Samuel Spewack | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 16 September 1899 |
| Died | 14 October 1971(1971-10-14) (aged 72) |
| Alma mater | Columbia College |
| Spouse(s) | Bella Cohen (1922–1971, his death) |
Bella Cohen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 25 March 1899 |
| Died | 27 April 1990(1990-04-27) (aged 91) |
| Alma mater | Washington Irving High School |
| Spouse(s) | Samuel Spewack (1922–1971, his death) |
Bella (25 March 1899 – 27 April 1990) andSamuel Spewack (16 September 1899 – 14 October 1971) were a writing team.
Samuel, who also directed many of their plays, was born inBachmut, Ukraine.[1] He attendedStuyvesant High School inNew York City[2] and then received his degree fromColumbia College.
The oldest of three children of a single mother, Bella Cohen was born inBucharest, Romania and with her family emigrated to theLower East Side ofManhattan when she was a child. After graduation fromWashington Irving High School,[3] she worked as ajournalist forsocialist andpacifistnewspapers such as theNew York Call. Her work drew attention from Samuel, working as areporter forThe World, and the couple married in 1922. Shortly afterwards, they departed forMoscow, where they worked as news correspondents for the next four years.
After returning to theUnited States, they settled inNew Hope, Pennsylvania. In the latter part of the decade, Samuel wrote several novels, includingMon Paul,The Skyscraper Murder, andThe Murder in the Gilded Cage, on his own, while the pair collaborated on plays. The two wrote several plays that made it toBroadway, including 1932'sClear All Wires. Although that play only ran for 93 performances, they adapted it fora 1933 film.[4] It later became the basis of the hit 1938Cole Porter musicalLeave It to Me!, for which the Spewacks wrote the book and which Sam directed.[5]
The Spewacks continued to writescreenplays throughout the 1930s, earning anAcademy Award nomination for Best Original Story forMy Favorite Wife in 1940. The 1933 filmThe Solitaire Man was based on their 1927 play of the same name. They also penned a remake ofGrand Hotel, entitledWeek-End at the Waldorf (1945), which starredGinger Rogers. In the summer of 1943, Sam accompanied Lt.Burgess Meredith to England to co-write the U.S. Army training filmA Welcome to Britain, which educated arriving troops on cultural differences between Americans and the British.[6]
The Spewacks were separated in 1948 when they were approached to write the book forKiss Me, Kate, which centered on a once-married couple of thespians who use the stage on which they're performing as a battling ground. Bella initially began working with composer-lyricist Cole Porter on her own, but eventually turned to Sam to collaborate with her, and the Spewacks completed the project together. It yielded each of them twoTony Awards, one forBest Musical, the other forBest Author of a Musical.Kiss Me, Kate proved to be their most successful work.[7]
Perhaps their best known straight play wasMy Three Angels, which they adapted from the French playLa Cuisine des Anges byAlbert Husson.[8] The French play was adapted as the 1955Michael Curtiz filmWe're No Angels, which was laterremade in 1989 byNeil Jordan. The Spewacks suedParamount over the 1955 film, which purported to be based on the Husson original rather than their adaptation.[9] As "H.H.T." wrote in theNew York Times review of the Curtiz film, "Oddly enough, the new Paramount comedy,We're No Angels, gives sole credit to the Gallic original, then stalks the Spewacks almost scene by scene, without, alas, most of the fun."[10]
In 1965, Sam collaborated withFrank Loesser on a musical adaptation of the 1961 Spewack playOnce There Was a Russian. EntitledPleasures and Palaces, it closed following itsDetroit run and never opened on Broadway.[11]
Bella was a successfulpublicist for theCamp Fire Girls andGirl Scouts of the USA, and claimed to have introduced the idea of selling cookies for the latter as a means of raising revenue for the organization.[12]
A Letter to Sam from Bella, a one-act play by Broadway director Aaron Frankel, is based on the Spewacks' personal papers from the Theater Arts Collection ofColumbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library.[13]
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Samuel Spewack | |
| Bella Spewack | |