Moss Hart | |
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 Hart in 1940 | |
| Born | (1904-10-24)October 24, 1904 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | December 20, 1961(1961-12-20) (aged 57) Palm Springs, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Ferncliff Cemetery |
| Occupations |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Moss Hart (October 24, 1904 – December 20, 1961) was an American playwright, librettist, and theater director.
Hart was born inNew York City, the son of Lillian (Solomon) and Barnett Hart, a cigar maker.[1][2] He had a younger brother, Bernard.[3] He grew up in relative poverty inthe Bronx with his English-bornJewish immigrant parents.[4]
In his youth, he had a formative relationship with his Aunt Kate, who piqued his interest in the theater, often taking him to see performances. Hart even went so far as to create an "alternate ending" to her life in his bookAct One. He learned 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."[5]
Hart's first glimpse of Broadway came in 1918 when he was 14 years old. He later recounted exiting the subway atTimes Square and standing agog at the urban tableau before him: "A swirling mob of shouting happy people... confetti and paper streamers... soldiers and sailors climbed happily onto the tops of taxis, grabbing girls up to dance with them. My first thought was 'Of course, that's just the way I thought it would be.'" Unbeknownst to Hart, his arrival had coincided with the signing of thearmistice that ended World War One.[6]
After working several years as a director of amateur theatrical groups and an entertainment director at summer resorts, he scored his first Broadway hit withOnce in a Lifetime (1930), a farce about the arrival of the sound era in Hollywood. The play was written in collaboration with Broadway veteranGeorge S. Kaufman, who regularly wrote with others, notablyMarc Connelly andEdna Ferber. (Kaufman also performed in the play's original Broadway cast in the role of a frustrated playwright hired by Hollywood) and produced bySam Harris. Hart's agent at this time wasFrieda Fishbein, who brought a lawsuit against Hart, contending she was entitled to a percentage of the royalties from plays produced by Harris. The matter was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.[7][8]
During the next decade, Kaufman and Hart teamed on a string of successes, includingYou Can't Take It with You (1936) andThe 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 theDepression, won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for drama. It is Hart's most-revived play. When directorFrank Capra and writerRobert 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 aMidwestern family's house. The character was based on Kaufman and Hart's friend, criticAlexander Woollcott. Other characters in the play are based onNoël Coward,Harpo Marx andGertrude Lawrence.
Throughout the 1930s, Hart worked both with and without Kaufman on several musicals and revues, includingFace the Music (1932);As Thousands Cheer (1933), with songs byIrving Berlin;Jubilee (musical) (1935), with songs byCole Porter; andI'd Rather Be Right (1937), with songs byRichard Rodgers andLorenz Hart. (Lorenz Hart and Moss Hart were not related.) AfterGeorge Washington Slept Here (1940), Kaufman and Hart called it quits. Hart continued to write plays after parting with Kaufman, such asChristopher Blake (1946) andLight Up the Sky (1948), as well as the book for the musicalLady In The Dark (1941), with songs byKurt Weill andIra Gershwin. However, he became best known during this period as a director. Among the Broadway hits he staged wereJunior Miss (1941),Dear Ruth (1944) andAnniversary Waltz (1954). By far his biggest hit was the musicalMy Fair Lady (1956), adapted fromGeorge Bernard Shaw'sPygmalion, with book and lyrics byAlan Jay Lerner and music byFrederick Loewe. The show ran over six years and won a Tony Award for Best Musical. Hart picked up the Tony for Best Director.[9]
In 1950 Hart was host of the game showAnswer Yes or No on NBC television.[10]
Hart also wrote some screenplays, includingGentleman's Agreement (1947) (for which he received an Oscar nomination),Hans Christian Andersen (1952) andA Star Is Born (1954). His memoirAct One: An Autobiography (1950) wasadapted for film in 1963, withGeorge Hamilton portraying Hart.
The last show Hart directed was theLerner and Loewe musicalCamelot (1960). During a troubled out-of-town tryout, Hart had a heart attack. The show opened before he fully recovered, but he and Lerner reworked it after the opening. That, along with huge pre-sales and a cast performance onThe Ed Sullivan Show, helped ensure the expensive production was a hit.[citation needed]
Hart was the tenth president of theDramatists Guild of America, from 1947 until 1956, whenOscar Hammerstein II became his successor.
Hart marriedKitty Carlisle on August 10, 1946; they had two children.[11]
Moss Hart died of a heart attack at the age of 57 on December 20, 1961, at his winter home inPalm Springs, California.[12] He was entombed in a crypt atFerncliff Cemetery inHartsdale, New York.[13]
In 1972, 11 years after his death, Moss Hart was inducted into theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame, one of 23 people to be selected into the Hall of Fame's first induction class that year.[14]Alan Jay Lerner paid tribute to Hart in his memoir,The Street Where I Live.
The New England Theatre Conference offers the Moss Hart Memorial Award at their annual convention to theater groups in New England that put forth imaginative productions of exemplary scripts. These awards are designed to honor Moss Hart as well as the award recipients.[15] Past winners include Wellesley Repertory Theatre, Staples Players, and Suffield Academy.[16]
Developed as an offshoot of the very successful New Play Initiative ofBurbank, California's, Grove Theater Center, the Moss Hart and Kitty Carlisle Hart New Play Initiative (Hart NPI) expands the program to one of the few programs of its kind where a playwright will be guaranteed a production of his/her play in Los Angeles (Burbank), as well as an Off-Broadway Premiere at 59E59 Theaters in New York City. The GTC New Play Initiative is the brainchild of producers Charles Johanson and Kevin Cochran (founders of Grove Theater Center) and its expansion to a truly bi-coastal program with the focus on the author and their vision for their work. The Hart NPI is under the leadership of Moss Hart's son Christopher Hart (artistic director), Kevin Cochran (producing artistic director) and Charles Johanson (executive director). In the first Hart NPI play cycle (2017-2018) there were 1,243 submissions from 44 states and 6 countries!.[17] The Hart NPI will select 16-21 semifinalists, which will then be narrowed down to eight finalists and the eight will be narrowed down to the winners: Four Bronze Hart NPI winners will have a reading of their play at 59E59 Theaters, two Silver Hart NPI winners will have a production of their play in Los Angeles (Burbank), at the GTC Burbank and the Gold Hart NPI winner will have an Off-Broadway premiere at 59E59 Theaters. Dr. Catherine Hart (Moss and Kitty's daughter, who also serves on the board of trustees of the Hart NPI) said that "Having a program like this in Moss & Kitty's name would have made them proud."
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