Edgar Allan Woolf | |
|---|---|
 Woolf in 1922 | |
| Born | April 25, 1881 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | December 9, 1943 (aged 62) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Occupations |
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Edgar Allan Woolf (April 25, 1881 – December 9, 1943) was an American lyricist, playwright, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-author of the script for the 1939 filmThe Wizard of Oz.
Woolf was the son of Albert E. Woolf, a feather works employee,[1] a manufacturer of disinfectant[2] and an inventor of electrical devices, and Rosamond Wimpfheimer Woolf.[3] Woolf attendedCity College of New York andColumbia University, graduating from the latter with an A.B. in 1901. He wrote the annualVarsity Show,The Mischief Maker, in his senior year.[4]
Woolf joined the Murray Hill Stock Company as an actor, and played in New York City with it for several years, but soon was writing sketches and plays for vaudeville starPat Rooney (1880–1962) andMrs. Patrick Campbell. One of the better-known plays Woolf wrote for Pat Rooney was "Wings of Smoke." He also wrote, in collaboration withJerome Kern, the comic opera, "Head over Heels," in whichMitzi Hajos starred. Woolf was a prolific writer and produced many sketches for vaudeville.
Woolf wrote the book forMam'zelle Champagne, a musical revue, that opened on June 25, 1906. On opening night at the outdoorMadison Square Garden Roof Theatre, millionaire playboyHarry K. Thaw shot and killed architectStanford White. The otherwise undistinguished musical's run continued for some 60 performances[5] largely due to the publicity from this incident.
Woolf wrote the book forToot-Toot,Henry W. Savage's 1918 Broadway musical based onRupert Hughes' playExcuse Me. Woolf also wrote the lyrics for a song introduced in the show, "You're So Cute, Soldier Boy".[6] He wrote the book toSigmund Romberg's 1921 musicalLove Birds.
Woolf moved to Los Angeles in the early 1930s to write screenplays forMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He and frequent collaboratorFlorence Ryerson revisedNoel Langley's screenplay forThe Wizard of Oz (1939), which in turn was based onL. Frank Baum's children's novelThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz.[7] Together they created the Wizard's counterpart, Professor Marvel.
Woolf was described bySamuel Marx,MGM's story editor during the 1930s, as a "wild, red-haired homosexual." He loved to cook and would spend hours cooking for his Saturday night dinner parties, where he entertained directors and writers.[8]
At his Beverly Hills home, 911 North Beverly Drive, on December 9, 1943, Woolf's three servants found him lying at the bottom of a flight of steps that led to the kitchen. Woolf had a blind dog that he took for a daily walk, and the police believed he had tripped over the dog's leash, fracturing his skull. Woolf was taken to St. John's Santa Monica Hospital at 2 pm and died two hours later.[9] The coroner's autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a basalskull fracture.[10]
