr. Bradley, the absent-minded town physician, Miss Preen, his frantic nurse, and Maggie Cutler, his faithful secretary.
Confined to the house for a month, Sherry drives his hosts mad by viciously insulting them, monopolizing their house and staff, running up large phone bills, and receiving many bizarre guests, including paroled convicts. However, Sherry manages to befriend the Stanleys' children, June and Richard, as well as Mr. Stanley's eccentric older sister Harriet.
He also befriends local newspaper man and aspiring playwright Bert Jefferson, but soon learns that Maggie is in love with Bert, and plans to leave her job to marry him. Unable to bear losing his secretary, Sherry invites his friend, the glamorous and loose-living actress Lorraine Sheldon, to Mesalia to look at Bert's new play, hoping she can break up the marriage plans. Dr. Bradley tells Sherry he was mistaken in his diagnosis, and Sherry is actually well enough to leave. Sherry buys the doctor's silence by pretending to want to work on a book with him, and for the rest of the play keeps brushing him off.
As Christmas Day nears, Sherry encourages June Stanley to elope with a young union organizer whom her father disapproves of, and Richard to run away and pursue his dream of becoming a photographer. Lorraine arrives, and Maggie instantly suspects Sherry's involvement. They receive a visit from their friend, noted British actor and playwright Beverly Carlton. Maggie learns Beverly can do a great impression of Lord Bottomley, an English lord whom Lorraine is hoping to marry. She gets Beverly to call Lorraine and pretend to be Lord Bottomley proposing, to get Lorraine to leave. However, Sherry soon sees through the ruse. When Lorraine realizes Maggie's involvement she starts to seduce Bert as revenge.
The next day, Christmas, Bert is enthralled with Lorraine, and Maggie, hurt by Sherry's betrayal, tells him she is quitting. Feeling guilty, Sherry tries to think of a way to get Lorraine out of Mesalia. He gets help from an unexpected visit by his friend, movie comedian Banjo. Mr. Stanley, however, furious at Sherry's interference with his family, has now ordered Sherry's eviction from the house and gives him fifteen minutes to leave. All looks hopeless until an Egyptian mummy case is delivered to Sherry (a Christmas gift from the Khedive of Egypt). Sherry and Banjo manage to trick Lorraine into the mummy case and shut her inside. Sherry then sees a photo of Harriet Stanley when she was younger, and recognizes her as a famous murderer. Using this information, he blackmails Mr. Stanley into helping them get the case onto Banjo's plane.
Sherry now stands, telling Maggie she is free to marry Bert, and prepares to return to New York by train. Unfortunately, as he is leaving the house, he slips on another patch of ice, injuring himself again. He is carried back inside the house screaming as the curtain falls.
Influence of Alexander Woollcott
Kaufman and Hart wrote the play as a vehicle for their friend Alexander Woollcott, the model for the lead character Sheridan Whiteside.[2] At the time the play was written Woollcott was famous both as the theater critic who helped re-launch the career of the Marx Brothers and as the star of the national radio show The Town Crier. He was well liked by both Kaufman and Hart, but that did not stop him from displaying the obnoxious characteristics displayed by Whiteside in the play. Kaufman and Hart had promised a vehicle for Woollcott but had been unable to find a plot that suited them until one day Woollcott showed up, unannounced, at Hart's Bucks County estate, and proceeded to take over the house. He slept in the master bedroom, terrorized Hart's staff, and generally acted like Sheridan Whiteside. On his way out he wrote in Hart's guest book, "This is to certify that I had one of the most unpleasant times I ever spent." Hart related the story to Kaufman soon afterwards. As they were both laughing about it, Hart remarked that he was lucky that Woollcott had not broken his leg and become stuck there. Kaufman looked at Hart and the idea was born.
A plot point mentions actress and Broadway producer Katharine Cornell. The character Bert Jefferson writes a play, and Whiteside promises to give it to Cornell for her to star in.
Woollcott was delighted with The Man Who Came to Dinner and was offered the role for its Broadway debut. With his busy schedule of radio broadcasts and lectures, he declined, and Monty Woolley played the part. Woollcott did play Whiteside in the West Coast version of the play and was even joined by Harpo Marx, who portrayed his own referenced character, Banjo.[citation needed]
The printed edition of the play starts with the inscription "To Alexander Woollcott, for reasons that are nobody's business."
First edition (1939)
Written by George S. Kaufman
Moss Hart
Date premiered October 16, 1939
Place premiered Music Box Theatre
New York City
Original language English
Genre Comedy
The Man Who Came to Dinner is a comedy in three acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It debuted on October 16, 1939, at the Music Box Theatre in New York City, where it ran until 1941, closing after 739 performances. It then enjoyed a number of New York and London revivals. The first London production was staged at The Savoy Theatre starring Robert Morley and Coral Browne. In 1990, Browne stated in a televised biographical interview, broadcast on UK Channel 4 (entitled Caviar to the General), that she bought the rights to the play, borrowing money from her dentist to do so. When she died, her will revealed that she had received royalties for all future productions and adaptations.[1]
The song "What Am I To Do" was written by Cole Porter specifically for the play.
Synopsis
Monty Woolley created the role of Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner
The play is set in the small town of Mesalia, Ohio in the weeks leading to Christmas in the late 1930s. The exposition reveals that the famously outlandish New York City radio wit Sheridan Whiteside ('Sherry' to his friends) is invited to dine at the house of the well-to-do factory owner Ernest W. Stanley and his family. But before Whiteside can enter the house, he slips on a patch of ice outside the Stanleys' front door and injures his hip. Confined to the Stanleys' home, Whiteside is looked after by several professionals: Dr. Bradley, the absent-minded town physician, Miss Preen, his frantic nurse, and Maggie Cutler, his faithful secretary.
