Moss+Hart+and+George+S.+Kaufman

=Moss Hart =

Hart was born in New York City and grew up at 74 East 105th Street in Manhattan, “a neighborhood not of carriages and hansom cabs, but of dray wagons, pushcarts, and immigrants.” Early on he had a strong relationship with his Aunt Kate, whom he later lost contact with because of a falling out between her and his parents, and her weakening mental state. She got him interested in the theater and took him to see performances often. Hart even went so far as to create an "alternate ending" to her life in his book //Act One//. He writes that she died while he was working on out-of-town tryouts for //The Beloved Bandit.// Later, Kate became quite eccentric, vandalizing Hart's home, writing threatening letters and setting fires backstage during rehearsals for //Jubilee//. But his relationship with Kate was life-forming. He understood that the theater made possible "the art of being somebody else… not a scrawny boy with bad teeth, a funny name… and a mother who was a distant drudge. "(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moss_Hart) =George S Kaufman=

Born to a Jewish family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania he graduated from high school in 1907 and "tried law school for three months" but grew disenchanted and took on a series of odd jobs, including "selling hatbands". Kaufman then began his career as a journalist and drama critic; he was the drama editor for //The New York Times// from 1917 through 1930. Nearly a decade later he achieved great success as a playwright. Kaufman took his editorial responsibilities very seriously. According to legend, on one occasion a press agent asked: "How do I get our leading lady’s name in the //Times//?" Kaufman: "Shoot her."(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S._Kaufman) = Collaborating Works =

The duo scored a Broadway hit with //Once in a Lifetime// (1930), a farce about the arrival of the sound era in Hollywood. During the next decade, Kaufman and Hart teamed on a string of successes, including //You Can't Take It With You// (1936) and //The Man Who Came to Dinner// (1939). Though Kaufman had hits with others, Hart is generally conceded to be his most important collaborator. //You Can't Take It With You//, the story of an eccentric family and how they live during the Depression, won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for drama. It is Hart's most-revived play. When director Frank Capra and writer Robert Riskin adapted it for the screen in 1938, the film won the Best Picture Oscar and Capra won for Best Director. //The Man Who Came To Dinner// is about the caustic Sheridan Whiteside who, after injuring himself slipping on ice, must stay in a Midwestern family's house. The character was based on Kaufman and Hart's friend, critic Alexander Woollcott. Other characters in the play are based on Noel Coward, Harpo Marx and Gertrude Lawrence. After //George Washington Slept Here// (1940), Kaufman and Hart called it quits. Hart had decided it was time to move on. Throughout the 1930s, Hart also worked, with and without Kaufman, on several musicals and revues, including //Face the Music// (1932), //As Thousands Cheer// (1933), with songs by Irving Berlin, //Jubilee (musical)// (1935), with songs by Cole Porter and //I'd Rather Be Right// (1937), with songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moss_Hart)

one of the duo's most notable plays is entitled //You Can't Take It with You.// The play follows an eccentric family known as the Sycamores. At first the Sycamores seem mad, but it is not long before you realize that if they are mad, then the rest of the world is madder. In contrast to these delightful people are the unhappy Kirbys. Tony, the attractive young son of the Kirbys, falls in love with Alice Sycamore and brings his parents to dine at the Sycamore house on the wrong evening. The shock sustained by Mr. and Mrs. Kirby, who are invited to eat cheap food, shows Alice that marriage with Tony is out of the question. The Sycamores find it hard to understand Alice's view. Tony knows the Sycamores live the right way with love and care for each other, while his own family is the one that's crazy. In the end, Mr. Kirby is converted to the happy madness of the Sycamores after he happens in during a visit by the ex-Grand Duchess of Russia, Olga Katrina, who is currently earning her living as a waitress.(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Can%27t_Take_It_With_You)

**List of Plays**

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moss_Hart)
 * 1930 //Once In A Lifetime//
 * 1934 //Merrily We Roll Along//
 * 1936 //You Can't Take It With You// (won a Pulitzer Prize)
 * 1937 //I'd Rather Be Right//
 * 1939 //The Man Who Came to Dinner//
 * 1940 //George Washington Slept Here//

=External Links= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S._Kaufman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moss_Hart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Can't_Take_It_with_You