Confined to the house for a month, Sherry drives his hosts mad by viciously insulting them, monopolizing their house and staff, running up large phone bills, and receiving many bizarre guests, including paroled convicts. However, Sherry manages to befriend the Stanleys' children, June and Richard, as well as Mr. Stanley's eccentric older sister Harriet.
He also befriends local newspaper man and aspiring playwright Bert Jefferson, but soon learns that Maggie is in love with Bert, and plans to leave her job to marry him. Unable to bear losing his secretary, Sherry invites his friend, the glamorous and loose-living actress Lorraine Sheldon, to Mesalia to look at Bert's new play, hoping she can break up the marriage plans. Dr. Bradley tells Sherry he was mistaken in his diagnosis, and Sherry is actually well enough to leave. Sherry buys the doctor's silence by pretending to want to work on a book with him, and for the rest of the play keeps brushing him off.
As Christmas Day nears, Sherry encourages June Stanley to elope with a young union organizer whom her father disapproves of, and Richard to run away and pursue his dream of becoming a photographer. Lorraine arrives, and Maggie instantly suspects Sherry's involvement. They receive a visit from their friend, noted British actor and playwright Beverly Carlton. Maggie learns Beverly can do a great impression of Lord Bottomley, an English lord whom Lorraine is hoping to marry. She gets Beverly to call Lorraine and pretend to be Lord Bottomley proposing, to get Lorraine to leave. However, Sherry soon sees through the ruse. When Lorraine realizes Maggie's involvement she starts to seduce Bert as revenge.
The next day, Christmas, Bert is enthralled with Lorraine, and Maggie, hurt by Sherry's betrayal, tells him she is quitting. Feeling guilty, Sherry tries to think of a way to get Lorraine out of Mesalia. He gets help from an unexpected visit by his friend, movie comedian Banjo. Mr. Stanley, however, furious at Sherry's interference with his family, has now ordered Sherry's eviction from the house and gives him fifteen minutes to leave. All looks hopeless until an Egyptian mummy case is delivered to Sherry (a Christmas gift from the Khedive of Egypt). Sherry and Banjo manage to trick Lorraine into the mummy case and shut her inside. Sherry then sees a photo of Harriet Stanley when she was younger, and recognizes her as a famous murderer. Using this information, he blackmails Mr. Stanley into helping them get the case onto Banjo's plane.
Sherry now stands, telling Maggie she is free to marry Bert, and prepares to return to New York by train. Unfortunately, as he is leaving the house, he slips on another patch of ice, injuring himself again. He is carried back inside the house screaming as the curtain falls.
Influence of Alexander Woollcott
Kaufman and Hart wrote the play as a vehicle for their friend Alexander Woollcott, the model for the lead character Sheridan Whiteside.[2] At the time the play was written Woollcott was famous both as the theater critic who helped re-launch the career of the Marx Brothers and as the star of the national radio show The Town Crier. He was well liked by both Kaufman and Hart, but that did not stop him from displaying the obnoxious characteristics displayed by Whiteside in the play. Kaufman and Hart had promised a vehicle for Woollcott but had been unable to find a plot that suited them until one day Woollcott showed up, unannounced, at Hart's Bucks County estate, and proceeded to take over the house. He slept in the master bedroom, terrorized Hart's staff, and generally acted like Sheridan Whiteside. On his way out he wrote in Hart's guest book, "This is to certify that I had one of the most unpleasant times I ever spent." Hart related the story to Kaufman soon afterwards. As they were both laughing about it, Hart remarked that he was lucky that Woollcott had not broken his leg and become stuck there. Kaufman looked at Hart and the idea was born.
A plot point mentions actress and Broadway producer Katharine Cornell. The character Bert Jefferson writes a play, and Whiteside promises to give it to Cornell for her to star in.
Woollcott was delighted with The Man Who Came to Dinner and was offered the role for its Broadway debut. With his busy schedule of radio broadcasts and lectures, he declined, and Monty Woolley played the part. Woollcott did play Whiteside in the West Coast version of the play and was even joined by Harpo Marx, who portrayed his own referenced character, Banjo.[citation needed]
The printed edition of the play starts with the inscription "To Alexander Woollcott, for reasons that are nobody's business."
Amanda S. Stevenson
17.7k+ favorites
09/05/2017
Moss Hart Family
Date & Place:
Not specified or unknown.
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Hart, Gloria
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Hart, Nancy (Born Apr 29, 1849)
Hart, Donald (Mar 27, 1928 - Sep 20, 2007)
Hart, Ella Leam (Born Jan 31, 1884)
Earle-Hart, Eugena (Born Aug 1854)
Hart, John (Born Jul 19, 1879)
Hart, Kathryn
Hart, Margaret (Born 1877)
Hart, Ruth (Born 1882)
Hart, L Caroline (Born c. Apr 9, 1827)
Hart, Hubert Grice (Born Aug 22, 1928)
Hart, John (1770 - Mar 27, 1814)
Hart, Ely (1796 - Dec 24, 1871)
Hart, Kitty (Sep 3, 1910 - Apr 17, 2007)
Hart, M Irene (Mar 11, 1918 - Oct 5, 2007)
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